If I could, would I simply stop playing games altogether? This direct line of interrogation stirs up my innards. It feels like it gets right to the heart of the matter because it evinces a visceral response. But actually it doesn’t illuminate much. It’s too simplistic a question. You see,the question you ask determines (in part) the kind of answer you will get. So perhaps I’m asking myself the wrong questions. Like asking, are video games good or bad?
We often want to put things in 1 of 2 boxes, good or bad. Fat, bad. Sugar, bad. Vitamin C, good. But for those of us who have spent just a little time looking at these components in consumables, we know it’s not so simple. There are bad Fats and there are good fats (or better fats), there are good sugars, sugars from fruit for example. And Vitamin C, well, too much and you get diarrhoea. So unless you think that’s a good idea then perhaps our boxes are not doing a great job of containing the distinctions.
But I love boxing things.
Video games. Good or bad? Wrong question I think. So what is the right question(s) to ask of video games? Let’s consider some and see what kind of question(s) we arrive at.
To start, ‘Is the medium of video gaming inherently bad?”
This question is looking broadly at the medium and asking if there are intrinsic qualities to the medium that are worthy of disapprobation. Without a doubt, people have said ‘yes’ to this. Lots of people take issue with the medium of video games, applying wholesale disapproval. This occurs generally for one of two reasons. Firstly, it’s viewed as a waste of time. Secondly, it is seen as a promotion of reprehensible content (especially violence).
The latter argument has some validity to it. However it is addressing the content and not the medium itself. This fuddle between medium and message is a classic muddle. If the message is a promotion of unethical glorified criminality delivered through the medium of interactive programed pixels, then take offense at the right aspect of the problem – the message. The medium is not responsible for producing the message. The same promotion of unethical glorified criminality may be delivered through a TV show, or through a book. Nothing inherently wrong with books or TV shows. Likewise, I think there is not an inherent issue with the medium of games.
How about the former issue, time wasting? Again, in my experience, people have used the ‘time waste’ argument but then straight away have promoted ‘alternatives’ or even unknowingly admitted to watching excessive TV. The ‘waste of time’ argument can backfire in this way because anyone can waste time doing just about anything. To some folding origami could be seen as a waste of time, play sport can be seen as a waste of time, reading, TV, cooking. You get the picture. We all have leisure activities that to someone else who does not share the same interest will appear as a waste of time.
But… in both argument above, there is also truth. Through the medium of video games there has been a lot of content that is questionable, we might call it ‘bad art.’ Again, through the medium of video games, many have truly wasted time. Here technology and the market have come together in such a way that they are able to create the perfect storm that sucks you in to a gore filled, sex filled, addictive time drain. This does not have to be the case but it nevertheless is more often true than not (in my opinion). So is there something to the medium of video games that’s inherently bad after all?
Still, No. I think video games are just really good at bringing out the worst in us. People have to create and program those games filled with terrible art that’s purposely addictive (time-wasting). Yet these content creators and designers are also doing so because the market demands it (us). That’s how it works. I’d be very surprised if in heaven we are playing GTA 5. We made that here on earth and we pay good money to play it. So video games can easily bring out the evil stored up in us.
Then what questions should we ask of video games? Is the problem with the medium? No the problem is not inherent to the medium. Then we asked is the message (the content of the medium) the problem? Yes, the content is what determines a good game from a bad game. But we went one step further and looked at the one engaging with the game. How are we the problem?
I think we ought to assess the value of a game on an individual basis, much the same way we approach movies and books. There are good movies and good books, and terrible movies and terrible books. Same with video games.
But we should also go a little further in asking the right question of ourselves. Does this video game bring out the worst in me, or the bad side of me?
These are much better questions to ask of the medium, the content and ourselves.
Bigvai and Shiphrah 