The Great Online Gaming Debate

Every era tends to associate the foibles of youth to some form of technology, as though media and machines were fully to blame for defects that are most likely innate in teens going through puberty, or natural for folks expected to experience certain rites of passage.

From the ’50s to the ’70s, music was considered a demonic influence on teens, be it in the form of rock’n’roll, psychedelia or punk. In the 80s, TV’s dichotomy of programming, from ‘goody-goody’ shows to ‘greed is good’ series (think Family Ties up against Dynasty) was supposed to have influenced kids’ sense of dissonance. And in the ’90s, all hell supposedly broke loose with the advent of the democratic Internet.

Now, mobile media is having the cane pointed at it – apparently for the distraction it presents to modern communication. It is often argued that text-messaging is killing the warm-and-fuzzy old-school tactic of physical communication, and that social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter are anything but sincerely social.

Then there is the finger-waving that goes on at online gaming. While highly debated online casinos (like this for example) automatically limit access to youngsters, they offer a variety of games; some complimentary, some not. Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

The same question can be asked for online video games. On the ‘con’ side, one could argue that certain online games – designed for the tougher types amongst us – might end up being viewed or played by kids with less of a stomach for them – think a series like Exmortis. But with so much choice out there for young gamers, why would they turn their hand to graphic games when there are so many more appropriate options available?

One might also want to throw the ‘Video Games Are Violent’ point out there, neglecting to realise that for every Grand Theft Auto there’s a Little Big Planet begging for gamers’ attention. Oh, and lets not disregard the fact that if you’re not subjected to some kind of violence through video games, you’re going to see it in one form or another on the news anyway.

One ultimate argument is that games make users an anti-social lot. Quite the contrary. Online gamers are probably one of the most interactive communities in our contemporary age. They like to keep up with trend and are constantly updating one another with news and happenings. Indeed, they have helped turn a genre that was once predominantly combat-influenced (indeed, gaming once was) into more of a communications-driven affair.

In the end, would we rather see youth on the streets causing trouble due to boredom or gang friction, or enjoying themselves playing something like Minecraft, Super Mario Bros, or even something somewhat graphic like Grand Theft Auto, where at least the friction amongst characters is totally fictional?

Our bet is on worried parents preferring the latter.  Michael Mastess