...although articles like this one in The Washington Post may well be. The author, a high school English teacher, bemoans the fact that many of his students and young people in general spend many long hours playing video games, shunning girlfriends, and ignoring more wholesome past-times such as reading, and how the thought processes associated with reading are superior to those associated with playing a video game. For support, the author invites the comments of a high school football coach, who the author notes "says that he sees fewer and fewer kids playing outside when he drives around Northern Virginia. 'They are inside playing video games,' he says. 'More kids are finding real sports too demanding.'" Are we to take seriously the values of a football coach when it comes to what's best for the care of children? This article is simply vilification of a pursuit this teacher doesn't like.
If the author were really intent on examining the social and intellectual effects of video games, he'd explore the possibilities that they provide over other media. For example, can you collaborate in reading a book? Is reading itself a social activity? The answer to both questions is "No," but you can absolutely do both through a video game. Ever Quest II, for example, demands that players connect with each other and collaborate on tasks. This requires deep social interaction, moderated as it is by the game itself, and significant collaboration toward mutually beneficial goals. You won't get either from reading a novel.
I used to be quite a gamer myself. In my much younger years, I wrote computer game reviews (Commodore 64, mostly) for a nascent UK online community called Compunet. (Aaaah, 1200/75 baud and enormous telephone bills from British Telecom... Those were the days!) When I started a career, that all went by the wayside but recently I've become intrigued by video games again, and bought a PSTwo not long ago. I realize now the pull that video games have and how they have a unique attraction that takes effort to moderate. But right-minded people do moderate their behavior, so video games are not a special case.
The arguments that the author of the Post article makes are specious. Hold them up to the light and they're completely transparent. For example, the author seems to suggest that it's only young men who are invested in video games. That's just not true, with women making up 69% of the gaming population in South Korea, 39% in the US, and 25% in the UK. Furthermore, if parents are worried about their children spending too much time locked away in lonely pursuits, maybe we should rid the world of books too, as reading is one of the lonest leisure pursuits one can have.
A more realistic, and less fascistic, argument is that both books and video games (and trainspotting, and pigeon-fancying) have their advantages and disadvantages. The sooner chauvinists like the author of the Post article realize that, the better.
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