Product design in cyberspace

Do Video game designers have a responsibility to be socially responsible and NOT design games that are overly violent, or should video game designers just let the market decide? In the contemporary age, children have easy access to games that are too violent for their maturity level. It is an established fact that a vast majority of clients of the video game makers are little children in their teenage or even younger than that. “ It is estimated that 90% of all the youth in the US aged between eight and eighteen are exposed to a Video game” (Okello, 2010). Games are being made on subjects that include but are not limited to sex, rape, murder, robbery, fight, theft, insult and humiliation. This paper discusses whether or not video game designers should make games that are too violent for innocent minds. It has been observed that children who have a habit or liking for playing games spend a major portion of their day playing them. This can fundamentally be attributed to the task oriented nature of the games. A vast majority of games are about striving to achieve a certain goal. Having achieved which, the player is taken to the next level. Unless all the levels are cleared, the player would keep struggling hard. The complex plots require the children to put in their maximum effort. In an attempt to conceive the game strategy and achieve the goal, children tend to memorize the plot of the game and in their subconscious, they tend to approve all that is conveyed to them through the game. This can be estimated from the fact that the abbreviated language children use to communicate with one another in the virtual world reflects in the speech they deliver in the real world as well. However, this is only one aspect in which the children are affected that most of us are aware of simply because it is so obvious. There are more harsh realities that many of us do not know because they do not show up as obviously as language does. While playing a game based on any of the violent subjects mentioned before, the child gains education about them that is generally not available to him/her through other sources of information because of being underage. “ Games are clearly rotting humanity’s collective eternal soul and must be banned accordingly” (Meikleham, 2010). Video game designers’ attempt to convey harmful education to the innocent children through their products should be strictly condemned. Parents generally tend to be quite watchful and try their best to keep their children from harmful content on the television. However, video games are one such forum many parents do not generally pay much heed to. This can be so either because parents are too mature to find interest in something as unrealistic as a video game, or else, they are not educated on the use of latest technology because of their lack of interaction with technology. Children should not be allowed to watch whatever the mafia has planned for them simply because parents can not keep a check on them. Therefore, video game designers should be socially responsible and not make violent games. References: Meikleham, D. (2010). Top 10 banned videogames: The games that incurred the wrath of the censors the world over. Retrieved from http://www. gamesradar. com/ps3/f/top-10-banned-videogames/a-20070619165925718061/g-2007051014491233070. Okello, O. J. (2010). Violent Video Games: Behaviour Change And The Youth. Retrieved from http://www. suite101. com/content/video-games-and–behavior-problems-a219659.