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webwork 3
September 12th,
by Newsgaming.com (Uruguay), 2004
EVEN IN THE FURTHER REACHES TRANSYLVANIA
Any mention of computer games instantly brings back the memory of a recent trip: I had just visited Bran Castle and was on my way back to the inn, deep in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, when I passed by an ordinary house, no different from the other houses except for a sign that read: "Internet, video games."
Here - where most roads were unpaved and country women in heads carves slowly hurried along to the beat of another era, where the Orthodox church spread its domes over a soft ridge in the middle of a Romanian countryside that recalled nothing so insistently as our French landscapes of the fifties and sixties, where all "traditional" infrastructures seemed hopelessly out of step -, the digital network, and its hardware, hadn't skipped a beat. I approached the house, out of curiosity, and peeked over the enclosure. The teenagers and young adults I saw within looked just like the ones one might see the world over. Why would it be otherwise? Facing their monitors, totally cut off from what might be going on around them, perhaps after having helped their parents bring in the hay, or having cycled for miles, they were tapping away and wielding joysticks. I came closer, brought my face up against the windowpane. What games had earned their undivided attention? Certainly nothing particularly Transylvanian! No, they were playing the globally ubiquitous Shoot-'m-ups. Like millions of youths throughout the world, they partook in simulated war, firing on all enemies that still had life in them, exploding skulls, splattering blood on the walls. True to their calling, they accompanied their exploits with knowing laughs and noisy exclamations. Apparently, there was no place in the whole region around Bran they found more interesting than this one. Making war from a distance, anonymously, painlessly, they were complicit with youths from the rich countries, who have long since abandoned traditional board and card games, or simply the pleasures of "idle chitchat," for this singular addiction to video games. Like many other boys of their age, they've found this simple expression of manhood - not usually accompanied by courtesy, or amorous whimsy. Be that as it may, the attitude one should take with respect to game-playing youth is an inexhaustible topic of discussion. When I speak with them, they tell me that, anyways, they know the difference between reality and fiction perfectly well. And, they add, by blowing up bodies, digitally spilling guts and blood, they relieve themselves of any wish to do so in reality. The old story of catharsis…
In any case, how can we not believe them, as long as they haven't committed the act? For the moment, gathering in their spaces, and remotely on networks, they're no danger. They certainly aren't the most obvious trouble-makers.
September 12th - the work of Newsgaming.com, at http://www.newsgaming.com/games/index12.htm - squarely raises the question of the place that violent video games have in society, and of their designers' responsibility. The question of the argument implied in the works themselves, however, may not be as clearly raised. Let me explain.
As anyone who plays September 12th - which, from the outset, declares itself as not being a game - will quickly note, every rocket shot against the terrorists increases their number. The more you try to destroy them, the more they proliferate. The more you fire at them, the more collateral damage you create. The tears you draw - women's tears, one may note, as if the destructive function were purely male, and that of affliction strictly female - seem inexorably to widen the vocational field for anonymous fighters. The Newsgaming game creators' argument is thus pretty clear: in the post 9/11 era, video games can be a political vehicle. They must act responsibly. They must take a moral stance against the brutality of the Bush administration. The group's views are very clear. Views that are highly commendable, or incredibly naive, depending to one's point of view.
One question, however, merits closer attention, that of the argument implied by video games. It's one that the people at Newsgaming seem to have settled for good. Show effigies of human beings being blown up and you'll increase the impulse for domination in each of us, you'll help foster the emergence of an amoral generation for whom no border-line will separate shooting a digital simulation and cold-bloodedly killing anyone who contradicts you. On the other hand, show how the vengefulness and morbid bent of post-9/11 American policies do nothing but fuel international terrorism, and you'll foster political awareness among those same players.
Simple as that, right? All my conversations with young players have convinced me of the opposite. Yet every time I see them virtually and compulsively massacring each other, I can't help but have doubts and apprehensions about the future.
The question broached by Newsgaming is a serious one. It is indisputably good that it be raised. If only the question might reach those most concerned - the players themselves! That's another story. . .
Xavier Malbreil
(Translated from French by Ron Ross)
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