This one’s from American-based Three Speech regular and industry insider Anthony Hanses…
Like many of those who are likely reading this now, I grew up as a gamer. I was born, raised, and obtained my lifeblood through video games and the industry. While not as old as many in the industry, I still remember programming little games on the Commodore64, tweaking my autoexec.bat and config.sys for hours on end to get games like Dune2 and the old SSI games running right. I remember hating it when Command & Conquer moved to Windows 95 because it lost its cool install animation. I remember more oddities about the gaming industry than most people my age, but less than some of my best friends in the industry.
I have lived through the fall of two greats who I thought were invincible and recently witnessed the possible return of one of them. I have seen franchises I once loved get abused and destroyed only to be replaced from new and (in a lot of ways) better franchises. I have participated in more gaming forums than most casual gamers know exist, and moderated at more than my fair share, I even run my own gaming forum now.
Throughout all of this I have heard the same things over, and over, and over, and over. Statements like…
· Gaming will rot your brain!
· Why don’t you play outside more?
· What are games really teaching out kids?
· It’s not like you learn anything from games!
· Doesn’t it bother you killing things all the time in games?
· I wish there were games that didn’t involve fighting!
Along the way, few have intrigued me more than the aspect that we as gamers kill a lot of things every single day we game, yet it does not phase us. I had almost completely forgotten this point until it was recently brought back to my attention by a friend who has multiple healthy children that are fast approaching gaming ages.
The more I think about it, I can understand why a lot of people are worried about games and gamers. Seriously, watch one of your friends or family members play a modern game these days. Notice how they go around in the game and kill dozens, if not hundreds, of creatures or people and they will show little to no emotion doing so. If and when they do show emotion, it is usually positive. Very rarely, if ever, does a gamer show remorse for their actions in the game or want to stop killing in the game.
Why is this? Why does it not bother us? Does this possibly hint at a true issue with gamers or games? Is there something we as a community can do about this? Does it affect us outside of the games?
I do not want to even claim to have any real ability to analyse the psychology of gamers. All I can really comment on is what I have noticed in myself, and how I feel and think while playing games.
Why does killing never seem to bother me or anyone else who plays games? At least from my point of view it is because I truly look at games as both entertainment and an educational tool. We are not just “killing things”. We are overcoming obstacles. We are learning to become more efficient, recognise opportunities when presented with them, devise strategies, and actually think things through.
Few gamers accept things at face value. I have met very few adult gamers that are typical adults in anything they do. As a brief example, whether we are Republicans (like I am) or Democrats (like most of my friends), we do not just accept what our parties preach to us. We question our leaders and their decisions. When we see them blatantly trying to lie to us, we call them on it. This might be due to the games themselves, or the industry leaders and learning to look past their lies, but regardless, we think.
When I could not hang outside with the other kids, I instead learned to escape into video games. As I played more and more games, I learned that they were about more than just killing things and getting to the end. I started to value the puzzle elements in games, the strategies I had to learn to win, the in-depth plots that evolved, and the joy of learning and eventually overcoming a really challenging part of a game. I learned what it was like to be successful and what it was like to be impoverished. I have not just watched a movie about the poor, the rich, the abused, and those being discriminated against. I have lived all of those roles. I have been in the shoes of each and every one of those positions. I have helped destroy worlds and watched as my family was killed. I have learned more about morals and morality than most have learned in classrooms or in front of a TV. Why? Because I have experienced, they have only witnessed.
In real life, if you watched people like people try to analyse those of us who play video games, you would be scared to death. I am sure we have all at one time or another worked ourselves to the bone.We have become so stressed from our jobs that we couldn’t sleep at night. We have become obsessed with hitting that next milestone at work. Some of us have backstabbed co-workers to get ahead. Others have fired employees as scapegoats for our own wrongdoings. A lot of the people that commit these acts in real life every single day have never played a video game in their entire life. This is just how people are. Yet, a lot of these people that regularly destroy a real person’s life find it appalling that someone would kill a virtual human.
So how does this correlate back to my original point? Well, I would like to think that I am a better person than a lot of non-gamers, specifically because I am a gamer. When I have a frustrating day at work, I can come home and kill 10,000 drones in a game and very quickly and easily let loose my frustrations. I can sit down and play Guitar Hero II for a couple of hours and improve my reflexes while also forgetting about that stupid co-worker from earlier in the day. I can let go, in a completely interactive way like no other entertainment mechanism can provide. Then I can go back to work and apply what I have learned in games:
· Try to never make the same mistake twice.
· Learn from your mistakes.
· Always work to improve yourself.
· There are repercussions for every action you make, even if they are not immediate.
