The Entertainment Software Rating Board Analysis

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Violent video games are bad for everyone; they cause violent behavior and other issues in young adults. Many parents are afraid of their children being exposed to these and try to act out the scenes depicted in the games. Parents rejoice because we have a rating system called, the Entertainment software rating board, or ESRB. “The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is the non-profit, self-regulatory body that assigns ratings for video games and apps so parents can make informed choices. The ESRB rating system encompasses guidance about age-appropriateness, content, and interactive elements. As part of its self-regulatory role for the video game industry the ESRB also enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines and helps ensure …show more content…

The rating scale goes from E (for everyone) to AO (for adults only 18+). So when a child asks a parent to buy a game for them the parents should check the rating to see if the game goes against the values and moral the parent is trying to instill in their child. Parents are also worried about violent video games like the call of duty franchise are going to desensitize children about the effects of war along with the effects of what guns and other weapons can do, which could lead to children using them in real life and not realizing the danger and damage they can cause. Children who play violent video games show signs of aggression and acting out, they can be less sensitive to horrific events in real life, and have a hard time separating reality and fake/ fictional. …show more content…

I myself have noticed how violent acts in the news have really no effect on me. I just sit there and basically accept the fact that society is flawed and terrible things happen. I’m not saying that the violent actions in real have no effect on me, they do, but I’m just more used to them occurring, I still feel bad for the victims, but I just feel a sort of numbness to the situations. “Brad Bushman a social psychologist at The Ohio State University conducted a study where they split up a group of children into two groups, one that would play violent video games and the other that would play nonviolent video games. At the end of playing he then would show the children two violent pictures, one of a many putting a gun in another man’s mouth and the other of a guy holding a knife to a woman’s throat. He found out that the children playing the violent games were not really bothered by the two pictures.