Upon first glance, it seems as though Plato may give a good argument for censoring video games. In his lament of poetry in The Republic, Plato explains that poetry is a terrible influence on people as it portrays aspects of reality through fiction. He believed that man is affected by the actions of those around him, and since poets and actors are not able to portray how a person would truly act in a situation, then the onlooker, man, is negatively influenced by this performance. If this is true of poetry, then perhaps children shouldn’t be allowed to play graphic and violent video games. Video games are way more disconnected from reality than the poetics of Plato’s day; most of the time they are based in a completely fictional world. By this logic, if a child plays a video game that contains not only objectionable content but unrealistic scenarios, he or she will be negatively influenced by them. Unfortunately my own experience has proved otherwise.
Video games have been present in my house ever since I can remember. My brother is eight years older than me, so he was just old enough to be able to play the original Nintendo Entertainment System and got one shortly after its release in 1985. This was before I was even born, so my life has never been devoid of video games. I can’t remember, but I’m willing to bet I played Super Mario Bros. before I could walk. My brother and I are pretty avid games and went on to get each successive Nintendo consol. I’m like one of those younger kids that has never known life without the internet; video games just make sense to me. I can pick one up quickly and it takes relatively little effort. I don’t think that the gamer aspect of my life is a detriment to me either. I only video games when I have real free time and don’t let it get in the way of my real life.
Aristotle, student of Plato, believed that history portrayed singulars whereas poetry portrayed universals. Man views poetry as presenting universals as it describes possibilities instead of matters of fact about an episode that already occurred. As such, Aristotle believes that man will then apply what he has learned from poetry and regard it as universal knowledge. Despite Aristotle, I do not confuse video games with reality and I can identify what is unrealistic about them (no Halo, I can’t survive jumps from great heights by landing on slanted surfaces!). I know not to apply the rules of a video game to reality; in fact, I know not to apply the rules of one video game to another, so it is very unlikely I will make that broader, first mistake.
Video games and I have grown up side by side; as I have matured, so have video games. Most kids have that experience of catching a bit of a scary movie or seeing just the beginning of a sex scene before your mom puts her hand over your eyes. Similarly, I remember seeing my brother play Doom II, the first video game I had seen that was violent and scary. I wasn’t really affected by it; I was just a little scared so I avoided the computer when he was playing it. I remember parents protesting Mortal Kombat, but we weren’t really a Sega family so I had no experience with it.
However, I definitely remember getting Grand Theft Auto III in 2001 at the age of 13 by just walking into a GameStop and asking for it, even though I was nearly 5 years younger than the rating suggested. That was definitely the most violent game I had played up to that point and my first experience playing a deep sandbox game (that’s a game in which you can explore the virtual world as you please). At 13 I was mesmerized by the game: I had never played such a vast, complex and open game (you can commit any crime you like!). If any game experience was going to be detrimental to my character, it was going to be that one, but it did not lead me to be more violent or commit bad acts. At that age, however, I might have been mature enough to not let such graphic material affect me. Other children were probably not able to grasp the difference quite as well. However despite my long history with and affinity for video games, I find myself siding with Plato on this one.
While I am an advocate for free speech, I do feel that some material should be withheld from children of a certain age, even if I do think the age suggestions are a little old. Although I was able to separate a violent video game like GTA III from reality at 13, I don’t believe all children of that age would be able to. I think instead of prohibiting certain games from children below a certain age, parents should take a roll in learning about and understanding the video games their kids are playing so they can decide whether they think the game is appropriate for their son or daughter. That’s called being a responsible parent. My parents didn’t allow me to buy Eminem’s first album or two when they came out, but they have become some of my favorite albums later in life. Considering the content of those records, it was probably a good choice on my parent’s part, and I ended up getting into both albums when I was mature enough to understand what Shady was talking about.
Although I do side more with Plato than someone who advocates complete freedom of content, I do so for different reasons. I do not think that all fiction is detrimental to mankind, however I do think there is certain content that might not be appropriate for all ages. I also do not think that there should be a government enforced rule about what age one has to be to buy a certain game, but I do think that parents should be able to decide what is and isn’t appropriate for their children. I think Plato does have some input on this issue, but these days information is spread so freely and accessibly that I believe children could be maturing a little earlier than in Plato’s time. My experience is singular and by no means represents the experience of other members of my generation and as such what is appropriate for one child may not be for another. Plato might be right, but for the wrong reasons.
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