I do not
subscribe to the notion that playing violent video games leads to a violent
teenager or violent adult. In fact, I did several essays and presentations in
college opposing that idea. I believe that there was a lot more going on with
Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris than the fact that they were listening to
Rammstein and playing Doom when they walked
into Columbine High School that tragic morning. My purpose of writing this
piece is not to recount all the terrible actions that children have carried out
and men like Jack Thompson and Joseph Lieberman have blamed on violent video
games, but as someone who has worked in video game retail for several years, I
have come across lots of parents that seemingly don’t care what type of video
games their children are playing, and it has always irked me.
Let me
start off by giving you my history with violent video games. I was seven years
old when I first saw the original Mortal Kombat arcade
cabinet at our local Putt-Putt Mini Golf location (R.I.P.). I always tried out
any new game that came in, but this one I couldn’t get to because it was always
in use. Despite not being able to play it, my brother and I kept hearing about
it from friends and seeing images of it in the pages of GamePro and Electronic
Gaming Monthly. When the news hit that the game was making its way
to our Sega Genesis, we begged our parents to get it for us that Christmas,
which they did.
Luckily for
us, ignorance was bliss in this case, as my parents had no idea what Mortal
Kombat was or that it was very controversial. All they knew
was that it was a game that their sons wanted and they could play it together.
In some ways, my parents were much like the ones that I see at work, but in
other ways, they’re the direct opposite. The original Mortal
Kombat, as most of us know, was one of the biggest reasons the ESRB
was created. But at the time, my parents — who stopped playing video games
after Super
Mario Bros. 3 — had no idea that games could be this
violent.
Despite a
new copy of Mortal Kombat being under the tree that
Christmas, my parents were always very aware of the television I was watching.
We weren’t allowed to watch Beavis and Butt-Head (though
we still found a way), in fact, MTV was blocked on our televisions so we
couldn’t watch any of those “rap videos with the naked women.” I wasn’t even
allowed to watch The Simpsonsuntil I was in
junior high, which eventually backfired on my mom when The
Simpsons became a little bit of an obsession of
mine. No scary movies unless they watched with me, and if there was any nudity,
you cover those eyes young man, and you better not be peeking!
So, my
parents were very cautious of the type of television I was consuming, but the
medium of video games and the direction it was going was uncharted territory
for them. The following Christmas they were kind enough to buy us Mortal
Kombat II.
So if my
parents weren’t aware of the violence in video games, is it fair for me to be
critical of parents that allow their young children to play mature rated games
today? Personally, I think it is. It’s been over twenty-five years since Mortal
Kombat first hit the scene, and we’ve come to understand a lot
more about video games than we did back then. As with every medium, video games
have evolved as technology has improved, allowing for more realistic graphics
and more engaging characters and stories. Things that were controversial back
then seem very tame by today’s standards. A television network never would have
given The
Walking Dead the green light back in 1993. Any Grand
Theft Auto game would have been given an AO rating back then.
You would have had to go to the video game black market to obtain a copy.
With that
evolution, parents have become much more lenient with mature content. Most
parents that come in to my store and allow their children to purchase Call
of Duty are probably going to be playing the game themselves
or playing the game with their children. Video games have been popular for long
enough that they’re no longer a thing for kids. In cases like that, I still
have concerns, but at least supervision is present.
But when I
have to ask a parent if it’s okay for their children to purchase a mature-rated
game, and their responses are things like “It’s nothing worse than they see on
TV,” “They already play it at their friend’s house,” and “If it’ll make them
shut up,” how do you not expect me to be critical of that? The responses I want
to reply with are “Why are you letting them watch that kind of stuff on
television?” “Why aren’t you making your kid get new friends?” and “You’re a
bad parent!” But I can’t say that, because that might offend someone, and we
just can’t allow that.
My church
operates a day care, and one day I was there helping out with some work. The
young boys at the day care knew that I was into video games, so they struck up
a conversation with me. When I told them they were too young to be playing Grand
Theft Auto V and they should be playing something more age
appropriate, one of the kids responds with (and I’m not kidding) “We play
killing games.”
I was
legitimately shocked when those words came out of that child’s mouth.
My wife and
I are currently trying to have a baby, and I have a feeling that when he or she
gets to this age that there will be lots of “But my friends are playing it”
arguments. But if you’re a parent and reading this, let me assure you of
something. It is completely alright to tell your kid no. You don’t have to
explain yourself to them, you just have to say no. I know we live in an age
where everyone has to be included in everything, but it is alright to not allow
your kid to do or play or watch or listen to something that you don’t want them
to. You’re the parent, they’re the child. You’re the authority, they’re not.
Recently, I
had a man come in with his grandson, and when I read off the laundry list of
reasons why Grand Theft Auto V was mature rated (it’s
just coincidence that it’s always GTA V), he told his grandson
to pick a different game. This grandfather had restored my hope, and that hope
lasted for all of five minutes. After some whining and pouting, that child had
a brand new copy of Grand Theft Auto V, and I
let out an audible sigh as I stared out into the evening sun and wept.
Perhaps it
is not fair for me to be critical of any parent when I myself am not one. It’s
kind of like that guy who doesn’t workout telling you how to get more fit when
you’ve been exercising for the past ten years. I know that parenting is not
easy, and I know that I’m going to mess a lot of things up when I do become
one.
As I said
in the very first sentence of this article, I do not believe that mature games
lead to violent or immoral adults. I believe I’ve turned out pretty well, and I
grew up with them. I’m not condemning games like Grand Theft Auto, I play
every GTA game
and I really enjoy them. But I do believe that mature content can and does
leave an impression on any developing brain. If you’re a parent, I genuinely
hope that you’ve read this and take something away from it. Don’t take this as
a condemnation, take this as an encouragement to be more aware of what your
children are consuming and understand that it can affect them.
Video games
are an amazing hobby, and I have a lot of great memories and met a lot of
friends because of them. They can help you live out the power fantasy of being
the Dragonborn, or let you throw the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, or
drift around corners at 100 mph. You can be a knight wielding a shovel, a
handsome adventurer, and the Batman all in one afternoon. They allow creativity
to spring forth. They allow you to create the Mario level you doodled
on your math book in fifth grade. Video games allow you to be something you’re
not and do things you can’t do. They’re an escape when you’ve had a bad day,
and they’re a great social experience when you have friends over.
But the one
thing that video games can’t be is a child’s babysitter.
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