Are Games a Waste of Time?

Games have been scrutinized and accused for influencing tragedies such as massacres that have occurred. People are skeptical about games because of the violent nature that some of them have. The perpetrators of the Columbine high school massacre, on the 20th of April 1999, played Doom and even created their own levels for the game. Since that tragedy, questions have been raised by the media about the extent of which video and computer games may have influenced such events to occur. Another example is when Kimveer Gill killed a woman and injured 19 other people during his shooting spree at Montreal College and then committing suicide on the 13th of April 2006. Before the incident, he wrote on online journals about his love for films, television shows and other popular elements of popular culture. (Lavender pg.1)

Out of most media of the modern age, lately games have been accused the most for influencing such people to commit these crimes because of how they allow the player to act in violent manners within virtual worlds instead of only viewing violent scenes.

Mike Strobel, who is a Canadian journalist for the Toronto Star, stated:

"How many times must a video game turn up as evidence at a crime scene before we wake up? Dawson College is the latest. Killer Kimveer Gill was a fan of Super Columbine Massacre, a lovely bit of Internet fun. ‘Life is a video game and you gonna die sometime,’ was young Gill's usual blog signoff." (Lavender pg.1)

It’s easier for video and computer games to be used as a ‘scape goat’ instead of being people objective and focusing on the other more relevant influences that may have incurred these tragedies. It is like accusing the medium of painting for causing an artist to act on the content he depicts in the artworks that he creates. Instead there should be more focus on why the artist painted such images. Such can also be said for computer and video games because they are more of a medium to act on, than a reason and stimulus for the act.

Though the objective of the following essay is not to determine whether or not games were a primary influence for these tragedies, some attitudes towards video and computer games are negetive without considering the positive apsects of those games. This is why the following essay will discuss if games are a ‘waste of time’ and what can be understood by the term, meaningful play.

According to studies by Mcdonald and Kim,

”the evidence suggests that children identify quite closely with electronic characters and that these identifications have implications for childrens emotional well being and the development of their personality” (pg.5)

This allows games to include positive effects for the individual playing them (Lewis and Weber pg.1). They can be used to develop a child through teaching as educational games. They also can teach the player personality and social skills/ Self esteem (pg 5 Lewis and Weber)

Gee also aggrees and games promote active and critical learning for other semiotic domains other than itself. Though games do not teach the player facts, they teach the player skills such as problem solving skills through embodied experiences and how to handle the structrue of real and imagined social relations (Gee pg.1). In other words, they teach the player to how handle socializing with people in the real world from practice in simulated worlds depsite them existing in different semiotic domians.

When people learn games they are learning a new literacy (Gee pg.1). Then if games are semiotic domians then they should not be considered a waste of time. Games are “good for people to learn to situate meanings through embodied experiences in a complex domian and mediate on the process (Gee pg. 2). Though semiotic domains may be completely different from eachother, the player learns the basic structures of them, how to function within these structures and therefore will be more capable of becoming accustomed to other different domains.

In video games, people and their social interactions determine the content they contain. Since social interactions always change so does content. These two elements are constantly influencing eachother. Therefore the design and content of games are determined by the needs of the affinity groups of games who decline or accept it (pg.3). Games then reflect the current cultures in society because if people define culture and also content of games then games and culture will both be interrellated.

If players play games to learn actively and critically then they:
1. “Learn to experience the world in new ways;
2. gain potential to join or collaborate with affinity groups;
3. develop resources for future learning and problem solving in semiotic domain the game is related to; and
4. learn to think of semiotic domians as design spaces that they can engage with and manipulate, help tp create certain relationships in society among people and groups, some of which have important implications for social justice.” (Gee pg. 6)

In conclusion, Lewis, Weber and Gee have indicated the positive aspects of games because of the skills they contribute to the player. By people using games as a scape goat as the cause for horrible tradegies, they disregard the opportunities for them to used for good and also the good they have done for society already.

When the player plays a game, the individual learns the basic structures of learning and problem solving. They have to handle a challenge by creatively finding alternative solutions. This is what can be understood as meaningful play because the player cognitively processes information in the semiotic domain of a game instead instead of only regurgitating the information form it.


Works Cited:

Gee, James Paul, “Semiotics Domains: Is Playing Video Games a ‘Waste of Time?” The Game Design Reader, 2006, MIT Press.

Lavender, Terry. “Games Just Wanna Have Fun… Or Do They? Measuring the effectiveness of persuasive games”. Canadian Game Studies Association. 21 September 2006 <http://www.wetcoast.org/drupal-5.1/files/games_just_wanna_have_fun.pdf>

Lewis, Melissa, Weber, Rene. “The Creation of Character Attachment in Video Games”. (accessed 20 April 2008)