Chad's Thoughts

Thoughts on the Journey from a Pong Junkie

I am a child of the Atari Generation. My first game system was a 2600 that came with Space Invaders, Missile Command and Pong. I grew up with a callous on my thumb from playing Nintendo, and my hands have even cramped due to hours of gaming. I know the excitement of video games, so when I sat down with two games the other day I was excited about the afternoon that I would spend. What I experienced in my afternoon with Jedi Outcast and Max Payne was eye opening.
These games were incredibly complicated and took my total attention for an extended period of time. Running, dodging, shooting and navigating through complex levels forced me to use all my hand-eye coordination and problem solving skills over the hours that I spent playing to move around only the lowest levels. These games are creative, well conceived and of the highest quality in terms of graphics. So much has changed since my Atari, and I wondered if we as a society and the Church have stopped to consider the effects of these changes.
As people who care about children and youth I believe there are some questions that we should be asking about video games. Do we know the games our young people are playing? The ones that I played are little movies that the player enters and takes on a role. In Max Payne you enter a world of crime and violence as an undercover fugitive cop. The experience that I had was frightening. This game - with a rating of M for mature - had me playing the role of killer as I moved through a world of people who needed to die, the enemies had no other existence than to acts as targets. I had to stop and ask myself, “Is this true in the world we live in today? Are there people in the world that we see only as targets? Are there people who deserve to be killed in a most violent manner, just because of a label we have assigned them?” I believe that what we surround ourselves with shapes who we are. And while after playing the game last week, I was not turned into a killer on a shooting spree; the game did present a more destructive message that violence is entertaining when it is against expendable and nameless people.
This is a real issue that the Church must face, and with games like Medal of Honor Allied Assault (based on the WWII Normandy Invasion) and Conflict Desert Storm (based on the conflict in Kuwait) we are turning events of war into fun and celebrated violence. We cannot dismiss the message that is being sent. Video games are a part of our world and many are fun and entertaining. Still, as ones who preach a message of peace and hope, we cannot ignore the messages of fear and hatred even through “fun” games. Do you know the games we are playing?
Peace on the Journey,
Chad