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Rant Rolodex *** Shorthand Key: "THEY" The Argument: Depictions of extreme violence in video games is driving America’s youth to commit progressively more aggressive and heinous crimes against real people. Violence in video games is escalating at an unacceptable rate, is harming the mental health of the teenagers who play such games, and is exposing America’s children to unsafe and violent ideas that will negatively impact their interactions with society. Persons making this argument often bring up the many studies that have been done on the effects of violent video games on the human brain as proof that what these children see on their television screens is influencing their behavior. Persons of this view are currently pushing for more regulations, more advertising of ratings systems that are already in place for games, larger warnings on game boxes, stricter enforcement of rules, and a general lockdown on such offensive material. The Counter Argument: That human beings are intelligent creatures who are able to distinguish reality from non-reality, and that violence in video games has little or nothing to do with such incidents as Columbine, and that the idea that playing a lot of DOOM or Quake can drive you to commit violent crimes or kill real people is absurd and unsupported by any real fact. My Thoughts on the Matter: Have we really regressed so far as a people that we no longer have the ability to choose right from wrong simply because we spent a few hours playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas? Following that logic, it’s entirely possible that if I stare at the color purple long enough, I’ll dramatically increase my chances of becoming a serial killer. Since no rational human being could ever possibly accept that kind of logic, it quickly becomes apparent that the real problem here is not the fact that the game is "evil", or wrong, but that the behaviors the game is displaying offends THEM. And THEY don’t usually stop to think about whether or not something that offends them is actually wrong—they simply react to whatever emotion they’re feeling at the time, diving quickly behind the morally impenetrable phrase: "It’s to protect our children." Never mind the fact that such games as GTA: San Andreas are not, and have never been, marketed to actual children. Never mind the fact that, on average, serious gamers are all over the age of nineteen. Many of them are actually in their thirties, according to what I’ve read. That’s not important. Those are just facts, and we don’t need no stinkin’ facts. We’re all 3206824850421 years old, and as such consider and classify anyone under the age of 3206824850420 as "children". On the surface, it may seem as if THEIR reaction is perfectly normal. Something in the world offense them. It clashes with their Puritan based ethical code. They have the power to affect change in our society, and therefore THEY seize this opportunity and act frantically in the hopes of making this offensive thing go away. This is a perfectly natural response, and even one which I can sympathize with. If one possesses power, one seeks to use it, and THEIR response makes perfect sense…if you’re five. Because in fact, young children are famous for observing the power they have in the world, assessing it, and then proceeding to abuse it in the most illogical and irrational way they can conceive of with their tiny and undeveloped minds. Why? Because they can. And because we do so love to watch Mommy squirm, don’t we? Seeking to rid yourself of something you find offensive is not wrong. (In fact that’s the very reason I never watch C-SPAN) Wanting to or actually affecting change in your world is not wrong. What is wrong is assuming everyone else agrees with you. It’s also wrong to react on such an emotional level when you do wield so much power. Is this offensive thing actually wrong? Does it truly threaten our society? Are you the only one who can stop it? Or does it just frighten you? Are you reacting on a purely emotional level, with little or no thought involved? For example, I am offended by peony bushes. I think they are ugly, smelly, and generally disgusting. Does this mean that the existence of peonies is wrong? Of course not. Does this mean that I burn every peony bush I encounter, and demand that other people not have them in their yards? No. Does this mean that because I have peonies in my yard that I will turn into a drug addicted promiscuous outlaw? Well, I certainly hope not, seeing as how I spent the last four years in a backyard full of them. The point is that what THEY’RE doing right now is a knee-jerk reaction not based on fact, logical thought, or anything even remotely rational. All they see is a violent video game, or a mini-game about sex, and their immediate reaction is dislike, even hate. They want to eradicate this influence from everyone else’s lives because, of course, if THEY view it as wrong, then so it must be wrong. "This is wrong!" "Of course it is, my lord. How perceptive you are, my lord." Sometimes THEIR response even seems like it’s actually born out of some kind of perverse sense of nobility, through which they seek to protect the world from this evil that they have so faithfully rooted out. And indeed, this is what they will tell you they’re doing when you ask them about their actions. (Assuming you can actually get THEM to answer your question directly.) They will tell you that they’re doing this for the "greater good", "our children", the "safety of the populace", or some similar sound byte. What they fail to truly understand is that they’re not doing any good. At all. They’re just going in the same loop they’ve been going through for years, and dragging us through with them. Stop and think for a second. Everything from movies to Dungeons & Dragons has gone through this "vilification". Now movies are in every household and D&D is being touted as a safe alternative for Trick or Treating on Halloween night. Oh, yeah. I can totally feel the evil wafting off those little pewter miniatures of dragons and paladins. They’re totally crying out for my virgin soul right now. If it gets any more evil in here, I might just faint. Don’t believe me? OK, fair enough, here’s a thought for you… As a young girl, I spent many hours of my time sitting next to my father and looking on as he played video