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"They poison the mind and corrupt the morals of the young, who waste their
time sitting on sofas immersed in dangerous fantasy worlds. That, at least,
was the charge leveled against novels during the 18th century by critics
worried about the impact of a new medium on young people." Thus begins an
interesting bit of a recent Economist (Jan. 20-26 2007). Naturally the
magazine is speaking of the historic fact that anything new and different is
perceived poorly by those who have no experience with it. And, as always,
some people want to forbid what they do not understand.
"In 1816 waltzing was condemned as a 'fatal contagion' that encouraged
promiscuity; in 1910 films were denounced as 'an evil pure and simple,
destructive of social interchange'; in the 1950's rock 'n' roll music was
said to turn young people into 'devil worshippers' and comic books were
accused of turning children into drug addicts and criminals." What video
games are classified as by certain politicians nowadays ought to be known by
the potentially afflicted parties, and bears no needless repetition. The
persecution of video games on the basis of their immorality is merely the
latest example of sometimes well-meaning, sometimes mean-spirited,
reactionary social forces imposing themselves upon the popular culture.
"Games ought to be age-rated, just as films are, and retailers should not
sell adult-rated games to children any more than they should sell them
adult-rated films." I don't really have anything to add here, since an
arrangement like that, if enforced, would be a good one. Then again
teenagers are not supposed to be admitted into certain movies without a
legal adult present, yet manage it anyway. I don't necessarily have a
solution to this that wouldn't involve overly infringing governmental
supervision, but the issue exists and must be addressed somehow.
What happened to all the great societal ills of the past? The people who
grew up with them got old and came into power, while the people who did not
grow up with them died. That's the long-term solution, however. In the
short-term, problems of oppressive governmental censorship will be with us
for awhile thanks to the omnipresence in governments of the world of
non-gamers. Rock and even rap music don't occasion the kind of attempted
crackdowns that are currently happening across the Atlantic: "...the
Netherlands may follow Germany, for example, in banning some games outright.
Not all adults wish to play violent games, just as not all of them enjoy
violent movies. But they should be free to do so if they wish." RPG's
aren't as affected by this as certain other game genres, but it's a slippery
slope. Why not declare, say, Xenosaga sacrilegious and ban it? That's a
silly thing to think of, but if games are already being banned such an event
could happen. And the United States is not immune to this kind of
censorship. If a game is rated Adults-Only, who will carry it? Certainly
not the major game retailers which account for the vast majority of sales,
and thus a quasi-censorship is achieved without any outright ban. Keeping
the right to play games intact is important, because it will be decades
until people who have grown up with and are accustomed to them are in
effective control of government. At which point some new cultural event
will occur, and the cycle of the older generation reacting against what it
is not familiar with will repeat.
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