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Students respond to violence in video games
By Ally LegardFortnite Battle Royale is the new, hot video game that everyone seems to be raving about. According to The Guardian, “it’s a mass online brawl where 100 players leap out of a plane on to a small island and then fight each other until only one is left.” The game includes, “weapons and items, including crossbows, rifles and grenade launchers, and players must arm themselves while exploring the landscape and buildings.” The game also has it’s players, “collect resources that allow you to build structures where you can hide or defend yourself. As the match progresses, the playable area of land is continually reduced, so participants are forced closer and closer together. The last survivor is the winner.” Unlike most video games, there are no “lives,” so once you are eliminated, you must start the entire game over again. What’s different about this first-shooter game is that there’s no depiction of blood and gore that often comes with a game of this sort. Parents may prefer their kids to play this game over Call of Duty because it isn’t as “realistic”. Video games always have an age rating. According to David Chapman, a Common Sense Media video game reviewer, the rating for Fortnite is a 13+, also known as Teen. On the same website that I found the rating, I scrolled down to look at the “Parents Say” comments. One parent identified as Taegan Brown B. says that the game should be rated a 8+ and said, “I think that the game is for young kids just because the violence is very cartoony. I'd recommend not getting it if you think guns are bad but that's it.” I wanted more opinions, so I sought out a few Gonzaga students and asked them about the game. Freshman engineering major Alex Walde said, “Fortnite may desensitize it’s players to violence. When someone is killed, they simply disappear.” However, he also said that, “Other games like Call of Duty are more violent.” A lot of the interviews that I had were with people who don’t regularly play video games. I thought it was interesting to get an “outside looking in” viewpoint. Caroline McCarthy, a Gonzaga Business student said, “I don’t think that violence in real life is necessarily linked to video games, but I do think that it may add to the problem.” This was a very common answer overall. Hardly is there ever a concrete reason for people’s unethical actions. When I asked my interviewees if they had any ideas to possibly fix the problem, they all hesitated. I found that no one has the perfect solution.
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