Another “Christian” stab at video games saw the light in a dusk January morning. This time it is Mathew Devereux although I must say that the article is surprisingly balanced that tries to raise some which he believes to be important questions.
Rather than attacking the short term effects of video-violence he raises the questions of moral and long term damage to society as games promote a selfish win or lose situation. He also feels that video games promote a consequence-free lifestyle. “Take, for instance, the idea of ruthless competition, that for every winner there are necessarily losers. Regardless of what game you’re playing, the message is almost always the same: Do whatever it takes to win, even at the expense of everyone else. Imagine if that were the moral of every movie and TV show you ever watched. Would the world be a better or worse place? Would you let your children play a game that promoted such a dog-eat-dog mentality? Fundamentally, most games operate within a moral framework: good versus evil (or vice versa). But what games conspicuously lack is moral consequence. Once you’ve killed someone, stolen something, or blown up a building, that’s usually the end of it you’ll rarely get to see the emotional impact of your actions on the characters around you. ” One could argue that this is a pretty gross generalization, and a flawed comparison. Sure there are some games that falls into Devereux thesis, but it’s far from all. And besides isn’t this the case in many mainstream Hollywood movies as well? (One of my favorite scenes from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery satire on this subject, can you guess which one?) Furthermore Devereux debates that video games could lead to loss of compassion, because there is such a lack of it in this form of entertainment media. “Every bit of mayhem becomes just another item on a video-game to-do list. Games ignore moral consequence and emotional nuance to focus on the purely visceral. There are only two types of decisions you can really make: the strategically correct one or the strategically incorrect one. There is no “right” or “wrong” only success or failure. Unbridled competition combined with no moral consequence eventually leads to a lack of compassion. And without compassion, humanity is lost.” However Devereux fails to deliver any reason on to why people would adapt the game mentality onward to their real life. He even contradicts himself when he starts the article with: “Countless studies have tested the alleged links between virtual violence and its real counterpart. Conclusions vary, but I certainly don’t need a panel of academics to explain to me that the teen across the street isn’t going to attack me with a garden spade.” He does however raise a question that has not been aired in the always ongoing debate about video game-violence. Could our core values be influenced by games? Before you quickly dismiss this as you might have a biased opinion on games ask yourself this question: Why and how does propaganda work?
Bullet() Source:The moral cost of video games at csmonitor.com

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