Game Over?
Video Games are a massive part of youth culture in today?s age. Since the late 1970?s, gaming as a whole has evolved in thousands of ways, from the simple back and forth game of ?Pong? on old television sets, to battling dragons across the colossal expansive landscapes of ?The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim? on modern home consoles. However, as the possibilities increased, so did the controversy, as violent and sexual content was added to games with varying degrees of intensity. As a result, parents and politicians across the globe want to protect their young from these games, mostly likely because someone found their son shooting a soldier (a virtual soldier that is) on ?Modern Warfare 3? and forgot to look over the fact that gaming is so much more than just that. However, are their demands to have these games banned justified? Or are they massive hypocrites, looking for something else to blame rather than themselves for their children?s blood-thirsty approach to life, and death that the parents claim that the games gave them?
It?s the violence that people seem to be up in arms about (no pun intended). Games about war, fighting or generally involving killing something are the ones that get the most attention as parents believe their children will randomly get a hold of a military-grade assault rifle and think that every living being in a 2 mile radius is a terrorist or Nazi soldier, and proceed to give them all around 50 new orifices in the head or body. As we all know ? little children have the same experience with firearms as a generic military soldier and know how it all works.
Of course, this is all nonsense. Games cannot give a child any weaponry experience. They fire and reload the weapons in-game by pressing buttons, and aim with an analogue stick and this is nothing like real-life. Besides, they play as a physically able soldier and not as a physical representation of themselves. Also, some games take violence and make it incredibly over-the-top. ?Mortal Kombat? takes violence to a new level but deliberately making it ridiculous, perhaps funny at times. The ?Grand Theft Auto? series is the opposite, but the player?s actions have consequences. Kill pedestrians, and you?ll have the in-game police after you.
More sexualised content also exists, though the type of content is almost never as extreme as a generic 18 rated film, and even that content is the minority. The fact is that games which do have some sexual content are always censored, no matter the context. For example, the life simulator ?The Sims? has moments where the controlled ?Sim? will be naked (like entering a shower or bath) accompanied by a pixelated censor bar. Even if the context is more intimate, there is always censoring. It is extremely rare for a game to be uncensored and if it is, it?s made for an entirely different audience and not intended for young children.
However, these games and the previously mentioned more violent games both fall under the same general rule. In this writer?s humble opinion, the games are not to blame. Parents complain that their children have these games and fear for their minds. But there is a massive hole in that argument. It?s poor parenting that is to blame. How is it exactly fair that a parent wants a game banned because their child has it, but they are the ones who bought it in the first place? If they fear for their children, they are doing an awful job ?protecting? them. Some may say the children bought the game on their own free will and the parent didn?t know about it. That?s virtually impossible because of the age restriction, and most stores require ID as well. Perhaps the biggest blow against the parents is that while the stores cannot sell the game to the child, they can obviously sell them to the parent, as they are the one who bought it, even if the child is there who wanted it. This is plain and simple, very poor parenting, and they seem to blame the games so they don?t have to blame themselves.
However I have to admit, there are cases of players acting less than favorably as a result of video games. By far the most popular kind of game is the First-Person-Shooter (FPS) where companies can make billions on the popularity of them, for example ?Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3? made $775 million in only 5 days. As these games allow players to play together, this can cause much frustration, leading to some gamers ?rage? violently at other players. This includes screaming down the microphone, constant swearing and verbal abuse towards others because of the simple act of losing. This ?rage? has led to several, rather unstable players actually murdering others for interrupting their gameplay session. This also means that the rage transfers to younger gamers which can affect their behaviour in-game and in reality. Obviously, this is pure idiocy. Games are for fun, rarely are they for true competition and the vast majority of gamers play for fun; those who do play for competition are usually sane enough to take it.
In fact, the good these gamers do usually vastly outweigh the bad. The Humble Bundle Indie Packs are set up so players can donate any amount they want and get a collection of games in return, with the Bundles changing occasionally, and at this time of writing, the bundle gets the donators a collection of books. The money goes to a charity known as ?Child?s Play? which looks to find the generosity of gamers and the industry to improve the lives of ill children in hospitals. There are also ?Indie? games where games are funded by the people who play them, these are also known as ?Kickstarters? and are very popular. On YouTube, there are several gamers turned entertainers who play on camera for fun and have become immensely popular. Felix Kjellberg, known online as ?PewDiePie? has over 2 million subscribers on YouTube and has become popular playing horror games and recording his reactions. James Wilson, known online as ?UberHaxorNova? has over 1 million, becoming popular playing indie games and providing strong humor. Their actions, among hundreds of others influence gamers in positive ways and spread the popularity of other games. What people don?t realise is that violent and sexual content is a very small part of gaming. Other genres do exist, such as puzzle, tactical, platformer, and racing. Some of these games are even more popular than the FPSs, like ?Portal? for example. Gaming changes lives as well. Markus Alexej "Notch" Persson started out as a simple programmer, now he is the owner of a growing developer company thanks to the total explosion of ?Minecraft? which is becoming one of the most popular games in history.
Finally, games have influence on our culture and our thinking. Such great icons have come out of the gaming world and have practically become household names, such as ?Sonic the Hedgehog?, following their immense popularity whether they are modern or classic games.
In closing, gaming does so much good in this world. It just shows gaming is not about killing an enemy and then shouting at someone because they shot you. Gamers are, after all, only human and they represent a slice of humanity. Nobody is perfect, but they are no worse than criminals? or even some politicians. The industry brings people together, does genuine good and changes lives for the better. Even though there are cases where gaming makes the headlines in a bad light, often making people protest against them all, they fail to recognise the rest of the community. In short? Gamers are mere mortals ? not all bad, and not all good.
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