Loud cheering, the metallic click of controllers, the sound of conversation over strategy, and new game releases, these are the various sounds of the HHS HEAT Club one of only three video game clubs within the school.  These clubs allow the student body to relax and enjoy various video games during school hours, but surprisingly there are only three clubs that are videogame or video game-based.  And these three clubs only have a very small member base,  But why?

Zac Mileo, a Vice President for one of the video game clubs, seemed to have an idea, “It’s because of uncertainty” Zac explained “A lot of people nowadays play mature games like Call of Duty and GTA that are not appropriate for school, causing people to be hesitant about starting or joining video game clubs because they don’t want to break the rules.” When asked, 7 different students echoed the exact same thought. “Personally, I would start a club, but I don’t want to get sent to the office over improper video games.” This brought up the question “so what are the rules on video games, anyway?”

Rules for clubs, especially video game clubs, are important, due to the nature of videogames.  Nailing down what games are accepted here at the school is a job that the Administration needs to tackle.  Games are rated on a scale of maturity.  It should be just a simple choice of picking to enforce one of the six video game ratings that are based on a game’s aspects like violence and item usage.

The student handbook doesn’t address it.  Neither do the club forms. So what are the rules? Miss Schmidt, the Administrator in charge of the creation of clubs, was also stumped “I’ve never actually been brought any issues about video games, nor seen any rules on video games in the first place.”  Miss Schmidt continued “I assume a lot of the “Rules” that clubs follow now are not official rules, but rules  that I assume were created by prior clubs or club sponsors which differ from club to club”

Miss Miller, the Teacher Sponsor for HHS HEAT game club, told The Forecast her opinion on what the rules should be. “I haven’t seen any rules controlling video games.  Personally as long as it doesn’t break any rules about violence and killing I see no harm in playing what they like.”

With all bases covered lets recap, The absence of gaming clubs are because of the uncertainty behind the rules and regulations on video games.  According to administrators and faculty as long as you keep between the movie content guidelines, they don’t mind you playing, and no current rules restrict the play of games outside of class. So why aren’t there more video game clubs?

In my opinion, it’s because the student body is unsure as to what games are acceptable and so may be  led to believe that gaming is banned in general when there are no rules on gaming overall. I personally feel that the school should set-up a list of guidelines which would set rules such as picking one of the 5 ratings: E for Everyone, Everyone 10+, Teen, Mature, or Adult, and maybe having a list of approved games in the student handbook or on the schools website would be in order.

That way we can all play with a clear conscience, and the gaming culture can grow and thrive here at HHS.