· Bad things happen, deal with it and move on. Find something better to focus on.
· And most important, if you aren’t enjoying your life or work, find something new to do. You will be more productive if you are happier and actually enjoy what you are doing.
· I can’t do everything in life, sometimes I have to specialise. But just because I specialise doesn’t mean I can’t learn new skills in other areas.
What can we do to change this perception that the media and politicians have created around games?
For starters, explain to others what you have learned from gaming. Show them how gaming has made you a better person. As an example, I point out to almost everyone in my personal life that if I did not learn how to poke and prod stuff in games, I never would have gotten into Software QA. I never would have gotten on the career path that led me to where I am today in Project Management and where I am yet to go. I probably would not of had the courage to start my own company and try to create my own game. Instead, I likely would have remained a firefighter with lung problems or gone on to be a factory worker of some kind like most of my family has historically. Games allowed me to change my destiny in real life.
Donate in the name of gaming. Assist groups like Penny-Arcade who regularly perform good deeds in the name of the gaming community with a focus on showing people that we care about the world as a whole and are not all crazed high school kids that go on shooting rampages.
Introduce non-gamers to gaming through the various brain training and puzzle games on the DS and PSP. Both are cost effective methods of getting people into gaming. As they play those, gradually evolve the type of games you introduce them to. Start showing them RPGs and other games that have rich stories and interesting, yet overall simple, mechanics. Attend a PTA meeting at your local school and encourage the school to add DDR as an option to their Physical Education programs. Show the world that frankly, killing in most games is just a means to an end. Most of the time gamers are just killing something for the sole purpose of getting to the next story section of the game, or to get a new skill that enables them to develop new strategies.
Explain the morals you have learned from games. Explain how games have made you a better person.
Last but not least, some gamers have fallen into a trap in recent years. More so than any time in our history we are becoming like those we despise the most. Time and time again I will read general discussion topics on forums about politics where gamers express that they don’t understand why the various political factions are both so manipulative and evil. They don’t like how the various political factions have mindless followers that never seem to question their leaders.
Unfortunately, a lot of these same gamers then proceed into gaming sections of the forums and mindlessly defend one of the console manufacturers, a game or a software developer the same way followers of a political party will mindless follow their leaders.
Use what games have taught you. Don’t take things at face value. Question the world, question the system, question life. Let us show the world that we will not fall into the same trap as so many other groups have. We can lead by example.
By Anthony Hanses www.emaglive.com
This is all about power and control, you cannot control people that think, but you can control sheep.
“Go play outside” is in a way, little more than a variation of “stop using your brain”.
That said, games are just a medium, which would make them as susceptible of manipulation as any other medium, but being fully virtual, they could actually be more prone to manipulations.
And in due time, they will be transformed… when the current “ruling” people will have been replaced by new people that understand gaming, and thus, know how to exploit it.
Gaming will then become a mass brainwashing tool, just like TV became that a generation ago.
Comment by John — Jun 12, 2007 @ 9:00 am
You’ve posted a thought-provoking essay. Games can only go so far, however, in giving you the experience of being poor or being discriminated against. I question just how far you have “lived all of those roles” through gaming. Better yet, I’d love for you to name the games which delivered such experiences. Nonetheless, I value your effort to highlight games’ instrumental use in our capacity to learn and to make sense of our non-virtual world. I’ll read your essay again and see what other thoughts come to mind.
Comment by Mike — Jun 12, 2007 @ 1:56 pm
Good piece, interesting thoughts here.
Comment by Tom Eccles — Jun 12, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
It’s a bit of a stretch, linking political parties and companies like Sony and Microsoft - at least in the way you have done so. Personally, I have never heard a large group of gamers express the same, thought-out, strong political opinion, which involves stating that they think various political factions are evil and corrupt, and have mindless followers. A little too specific, no? I have probably never really heard a general consensus about politics from any groups of gamers, because the large majority of them are in their late teens, and early 20s. They don’t care. They are most likely, the people who don’t even turn up to vote. Granted, one gamer expressed this political opinion - you. It is still one hell of a stretch to make the analogy you made, a convincing one.
Moreover, I wouldn’t go as far as to make the sweeping generalisation that all gamers have kind and sensitive personalities, if I were you. There are, no doubt, some. But, the massive variety of people who play games, stands on its own as a clear indication that they are not all like one another, or how you portrayed them. There are people who play Nintendogs, and there are people who play GTA/God of War etc (while they are not examples of all the people who play games, they are the extremes). They are not the same. Absolutism is illogical, and while it may be appealing to think that there is an overarching ideology which results in everything falling into place, it usually results in the speaker looking rather retarded.
