News Writing 1

     Players get a call from a very mysterious person and says they need to go and kill this person and they automatically assume they are a contract killer.

     Students and some faculty do not believe that playing violent video games causes a person to become violent.

     “It’s pretty simplistic to just say exposure to violence causes you to be violent,” Texas Tech professor Jimmie Reeves said as he sat back in his chair.

     Reeves said it is not clear what the impact of video games was on the shooter in Sandy Hook, Conn.

     According to the Entertainment Software Association, the top selling game by units sold in 2011 is "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3."

     Reeves said the overall statistics of youth violence have gone down, and the decline of youth violence occurred at the same time as the invention of the most violent video games.

     “How do you explain that and blame Sandy Hook on video games?” Reeves said.

     Bobby Rodriguez, a junior business administration major from El Paso, Texas, plays video games on a daily basis and was asked what impact violent video games have on him. He said he does not feel different when he plays them.

     “I think if you’re violent they might make you escalate,” Rodriquez said, “but they’re not going to make you into something that you aren’t.”

 According to the Entertainment Software Association, 91 percent of parents pay attention to the content of the games their children play.

Robin Haislett is a doctoral student at Tech who does research on video games.

“In a lot of cases, there are messages that are embedded even far under the guise of it being a hyper-violent game,” Haislett said.

Haislett said there is a game called “Hotline Miami” that has embedded messages. The player takes control of a contract killer and has to kill a person, like a mob boss.

Haislett continued and said once they complete the mission, they have to walk back through the level and everything that the player killed is still there.

“Even if it hyper-violent like that, it isn’t necessarily about the violence, it’s more about how you react to it,” Haislett said.

Haislett finished off with a statement on the general impact of video games.

“Games are not meant to replace life in any way or try to make you a different person,” Haislett said, “but it’s a way for you to explore something without having to walk out into society and have this big social stigma over you."

Service Journalism

2012 Sales, Demographic, and Usage Data:

·      The average U.S. household owns at least one dedicated game console, PC, or smartphone.

·      90 percent of the time parents are present when games are purchased or rented.

·      85 percent of parents are aware of the Entertainment System Rating Board rating system.

·      98 percent of parents feel the Entertainment Software Rating Board rating system is either very or somewhat helpful in choosing games for their children.

Source: Entertainment Software Association: Essential Facts About The Computer and Video Game Industry

Author-source page

Author:                             Jonathan Lin

                                    jonathan.lin@ttu.edu

Sources:                            Jimmie Reeves

                                    jimmie.reeves@ttu.edu

                                    Bobby Rodriguez

                                    bobby.rodriguez@ttu.edu

                                    Robin Haislett

                                    robin.haislett@ttu.edu

                                    Miguel Velasquez

                                    miguel.velasquez@ttu.edu

                                    Rashad Chowdhury

                                    rashad.chowdhury@ttu.edu