It seems like every other day some parent is shouting about violence in video games and how disgraceful it is that their child plays such things. I’ve always wondered what has tricked these parents into forgetting that they’re in charge of their own kids. If you don’t want your child to play it; take it away, or don’t buy it in the first place. Often in GAME or a Gamestation I’ve witnessed elderly grandparents and young hip parents alike agreeing to buy their kids games like Modern Warfare 2 and Gears of War. This used to enrage me and I’d just assume that these people were stupid, hated their children, or were just bad parents.
Recently I’ve come to realise that they just don’t know, and that it’s just too hard to say no without a good reason to back it up. For example I doubt very much that any non-gaming parents will know about ‘No Russian’ or the gruesome chainsaw action in Gears of War. Will they have witnessed Ice Cube being beaten brutally to death in Black Ops? If this really is the reason then we need to show them exactly what they’re allowing small (and big) children to see and do.
The roots of gaming are in the ridiculous. When I was a child all the games I played were about running to the right until you beat the level, occasionally jumping on enemies to get them out of your way. In those days the High Score was king and the story of a game was borderline non-existent, they didn’t have the cinematic qualities of modern titles. Back then games were about competition and wiling away the hours doing basically nothing except having fun. Games are different now; nowadays games are more of an art form than ever what with having the ability to convey a powerful story. I can say that I’ve never been moved by a film as much as I have by a game. Some would say you can’t really call them games any more as they’ve evolved past that, but I still prefer ‘game’ over ‘interactive Experience’. My point is that the older generation still think gaming is as simplistic and harmless as it was in the days of Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario World, and it really isn’t.
Last night while playing through Call of Duty: Black Ops, as I smashed a window and pushed broken glass into a man’s mouth to interrogate him, I had a thought. While, as an adult, I can rationalise this action (e.g. this man has information that will save millions of lives but he won’t give it to me) a child will have a much harder time in doing that. I know a few kids whose parents let them play this stuff and one of them asked me if I’d reached “That airport level in Modern Warfare 2”. So I said yes, and he proceeded to tell me how much fun he was having mowing down Russian civilians, how great it was that they weren’t shooting back.
This shocked me to some degree; when I played through ‘No Russian’ I felt like a horrendous and evil person the whole way through. I fired at most two bullets, to put two ailing civilians out of their misery, before the riot police showed up and even then I tried consciously to hit them in the legs. It was readily apparent to me that I had become the bad guy. With whatever good reasoning I had contributed to such an act (albeit virtually) of slaughter and boy did those genius’s at Infinity Ward get me good.
It’s been shown over and over that kids learn what ‘normal’ behaviour is by what they see in others. It’s a documented fact that children who grow up in abusive environments are more likely to be abusive when they grow up and so on. This will sound as if I’m saying that violent games teach children to be violent, but that’s not the case. I think they do desensitise children to a point, and that they effect what is perceived as normal behaviour but the negative behaviour patterns still need to be there for a child to turn bad. Like with the glass chomping scene a mentioned, an adult will understand fully what’s happening in this situation whereas a child will see a man having glass pushed into his mouth and just see it for what it is; a man having glass forced in to his mouth.
Whether we like it or not we are constantly being bombarded by messages, and lifestyles, and advertisement and all of it gets in at some level. When I was a child my Mum was very strict with me and I’m happy about that. I’m GLAD that she held me back from seeing/playing things that weren’t right for me. I wasn’t happy about it at the time, but I fully appreciate that she did the right thing.
Parents are in charge of their children, children are the responsibility of their parents'. How they grow and develop is almost entirely in their parents' hands. Remember that just because all the other kids are doing it doesn’t make it a good idea, the hard decision is usually the right one.
Next time your child is bothering you to buy them a game, or a DVD, or a comic, remember to take in what exactly it is they want you to buy for them. Decide for yourself whether you think it’s right for your child keeping in mind Age Ratings are there for a good reason. It’s in your child’s best interest for you to show an interest in their growth. Just for the love of God stop buying this stuff for them:
This is probably one of those undercover controversial subjects, anything to do with parenting often is. So I thought it would be a good move to express not only my own views but also the views of others, including parents, on this subject.
When asked "Why do parents buy violent video games for their kids?"
Dan Bendon (Parent)
Because they don't understand or don't care. Both are inexcusable as a parent.Laura Rich (Parent)
Maybe they do understand and don't think the games are bad for their kids.Sources:
Social Developement in children - Kids Developement.co.uk
The Impact of Videogames on Children - Palo Alto Medical Foundation
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