by Can Tran

Created on: December 14, 2008   Last Updated: April 06, 2012

Video games can corrupt children if you let them. There is a reason that the Electronic Software Ratings Board (ESRB) exists.

The ESRB is the organization that regulates ratings of video game titles. This is the equivalent to the Motion Picture Association of American (MPAA) in regards to movies. However, the ESRB is a bit more liberal and not uptight as the MPAA. Plus, the ESRB is not as controversial as the MPAA.

Again, games can corrupt children if you let it.

That means do not let your children play violent video games. If your child is under the age of sixteen, then do not by him/her a game that has the ESRB rating of "M for Mature." That is no different from taking your child to see an R-rated or NC-17 movie.

If a video game does corrupt your child, you have nobody but yourself to blame. When buying a game for your child, friend's child, niece, nephew, little sibling, little cousin, or grandchild, you should be responsible and pick a game with a sensible rating.

Other than that, video games are not corrupting children. The thought that video games are corrupting children is nothing but a preposterous notion for several reasons.

Reason One:

Today, the video game industry is making billions of dollars more than mainstream Hollywood. In a nutshell, the game industry has given the movie industry a run for its money.

When you go to a movie, you have to pay an insane charge of $8 to $12 to see a movie that lasts for at least an hour and twenty-minutes. Food and drinks cost an arm and a leg. You are wasting about $20 to $30 by going alone. If you are with your family, you are wasting at least $50 to $100. Maybe the movie is not really good and you wasted your money.

Video games tend to be more interactive than movies. They have very deep storylines that can have you playing for countless hours. They are similar to movies; yet, they are completely different. If video games were corrupting children, people would have been corrupted a long time ago. They would have been corrupted by movies, TV shows, cartoons, comic books, and songs on the radio. But, that has not happened. In that respect, video games are not corrupting children.

Like movies and books, there is much intellectual value in video games. I would rather play a video game than watch Reality TV. It would be Reality TV and "Pop Music" that is corrupting children.

Reason Two:

Not all video games are violent. Like movies and books, video games come in all different flavors. It also depends on the type of

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