Computer games rant
Warning this may aggravate some people
The Post
The other day Stew put a post regarding Trevor McDonald's news programme 'Are Video Games Killing My Kids?'
It was quite interesting to read peoples responses since it seems that the title automatically made everyone assume that this was going to be another 'My Kids will Turn Bad If They Play Them!' type programme.
Maybe ITV should have used another title for this since in my opinion it was a very interesting look at today’s computer games, and it is likely that they lost loads of potential viewers who might have benefited from watching it.
What the title referred to was actually a fly-on-the-wall style investigation into the lives of children between the ages of 7 and 17 who were all computer game fan(attic)s.
These children were so obsessed with playing video games that they avoided stopping play to eat, sleep, go out, and even (in one extreme case) going to the toilet (the guy had cut out a hole in his chair so that he didn’t ever need to leave his monitor and could therefore play his game continuously!).
Though some people may think 'cool' the programme made a very serious point, questioning whether this behaviour should be viewed in the same league as an addiction. The screaming tantrums and violent behaviour that occurred when the children’s' games were turned off, their inability to concentrate on anything but the games, and their constant desire to leave whatever they were doing in order to get back to them, only added weight to this argument.
They highlighted real life cases where people had literally played themselves to death because they had refused to stop gaming for days on end, and as one interesting comment suggested, with addictions people often use things to block out, avoid or escape the real life problems they experience in their lives. And the sad fact is that this can lead them to isolating themselves from their family, friends, society, and real life.
Despite only discussing this as an issue in children, I think that they have just touched the tip of the iceberg, since I am sure their are many older people as well who are equally, if not more so, addicted to playing computer games and who fail to see it as a serious issue. (hence why it might have been worth watching).
I know people who enjoy playing games get very offended by the regular suggestions that playing computer games will open some morbid desire for individuals to commit horrendous acts of violence, but maybe it is time that the debate really opened up and people began to take stock of what is actually happening right now.
The children of today live in a different world to the one I knew. Gone are the days of the SEGA vs. Nintendo, Mario vs. Sonic generation and instead the primary dish of the day is GTA 1,2, and 3. Which I recon are pretty hardcore if you’re a child.
There are so many areas within computer games that need to be addressed without people getting uptight and defensive. For example the loss of imaginative play that has occurred within childhood in recent years is immense, levels of childhood obesity have doubled due to a lack of exercise, many parents still rarely monitor the content of their children’s' gaming (despite the games being certified 18's). The fact that so often today's games promote backward thinking discriminatory stereotypes of people in society which take anti-discrimination back decades, as well as the obvious condoning and glorifying of violent behaviour as cool.
Maybe the main correlation that is of concern is that as this massive and rapid growth of the multibillion £ global industry continues, these problems are going to show themselves more and more.
I am in no way an anti computer games activist (although it may sound like it from this). I still love Mario, and random games like Klax, my boyfriend also designs and programmes games for a living, so I would be an idiot to condemn the whole thing. But at the same time I do think that the industry might be spiralling out of control in the drive for greater profit.
The Post
The other day Stew put a post regarding Trevor McDonald's news programme 'Are Video Games Killing My Kids?'
It was quite interesting to read peoples responses since it seems that the title automatically made everyone assume that this was going to be another 'My Kids will Turn Bad If They Play Them!' type programme.
Maybe ITV should have used another title for this since in my opinion it was a very interesting look at today’s computer games, and it is likely that they lost loads of potential viewers who might have benefited from watching it.
What the title referred to was actually a fly-on-the-wall style investigation into the lives of children between the ages of 7 and 17 who were all computer game fan(attic)s.
These children were so obsessed with playing video games that they avoided stopping play to eat, sleep, go out, and even (in one extreme case) going to the toilet (the guy had cut out a hole in his chair so that he didn’t ever need to leave his monitor and could therefore play his game continuously!).
Though some people may think 'cool' the programme made a very serious point, questioning whether this behaviour should be viewed in the same league as an addiction. The screaming tantrums and violent behaviour that occurred when the children’s' games were turned off, their inability to concentrate on anything but the games, and their constant desire to leave whatever they were doing in order to get back to them, only added weight to this argument.
They highlighted real life cases where people had literally played themselves to death because they had refused to stop gaming for days on end, and as one interesting comment suggested, with addictions people often use things to block out, avoid or escape the real life problems they experience in their lives. And the sad fact is that this can lead them to isolating themselves from their family, friends, society, and real life.
Despite only discussing this as an issue in children, I think that they have just touched the tip of the iceberg, since I am sure their are many older people as well who are equally, if not more so, addicted to playing computer games and who fail to see it as a serious issue. (hence why it might have been worth watching).
I know people who enjoy playing games get very offended by the regular suggestions that playing computer games will open some morbid desire for individuals to commit horrendous acts of violence, but maybe it is time that the debate really opened up and people began to take stock of what is actually happening right now.
The children of today live in a different world to the one I knew. Gone are the days of the SEGA vs. Nintendo, Mario vs. Sonic generation and instead the primary dish of the day is GTA 1,2, and 3. Which I recon are pretty hardcore if you’re a child.
There are so many areas within computer games that need to be addressed without people getting uptight and defensive. For example the loss of imaginative play that has occurred within childhood in recent years is immense, levels of childhood obesity have doubled due to a lack of exercise, many parents still rarely monitor the content of their children’s' gaming (despite the games being certified 18's). The fact that so often today's games promote backward thinking discriminatory stereotypes of people in society which take anti-discrimination back decades, as well as the obvious condoning and glorifying of violent behaviour as cool.
Maybe the main correlation that is of concern is that as this massive and rapid growth of the multibillion £ global industry continues, these problems are going to show themselves more and more.
I am in no way an anti computer games activist (although it may sound like it from this). I still love Mario, and random games like Klax, my boyfriend also designs and programmes games for a living, so I would be an idiot to condemn the whole thing. But at the same time I do think that the industry might be spiralling out of control in the drive for greater profit.