games. DOOM was our favorite, but we also played Heretic, Shadow Warrior, Blake Stone, Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem 3D, and some others I’ve probably forgotten. I had a blast. I used to laugh and giggle and cheer him on, and point out things he’d missed and occasionally I’d even save his in-game life. I sat there next to him, glued to the monitor, watching countless hours of pixilated violence and gore, and all at a fairly young age, too. I was probably about six or seven years old when we started the ritual, and it continued for many years. Occasionally I would even play the games myself, though never without my trusty God Mode cheat. *grin* Later on in life when my reflexes start to improve, I also played a lot of space/ship oriented shoot ‘em up type games, like Overkill and Demonstar. I really excelled at those, no cheat codes required. There were explosions and violence galore in those things, and I can’t tell you how many hours I poured into Raptor, loving every second of it. It still holds a special place in my heart and memory as one of my favorite games of all time, though I’m sure it would pale in comparison next to the sophisticated games of today. Today? I’m seventeen years old. I have no criminal record. I’ve never been in a fight. The worst thing I’ve ever done to another person is twisted their arm and threatened them, and that was only after being heavily provoked. I don’t think I’ve ever even made somebody else bleed. I dislike killing things. I dislike violence. I dislike hurting people, either directly or indirectly, either physically or mentally. I don’t really even like killing spiders, even though I’m afraid of them, because it seems cruel to me. After all those hours of violent video games, boring their way into my brain and infecting my youthful little psyche with all those evil and violence-causing images…damn. I should totally be a mess right now. I should be in jail because I wiped out half a public school with a small arsenal. But I’m not. And you know what? Many years ago, in my FPS laden youth, my dad picked up a copy of Quake, and we settled down to play it in our usual style. You know what happened? It frightened me. I hated Quake. I still do. Even the new ones. I don’t like the music, or the graphics, or any of it. It frightened me when I was young and it still does today. So you know what I did? I got up and walked away. I chose not to expose myself to it, because it offended me, as an individual. Did I demand my father remove it from the house? No. Did I demand he never play it again? No. Did I write scathing reviews telling the world how evil Quake was? No. I just got up and walked away. How this elegant and simple act of logic escapes most adults today is beyond me, since I came up with that idea when I was oh, say, ten. Here’s a thought—if you don’t like something, if you’re offended by it, PUT IT DOWN. Turn it off. Burn it. Whatever! Get rid of it! Stop doing it! But don’t try and punish and restrict other people who do like it, just because you thought it was scary or violent. That is both stupid and ineffective. People are going to do what they want to do, no matter how many laws or rules are imposed on them. Actually, they’ll do it more if there are rules and laws imposed on them. The quickest way to get someone to do something is to tell them not to. THEY’RE playing into the video game community’s hands. Companies like Rockstar and Midway are putting out these ultra-violent, ultra-offensive games with no real plot or purpose. By themselves, tasteless and boring games such as NARC would probably never even see the light of day. But with a little help from the media…oh, look at that! It’s a bestseller. Another notch in our belt lads, let’s crank out another one and watch the money roll in! I’m not sure what the hell THEY’RE on, but the ESRB works just fine as far as I’m concerned. It’s a simple, clear system that is privately regulated (so you know, it like, actually works) and you’d have to have the brainpower of a snail not to understand it. It’s perfect for parents. It gives descriptions of the offensive material on the back of the game box, which I think is GREAT. I love that. Even as just a regular old consumer who usually knows what to buy before she buys it, I want to know what’s in a game before I shell out my hard earned money for it. I want to know why it’s rated M or T, or E. You don’t even get that kind of information on movies. And don’t even get me started on books. Wouldn’t it be cool if there were ESRB type ratings for books? I think it would be. There have been many times when I’ve gone to the library and someone’s put a book somewhere in the wrong section, or the sections are labeled very vaguely with such terms as "young adult". What exactly does that mean, anyway? The answer is: Anything you want. Everything from Nancy Drew to soft core porn could be in there. (I’ve gotten both, by the way, and have launched many a book across the room in surprise and disgust as I quickly discovered that it was not a novel about horses as I’d expected, but in fact included long drawn out sex scenes and adult language. Yippee. -.-) But people don’t seem to have much of a problem with violent or pornographic books. It’s "literature". But video games are "interactive", so that makes them different. And I agree—that does make a certain degree of difference. In my own experience, it does immerse you more fully into the game. In the case of myself, I often refer to the actions I take in the gameworld as something I actually accomplished. (Example: "If I can slay a dragon in five minutes, I think I can handle watching the dog for an hour.") The interactivity plus the way in which video games are delivered to the consumer (visually, with pictures and music, versus just text and sometimes 2D artwork) also sets video games apart from books. But that’s where the differences end, people. They’re both stories. They both have characters, and events. Just like there are truly tasteless books, there are truly tasteless video games. And just like there are truly amazing books (Sherlock Holmes comes to mind), there are truly amazing video games with stimulating plots, moving characters, and true beauty at their hearts. (FFX, anyone?) Just like any good novel. Or any good movie. It’s all the same freaking thing. Here’s a thought: Let’s provide the consumer