I thought we were past this as a nation. “Media family values” champion Jack Thompson was disbarred from the Florida legal system a while ago, and a report from Gamasutra.com says that The National Institute on Media and the Family – NIMF, if you want to mock them – has shut down after 14 years of operation. NIMF has been extremely critical of the video game industry over these past 14 years, giving an annual “report card” of the video game industry, and I honestly feel nothing over them shutting down. They have been completely irrelevant to my life throughout their existence. This organization was never discussed around the dinner table, with praises sung by my parents, or Halo-induced rage from me. I doubt anybody in my family or circle of friends has ever heard of this group. In their 14 years of life, they accomplished nothing, except help draw attention to the “Hot Coffee mod” in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, garnering a boost in sales for Rockstar Games. They have always been irrelevant.
If they’re so irrelevant, why in the Hell am I talking about them? Well, why are all 9 of you asking questions? The answer is this: after seeing the fall of Jack Thompson, and seeing Joe Lieberman become the joke of Congress that he is, I assumed we were past this “video games are evil” kick as a nation. This has been done before, first starting with comic books, then cartoons like Road Runner and Bugs Bunny, then movies like “Natural Born Killers,” followed by television shows like “Jackass,” and finally with video games like Grand Theft Auto and Doom. So, I was led to assume that the video game industry has withstood the onslaught of “family-first” groups that have attempted to stare down so many other forms of media that are “ruining our children and our nation.”
Apparently, I was wrong. On GamePolitics.com, a study was performed by the Swiss groups Pro Juventute and Track Impunity Always(TRIAL) to “raise public awareness among developers and publishers of the games, as well as among authorities, educators and the media about virtually committed crimes in computer and videogames.” In other words, to count how many human rights violations exist in video games, and the consequences that are presented to the player. Shockingly, in the first person shooters with highly cinematic tones taking place in combat environments, there were quite a few violations of the International Humanitarian Law with little to no consequence.
Hold on, you mean to tell me a video game isn’t a realistic portrayal of life? Huh. I thought if I ran over some hookers and the police start chasing me, all I have to do to lose them is get my car repainted for a couple hundred bucks. Even if the cops watch me go into the paint shop. In the car I used to run over the hookers. Just like in Grand Theft Auto. Obviously, children should not be playing these M-rated games. In the end, it falls on the parents to guide their children in the right direction. If they allow their kids to play these games, their needs to be parental guidance involved, instead of relying on “family values” groups like NIMF.
I played some violent video games as a teen, I’ll admit. My parents watched me play some of them. They would ask questions, like “why are you shooting that guy? What’s the reason behind this?” And I would explain to them, and I made sure they knew I could tell the difference between fantasy and reality. I have had “concerned mothers” explain to me that the violent first person shooters I played as a youth influenced me to join the military. Of course, I told them no. The recruiter influenced me to join the Marine Corps, not a video game. In the conversation between my recruiter, my parents, and myself, the topic of video games, guns, violence, or the media didn’t come up once. College money, outstanding training, a secure job, and discipline were the topics discussed. Now that’s influential.
Semper I…don’t wanna die.
The DevilGeek
