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| Yes | 48% | 95 votes | Total: 198 votes | |
| No | 52% | 103 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesGTA IV's April release will have an impact on students exam results. However, not all students who play the game will experience negative grades. There will, of course, be students who choose to go on a video game binge for several weeks, because they NEED to finish the game as quickly as possible. But there will also be students who choose to play GTA IV and can handle playing in moderation, thus leaving time to study. Students who realize that their grades are more important than a game will be able to play and enjoy the game and find a happy balance between entertainment and success. Students like that will be in the minority. Many students who got GTA IV on its release date of April 29 will probably still be playing it, and will continue to play until they beat it, and even more than that. GTA IV is loaded with so many new features than the previous games and will continue to entice gamers for many months to come. I personally know of students who will put off studying to cram in just a few more minutes of play time. It's sad that today's student thinks that they can accomplish more by playing a game than applying themselves in school. Exams are one of the most important parts of school, and are often followed by this great big, empty period called summer vacation, where students can play all day and night without too severe repercussions. If only students were able to see that far down the road, they would see the light at the end of the tunnel and put off playing that game and study for exams. Our future as a country and society will be better off because of their choice. School is one of the most important aspects of our lives, and many children don't or can't go to school. Those children also don't have the luxury of playing the new hyped up game. It's disappointing that students today who are lucky enough to have both take the more important one for granted. Students should be encouraged to stop playing and start studying so that they will become productive members of society. Most schools don't realize that gaming is really an epidemic and therefore don't have policies against gaming. To boost scores and counterbalance the negative impact that is sure to follow the release of GTA IV, it might be in schools' best interest to implement some study time into regular classes. Scores would go up, students and schools would benefit, and students would be happier because they can play their game without worrying too much about exams. It certainly is a happy medium, and definitely a better thing than letting students achieve grades under par.
Learn more about this author, Chris Simpson.
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No
Grand Theft Auto IV's new release date of April 29th will not affect student exam results. To be completely honest, video games, just like any non-curricular activity, will always affect exam results and grades in a negative way. However, the release of one new game into the mass market will not affect exam grades in a noticeable way, even if it was released the first day of exams, instead of a week to two beforehand.
Any activity that is unrelated to school is of course a distraction from exams, and will thus impact the results of the individual who undergoes that activity, but this is just as true for varsity sports players as it is for hardcore gamers who are never seen without at least two hand-held systems and a controller in their pocket 'just in case.' However, a large percentage of students are able to put aside these extra activities during exam time and focus entirely on exams, while another sizable portion is at least able to keep these activities to a minimum. The release of a new game will not affect the results of this group of students at all, as they are intelligent enough to treat exams as more important than a new game. This group of students would merely continue studying for exams and ignore this new game until after exams, or would play the game only in moderation and when they thought they could spare themselves from studying.
The only 'clique' of students that will be negatively affected by the release of Grand Theft Auto IV is the aforementioned 'hardcore' gamers. These ever elusive creatures that cling to their mouse and keyboard in the darkest corners of their dorm room, surrounded by empty snack food wrappers, come out only every few hours to use the washroom, and who seem almost as plugged into their television or computer monitor as the game system they are using, are the only ones who would be likely to overplay GTA IV during time when they should be studying or resting for their exams. However, these students are also the most likely to be playing games other than GTA IV during these same times, and in the end would only play GTA IV just as much as they would normally play all their other games during this time.
Even if GTA IV was not being released at all, there are still other new games coming out during this time, including a new content pack for Neverwinter Nights 2 for the PC, and Castle of Shikigami III for the Nintendo Wii on April 29th itself, not to mention the dates just before and after April 29th. There are plenty of new games for these 'hardcore' gamers to gorge themselves upon for the time leading up to exams, and plenty more new games being released between the 29th of April and the start of exams to keep them occupied for weeks after that, when they will just have to buy more of the new releases.
In the end GTA's release may impact individual exam results slightly, but only as much as any other new video game/movie/major sporting event would, and taken from a wider viewpoint, the impact of this game on the results of any particular student body will be negligible at most.
Learn more about this author, Kevin Cranstoun.
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