with all the information they need. (Ratings, descriptions, synopsis’s, etc.) Do it for everything. Video games, books, movies…everything. And then, instead of having the government do our thinking and restricting for us, let’s rely on the individual to assimilate the information provided and then make the choice that’s right for them. Is that really so hard? Also—why are we squabbling over things like this? Why are we wasting our time going after something that’s pretending to be the problem? Is our government really so stupid as to attack the fake threat instead of the real one? Violent video games are basically dressing themselves up and yelling at the top of their lungs: "HEY! COME GET ME! I’M OFFENSIVE! [insert string of expletives here]" They’re distracting us from the real problem here: The people. The people who woke up one morning and decided, "I’m going to go shoot up my school." These individuals were so deeply disturbed and mentally warped that they were able to justify taking another human life. An innocent human life. A human life that had done little or nothing of consequence to them. And that’s sad. I feel sad both for the victims and the aggressors, because living in that kind of darkness must be horrible. Paying for someone else’s problems with your life is equally horrible. Video games don’t cause that. To say that they do is really foolish. The violent video games were a by product. A symptom, if you will, sort of like a sore throat is a symptom of a cold. Those individuals were disturbed and warped mentally, either through abuse from their parents, choice of religion, social pressures, drugs, or whatever. They sought out violent and offensive video games because it appealed to their inner darkness. Did the video games cause them to be violent? No, stupid! They were violent to begin with. What the heck did you expect to find in a killer’s room? Hello Kitty? No! You find metal albums, a shiny new copy of DOOM on the desk, and bloody knives under the pillow. Not because those things created the problem, but because when you expel darkness into the world, you get darkness back. You seek it out. It doesn’t find you, you find it. So why are we looking at the symptoms of the problem? We need to get down deeper, to the real root of things. We need to cure the cold, not the sore throat. Anything else is just an ineffective waste of time that will result in nothing more than wasted taxpayer dollars and new layers of useless government. And, ultimately, at the end of the day, despite all those influences pulling at your heels, dragging you down into the abyss…it’s still your choice whether or not you respond. It’s your choice to act out in a violent way on an unsuspecting public. The individual makes that choice. Games may provide a way to "get in" to violence. They may even make the player want to go do violent things. But Master Chief can’t make my choices for me. Gordon Freeman can’t tell me I should go kill children, and then force me to do it. I have to choose to do that. How do I know this? Because a game isn’t the same thing as reality. No matter how realistic it may seem, it isn’t. It never will be. And you know what else? I am really sick of being punished for other people’s misdeeds. I have been a perfect, law-abiding citizen all of my life. I have never bought Mature video games when I was under the age of seventeen. I never even bought Teen rated video games when I was under the age of fourteen. I haven’t shot anybody. I haven’t hurt anybody. And what do I get? Restrictions. Regulations. Government interference. Dirty glares from soccer moms when they find out I’m a gamer. The unspoken assumption that just because I like first person shooters, I’m a tormented person who likes to murder small animals and drink their blood. Follow the law and get spat at by the higher ups. Oh joy. Makes me want to run out and buy a copy of GTA: San Andreas. See? Video games don’t cause aggression. Meddlesome and irrational assemblymen looking for free press and a pat on the back do. Especially when their little pseudo-crusade trivializes real problems and cheapens the loss some people have suffered because of violent behavior. This is another one of those times when I’d really like to tell everyone to sit down, shut up, and agree with me because this time I know I’m right. And if they’d just cut through the swirling fogs of their useless religious beliefs, thirst for political power, and unwavering aversion to change and new ideas, and actually have a rational thought for once in their pathetic and utterly unremarkable lives, I think they’d see I’m right too. That’s all. *** The Rant in a Nutshell: In case you missed anything, or are a lazy bastard. =D - Do I think that young children (from 2 to 13 years of age) should be regularly exposed to heavy amounts of gratuitous violence, in any form? No. Young minds should be exposed to things that help them grow, mature, and learn about the beauty of the world we live in. Children shouldn’t be overly sheltered from the darkness of the world, but at the same time, there’s no reason to overexpose them to it at an age when they can’t completely handle it. And, chances are, if you have a young child or are a young child, you don’t care about that kind of stuff anyway. I didn’t. - Do I think that violent video games such as DOOM, Quake, NARC, Grand Theft Auto 3, Half-Life 2, and other such titles are responsible, or in fact even contribute, to the violent actions of individuals against other individuals? No. I’m living proof of that. As are the millions of other people who’ve played similar games and haven’t done anything wrong in their lives. There isn’t enough logic to support this idea. - Where do I think the real blame lies? With the individual that committed the violent act. What do I think the real problem is? Inadequate and inattentive parents who wouldn’t know how to raise a child if a manual to such an effect crawled up their ass and exploded. Do I think the ESRB is doing an inadequate job rating games? No. Do I think the ESRB could be a little more thorough in said ratings? Yes. Do I think any of this media hype and congressional posturing will amount to anything much? No, not really. It’s happened before with other stuff, and will happen again. Those of inadequate wit are forever doomed to repeat history.
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