Many people today believe that video game violence is out of hand. This believe seems especially popular among US politicians, since it is a cheap way to appear to be a family activist - the losing side of the issue (video gamers) are by a vast majority, underage, and therefore, not voters. Unlike most issues, this is an issue where there is a clear solution that doesn't damage them at the polls, even though it doesn't take into account personal liberty, freedom of speech, etc.
Yet, while I do not agree that politicians or the government should solve the problem (that would be censorship, and I am systematically opposed to all censorship), I do not deny the existence of a problem. Video gaming is clearly causing problems in America, but in a different way that most people might think.
The classic anti-video game argument is what I will call the Columbine argument.
Video games make violence more real, and therefore more acceptable to people. Video games teach otherwise healthy children to be violent by such portrayal and realism, in the same way that classical media (standard television) has been proven to do.
I argue that this point is in fact baseless. After playing Half-Life 2, which I find quite similar to other games out there, I have to seriously question the concept of reality. Playing a video game seems more like driving a car, with stress on reaction time, reflexes, muscle control, etc. And the only remotely realistic graphics are the reproductions of human weapons. But the vast majority of the time, I am using them to shoot at a jumping, duffel bag sized 4 legged spider, from another world. This, I hate to say it, would feel significantly more realistic if Elvis appeared in the game, being returned by the aliens, as there would then be at least one relatable human character.
Rather, I argue that exactly the opposite is true - video games, rather than making violence more real, a part of our daily lives, make it seem considerably LESS real. Shooting oversized spiders feels totally unrealistic, but I can totally see how a young child, for whom this experience forms a significant portion of his experience with violence in general, seeing violence in a totally different light than those who lived to see World War II or Vietnam (note - I am 20, and have thusly seen neither, but I also am not a gamer, so by far most of my experience with violence has been through studying these events). Violence to them will seem automatic. They will not recognize the terrible consequences of their actions. When they walk through a hallway, the game teaches them not to think twice before pulling the trigger. But in a video game, this is acceptable, because none of the effects of these actions are present. There is no funeral for the dead, no family left behind to morn them. No wife and children at home who suddenly now must struggle for food and basic needs, as their primary provider of support no longer exists. These people never learn to associate the action of firing a gun with the heartbreak of a lost love one. How can they? The game is not 'real'.
Half-Life 2 has an evil button - F9 (and it's compliment, F6). Hit F9 and your game reloads from the last save. Useful in the game, but not in life. If I could do this, I would have finished high school with a 4.6 GPA and graduated valedictorian (actually not, since my school district decided that declaring a valedictorian hurt too many people's feelings and so they no longer have one...but that is another rant). In life there is no F9 button. I cannot simply try the same jump across the bridge 8 times, since after the first try, I am dead. I would think people would be smart enough not to be fooled by something this completely obvious, but I live in a country where more than half the people still think, as of this witting, that Sadam was involved in 9/11, despite the fact that Sadam and Osama hated each other...these people are demonstratedly not particularly sharp. Even the bad guys come back to life!
When we talk today about war, the vast majority of Americans are not directly affected. Sure most people either know or are related to a soldier, but by far most of us do not live within the direct company (partner, child, parent) of a military person. Given this, I don't believe America today shares the feeling of pain that comes when two dressed guards at your door present you with a triangular folded flag, salute you, and tell you that the one you once loved so dearly and knew so well will never again pass through that door alive.
If we did, we might think twice before committing our men and women, our sons and daughters, our fathers and sons, to fight for their lives. I place deep value and respect in those men and women who fight or have fought to preserve American freedoms and values. But cheap oil and a wealthy upper class are not among those values.
Anyways, as for video games, I don't have a complete solution. If I did, I would be doing something better than writing this stupid blog post. I can tell you that censorship is not the solution - our soldiers have fought for our freedom from censorship, and it would be a grave disrespect, an equal lapse in reality, to give it up.
I can say that, by far, the biggest part of any solution must be education. People need to learn, as I have, the effect of violence throughout history, so that instead of their views on violence being shaped by how many of those damn spider crabs they could "frag" if they had a bigger grenade, they would be "shocked and awed", on a very deep and profound level, by the massive devastation and loss of live that took place during events like the D-day invasion and the dropping of the atomic bombs. I was lucky enough to have a very good education - I was in the advanced tracks the whole way. I learned these things and studied them. I wrote papers, viewed images, watched documentaries, and read (good) books. My young sister some time ago said 'We use nukes all the time in Iraq! Nukes are awesome'. Clearly, something is wrong.
I still play Half-Life 2, and Halo, since I am able to separate mindless killing of alien spiders from the destruction of human life in the real world. Fair enough. The problem is, I doubt very much, that the vast majority of the video gaming community can. That is the real problem with video game realism.
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