Continuing with this apparently especially popular trend (lately anyway), today I spy an opinion piece on video games from Times columnist Giles Whittell. In the piece, he talks about his aversion to vidya games. C'mon Whittell, you're telling me you never begged your parents for some toy as a kid? What's the difference between that and any video game? None, really.

Anyway, he tries to make his point about how horrible games are by describing three scenes which provoked his repulsion. In the first he's at a train station thinking about how wonderful it would be if a bunch of kids got plowed by the train while playing their DS' (he calls them "Nintendos" - classic). The second I don't really understand. Maybe I'm not versed well enough in the British dialect. Something about never buying his kids "a Nintendo" (how 'bout a Sony or a Microsoft? It'll cost ya big, though). The third describes an event in the news room relating to the "Byron review" (mentioned in a previous article) whereby he states he will never buy a system for his kids, which his editor goes against, saying “You have to give in. They'll hate you if you don't. This stuff is all part of their world and you should know about it. Don't worry. A lot of it is great.” Well, that was easy. Following this, Whittell says "I was more depressed than I can ever remember being," before launching into his anti-video game speel.

An excerpt from the article:

"I hate video games, on or offline. I hate the way they suck real people into fake worlds and hold on to them for decades at a time. I hate being made to feel hateful for saying so, and I hate being told to immerse myself in them before passing judgment, because it feels like being told to immerse myself in smack and teenage pregnancy before passing judgment on them."

 

"This is not because of anything wrong or bad about video games or heroin or teenage parents. It's not even because of game-induced homicide or web-grooming of little girls by perverts - serious problems, but statistically low-risk. It's because, compared with everything else on offer in a kid's life, video games and heroin and teenage pregnancy are a colossal waste of time."

Fake worlds? Honey, I guess you haven't looked around you lately, but the "real world" isn't really any less fake than those in video games. In fact, I'd say some video games are more "real" than what we call "real life." I'm referring to the superficiality and ignorance of society, of course. And, Whittell, it's called metaphysics, dear, read up on it. By definition, video game worlds are just as real as this one.

He finishes his rant off with a beautiful sentence:

"Dr. Byron says a third of ten-year-olds in England spend more than three hours per school day playing video games. In England, maybe. In my house, only when I'm dead. Meanwhile, I want my kids to overdose on wind, rain, mud, gravy, tents, mountains and overcooked bacon. (Oh, and do their homework.) Why is that suddenly so weird?"

Why is wanting your kids to overdose on overcooked bacon weird? Hmmmmmmmm.

But anyway, he's missing the point. It's all about balance, and part of that balance is allowing your kids the freedom to do what they like (such as play video games), albeit with some degree of supervision. But if your kids trust you, you'll trust them, and there won't be any problems. A big part of that equation is built on balance. So, yeah, the outdoors is great, and it isn't healthy to let them play video games all the time and rarely go out. But a few hours a day I don't think is anything but healthy.

It's great because there are (as of yet) about 60 comments on the piece, and skimming through, every one of them disagrees with the writer, some quite vehemently. Ah, bless those 'your say' sections on news sites. Thank you, Internet! Anyway, I leave you with one of the comments:

I hate books. I hate the way they suck real people into fake worlds and hold on to them for decades at a time. I hate being made to feel hateful for saying so, and I hate being told to immerse myself in them before passing judgment, because it feels like being told to immerse myself in smack and teenage pregnancy before passing judgment on them. I hate films. I hate the way they suck real people into fake worlds... I hate theatre. I hate the way it sucks real people into fake worlds... I hate music. I hate the way it sucks real people into fake worlds...

Phil Jefferson, Manchester.