 | Video games and stereotypesJanuary 29th, 2008 |
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”– Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night
A discussion has evolved in this thread about the degree to which entertainment of various sorts affects us, and I thought the quote apropos.
It was interesting to read up a bit on the controversy surrounding Cooper Lawrence, her statements about Mass Effect, her later retraction (NYT, reg probably required), and of course, the concerns of the original study that was done at U Maryland.
And frankly, the whole thing is full of silliness. Consider this statement:
Killen is studying how young moviegoers tell right from wrong at a time when the traditional demarcation between good and evil in the movies themselves seems to be breaking down.
Oops, sorry, I misquoted — that should read “gamers” and “games.”
Of course, there’s Cooper Lawrence’s boldness in offering critiques on national television based on, well, secondhand rumor:
“Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it’s like pornography,” she added. “But it’s not like pornography. I’ve seen episodes of ‘Lost’ that are more sexually explicit.”
The double-standard grows tiresome, folks.
Then again, we also get gamers fooling themselves, perhaps out of defensiveness:
Killen’s research found that most subjects understood that the two over-the-top games depicted negative themes and harmful stereotypes. But they failed to see how that content could harm them.
Many subjects reasoned that there could be no negative consequence from playing the games unless the player then proceeded to go out and shoot people in the head or attack them with a golf club.
Which brings me to the Vonnegut quote. It’s true whether you’re a gamer or a wanna-be muckraker.
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