PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD
PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD | Table of Contents: |
Ah, holidays and the New Year: Time for the traditional seasonal onslaught of
bloody video games. “Fresh guts roasting
as you open fire, slay bells ringing for your foes/ Should old acquaintances be
just shot, or left to rot and grind?”
The perennial flare-up over violent video games got fresh ammo this year: Modern Warfare 2, released in November, shocked even fan-boys by letting players murder unarmed civilians at an airport, an industry first. The “first-person shooter” notched the biggest one-day sales of any entertainment launch (movies included) in history - 4.7 million copies worth $310 million in the United States and United Kingdom. (Ironically, the record breaking shared headlines with the Fort Hood shooter.) While not specifically mentioning violent games, President Obama urged school kids to put down their video games and get a life, for heaven’s sake. Congress and several states, including New York, entertained new legislation to require stricter labeling of any video game rated T (Teen) or higher by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).
Given the huge global enlistment in Modern Warfare and other new digital bloodbaths such as Brutal Legend, Assassin’s Creed and Resident Evil, it’s worth asking (especially if you’re a parent): Is all this hi-res, hands-on killing - some of it cold murder - really harmless? Even if the victim is an alien, demon, vampire or zombie? Not to get too heavy, but is interactive killing really a good use of our precious time, money and lives?
“Chill out, dude,” you say. ”It’s just a game.” Maybe, but stakes – and numbers – are high. According to recent studies by Pew Charitable trust and Kaiser, some 97 percent of teens play video games. The average player is 35 (!) and has been playing for 12 years. Global game sales, estimated at $48.3 billion in 2008, are expected to reach $68.3 billion by 2012, according to industry researchers the NPD Group. That’s twice as big as the movie business and much bigger than music.
I’m not a regular gamer, but when I’ve had the opportunity to blast electronic evildoers, I’ve enjoyed it. I get how video game violence (videolence? Game-Vi?) could be very satisfying, especially after a bad day at work. And addictive. So you’ve got to wonder...Is this merely a “healthy outlet,” as some claim? Or something darker? Unfortunately, I fear it’s the latter.
Before you pull the trigger on buying this year, take a breath and consider:
1. Violent video games promote and reward violence. The game industry and fans deny it, but many experts clearly link violent video games with violent behavior. For the last decade, groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, Mothers Against Violence and several religious groups have sounded alarms on the issue. Much academic research echoes a recent study of 1,500 Japanese and American 9-18 year-olds. It concluded: “Playing violent video games is a significant risk factor for later physically aggressive behavior,” regardless of culture. That squares with decades of research on media violence in general. Of more than 3,500 scientific studies examining the relationship between media violence and violent behavior, only 18 failed to find a relationship, according to Mary Larson, Northern Illinois University professor and author of “Watch it! What Parents Need to Know to Raise Media-Smart Kids."
Lest you think that just Blue State sissies are fretting, meet Lt. Col. David Grossman. He’s a former West Point psychology professor and author of several books on violence in media, including On Killing and Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill. Grossman calls first-person shooter games “murder simulators” that unethically train kids to use weapons while emotionally hardening players with hundreds of killings per session.
Industry rebuts have been about as convincing as tobacco companies under similar scrutiny. As for players, many fans and reviewers take sophomoric delight:
“Firing your weapon into a crowd and watching chunks fly in this game actually makes you laugh and cringe at the same time. A steam-powered bolt-launcher emits a cute whistle sound while it rips people apart.” (Review of Fall Out 3 in “The Most Violent Videogames Ever Made”, PC World.)
You don’t have to be a PhD. to wonder about the lessons imparted: If you don’t like someone, waste them. It’s easy to get what you want with a joystick and a bag of grenades. If you feel powerless, kill someone - you’ll feel awesome! Kill more, score more. Etc. Bad for anybody, doubly for kids.
You knew the Columbine shooters were avid Doom players, right? Ok, maybe that’s a cheap shot. But even if everyone doesn’t storm school with an AK-15, death games still nurse a merciless thirst for violence. They also help shape a twisted worldview worthy of a Charles Manson or Osama bin Laden. If you think your community needs more of that, lotsa luck.
I won’t go as far as saying that buying death-dealing video games for a kid makes you a bad parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt, sibling, cousin, etc. (But it does.)
2. There are better video game alternatives. Good news here: Four of the five games most popular among American teens - Guitar Hero, Madden NFL, Solitaire, and Dance Dance Revolution -- are not killers according to a recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. (The fifth, Halo 3, features unholy splatter.) If you’ve already bought a killer, why not return it for one of these?
Numerous Websites suggest less bloody videogames for kids, teens and adults. Check out:
http://www.whattheyplay.com/
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/game-reviews,
http://www.tnpc.com/Best_Family_Wii_Games_for_2009.html;
http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/game-of-the-year-2009/best-family-game/1380589;
http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_effect.shtml.
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