"Videogames Don't Kill People"

I was reading an article linked from the weblog of a popular webcomic author earlier, and it got me thinking. The article basically said that videogames were training kids to be killers.

His basic argument was such: it desensitizes kids to violence. It makes the vicitms of violence seem less human, unreal. And videogames are simulations, not spectator entertainment like a violent movie. Ultimately, the article claimed that children were learning to be killers by playing videogames.

The idea is ludicrous, I say. I've been playing videogames for a good fifteen years, probably. Ever since the original eight-bit Nintendo Entertainment System came out, I've been grabbing for the controller and immersing myself in digital fun. I don't think I've killed anyone yet because of any of the games I've played, and I've played some rather violent games (including good ol' Halo and the Grand Theft Auto games).

Blaming videogames for youth violence is absurd. Adults are trying to use videogames as a scapegoat, a patsy to take the fall because parents and communities have not been doing their job and teaching children right from wrong.

I don't see that videogames desensitize anyone to violence anymore than cartoons, movies, or even the evening news anymore. The thing is, though, parents and other adults don't give kids enough credit--most kids know the difference between fantasy and reality, between fake and real. They recognize that the Coyote who just got smashed in the head with the anvil is different from dropping something heavy on little brother's head. Little brother is not going to end up in a humorous accordian shape making the noise of such an instrument. Kids know this, just like they know that videogames are not real.

Admittedly, some kids do not recognize a difference between real and make-believe. If that is the case, then it's the responsibility of the parents to teach the kids the difference. The real problem isn't that kids are learning bad things from videogames or TV or whatever, it's that no one is bothering to teach kids right from wrong, real from make-believe. Everyone assumes it's someone else's responsibility. Parents pass the buck to teachers, who pass the buck to societal role models like celebrities and the like (who are actually the worst people to pass the responsibility to--actors, musicians, and sports stars live lives that are very different from that 99.9999% of all kids will lead, and celebrities are really living in a sort of make-believe world of their own). This sort of thing has to stop, or kids will keep finding their father's gun and going off to pop the proverbial caps in the students back at school who made fun of them.

The other big flaw in the argument is that videogames train kids to be killers. How so? Let's look at a popular game, Halo. In Halo, there are five ways for a character to die--he can be shot repeatedly, until his shield and health are all gone. He can fall, either into a pit or too far onto the floor. He can be smacked in the back of the head with the butt of a weapon. Or he can be grenaded. Or run over by a vehicle.

Now, how many of the aforementioned methods are likely to occur in your standard suburban environment? I don't know where to get hold of grenades. I don't have any automatic weapons, sniper rifles, or rocket launchers. Not too many bottomless pits around, and most folks realize that if you fall from a certain height, you're at least guaranteed broken bones. Sure, you can get run over, or hit in the back of the head, but you could get run over by someone who hasn't been playing videogames just as easily as by someone who hasn't. Most of the folks who have road rage probably don't play videogames. As for getting hit in the back of the head, how often do you walk up behind someone and smack them in the back of the head with the butt of your weapon? Oh, wait, you don't have a weapon? Oops.

So the likelihood of dying in the Halo ways are slim. But what of the "training to be killers" thing? Well, how does one manipulate a character in a videogame, Halo or otherwise? By means of the controller. If I want to shoot someone, I push the B button or whatever. To aim, I move a joystick. To jump, I push another button. I don't actually commit any of these acts of violence myself, I manipulate a controller which causes things to happen on screen. Does anyone believe that guns are really manipulated by a controller in real life? If so, you've apparently got some really advanced weaponry I don't know about.

The gist of it all is this--the idea that videogames alone cause kids to be violent is bunk. Complete, total bunk. Videogames may glorify violence, but so do movies, the news, and damn near everything else you come across anymore. Our heroes on the big screen? Killers, every last one of them. I love the Lord of the Rings, but look at Two Towers. They make a joke out of seeing whether the elf or the dwarf kills more enemies. They turn death into a statistic, much as the news does. "Such and such number of people have died in such another city this month," or whatever statistic you choose. It's ridiculous--videogames are no more responsible for violence in youth than angsty music. Teenagers might be more susceptible to influences, since they're at an impressionable age, but it's still a parent's responsibility to teach kids right from wrong. I knew the differences between right and wrong, real and fake, and so do other kids. Stop using videogames as a scapegoat. You might as well say that listening to rock and roll leads to devil worship.

~chaos cricket

Song of the Moment: Toad the Wet Sprocket, "Comes a Time"