by gSathe
This is the original, unedited text of my article for The Hindustan Times, which was first printed in the HT on Sunday, July 26, and was commissioned for the paper, which wanted to run a piece on violence on videogames from a gamer’s perspective which would be accessible to non-gamers as well. For the edited version as it appeared in the paper, click.
Some of the most hyped, and most successful video games that are currently in the market are also some of the goriest creations in the medium, with often painstakingly realistic depictions of violence. It is perhaps no surprise that more and more countries now ban the sale of “violent videogames” and make others attempt to censor their content, under the guise of “protecting” children.
On the surface, it is a reasonable response to video game publishers, decadents who care about nothing but the bottom line, and certainly have no concern for the effects that their products might have on impressionable young minds. Which is why you have games like the infamous Grand Theft Auto series, where the depictions of violence have slowly and steadily become more and more realistic, from GTA: Vice City which was a loving ode to the over the top violence, to GTA: San Andreas, which depicted the violence in gangs in urban America. The latest, recently released GTA IV gave you the chance to play out the role of Niko Bellic, a recent immigrant to the shores of the USA, where he would act as a hitman for the Russian mafia and leave a trail of bodies in his wake. The game was often brutal, and Niko brazenly killed those closest to him.
If that wasn’t enough, the recently released Prototype has your so-called “hero” Alex Mercer running through New York city killing indiscriminately, destroying vehicles and buildings without a thought, brutally ending the lives of dozens of civilians every moment while locked in battle with the army and monstrous mutants all at once. Clearly, he’s busy juggling between the enemies, and if the fighting happens in a densely populated urban zone, some people were just going to die, but when Alex casually picks up a passerby and “consumes” him to improve his health, it does go a little over the top.
These are some of the recent, and most popular games today, which can understandably create visions of hungry eyed children, lining up like little soldiers prepared to put into action all the plans they learned playing videogames. What many people don’t realise though, is that video games aren’t just for children anymore. The largest demographic today is over 20, as gaming becomes more and more expensive as a hobby. After all, every new game costs around Rs 3,000. The consoles cost more Rs 20,000, just to get a foot in the door.
And most studies agree (including one from NIMHANS) – games themselves do not harm our minds. Unless you’re playing four most of the day, every day, in which case you might start to lose your grip on reality. And if your child is playing video games for that long? What the hell are you doing in all this?!
Violence is there in any media today. Childrens’ books, whether Brian Jacques’ Redwall, or Lewis’ Narnia, are bloody, violent affairs, with giant battles and hundreds slain. He-Man and GI Joe hardly present a vision of a world at peace, while movies can show anything these days, and it’s probably going to be called educational. And while we’re talking about that – would you want your child to watch one of the Saw movies? Or even something like Pan’s Labyrinth? Hell, I shudder to think of what Alice in Wonderland is going to turn out as! Games like GTA IV or Prototype or any other highly violent videogame, are not made for children. They are made for a more mature audience, and rated accordingly. And should be treated accordingly.
Niko in GTA has to kill people, true, but they are often powerful moral choices which have a dramatic impact on the narrative progress of the game, and every act you take has tremendous consequences emotionally on you, the player. Alex casually winnows crowds of humans to get to a solitary mutant, but early in the game he discovers that he is no longer human either, and the whole point of such gameplay is to underscore the sense of “otherness” he faces. The narrative makes it clear that Alex does not see himself as a hero, just a thing, concerned with its own survival. More and more games now are designed to have complex narratives with subtle emotional nuances, clearly not meant for children.
Parents have no excuse to their noninvolvement in their own childrens’ lives. They have to look at what they are buying for their children, and decide whether they want their kids playing the game or not. Violence is optional, and people need to choose, instead of complaining from positions of ignorance.
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