Take Metal Gear Online, for instance - be the victim of a headshot, and expect to have your corpse tea-bagged continuously, until you respawn. Competitive online gaming has resulted in a new level of hatred, and bitterness throughout the community. What do you expect - it’s a collection of young people, motivated enough to get an effing PS2 online, put in a room to kill each other. I think your opinion is very flawed.
It sounds like you have some gripes with corrupt business men. It’s not sensible to imprint your problems/experiences onto the whole of the gaming community.
Your excessive use of interrogatives/rhetorical questions also makes the essay quite frustrating to read, in parts.
And, why, Threespeech, is it impossible to post comments on here, using a PS3? I’ve lost count of how many posts I have written, to recently, find that none of them have in fact been posted.
Comment by Griffo — Jun 12, 2007 @ 3:14 pm
Thanks, an intersting read and some thoughts to chew on. I especially liked the part about the fanboys and politics even if I don’t necessarily agree with the logic behind it…but it did make me chucke to myself…
Tavin.
Comment by Tavin — Jun 12, 2007 @ 4:14 pm
“Why does killing never seem to bother me or anyone else who plays games?”
Because it’s not real.
Comment by Techni — Jun 12, 2007 @ 5:22 pm
I do admit there are SOME games that are questionable as far as their content is concerned.. but that can be said about any kind of media be it film, music and. *gasp, books! I think one of the reasons we may be worried about questionable content is because we believe we allow ourselves to be influenced by it. Book burning is one example of an extreme reaction to this fear in the past. I play games like most people watch movies.. it’s a form of escape, and I get into the stories of the games much like someone may get into the story of a movie or book. It is up to the person who is consuming the media to allow to be influenced or not.. as after watching, say.. Halloween 10 I don’t have an urge to go slash someone’s throat! Personally, I believe, in my life, video game playing has lent more positives than negatives. I’ve learned how to work on computers and am currently employed in the software industry. I’ve also connected with a lot of friends in my life due to our common hobby. Negatives would be wasted time if anything if I spend too much time on a game.
Comment by nmc75 — Jun 12, 2007 @ 6:48 pm
Interesting article and a good read. It is important to note that actions that we do in games are not what we would like to do in real life. I enjoy watching Kill Bill with Uma Thurman killing 50 asians, but thats not what I end up doing after I come out of the theatre.
Entertainment in any form is a means to detach oneself from reality. Period. Detachment can occur by immersing oneself in a Guitar Solo or watching Johnny Depps histrionics or by playing pretend at being Kratos and defeating the God of War.
Its entertainment, it doesnt brainwash into misanthropes, it teaches us persuasion, application and innovation.
However to explain this to a non-gamer is very tough.
Comment by Nishant — Jun 12, 2007 @ 8:44 pm
Having grown up in a generation of gamers almost everyone I know my age has had an interest in games.
The proof really is in the pudding. I look around me and think, how many uf us gamers got messed up? How many turned out just fine?
The answer is pretty much everyone, living successful lives with careers, with families, with friends. Games didn’t rot our brains. They didn’t teach us bad things in life.
And of the ones who didn’t turn out so well? Mostly because they didn’t finish school. So parents… forget about games rotting your children’s minds, just give them the help they need to get a good education and a good start in life.
Sure as gamers we played games where we shot eachother thousands of times. Blew eachother up with little bombermen. Spent hours practicing how to perform grattifying violent “fatalities”.
We also scored goals, hit home runs, broke speed records, saved the world from evil, etc.
Its nothing but pure competition. We get as excited when winning in a game as in any real life competition. For someone who’s not a gamer, think of a sport you play, or your favorite sport’s team, you feel passion for your game, you feel joy when your team wins, and angwish when your team loses.
And as in real life competition is good. And as in real life competition can lead to rivalry, rivlrty to hate, and hate the way to the dark side it is.
Comment by Kratos — Jun 12, 2007 @ 11:41 pm
to be honest, i thought you were reaching…with a lot of your points.
the reason why it doesnt bother us when we kill things in a videogame is because we know its all just pixels and graphics in a game.
theres no human with real emotions… its just a game.
a really good game MIGHT be able to make us temporarily forget that and make us feel, but realistically, when we come back down to earth, we’ll realise that its not real.
thats why watching the news is 1000 time more horrifying than watching a horror movie like hostel.
Comment by joelface — Jun 13, 2007 @ 12:09 am
I had a moment of remorse when playing Elder Scrolls IV, after playing as a mostly good person in the game, i started another charecter and immediatly joined the theives guild and the Dark Brotherhood. While stealing didnt really affect me, going around assasinating people for no reason started to bug me after a while and i had to stop the assisinations for a while.
