Are Video Games Malicious?
“You better stop playing video games! They’re bad for you!” Who hasn’t heard that video games are unabashedly bad?
Video games have been branded negatively for a very long time.Now that the medium is trending towards the mainstream, a lot of people are beginning to come to terms with the fact that not everyone who plays video games is violent or antisocial. With some of the most successful games focused on violence and killing (looking at you, Elden Ring), how do we remedy the reputation of video games for people who have made up their mind? It’s all about changing the perception of what a game is at a foundational level. Video games, like any other medium, are tools to communicate a theme, and the audience’s interpretation of any themes present are completely their responsibility. I’ll be trying to share my own experiences to come to an intellectual response to the deceptively simple question.
What’s Not to Like?
There are a lot of gripes about video games, so let’s name a couple:
Video games can depress and isolate people with horrific settings, as they refuse to live in the ‘real world’ for long periods of time.
Video games can desensitize children towards senseless violence and associate it as a good thing (e.g. Call of Duty).
Everyone knows someone (sometimes self included) who has gotten a little too invested in a video game. I put 150 hours into my Darkest Dungeon playthrough leading up to my finals week freshman year, and I may or may not have forgotten what day a final was until I walked into class. That’s some real world consequences!
Let’s break down the isolating gamer argument. The “Game Boy” was a decidedly solo gaming experience, which might have raised concerns. While it is true that some games are supposed to be experienced alone, one of my favorite memories with my siblings was us joking around as they watched me play through Shadow of the Colossus. The scenery, the majestic music, and the harrowing story consumed our quarantined nights, where our entertainment stemmed from not only the legendary game, but the company itself. I have no doubt that a kid having trouble with Super Mario Land would ask their friends for help. Instead of solo games encouraging isolation, it could just as easily enforce friendship.
Even with all of this, the argument still stands. How can a solo video game still be isolating, while also managing to bring people together at the same time? The simple answer is that a game is a means to an end. It is what the person makes of it.I chose to play way too much Darkest Dungeon, and I suffered the consequences.
Every middle school sleepover I had was capped off with watching a playthrough of Undertale as we fell asleep, at the time a burgeoning indie game. Maybe I would have felt less connected to those friends if I didn’t have a game as a foundation?
What about Violent Video Games?
This may be tough for some gamers to hear, but concerns surrounding the senseless violence of video games are warranted. It isn’t quite the best look when people are raising kids on content that imitates shooting and killing, then equating that as one of the most entertaining things they can do.
A gaming enthusiast must live in the gray and never entirely assume the dogma that a game teaches. You must tease out what it’s trying to tell you, rather than accepting it as an immediate fact. With this level of media literacy, you have to question, “what is this game overtly telling me, what is this game covertly telling me?”
GTA V in the hands of an inexperienced eight year old is bound to be a bad time. The game is what it is (including an extremely crude depiction of women), and a curious kid could easily pick it up with the support of an unknowing parent. Unfortunately, the people selling this product don’t necessarily have the best intentions, so the first priority of the responsible party (either a parent or guardian) should recognize the negative impact of being raised on senseless violence. There is an active warning that people under 17 shouldn’t be sold video games like GTA or Call of Duty. The workaround is that an adult can buy a kid a M-rated game, and it’s out of the company’s hands.
“GameStop is dedicated to addressing consumer concerns regarding the content of certain video and PC games. The company prohibits the sale of M-rated (as defined by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)) video games to customers under the age of 17 years old.” (Old School Gamers)
A child will not often have the amount of mindfulness to play something so harmful. When someone cannot consciously opt-in to a story, their suspension of disbelief allows them to visit those worlds because their brain tricks it into being real, but they can’t necessarily know the line between reality and fiction. You may recognize that a horror movie is all CGI, but a kid watching the same film might hide under the covers all night. If movies can blur that line for children, so can video games. Video games can be just another healthy fantasy, so maybe the kid should be playing Mario Odyssey instead of Call of Duty?
Video Games: Good or Bad?
To accept the fact that video games have the potential to negatively affect someone is to also accept that video games can positively affect someone. Video games, like any other form of media, are tools employed by the creators to tell a story. Video games can do anything, but that doesn’t mean it will mold you into something that you aren’t, given enough mindfulness. Sometimes people don’t even want to play games for a story, or a theme, or any old rhyme or reason. They just want to turn their brain off. Video games are a tool then as well, serving as a way for someone to comfortably unwind from a hard day’s work.
It is still pretty crazy that our way of unwinding is by playing a game where you shoot people. The games are what they are (including sexist, or homophobic, or ableist overtones in some), but a gamer with enough bandwidth can observe this, and continue to evaluate in themselves if they are being negatively affected. Your interpretation of the game is what you learn. Teaching children from an early age that this media isn’t real, and it’s all coded to look pretty, could also help to clarify these uncanny-valley-esque games we see nowadays.
Video games won’t go anywhere, and all sorts of ridiculous, outrageous media will continue to emerge. All I pray for is that in the far future, when a parent gets asked by their kid if they can get the new GTA VI, they look it up before they buy it.
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https://osgamers.com/frequently-asked-questions/can-i-buy-an-m-rated-game - Old School Gamers quote.
