It's funny seeing the mention of parents having concerns about kids playing games with guns. I remember my parents making a really big deal about violent video games when I was a kid more than twenty years ago, back in the days of beat 'em ups and fighting games on the NES. Little did they know I was playing said games at a neighbor kid's house. I think we underestimate kids' ability to differentiate fantasy from reality if they have a good moral framework to build off of at home
Same for me. As the youngest of three kids, my older brother would sometimes play the role of “Assistant Censor”. I’d see the cover art for stuff like Hogan’s Alley (which, coincidentally I just wrote an article about), and he’d be like “you can’t play that game. It’s a bout shooting people”. I wasn’t allowed to play NES Metal Gear because it was about the military. Stuff like that.
Arguably it pretty much guaranteed that I’d get into the “harder” stuff like Virua Cop, Time Crisis, and of course, Metal Gear Solid.
It's the last bit "a good moral framework to build off of..." in life. Ideally you're right, this would be at home. But unfortunately, some kids don't have a great home life, so they have to look, and find it, elsewhere -school, a coach, friends, parents-of-friends, etc.
Tbf that's true. I suppose the qualifier of "at home" is too general. (Unless you want to get really philosophical about it, which, I'll pass.) But generally, most people figure out after a certain point of brain development why violence irl is bad. And in the situations where that's not the case, this is exactly why broader community social programs are so important. Either way, my main point is mostly that video games that feature violence in their primary mechanics are at worst a corrolary to real world problems, but are in no way the cause of them. Especially when the violence is of a cartoony nature (e.g. the slapstick fighting of smash bros, or the gun fighting in Fortnite)
100%! I was playing Mortal Kombat at my friend’s house because his older brother owned it, all fun and games until someone gets their spine ripped out 🤭
It's funny seeing the mention of parents having concerns about kids playing games with guns. I remember my parents making a really big deal about violent video games when I was a kid more than twenty years ago, back in the days of beat 'em ups and fighting games on the NES. Little did they know I was playing said games at a neighbor kid's house. I think we underestimate kids' ability to differentiate fantasy from reality if they have a good moral framework to build off of at home
Same for me. As the youngest of three kids, my older brother would sometimes play the role of “Assistant Censor”. I’d see the cover art for stuff like Hogan’s Alley (which, coincidentally I just wrote an article about), and he’d be like “you can’t play that game. It’s a bout shooting people”. I wasn’t allowed to play NES Metal Gear because it was about the military. Stuff like that.
Arguably it pretty much guaranteed that I’d get into the “harder” stuff like Virua Cop, Time Crisis, and of course, Metal Gear Solid.
It's the last bit "a good moral framework to build off of..." in life. Ideally you're right, this would be at home. But unfortunately, some kids don't have a great home life, so they have to look, and find it, elsewhere -school, a coach, friends, parents-of-friends, etc.
Tbf that's true. I suppose the qualifier of "at home" is too general. (Unless you want to get really philosophical about it, which, I'll pass.) But generally, most people figure out after a certain point of brain development why violence irl is bad. And in the situations where that's not the case, this is exactly why broader community social programs are so important. Either way, my main point is mostly that video games that feature violence in their primary mechanics are at worst a corrolary to real world problems, but are in no way the cause of them. Especially when the violence is of a cartoony nature (e.g. the slapstick fighting of smash bros, or the gun fighting in Fortnite)
Good points all around.
Thanks! You can probably tell, but I have a LOT of thoughts on this subject ^^;
100%! I was playing Mortal Kombat at my friend’s house because his older brother owned it, all fun and games until someone gets their spine ripped out 🤭
Begs the question: how many spines have you ripped out recently?