Danny:
Jes:
| Culture 4/16/2006 |
Games aren't bad for kids to play, but I'm preaching to a fucking choir. Lemme attempt a more reasonable argument. Since I think long arguments are boring once you get to the quick of them, I'l go quick shot-by-shot style.
First off, "When you play, your brain lets off similar signals as when you actually perform the simulated action." I heard this in a psych class.
Fine, then you're trained to do the action, maybe. Theoretically. You aren't necesarilly ingrained to do it. I played NBA Jam for years, as a kid. I played it because the game was fun and the dunks were fun to watch. I never watch basketball, I sucked in the league, and my best game ever was about 6 points. I gave up the sport when I realized dunks were not just run, and 'A' and then push 'C'. I was good at Genesis, not Basketball.
I heard in a computer ethics class, "You get pleasurable responses from winning a game, relating pleasure to killing, or stealing, etc, in a sort of Pavlovian manner."
You're right. Playing games a bit a day overrides a life of upbringing. A lifetime of relating real punishment to crimes and sins is totally canceled out by an afternoon of relating fake rewards to the same things. I spend weekends stomping on mushrooms, just praying that I'll grow two feet. When I come across a moral dilemma in the real world, I'll remember that I can get both a real-world jail term and fake-world Princess Peach cake. And I will kill that hooker.
If that doesn't convince you, please cancel TV, movies, and music. Music makes me happy too, and sometimes mentions penises. Please entomb Bruce Willis.
Every child has heard said: "Games take up too much of the day, and kids brains' waste away. Fat, lazy, dumb."
Ok, so let's limit how much video game a kid can play in a day. When that time's up, force him to leave the Gamecube and watch TV instead. TV is a far more interactive medium, which involves the viewer more in the action than video games ever could. Er, wait. Along with mindless entertainment, which I'll admit is the only thing most video games provide, gaming also allows a kid to play an active game, and stimulate his mind. Quick decision making, reaction times, often interaction with other real people: I dont see these in TV. There's room for growth, albeit mild, along with entertainment. Plus, television is only prerecorded scenes, which games have anyway in FMV; I see no reason to say interludes of real human input is a bad thing...
Except man-on-man human input.
Plus, I'll toss in: video game rating systems are more targeted, and their content is more obvious, singular, and focused. If you prefer television for it's more child-friendly nature instead, like video games for the same reason. Just be selective, and use your parental power. Wait, the same as you do with the television.
Besides, you live in a culture with an Ice Cream Man. America loves a fat and lazy slob.
Yes, I do plan to spend my whole day in front of a video game, Moms. Is that worse than you watching a "Friends" marathon or constantly Loving Raymond? Is that so condescend-able?
Jeez, get out of my room, Mom. I have friends in here...
Do not let that dog inside.
By Danny
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