Important videogame events from 1950 to present day:
*1958: William Higinbotham creates first videogame
*1976: Channel F, the world's first fully programmable videogame console, is released
*1977: Atari Video Computer System is released
*1978: Taito releases their first game, Space Invaders
*1979: Namco releases the first color videogame, Galaxian
*1980: Namco creates Pacman
*1980: Mattel releases the Intellivision
*1981: Universal gives birth to the platform genre in 1981 with Space Panic
When looking at the industry of old, the company that held perhaps the most importance was Atari. Atari was started by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in 1972; later the same year, Atari created the smash hit PONG, which raked in over 3 million dollars. In 1974, Kee games releases Tank, which is immensely popular. It is later learned that Kee Games, headed by Joe Keenan, was actually a subsidiary of Atari. Kee games and Atari remerged, but this time with Joe Keenan as CEO. Then, in 1977 Atari came out with the Atari Video Computer System, also known as the VCS and the 2600 (after it's remodeling in 1982), which retailed for $250. From 1977 to 1979, 25 million Atari VCSs were sold, grossing over 5 billion dollars (Doteaters 1,1). In 1979, several members of Atari, tired of not receiving credit for the games they worked on, left the company to form Activision, the first ever third party game manufacturer. Also in 1979, Atari released Asteroids, a game that involved shooting asteroids into smaller asteroids until they were destroyed. The VCS went on to become one of the most successful consoles of all time, being a viable platform for over eight years (the average nowadays is about five).
In current day gaming, there are currently three consoles that are "alive", meaning that the company that manufactures them is still, at the moment doing so. They are, in the order of their release, the Sony Playstation 2, the Microsoft Xbox, and the Nintendo Gamecube. In the world of videogame manufacturing, the average length of time a videogame system stays on the market is about four to six years. If the videogame system is a flop, it may last less than a year, as was the case with the Sega 32X, Saturn, and Dreamcast (after which they dropped out of the videogame console market for good). The Sony Playstation 2, which came out late last year, was the first of the true new generation consoles (unless you count the Dreamcast). Every 18 months, CPU's double their processing power; graphics cards triple their performance over the same period (Alan). This means that over a five year period, games become over 5 times more powerful. This can be seen even in the generational gap between the PSOne (a remodeling of the PSX) and the PS2. The PSOne could run at a maximum of 36,000 polygons per second, while the PS2 can run at 75 million polygons per second. Despite the colorful and interesting past of videogames, many people think that they are the cause of numerous acts of teenage violence.
Some examples of this can be seen in the wild accusations following the
Columbine and Jonesboro shootings. This can be seen in the Sander's suit, filed against a large part of the media after the death of a teacher in the Columbine shooting. The suit claims that without proper controls, "it is guaranteed that more monsters will be created and more school killings will occur." (IGN Cube) Another soldier in the war against videogame violence in Senator Joseph Liberman. He believes that videogames should be censored because they cause children to become more violent. It is, however, hard to believe someone who does not have hard facts. Enter David Grossman.
Grossman is a former military expert on the psychological conditioning of
soldiers for war. He is currently very active in the war on videogames.
He believes that there are four ways in which the media is conditioning our youth. The first is called brutalization or desensitization. The goal is to break a person down so that the person accepts violence and destruction as normal everyday events. This happens all of the time on television and in games. Players and viewers see death, destruction and mayhem in all aspects of TV and videogames. Strike one for the industry. The second type of conditioning is called classical conditioning. This was the type of "therapy" used in the movie, A Clockwork Orange. In this movie, a murderer is secured in a chair and has his eyelids held open while he is watches violent movies. At the same time, he is injected with a powerful nauseant. This makes it so that he associates violence with nausea, and thus is not able to be violent. Grossman says that the exact opposite is happening with the media. When a child plays a violent videogame, he or she associates excessive kills, or "frags" with rewards such as power ups or invincibility. This is operant conditioning. The child, after many such sessions, associates killing, with pleasure. Classical conditioning, the third type, is still in use by our army today. In classical conditioning, the subject repeats an action through a continued routine of stimulus response until the subject cannot receive the stimulus without responding in the same way. The army uses this to teach it’s soldiers to kill the first thing that they see move. Sadly, videogames use the exact same training on the players. Games such as Namco’s “Time Crisis” actually have players holding a representation of a gun and shooting the “bad guys” on screen. The theory goes that a child given the same situation would shoot the gun at the first thing there is to respond to. Finally, the army uses a continued supply of role models. In the army it is in the form of a drill sergeant, the most violent man in front of them at most times. Videogames use trash talking, smoking, evil men as their role models such as Solid Snake or Duke Nukem. Some would say that this is not healthy for our children, but there is another side to the story.
It’s called the ESRB (short for Entertainment Software Ratings Board). The ESRB was set up by the industry as an alternative to a government regulated board. They rate games from Early Childhood to Adult Only, as seen below.
Early Childhood: This rating is given to games designed for children three and older. They contain no material that parents would find inappropriate.
Everyone: This rating is given to games designed for children six and older. They may contain minimal violence and some comic mischief.
Teen: This rating is given to games designed for children ages thirteen and up. They may contain violence, language and/or suggestive themes.
Mature: This rating is given to games designed for people ages seventeen and older. They may contain more intense violence or language than those in the Teen catergory.
Adults Only: These games contain material only suitable for people eighteen or older. They include graphic depictions of violence or sex. It should be noted that no game has ever received an Adults Only rating.
So with this system already in place, why would anyone be complaining? For one thing, the system is not enforced. There is nothing preventing a ten year old from entering a store and buying and Adults Only game besides the fact that there has never been one made. In the end, the amount public outcry will determine what will be done, but hopefully now you have something to base your opinion on.
Outline
Introduction: Are videogames corrupting our future
I. History
A. William Higinbotham and “Tennis for two”
B. Atari
C. PS2
II. Against
A. Senator Joseph Liberman
B. David Grossman
1. Classical Conditioning
2. Operant Conditioning
3. Role models
4. Brutalization
III. For
A. ESRB
B. Survey results
Conclusion: It’s up to you to decide, but now you are informed.
Works Cited
Alan-Editor “Gaming Violence”
On-line. Internet. 10-24-01
http://www.nintensity.com/coulums/government.html
Check the rating ESRB [United States] n.p. n.d.
“Columbine Families Blame Videogames”
On-line. Internet. 10-24-01
http://cube.ign.com/news
“ESRB Video & Computer Game Ratings”
On-line. Internet. 10-24-01
http://www.esrb.com
On-line. Internet. 10-29-01
http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters
“Senator Blasts Videogame Violence”
On-line. Internet. 10-24-01
http://ign64.ign.com/news/417.html
William Hunter “From ‘Pong’ to ‘Pac-man’”
On-line. Internet. 10-24-01
http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/pong.html