Robert Brumfield reports in the May 1st article, “Miami-Dade to Bully maker: Game over – School board takes forceful stand over violent video game” that educational leaders in at least one district are taking a public stand against the soon-to-be released NAFAA game “Bully.” According to the article:
[Miami-Dade School Board member Frank] Bolanos…told the Herald that Bully is “the antithesis of everything [the Miami-Dade School Board] is trying to promote.”
Bolanos is absolutely right to be outraged and speak out. Educators, parents, and others in the community who care about children should not sit by idly while games like “Bully” and “Grand Theft Auto” hit the shelves of stores and rack up sales. Those who care about children have free speech rights just as the greedy and depraved game developers of these titles do, who clearly are not guided by any type of moral conscience in their economic activities.
Representatives of the Center for the Prevention of School Violence are also speaking out. According to the article:
William Lassiter, manager for the Center for the Prevention of School Violence, a resource center for programs that promote safer schools and foster positive youth development, said Miami-Dade’s resolution “helps raise awareness [among] parents.”
“There is violent content in the game, and it does encourage children to do things that are inappropriate in schools,” Lassiter said. “I think parents are unaware about the violence in the game. Anything that raises awareness to this is a good thing.”
We will always not only need rules and laws in this country, but also moral guidelines which establish boundaries which separate activities deemed “appropriate” from those which are “inappropriate.” The fact that a percentage of the population engages in an activity, like playing violent video games that encourage socially inappropriate behavior, does not make that behavior appropriate or ethical.
In debates about video games, the industry itself talks out of both sides of its mouth. (This means it contradicts itself / it violates the law of non-contradiction, generally regarded as a given in any type of debate conducted under the guidelines of reason and logic.) The industry will alternatively claim:
- Video games are not real, they are “virtual reality,” so it really doesn’t matter what kids or anyone else does in a video game. They are not REALLY killing people, beating up others, soliciting prostitutes, etc, so parents and others shouldn’t worry.
- Boys in particular are naturally aggressive, and it is better for them to “act out their aggressions” in a virtual world rather than a real world. So parents should be glad their children are playing violent video games, because this is better than actually beating up other kids at school.
These two positions contradict. Either video games do have psychological effects on people or they don’t. The first position above asserts that they don’t. The second one asserts that they do, but that is OK because it is “virtual reality.”
The truth, in my opinion, is that video games DO have powerful psychological effects, but contrary to the video game industry position and view of many gamers, this DOES MATTER. Perception is reality. (But truth is not relative.) Just watching a violent movie can have profound effects on a human mind, but actively engaging in violence through a video game can have an even stronger effect.
I am not against all video games. In fact, I love many video games. And I am not against all video games that include violence. Does this make me a hypocrite? I don’t think so. I love playing games like “Lego Star Wars”, but there is no way I would ever play or let my children play games like “Bully” or “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.”
Philosophically and morally, I believe there are situations when violence can be a justified response. I am not a pacifist. “Just War Theory” undergirds much of my thinking along these lines when it comes to state actors. I think nonviolent answers should be pursued and exhausted first, in line with the Powell Doctrine (not followed in the case of our current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, btw)– but I digress a bit.
The point here is that there is a line of inappropriateness which can be and is being crossed by games like Bully and the GTA series. Do some people want to buy these games? Of course. Are these huge sellers and moneymakers for companies like RockStarGames? Sadly, yes. This supports my theological view that human beings are, by nature, fallen beings, and without boundaries and limits imposed by society, culture and relationships, people will tend to make many bad choices. Hence we need laws as well as moral boundaries.
The realities of people wanting and buying these games do not change my ethical and moral views. The “is” of the world does not change my perception of “ought.” And it should not change yours either. Miami-Dade school leaders are right in speaking out against the upcoming “Bully” game. Think it won’t make a difference? Think again.
When folks get together and speak with one voice they can get lots of attention, as we have seen with recent US protests over immigration policy. It’s time more of us spoke out about videogames that are NAFAA.
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On this day..
- More Than Bandwidth: FCC Should Address Content Filtering in Schools – 2013
- Encouraging 5th Grade Writing with Benny the Mastiff & KidBlog in Piedmont, Oklahoma – 2013
- STEM and Scratch Resources (May 2013) – 2013
- iPad Quick Edit Videography (free video PD) – 2012
- Waiting for a Cator Tweet – 2011
- Do your school administrators REALLY understand CIPA? – 2011
- eBooks and ePub Format Digital Books: A #tltechforum Roundable – 2011
- eBook function: Quick dictionary lookups – 2010
- Simplifying Copyright Guidance for Educators – 2009
- Using Yahoo Pipes to Create a Single-User Contribution Feed from a Team Blog – 2009
Comments
2 responses to “District speaks out against “Bully” game”
Wesley –
Kathy Sierra recently had a post called “” that puts a very interesting spin on this. She discusses the current research on how we are affected by what we see and whom we interact with. I think anyone discussing the issue of games such as this should give it a read.
Conn McQuinn
If games do indeed influence children, then by all means they should play Bully as it actually has you standing up to bullies and protecting weaker kids from the bullies, I remember playing it and being completely amazed by the fact that so many people complained about this game without any actual solid facts about it. The game was released in UK and Ireland with a 15 rating and I think that even that is a bit strict as the game is easily suitable for 12 year olds to play as it has only mild fisticuffs and no guns, death or bloodshed and the game is actually mostly like a Grand Theft Auto game if it had all the negative stuff taken out.