Have you ever seen an argument defeated because someone agreed with it?
If not, sit back, relax and enjoy.
The argument goes along the lines of: “Video games are bad because they can make people violent, spurring those people to commit horrible atrocities they would have never even considered had they spent their time doing something else.”
For the sake of this column, I’ll agree with that and even make some points supporting that. The “Super Mario Bros.” franchise is just as much of a power trip as the “Call of Duty” series, with both games requiring the player to slaughter countless enemies. “Metroid” forces the protagonist to hunt a species to extinction. “Pokémon” and other creature-raising games encourage animal cruelty. The dynasties I mentioned — minus “Call of Duty” — are all from Nintendo, the company that has made its brand into a family-friendly one.
Even “Madden,” the football-simulation series, is violent because football itself is a violent sport.
However, accepting the idea that video games can make someone violent boils down to accepting that video games imprint upon the player.
Video games imprint violence, thus they are a negative force on society.
That view is a sorely limited view of video games, though.
For every game, there is more to it than violence.
“Mario” games condition the player to be a moral force of good, never ceasing in one’s quest until the villain is defeated and the princess returned safely. “Metroid” games require you to destroy a species hell-bent on destruction, saving the universe in the process. “Pokémon” encourages the bonds between trainer and creature, emphasizing partnership and the inherent value of every living thing — from small bugs to dragons.
Video games inspire perseverance. As games get harder, players face failure more often until overcoming the obstacle and achieving their goals. Video games create beacons of hope in players who transformed their digital worlds into utopias and now seek ideals in the real world. Some games can even tear down walls the player has put up, causing him or her to mature and see life in a new way.
Games have provided people with dream jobs. Sony and Nissan’s GT Academy plucks the best virtual racers from their televisions and trains them into professional race car drivers. The show “Survivor” took a champion of a fighting game and made him a contestant. There is even a major league for video games, allowing a simple hobby to become a profession.
Video games can be violent, yes. I don’t dispute that one bit, but I can point out other media forms that are violent. Print can be violent, as books can go into gory detail about how one person kills another in a bid for becoming royalty.
Television is violent, as crime dramas rise in popularity and news broadcasts sometimes focus on crimes that are an affront to the most basic principles of morality. Even radio can be violent, going all the way back to its heyday, in which the “War of the Worlds” broadcast prompted panic due to the idea of martians invading and killing off humans.
We don’t dispute the benefits those media forms provide. We accept the violence in those media forms as a trade-off for the greater good they serve.
Video games are no different.
Logan Ladnyk is a journalism junior at UF. His column usually runs on Fridays. You can contact him via opinions@alligator.org.