Comment by Wreckheart — Jun 13, 2007 @ 5:35 pm
I care not for all the hordes I frag, simply because I’m having fun doing something I’m not allowed to in the real world. In the virtual world, they’re not real, and I can just sit and play selfishly without compromising to anyone.
However, whilst I’d encourage people to play games, I suggest that moderation, like all things in life, is the key. Don’t screw your eyes, posture and diet; get some sunshine, exercise, interact with real people. That way, you’ll live longer, and can look forward to continuing to play games into old age.
Woo Hoo!
Here’s a thought. When we’re old, I mean OLD, will we still enjoy the games in the same way? I think so. My grandparents like the same sort of movies, the same type of music, the same sort of friends. So I’m going to be a dirty old lecherous man who plays FPS’s, racing games and listens to trance and rock. I’m gonna be fun.
Comment by LordOfRuin — Jun 13, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
I play because I can’t kill.
Comment by Ben Furneaux — Jun 13, 2007 @ 8:05 pm
Thanks for all the great feedback, particularly Griffo.
I want to clarify that I didn’t mean to imply that all gamers are peace loving hippies or anything like that. Gamers can be pure evil, but I would argue that they are not neccessarily so outside of normal societal proportions.
I would also agree that some of my points dragged on a bit and needed to be refined a little better. My writing is getting better but needs some work yet.
If anyone is interested in discussing this editoral with me in more depth, please feel free to post over at my forums.
http://emaglive.com/index.php?showtopic=1868
Thanks!
At the end of the day, games are about having fun and experiencing another forum of entertainment.
Comment by Anthony Hanses — Jun 14, 2007 @ 12:05 am
Damn! this is s0 real i cant believe it o.O
I dont watch tv anymore because off ze brainwashing :S, the net is getting worse by the day too.
Good to see that someone on this godforsaken earth is keeping it real
OT: I truly believe that i have learned some basic guerilla tactics from games like counter strike. is it harmful? no, because i would never shoot someone!, lest they piss me off xD
(luckily i cant buy a guns & ammo @ nearest HW store)
Comment by baddabo.0 — Jun 14, 2007 @ 1:25 am
You did forget to mention one aspect of gaming which is strogly negative, and that is the lack of properly developing social skills. While some would argue that online play and cooperative play are social interations, they are such only in a very limited way. Often, when the parents say ‘go play outside’, they mean ‘go find people and interact socially’. When so much of our lives are determined by our social skills, the fact that we ignore them and instead practice our hand-eye coordination is sad. This is, of course, a generalization.
Overall, an excellent read. thank you for the article.
Comment by Gordon — Jun 14, 2007 @ 4:25 am
Thanks Gordon.
One counterpoint I would have is that all too often a lot of the kids that you tell to “go out and play” rather than play Video Games are already in a position where they lack social skills and going out to play will likely not help and possibly make things even worse. That is a different issue dealing with how we raise kids (at least in the USofA).
One other thing worth noting is that Video Games can create a socializing atmosphere. A lot of geeks will hook-up and play games together offline. Even single player titles like RPGs. I remember when Final Fantasy VI was released. Neither I nor any of my friends had the $80 to pick it up at launch alone. Thus we all pitched in $20 and picked it up. We then spent the next 3 days/nights sleeping over at each other’s places playing through together and beating the game. It was a riot.
Comment by Anthony Hanses — Jun 14, 2007 @ 7:00 pm
I hope he at least tries to defend gaming, here’s what I would say:
· Gaming will rot your brain!
So will watching sports. Yet, if I spent my spare time watching sports instead of gaming, I don’t think you would be telling me such things.
· Why don’t you play outside more?
Would you ask the same if, instead of gaming I spent my free time reading books?
· What are games really teaching out kids?
Again, football and basketball don’t teach anything either. Watching them is a waste of time as much as playing video games.
· It’s not like you learn anything from games!
Your knowledge of games probably doesn’t extend further than PacMan. For example, you could try playing the game “War in the Pacific” thoroughly and you’ll know more about WW2 battles than you could ever learn in school.
· Doesn’t it bother you killing things all the time in games?
Killing things? I thought they’re just 0’s and 1’s inside my computer. I can tell a difference between real life and computer monitor. Probably even you could, if you ever bothered to play video games. But I suppose you’re too afraid that games will rot your brain to actually try them.
· I wish there were games that didn’t involve fighting!
You can play a game of chess on computer. Wait, chess is also about fighting, so it makes kids violent and God knows what else.
