What do you do when you have a free time? Girls might chat over a cup of coffee, of go shopping. Well most boys have an experience of playing computer games in their free time, but some of these games are too violent for youth to play. It could affect the acts of youth, leading to violence. As a result, a voice calling to restrict the cycle of violence is coming out. The Yonsei Annals held a debate with YDT, Yonsei Debate Team, to discuss the pros and cons about the regulation of the violent games.

Chairperson: Today, we are going to debate whether we should bring the level of violence in computer games under the law. First, I would like to hear the opinions from each position.
Park: People’s freedom is stated in the constitution. When freedom leads to serious social disorders, however, it can be regulated.  Violent games result is violent acts. Especially, the youth are more likely to have a tendency to attack others than the grown-ups, becoming unable to judge what is right and wrong. We could check the fact from several treaties(See box 2). It also stimulates peripheral nerves. In fact, violent games have a higher percentage of toxicity.
Jung: I do not deny that violence affects youth, but I think other media will affect them more. The problem occurs because mass media always focuses on whether the murderer played violent games or not after a murder. I think it is an expanded analysis.
Hyun: I agree with Jung. Moreover, restricting expression will decrease the overall creativity in making games. In addition, since other countries do not regulate violence, regulating ourselves only is not an end in solving the problem. It will only reduce the profit of the Korean game industry, because people will tend to play more violent games from the foreign countries.
Hyun: I do not understand, why people are especially focusing on games, compared to other forms of media. It is like witch hunting. Although there is not a clear casual relationship between gaming violence and overall violence itself, people keep denouncing these games as witches.
Hwang: For instance, movies are viewed as less violent than games although the two apply to the same age level. There is no movie where people are killed throughout the scene. In the case of games, however, there are more killing scenes, where people do not just witness but participate in killing secondhand.
Jung: These days, R-rated movies can be also downloaded through the Internet, what is the basis of your opinion?
Park: For movies, off-line routes are well restricted to youth. In addition, although if the under aged want to see P2P websites, parents will know their children saw it through the liquidation records. On the other hand, most of the violent games only need an adults residential numbers.
Chairperson: Is there any word to be discussed in the disapproval sector? How would you support the idea that creativity will fade if we restrict violence?
Hyun: First, there is an ambiguity in constraining “violence.” If we forbid blood, swords and contents, there are too many things to abandon. Without a clear definition of violence, the freedom of programming games will be reduced.
Chairperson: What about the problem of importing violent foreign brand games?
Park: Foreign countries also have laws that restrict excessively violent computer games. According to the article in Feb.15, 2007, EU including Germany, one of biggest game exporting countries, decided to restrict the level of violence. Moreover, some states in the U.S and New Zealand are also adapting the law. Thus, there woul not be much problem of weakening our domestic game industry. Regulating violent games is a global trend.
Hyun: Still, some regions like Louisiana in the U.S. say that their law is rather unconstitutional. I think it is a problem we should keep think bout. Moreover, I think that a more important matter than restricting the game production itself is to regulate deliberated distribution.
Hwang: Yes, I agree, but the problem is, the present regulation system is not proper to restrict abuse completely. Although there are restrictions in age levels, young people know how to get around it. Thus, the only way to solve this problem fundamentally is to control it from the start.
Chairperson: Any last words?
Jung: During the era of Socrates, he denied the medium of “composition,” but nobody neglects books these days. In the ‘50s, rock music was called the music of Satan, whereas many of us love and enjoy it now. Same as TV, people now know how to watch TV wisely. Games are also an issue because their history is not so long. In the broader perspective, the violence of games will probably self-purify itself.
Hwang: Without any responsibility, freedom becomes self-indulgence. If we admit all the contents in games in the name of freedom, it will become a dangerous factor for our society. Since it is a newly born industry, if we regulated it well now, both the game industry and society will have a brighter future.
Chairperson: It is true that game violence Affects levels of youth crime, but the regulation should be limited to levels that do not influence the essence of the game. It also should protect the under aged. Thank you for today’s participation.

Box 1. Kim Tae-kyung (Chief of Center of Supervising Harmful Environ. To Youth)
   To existing youth who have been grown up using computers in various ways, the harmful contents existing in the cyber environment suppose that the solution differs in each age and gender. Frankly speaking, the most effective solution is parents’ concerns for their own children.
   According to research from our institution, more than 50 percent of adolescents said they often use violent and lewd materials. Half of the respondents were insensible to violence, and they rather used it as a way to solve their stress. From this result, we can see the seriousness of violent games with regards to youth. It shows that adolescents accept violence and vulgarness.
   It is a problem itself to leave adolescents near these materials. Thus, controlling the level of violence from the initial stage of programming the game should be studied more comprehensively. Grades should be applied not only to “what is the violent way of killing?” but also to the overall way of running the game. The idea of raining the level from killing others should be changed.

Box2. The relationship between violent games and violent acts of youth
   According to research from psychologist Anderson and Karen, people who were more exposed to violent video games had instant onset movement. The first result shows that people who played more video games in their middle, and high schools had higher levels of violence.
   There was also a relationship between the amount of time spent in gaming and low grades. The second, conducted with 210 university students, shows that people who played violent video games had treated others outrageously than people who did not play these violent games.