Opinion: Blaming Gaming

First, let me admit that I enjoy video games and have always seen them as a progressive force in entertainment. My father introduced me to the medium when I was still a little kid - I was probably about 5 years old at the time and my first console was the Atari 2600. It is in this manner that I do not hold a balanced view to the debate about gaming.

Nonetheless, something that has always puzzled me is how people seem to know some things are just bad even without being first immersed into the world to better understand it. But it's inevitable, people will always blame things they don't know simply because the things they do know are never bad enough to make "bad people". This is likely where video games stand at the moment - not enough people know them to understand their value but there is a significant population that does enjoy them.

Indeed, video gaming will likely weather through most of the criticisms it has been receiving, just like all the other forms of entertainment that have been attacked at one point or another (yes, at one point books were considered "evil"). However, people never really seem to learn that entertainment mediums are not quite as effective as culture in teaching people to do "evil" things (this is without mentioning that entertainment has tendencies to mirror culture rather than create it). Ultimately, the creation of an "evil little brat" has more to do with the social conditions that that brat lives than the fact that he enjoys taking head shots at innocent people in Grand Theft Auto.

Sure, blaming gaming is easy but it is the social structure that matters most in how that person acts. Perhaps the question that needs to be asked is why did this brat, who happens to be a fan of Doom, go out to massacre his co-workers instead of chatting about the game with them. What is it that led to fictional material being played out in real life? Could fictional scenarios be inspired by the real world and the occurrence of these incidents in the real world are merely tied in to that coincidence?

Let me acknowledge that the most popular games also tend to have themes of violence and sometimes also sexual content, but that is likely because they also appeal to a wider audience (think of Hollywood) - from children all the way up to the elderly (ever heard of Old Grandma Hardcore? Well, you can find her here and may she have as many lives as games afford players!). I understand that a lot of legislation is about protecting the "innocent minds" of children but this misses the point that steering children in the "right direction" is brought about by parental guidance and community upbringing, not by controlling the content they consume (it may help, but not enough to stop Jimmy over there from going on a rampage). Why?

Because what is "right" is culturally specific - Chinese values are different from American values which are different from Indian values and none of these values are better than any of the others, no matter how much some will argue. Raising an individual to become an active and productive member of society is dependent on the lessons they are given by their immediate guardians - be they parents, teachers or peers - not on their preferred form of entertainment.

Culture also helps to make these games easily understandable because the concepts of violence and retribution are already ingrained into the fabric of that culture (a good and less violent example is sports games - you know how to play the video game because you understand the culture and concept of the sport... in violent games the concept is "shoot the bad guys", just like the aim of the US Army in Iraq, right? Well, I think that games actually have better values and morals to teach in war when compared to real life). It is only because there is a cultural reference that links violence to retribution and justice that one could make sense of taking out enemies by violent means.

I must make clear that I am not fighting to leave games unregulated - no, I am simply saying that games are not the solution to any of the real issues and spending time on these issues is a waste of resources. It is sensible to place warnings on games because people need to be aware of the content in the game to make the right choice - but to restrict their flow is not going to help all that much (somehow "innocent children" still manage to get hold of that Hustler, Marlboro, Carlsberg and Crack, no? Okay, "crack" is not a brand... my bad). This is more of a half-measure that only seems to address the face of the problem but does nothing to root out the underlying causes that encourage such behaviour.

Unfortunately, blaming gaming provides a prima facie solution to a deeper cultural issue that many are not willing to acknowledge (such as a culture of retribution, guns, justification of force...). To that point, such restrictions on games will do little to curb the "senseless violence" among youth and frankly, I doubt it would do much to curb their imaginations.