The Times compares video games to “smack and teenage pregnancy”...

... but let’s not take this out of context; Giles Whittell, author of this latest source of gamer ire is content to slap these things all together under the same banner, seeing them as little more than a “colossal waste of time”.

And there was me thinking that this was just another off-hand, ill-informed dismissal of an increasingly popular leisure activity as a perilous blight on society. Oh and a great way of scoring internet traffic off a defensive, often scorned, easily roused, and thriving internet community.

It’s okay though. Mr Whittell just doesn’t like games. Actually he “hates them, on or offline”, and “the way they suck real people into fake worlds and hold on to them for decades at a time”. Seems I’ve been playing the wrong games – my attention is rarely held for more than a few months and only then if it is something particularly spectacular. Sometimes not even then – I breezed through Bioshock in less than a week and haven’t had time or particular inclination to go back to it since. I may well do, but that’ll be what... another week. *gasp*.

Or does he mean games in general? In which case, true, I have been hooked into these fake worlds for nearly two decades. Of course the magic of cinema and literature have also had that degrading affect on me too. I’ve not tried chasing the dragon or knocking up my teenage girlfriend, but if they’re in the same league, sign me up.

However, it’s far more wholesome to “overdose on wind, rain, mud, gravy, tents, mountains and overcooked bacon”. That’s funny, as a child I did a lot of walking with my parents, a pursuit I still enjoy to this day. And I also had my nose stuck firmly to a Nintendo (and Atari Lynx upon occasion) and managed to finish all my homework too. Am I some kind of unwitting multitasking GOD?

In the end it’s pointless getting worked up about this kind of shallow attempt to anger gaming enthusiasts – and don’t be mistaken, it is exactly that; it has no other purpose, otherwise the ridiculous drug abuse and teenage pregnancy angle would have been left in the bin where it belongs. I’ve no doubt that every single entertainment medium has suffered from the same level of ignorance over the centuries – why should games be any different? Mr Whittell is entitled to both his opinion and to decide whether he wants to bring his children up with or without the baleful influence of video games corrupting their impressionable young minds.

One thing I don’t actually agree with is the oft used argument that because gaming can only evolve to take a more important, influential role in society, to restrict children from playing them is in some way inhibiting their development. They are your kids, and it’s your money you have to spend if you decide to allow them access to the medium. If you don’t want to and restrict them without being completely unreasonable, that is your crack. It’s never too late to learn new skills after all, and who’s to say that gaming in ten years will even remotely reflect the way it looks today.

Source
The Times

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