Minecraft is taking heavy fire from the Turkish government, as family and social affairs minister Aysenur Islam ordered a Minecraft Violence Investigation. According to Islam, the game seems to be promoting aggression since one journalist mentioned of how players get points for killing each other online, which would make the game inappropriate for some players.
As part of the investigation, psychiatrists shared different views about the game. Although some suggest that the game is safe and suitable for general gamers, others think that the game "teaches" children how to be violent, not only to other humans, but also to animals.
Psychiatrist Professor for Children and Adolescents Dr. Emine Sword Zinner explained that Minecraft is mostly viewed as a survival game similar to the Survivor (the reality TV series), where the player creates their own world and do their best to survive diverse creatures that appear in the dark. Zinner added that they see nothing wrong with the game.
On the contrary, Clinical Psychologist Alanur Ozalp said that games such as Minecraft have a negative impact on children. She further explained that most of them are not yet capable of telling the difference between the real world and the fictional game world.
Minecraft has a PEGI(Pan European Game Information) rating of 7+ in Europe and 10+ in the U.S. with a disclaimer that says "non-realistic-looking violence." In-game characters, whether they are human, animals, or fictional creatures, are not detailed to be realistic. This has made the title a massive hit all over the world in the first place. With its continuous growth in the mainstream, Minecraft is now being used as a learning media in UK schools.
The Minecraft Violence investigation still hasn't come to conclusion. However, if proven that the game is indeed promoting the kind of violence presented in the investigation, Minecraft is at risk of being not playable within Turkey. This could also mean that the game could be banned elsewhere due to what is seemingly violent or offensive in nature.
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