Student Op-Eds Defend Games

Ah, the great divide. As some members of the older, out-of-touch populace, who grew up with Model T’s and still view the toaster as a pinnacle of achievement in technology, continue to disparage videogames, the younger generation persists in getting the back of the medium, as evidenced by a pair of college newspaper op-eds.

A piece running in The Gateway, the student newspaper of the University of Alberta, discusses the Schwarzenegger vs EMA case currently in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. The no-holds barred article lambastes “states that have seemingly nothing better to do with their time,” before stating, “enough with the “'save the children' bullshit, already.”

After opining that a go-ahead given to the California law by SCOTUS could lead to mature games being placed alongside content like “Naughty Nurses 17” at retail, author Jordan Ching wrote:

Lumping games into this category creates larger problems for the gaming industry as a whole — if Wal-Mart and Best Buy don’t carry porn, they definitely won’t carry video games deemed obscene by the government. This is a huge issue as games become increasingly expensive to make, and developers and publishers try to reach as wide a market as possible.

A similar piece appearing in the Harvard Crimson argues that the general public needs to stop “terrorizing” videogames. An excerpt:

Like novels, video games tell a story of an alternate reality, where the reader or player can escape to for a few hours at a time. Games with lots of violence, sex, or otherwise objectionable content would not be sold if nobody wanted to buy them, and if one doesn’t want to be subjected to its content they can simply not play those games.

If parents are concerned, they should more closely monitor the games that their children play.