Saudi Arabia Bans 47 Video Games After Children's Death

• by Robin Burks
• – on [17 juillet 2018] July 17, 2018
• in Game News

In response to the death of two children, the country of Saudi Arabia officially banned a total of 47 video games. Although only one social media challenge has been responsible for the deaths, the country hopes to protect more children with the general ban.

Video games often have a bad reputation because they negatively influence children. In most violent incidents involving children, someone inevitably advocates a ban on violent video games, although most games that end up being mentioned are not meant for children under a certain age . Although video games have age assessment systems similar to those of movies, studies show that most parents ignore these ratings and do not take them seriously. This exposes children to material that has already been deemed inappropriate for them. But generally, blame is placed with video games themselves when such incidents occur.

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In this case, controversial social media The challenge of the whales caused two children, aged 13 and 12, to commit suicide. Blue Whale is not even a video game, but a social media challenge that dares users to participate in various disruptive activities. It eventually introduces self-injury and ends up charging users to commit suicide. Although the challenge of Blue Whale is involved, The New York Times reports that Saudi Arabia has banned 47 popular video game titles in response to the deaths of children. Saudi Arabia states that these titles violate their rules and regulations.

Among these forbidden titles are Grand Theft Auto V, Assassin's Creed 2 and The Witcher . All of these games, however, are rated for older players. None of these titles have any connection to the Blue Whale challenge, but perhaps Saudi Arabia thinks that this ban is a preventative measure to protect children from the violence of these titles which are not intended for them.

The whale challenge dates back to 2016. Authorities around the world have linked the game to the suicides of several young people. However, Saudi Arabia is the only country to link video games to the challenge, which could leave a lot in the industry, as well as players, scratching their heads.

Perhaps the Saudi government should focus its efforts on social media effects on young people, which was the real cause of child suicides. Prohibit video games for children is a dressing on a problem that involves no video game.

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Source: New York Times

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