Unfortunately, an average gamer is far more likely to respond with something like “OMG LOL WTF STFU NOOB!” than to say anything intelligent, so games indeed rot people’s brains and I’m just an exception.
Comment by ZeRu — Jun 16, 2007 @ 6:24 pm
You make some brilliant points. I have something to add though. I’ve played computer games for the last 25 years. I wouldn’t say I’m socially inept as I much prefer to play game with real people.
The main reason I bought a PS2 when they came out was due to the number of multi-player games. There is nothing worse than watching someone else play when you’re itching to have ago. It allowed a group of close friends to compete without having to take up sports.
I’d always wanted to play on line and meet like minded and skilled people but the PS2 was supposed to be rubbish and I couldn’t justify the expense on broadband. I avoided PC gaming for the whole reason of OMG and NOOB, and trolls.
People need to take responsibility for there own actions we live in a society where we’re afraid to let our kids out. So people spend large amounts of cash, so 12 year old Johnny can sit in his bedroom swearing at randoms. Rather than spend time with that child, teaching and playing with them.
My girlfriend has played the odd game here and there before we got together but since I got a PSP she’s got right into. She can now really hold her own on Tekken and is starting to kick butt on R:FoM. If you’d have seen her at the beginning she just could get the hang of it. Now it’s hard to get her off it.
One thing that people don’t ways take into account is how damn hard gaming cam be. Ask a non-gamer to try and play an RPG or FPS. All you get is “I don’t want too”. When they mean “I don’t know how tooâ€. Some people quit when things get difficult, others practice.
But with the PS3 I now have a group of people that I regularly hook up with chat and game. It’s a real confidence booster to start chatting to like minded people. If you don’t believe me try chatting to the next random stranger that walks past you in real life.
Gamers have a shared perspective on life and that’s usually fun. I’m British and I’m glad we have gun control in this country not because I think games turn people into homicidal maniacs but because some people really are cookcoo. Whether they play games or not.
Scape-goating is a brilliant way of not dealing with societies problems and not understanding something leads to prejudice.
I don’t think I saw a single mention of addiction in your essay. This should be a more worrying aspect of gaming. But in current society you can be addicted to anything from chocolate, sex, cars, spending, drugs etc. Why is there an addiction to gaming because like they above they are all enjoyable, but one person moderation is anothers abuse.
Comment by vdjomb — Jun 19, 2007 @ 1:16 pm
ok so i havent learned any real life tactics from playing, thats just me talking out of my ass.
and i can tell reality from a video game, but i do really like guns more now than before i was a gamer.
Actually i think i have a fetish for them.
i think the problem is, at least in USA is that anyone has access to guns.
Add to that a whole generation wired on counter strikeish games,maybe having a shitty life in some minority community (minorities tend to have that)
and you just opened a can of whoopass,
nation wide -style ^^
cause and effect fellas, cause and effect ^^
Comment by badabo.0 — Jun 22, 2007 @ 9:13 am
I think just skimming through the comments makes it obvious that there is no one ‘Gamer’ archetype, and that any argument founded on the assumption is equally flawed.
We are not a clique, or a community. It is a stretch to call us a culture. We are as diverse and confusing as any other arbitrary segment of the population, and cannot be addressed or approached as a unit.
No one would ever think to categorize purchasers of wine as a singular component to the larger society. Anyone with half an idea of what wine entails realizes you need to take into account so many more details; are they drinking or collecting, what color, what region, dry or sweet, quality, cost, is it consumed only socically or appreciated in private…?
I won’t belabor a point made, but to address the concern of what those-who-don’t-play-games think about those-who-do, I think it’s pretty simple: you can’t change what other people think. Only they can. You can give them a reason to change. If you care at all how gamers are perceived, act accordingly.
Before anyone starts thinking differently about those people who choose to play video games, there needs to be obvious examples of the good. Anyone who walks into a game store, or into one of the thousands of multiplayer matches and lobbies in any game for any console, can find immediate and horrific examples of why gamers should be despised. But that would be as general and as wrong to assume that black people are all bad for those few thugs shilling drugs on your corner. Writing off so broad a selection of people ignores the hundreds of young black men laboring studiously in medical schools across the country, or serving in our militaries, teaching our children, or working to keep free speech free.
Whenever you fight a racial bigot, you have countless examples of why they’re wrong. So if you want to bring the fight to the gamer bigot, you have to lead from the front. Be the bright and shining star others to point to as an example of what gamers can be. And be vocal in your opposition of those who provide more ammunition to those who would write you off.
Comment by Michael — Jul 3, 2007 @ 12:40 am
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