Feb 8, 2008 11:06 pm US/Eastern
Kids Physically Involved In Wii's Virtual Violence
Interactive Video Games Actively Involve Kids In Violence
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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The board that determines video game ratings for is run by the gaming industry.
WBZ
Violent video games and children can be a disastrous mix, but many parents aren't getting the message.
There are new reasons for them to worry with ever-increasing gory sounds and images that are disturbingly realistic.
The video game characters of use machine guns or sometimes just their bare hands, and they rack up points for every person they kill.
"The blood is just gushing everywhere," said psychologist Susan Linn with the Judge Baker Children's Center. "It isn't anything you can imagine really."
And now technology is taking the violence one step further. The Nintendo Wii system that has been praised for getting players more physically involved in games like bowling and golf now has teenagers acting out virtual murders.
When armed with a knife, players actionably have to move their arms in a stabbing motion.
"You are learning the muscle memory necessary to do those acts, to stab someone, to chop someone, to shoot someone," said Dr. Michael Rich of Children's Hospital. "It's one step closer to a virtual reality in which you are actually doing these things to people."
Rich said there's new evidence that this type of violence can leave a lasting impression on young minds.
"We see the folks that use more violent media tend to be more violent," Rich said.
Rich has used an MRI to see inside the brains of several children after they were exposed to violent images.
"What we're seeing is that on some level the virtual violence is equated by our brain the same as real violence," Rich explained.
"I think parents are in the dark," Linn said.
Linn says recent studies show 70 percent of kids as young as fourth grade have played these violent games even though the games carry a mature rating, meaning they're intended for people over 17.
"A significant number of them listed M (Mature) rated games as their favorite game to play," Linn said.
Linn says many parents don't monitor video games like they do movies or television.
"You would have to play the game and you would have to get good at the game to get to the really violent parts, so it's hard for parents," she said.
The board that comes up with the ratings for these games is run by the gaming industry.
"What we need to do is give them the same information that's provided on a can of food they buy in the store or on a cigarette package that says here's what's contained in this, here's what it may do to you. You choose," Rich said.
Because it's clear the kids are making their choice with a thumps up and a beat down.
The ratings board said their system does provides specific information about violent content on the packaging of video games. Nintendo says it provides a parental control device within its system to block kids from playing violent games.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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