Don't Blame Video Games

Posted by Jonathan Coley Jun 21, 2008

We've all heard the bad rap on video games: they desensitize kids to violence and, in some instances, can even spur kids on to violence.

Of course, any thinking person can immediately see a number of holes in this argument. Not all video games are violent; the vast majority of video game players are good people and never commit violence; not all video game players are kids.

Just putting an end to this way of thinking has been a goal of many video game "advocates" for some time. But, in a welcome change of pace, the USA Today published an editorial praising video games in its June 20th, 2008, edition.

The editorial, entitled "Virtuous video games," discussed games such as Wii Fit, which promotes healthy living, and the United Nations' free video game Food Force, which educates people on the difficulties in responding to natural disasters.

The editorial also pointed out how "reading novels" were "once condemned as morally wrong and particularly harmful to young ladies." I immediately thought of another example: as discussed in the new book The Fifty-Cent Plague, the government launched a virtual war on comic books during the 1950's, leading many comic book professionals to leave the industry. Nowadays, condemnations of reading novels or comic books would hardly be taken seriously.

Yes, the public may finally be coming around and seeing the good side of video games. But the work isn't finished yet: video game developers should continue to make video games promoting positive social change in addition to merely entertaining us. We'll all be better off for it.