Why role-playing games should be allowed
By Katherine Pilditch
Role-playing games are a highly debated topic. They are generally regarded as violent, and that teenagers who play them will become street gang members, criminals, and terrorists, for example. But these same games are overestimated. Is there another side to this story? Yes. Role-playing games are given too little credit, and they are judged wrongly, and they might actually help teens relieve stress. Here are the reasons why role-playing games are okay for teens to play.
These games are given too little credit. There is all this only speculation about how “teens will become more aggressive if they play these games…. And I don’t want my teen to play these games…”, and it’s all really misunderstood. According to Christopher J. Ferguson, PhD, a psychology professor at Stetson University, “matching video game conditions more carefully in experimental studies with how they are played in real life makes VVG’s (violent video games) effects on aggression essentially vanish”. Meaning that scientists conducting these studies are not taking into consideration that that particular teen they would be testing might have trauma or mental health issues, or family trouble, that would also lead to the supposed aggression. As well as that, these scientists are not following teens for long periods of time. They are just assuming that because the teens perhaps acted grumpy after, that they should be aggressive because of the games.
Second, these games are judged wrongly. As a teen who could potentially play these “violent” games, I know that A) these games are not as violent as people make them to be. B) Scientists did not perform the experiments with the correct factors in mind. Studies are claiming a causal link between violence from teens and them playing role-playing games, and because of this the US Supreme Court deemed that violent role-playing do not cause teens to act aggressively. The late Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the majority opinion that studies purporting to show a connection between violent video games and harmful effects on children, “have been rejected by every court to consider them, and with good reason: They do not prove that violent games cause minors to act aggressively.” This proves that violent games do not contribute to teens acting violently.
Finally, role-playing games help relieve stress of teens. They (the games) allow teens to alleviate stress and anger (catharsis) in the game, leading to less real-world aggression. A study in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that children, especially boys, play video games as a way to manage their emotions: “61.9% of boys played to ‘help me relax’, 47.8% of them to ‘help me forget my problems’, and 45.4% because ‘it helps me get my anger out’. Researchers point to the cathartic effect of video games as a possible reason why higher game sales have been associated with lower crime rates. By age 7, children can distinguish between fantasy and reality, and will know the difference between a game and appropriate real-world behavior.
In conclusion, violent video games are viewed wrongly and should be more accepted and allowed, because the Scientists conducting these useless experiments are not conducting the right experiments and are not following them correctly. It also helps teens to relieve stress and manage anger, which will help actually lead to less real-world aggression. As well as that, gamers should be able to identify real-world and fantasy, which means that they are not a liability to be targeted by false studies. These games should be viewed more correctly, and should be accepted.
