Thursday, November 11, 2010

Do video games encourage bad behavior?

This topic really hits home with me because I am a fan of video games, and I think no, they dont. I say that because there are many precautions taken to make sure that the violent video games dont fall into the hands of the young impressionable kids. The video game rating system plays a large part in that, seeing as most of the games that have all the violence are rated M (for mature) and you have to be 17 to even purchase them. Parents should be aware of what they are buying for their kids, and what their kids are playing to also ensure that they aren't playing anything that may be questionable.

I also think that the rating system is a problem in one sense though. The kids who play games are aware of what the ratings mean, and they know that if they can get their hands on the games rated M they will probably have more fun, and probably be more popular, its just like going to see the rated R movie when you were younger and then bragging to your other friends who weren't allowed to go see it.

Kids are also smart enough to realize what they are playing is a game and just because its ok to kill on the game its not ok to kill in real life, and that is another thing that lies on the parents to teach them .

Is Advertising Good For Society?

This is a question that I have heard over the past few years during the course of all my communications classes. Each time it is brought up I think that no, advertising isn't bad for society but then I really think about it. Now i believe that advertising isn't bad for society in moderation. Everywhere we go in this society we are surrounded by advertising, from logos on clothing to billboards and bus ads to those annoying pop-ups online that you can never get to go away.

To a certain extent Americans have been able to adapt to this world where everything is an ad, and now we can tune most of the stuff out and pay attention to what we really want to, and that is good. However it becomes bad when you cant escape the ads, when no matter how much you try to tune them out, the find a way to follow you and make themselves known, when the ads push themselves upon you.

Advertising is a bittersweet enterprise because even if the ad is good or bad, at the end of the day you know that the people behind the ad only want your money, and your best interest isn't at heart. One of my favorite things to do when I watch television is to try and guess what product is behind what advertisement.  Now-a-days its hard to tell sometimes, because the commercial will have nothing to do with the product. I feel like those types of ads are the ones trying to trick you, trying to lull you into this world where you feel like you have to get the product they are pushing, which is bad advertising in my book.