After watching the segment of the video dedicated to the World of Warcraft and Call of Duty games I was more than a little disturbed. I knew that these games existed, and some of the extent to which they draw someone into the virtual world, but I had no idea of the magnitude both in terms of people playing the game and people making a living off of catering to the game players.
First, the concept of “meeting” people through a video game is so obscure to me that it is hard to wrap my mind around it. I grew up with an old Atari gaming system that was monopolized by my two older brothers most of the time. The fact that people are connecting, and bonding, through a fantasy game world seems odd and unnatural to me. When I saw the one girl say that she considered her first date to be when her boyfriend broke into a castle to get to her, I didn’t know how to react. Part of me wanted to laugh, but at the same time it sounded sad and almost pathetic. I realize that I am not into gaming like several million other people are, and I would be ridiculed for my lack of understanding or acceptance, but honestly I just can’t (okay, and don’t want to) comprehend the thought process behind deciding to “live” more of one’s life in a fantasy world than in a real one. I guess I feel like there are still more pros to the physical world than the virtual one.
Some people may share this idea, yet still be enthralled by the gaming revolution. I have known people who would openly mock World of Warcraft and then spend uninterrupted hours playing Call of Duty. Aside from the aesthetic differences, I don’t see how these two games are all that different, but then again I am not a gaming connoisseur. I do know that the graphics that Call of Duty portrays represent more realistic characters and places. This may seem harmless enough, but it is disturbing to see young teenagers, especially boys, being passively recruited into the Army based on their virtual combat skills. Even more frightening is the prospect that the line between what is real and what is a game is being blurred.
This became even more apparent to me when the video showed that some pilots controlling drones are exhibiting PTSD. These men were trained by the Army to see what they were doing as real and having real consequences. What they are doing with boys more than half the age of these pilots is less honorable. The Army first released COD to the public, and it has quickly spread along with the message that it is okay to shoot and even kill friends because it is just a game. The problem is that while children may be able to say all the right things, there is evidence showing that violent video games are having an adverse effect on adolescence (Gentile et al., 2004).
Not all games are bad, and I do not want to give that impression. Wii gaming systems are being used to get students more active, as well as the new Kinect by Xbox (where you are the remote). What I do believe is that we need to find a balance between new technologies and reality. I would argue that we are living in both worlds at once, but not doing a very good job of it. I was sitting in a class once when the statistic was announced that some six hundred students had been killed in car accidents in the United States due to texting. One student who was in the class commented that it wasn’t that many, why should it be such a big deal? This response floored me. As a parent I cannot imagine losing a child, let alone being okay with a relatively low death rate for something so stupid an avoidable as texting while driving (especially if the victims were not the ones texting, but just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time). But I am getting off topic… The balance between the virtual and the real has been steadily shifting. If we don’t get back to equilibrium I believe that we are going to be diving down the rabbit hole. We need to keep at least one foot in reality in order to remind ourselves, and our students, that what happens here is real and cannot be undone. Actions have consequences.
Gentile, D., Lynch, P., Linder, J., & Walsh, D. (2004). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. Journal of Adolescence, 27.
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