Darren O'Neill
Friend of Playgroup
- Loves: Liverpool FC, Gaming, Films
- Hates: Go karting, People who say "Interweb", Onions
- Inspired by:
- Hong Kong
- Shigeru Miyamoto
- Christopher Lee
- My links:
Are games evil?
People are increasingly looking to the media in all its forms and pointing the blame for society's evils. One concern people have is that children copy crimes they have seen from a gory film, a questionable web campaign or more recently a video game.
I have always been skeptical of this blame culture, why is it always somebody else's fault? The vast majority of children know at an early age what is right and what is wrong.
One franchise that has caused much controversy is Take Two's Grand Theft Auto. If you have been following the stories surrounding the latest game in the series you will be familiar with Jack Thompson, a man extremely loquacious on this subject. Thompson, a lawyer, is obsessed with Take Two and threatens court action against them every other week it seems.
It is a shame he conducts himself in the manner in which he does, as amongst the rhetoric and hyperbole he loses his core question, which is worthy of contemplation: should games that feature questionable content be allowed?
I believe they are perfectly fine as long as they are marketed to adults and carry an appropriate age rating. If children, in particular, copy what they have seen in a game, it is of course unfortunate but games are a form of entertainment in which developers should have free creative license. It is up to responsible advertisers and parents to ensure children can't access these games.
Posted by Darren on 28 May 08, at 4:34 pm
1 comment on this post
I agree- its easy to scoff at the critics of violent pop culture when they constantly undermine their case with bad research and over the top commentary.
I recently read a ridiculous article in the Sunday Times by Anthony Horowitz, the author of the Alex Rider series for kids, ripping apart GTA for its hyper violent content.
Half way through the article he did the classic- admitting that he'd not actually played the game.
Before condemning a genre why not immerse yourself in it and see for yourself whether you can resist the impulse to rampage around your local shopping center.
That said, computer games are so immersive that I guess the boundaries between reality and virtual reality can get blurred in the minds of the disturbed.
However culture must always march on and GTA is a masterpiece of design that will bring infinitely more pleasure than pain to its audience.