Controversial video games could help your kids unlock the game developer level.
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You might also want to read: Here’s Why You Should Never Play—or Let Your Kids Play—Grand Theft Auto
A video game called Grand Theft Auto III was once the subject of a lot of controversy.
GTAIII was a deliberately edgy game. The game called to mind a gangster movie set in a modern-day city, permitting the player to steal cars, kill cops, and commit other sorts of crimes. In this game, the way for a player to get “health” back after a shootout was to visit a virtual prostitute. The prostitute parked with the player-character, a car shook up and down to show the simulated act of sex, and then health was restored. The player paid a fee of in-game cash for this service.
However, the player could also kill most NPCs (non-player-characters, or any character driven by the game’s AI) in GTA. Dead NPCs generally dropped cash. Therefore, after utilizing the healing mechanic provided by the game’s prostitute NPC, the player could then kill the prostitute (like any other character in the game), and get money (as with any other character in the game). This chain of events was interpreted by many as “buying a hooker, then killing her to get your money back.” News about this spread, and many called for a boycott of the game.
The year was 2001.
Grand Theft Auto III inspired many spin-offs. 2013 saw the release of Grand Theft Auto V, which includes many upgrades to the GTA game engine and is set in the fictionalized California city of San Andreas. As the media focused so much attention in previous GTAs on the ability to frequent prostitutes (and kill them), prostitutes continue to be part of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. The possibility that the player can hire and/or kill a prostitute is now controversial again, as the sex scene is more graphic in GTAV than in previous titles (not just a shaking car), and, now, with the game’s newest upgrades, is accessible from a first-person point of view. Where previous GTA players may have seen just an avatar experiencing the simulated sex and murder sequences, now this can be done (optionally) from the point of view of the camera directly.
If that isn’t troubling enough, Grand Theft Auto V also features a graphic torture sequence. Grand Theft Auto V also features yoga, scuba diving, jet-skiing, and tennis! There’s a lot of stuff in Grand Theft Auto V. A gamer could play the game for hours and never encounter any of the controversial sequences, but controversy makes the news. And when games make the news, people are curious about them. Especially kids.
I am not a parent. I am, however, a game developer, a game critic, and a game teacher. I work with kids in several of these auspices.
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I am not a parent. I am, however, a game developer, a game critic, and a game teacher. I work with kids in several of these auspices. For example, last week I went out to a middle school computer club to discuss game development with students around the ages of 11-13. You don’t have to take my word for it, as this was videotaped. If you watch this video to the point of five seconds in, you will see me asking “how many of you play this game?” to a group of very bright, computer-savvy kids. That game, if you can’t see in the video, is GTAV, and most of these kids know about it. Are they playing it? They’re certainly telling me that they are. In that particular setting, I chuckled, and said, “Hey, you are all too young to play Grand Theft Auto, though.” One kid asked
“What about Call of Duty?”
I can relate. When I was younger, my parents were strict about some things, like after-school curfew and grades, but were permissive about my media exposure. I was lucky enough to see lots of cool movies, read great books even if they had some adult content, and play tons of video games. Yes, there were a few times when Mom said no to a game, but those times were fairly rare. Video games turned out to be my passion. As a result, I’m pretty grateful for DooM, and Mortal Kombat, and the controversial games of my own childhood. My dad could’ve just seen DooM as brain-numbing hyper-violent garbage. Instead, he showed us how to install the level editor. From DooM, I didn’t just learn how to shoot zombie space marines in the head. I learned that video games were something that I could take part in creating. I learned that I could alter the graphics in games, skills that later ended up being part of my career.
The kids in Computer Science Club are curious about how to make games too. They are smart, and really enthusiastic. They had great questions for me while I told them all about how their favorite games are made. Yes, they’re playing Call of Duty; they’re playing GTA. If Mom and Dad ban the games at home, they’re checking them out at friend’s houses instead. And if they aren’t playing those games directly, they likely have access to YouTube, where they can watch “Let’s Plays” of those games and see the content without having to spend money on a new console or have an awkward conversation in a GameStop.
A big concern that parents have is that GTAV is more realistic and graphic than the games of the past. This is true, but this is the same complaint that was leveled against DooM in 1993. It’s the same complaint that was leveled against the “Hot Coffee” scene in GTA San Andreas, a scene not intentionally included in the released game but accessible via a particular mod. That sex scene is relatively cute by modern standards, but still got the game pulled off of shelves in 2004 for an emergency patch to remove it. Technology is always advancing, and there will always be panic about new technology. We have the power to look at our own history and break that cycle.
As for the argument that violence in games causes real-world violence, there has never been any conclusive evidence that this is so, in all the years that this has been studied academically. There is also not much evidence that a first-person game has a vastly greater mental effect than a third-person one.
If your kids are interested in games, my advice is to get involved. Take a serious look at the games your kids are playing. If at all possible, sit down and play with them to see what these games are really all about. If you find inappropriate content in some of their games of choice, consider alternatives. The Entertainment Software Association has researched all game titles available, and found that the vast majority, 88 percent, are rated “E For Everyone” which means they are safe for kids. The ESRB – the board that manages the ratings on games – also has a list of content resources for parents. If your kids ask about GTA, you can use the ESRB resources first to warn them about what they might see. Depending on the child’s age, it might be time to just explain what some of that content is all about. On the other hand, it might just go over their heads, as all children have different thresholds.
It’s true: the content in the GTA games is often unpleasant stuff.
That content has been analyzed by feminists and from other points of view in lots of ways in recent articles and videos. These analyses are very important to the ongoing discussion about how to improve games for everyone. However, I do not believe that Grand Theft Auto should be outright banned from homes, even those homes with children. As difficult as it may be, it’s better to discuss the content critically and try to find a way to use GTA as a teachable moment. If you encourage your kids to create their own games, GTA’s appeal will fade on its own. Kids just need the tools and encouragement, as they have even bigger and better games in their imaginations. Teach your children how to be polite to other players online, and how to use the internet safely. That will make games better for kids and adults.
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You might also want to read: Here’s Why You Should Never Play—or Let Your Kids Play—Grand Theft Auto
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Feature Photo: Taylor.McBride™/Flickr, boy at computer: Chris_Parfitt/Flickr, dad and kids: Elizabeth/Table4Five/Flickr
We have been all waiting to get this. http://mygtacheats.com/
Studies are beginning to show differently
http://time.com/34075/how-violent-video-games-change-kids-attitudes-about-aggression/
I write studies myself and have read a lot of the Anderson studies. These studies get funding pretty regularly so there’s a LOT of back and forth in the literature. (I’m on another one right now.) For every one that says yes, there’s another that says no. I suspect the metrics for really discovering this have never been entirely perfect. Rage and fear sure make for headlines though…
As a researcher in affective Neuroscience, I have followed this back and forth in the literature for some time, and two things strike me. First, on the one hand there are a group that are determined to show a link between violent video games and aggression with limited success. On the other hand there is a group fighting to tear down any study showing any such link, making some valid observations. I think the study highlighted in time magazine above is heading in the right direction by actually using ecologically valid assessments of aggression, but it still lacks the rigor… Read more »