Comments on: Growing Up Digital http://www.johnhendron.net/digest/2008/05/20/growing-up-digital/ education technology Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:51:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Rob O. http://www.johnhendron.net/digest/2008/05/20/growing-up-digital/#comment-408 Rob O. Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:38:02 +0000 http://www.johnhendron.net/digest/?p=288#comment-408 <p>One of my biggest issues with modern video games is that they simply are not now what they once were - the bad guys are no longer little green, squiggly, pixelated alien invaders to be blasted with giddy impunity. Instead, the bad guys who you’re out to gun down, beat up, or in some way kill, are ultra-realistic, breathing, bleeding human-like characters. They limp if you only graze 'em. They yell out in pain. For all intents, they're... people.</p> <p>We have no tolerance for the idea of some terrorist gunning down people in the street - and rightly so - yet we’re perfectly fine with (often very young) children doing very similar horrific, mindless violent acts to video game characters? Sure, there’s some difference, but is there enough?</p> <p>It's easy (and maybe even just a little justifiable) to villainize videogames on the whole because they are predominantly gratiutously graphic affairs that only serve to feed our most base desires and desensitize children to horrific violence. Sure, there are age-appropriate ratings and suggestions for ensuring that very young children are safeguarded against some of this stuff, but really, that stuff only serves the attorneys. Barely post-toddler age children ARE routinely playing the likes of Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Bad Company, etc. And their Gen Y parents fail to see anything wrong with that...</p> One of my biggest issues with modern video games is that they simply are not now what they once were - the bad guys are no longer little green, squiggly, pixelated alien invaders to be blasted with giddy impunity. Instead, the bad guys who you’re out to gun down, beat up, or in some way kill, are ultra-realistic, breathing, bleeding human-like characters. They limp if you only graze ‘em. They yell out in pain. For all intents, they’re… people.

We have no tolerance for the idea of some terrorist gunning down people in the street - and rightly so - yet we’re perfectly fine with (often very young) children doing very similar horrific, mindless violent acts to video game characters? Sure, there’s some difference, but is there enough?

It’s easy (and maybe even just a little justifiable) to villainize videogames on the whole because they are predominantly gratiutously graphic affairs that only serve to feed our most base desires and desensitize children to horrific violence. Sure, there are age-appropriate ratings and suggestions for ensuring that very young children are safeguarded against some of this stuff, but really, that stuff only serves the attorneys. Barely post-toddler age children ARE routinely playing the likes of Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Bad Company, etc. And their Gen Y parents fail to see anything wrong with that…

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