AREA FOUR: ISSUES.

• Obestiy - are children spending too much time on computers rather than excercising and socialising? A growing issue concerning gaming is that in a nation where obesity in children is a growing problem, is gaming to blame? Does it encourage children to stay inside when they could be doing other things?
• Violence in children - games such as 'Manhunt' were banned in Britain and in the US for being too violent. In America incidents of violent behaviour in children have been linked with children playing computer games. But is gaming really the reason behind this behaviour? Or are we really just looking for an excuse as to why today's children are behaving in this way?
• Roles of women - representation of women is a big issue as games are usually marketed towards men and have a dominant male main character rescuing a female somewhere in the plot. Females in games are generally represented as weak, 'damsel in distress' type characters. However, when females are used as main characters e.g. Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, they are still sexualised with, in this example, hot pants, large breasts and full lips.
• Click here for the article "Stop Blaming Video Games" which highlights the fact that parents should take responsibility for their children.

- "As a parent or guardian, do you not have the power to turn off the console, take away the potato chips, and simply order your child to go outside and play???"

- "Too often in today’s society we want to push the blame elsewhere, and not accept personal responsibility for those things over which we can have a great deal, if not full, control. All this finger pointing may make us feel better about ourselves, but it does precious little to solve any real problems."