My friend Marc posted a story on Facebook today that shocked me, both as a Mom and as a gamer. I remember when I was in my early teens. There was a big hulabaloo about Dungeons & Dragons making kids worship satan and do all sorts of evil things. Back then it wasn’t a video game. Neverwinter Nights wasn’t around yet. It was a table top RPG played with multisided dice in bright colors and various numbers of sides. More recently there have been horrible stories about video games.
World of Warcraft is one of the top offenders when you hear about video game addiction, confusing fantasy with real life, child abuse or neglect, and the list goes on.
It’s reminiscent of other things deemed to make kids worship satan or attract businesses of ill repute. Rock N’ Roll had the same problem. In 1990 Judas Priest was taken to court and sued over two fans’ suicides. It’s always the same blame game. With the players not taking responsibility for their own decisions and actions.
There’s a town in Massachusetts that has outlawed coin operated video games since 1983. Much like the (awesome) movie Footloose, they believe coin operated video games would cause harm to children, cause them to squander their money, attract adult entertainment and prostitution.
Opponents warned the machines would attract undesirables and cause children to steal and squander their money. Selectmen chairwoman Faith Jean told residents allowing video games would bring other “smut” to town.
Seriously? And when a motion to repeal it recently came up? it didn’t pass. I can’t believe what I was reading. I really can’t. Children will always squander their money. Whether it’s on candy, comic books, toys, or video games. And one man’s Squander is another’s good investment. I also don’t happen to believe anything worse can be seen in video games than can be seen in TV shows or movies. Pac Man eats dots and Donkey Kong throws barrels at Mario. Sonic picks up rings and does acrobatic loop dee loos. This is worse than TV? This is worse than movies? THIS will bring unsavory things to the town? What’s next book bans? No Dancing?
Kids will squander money, yes. And it’s the parents jobs to teach them otherwise. It’s OUR duty to teach them right from wrong. It’s OUR responsibility to instill in them values that will get them through their lives. But they have free will. And they will push the boundaries and they will rebel. And they will ALWAYS find something to spend their money on. The fastest way to lead a child to temptation is to forbid the source.
I just wish people would see the GOOD in video games. All it takes is a look at the fans they create. The imaginations of the players is nothing short of amazing. I have read amazing works of fan fiction from Dragon Age fans. I have seen amazing drawings from a range of video game fans in general. Playing video games has given me a broader source of imagination, made me want to write, to learn to draw. And more than this, they inspire students to want to CREATE games. To work as a designer. Of course the games aren’t outlawed at home. Just coin operated games in public places. But it’s got to start somewhere right?
