Like many other parents with teenage boys, my wife and I wanted to avoid our son playing online computer games. We especially tried to evade games involving shooting. However, at the point, when our son came home saying “all my friends at school are playing” a certain popular game, we could not resist his request and knuckled down.
First, we could not get rid of our hard feelings about a seemingly violent game being played in our living room. The sound of shots, the inconceivably fast speed of graphic moves and images, and the weird characters of the online world brought many of our worries as parents to light.
I guess it’s a situation many of our fellow parents know. But I wonder how many of them are aware of its upsides. Because online games can and often do have an upside.
One day we went down into our living room where our son was playing the online game and found him chatting with his friend while playing. What we heard was astonishing. They were discussing a common strategy in detail – where to land their player, how to get weapons and ammunitions, and…how to share them. This was the point where we got embarrassed and started thinking. In this online world kids are sharing the limited goods necessary for survival in this virtual world. And they did even more while playing the game: they helped each other in many situations risking their own online lives; when needed, they took the other players on their shoulders and did everything to resuscitate them according to the rules of the game. These were important moments which changed my perspective of the game. In my mind it turned from a game of violence into a game of friendship and cooperation. Active attention and care were called forth by the game while attitudes like generosity, selfishlessness, cooperativeness, responsibility were supported by the game too, making them key elements to success. With time the kids obviously developed skills of cooperation, moreover, they created a real community within and beyond the online game.
While watching my son play, I learn a lot about the potentials of online games. I knew well and too much about the dangers. With good reason. But now I saw the whole issue with different eyes.
Online games need ethical reflection concerning their cultural and social settings, and certainly the dangers they carry in the short and the long term. Such an attempt is found in the document Human rights guidelines for online games providers, which was developed by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Interactive Software Federation of Europe in 2008.[1] However, their potential should be examined too. A good example of an article that does so is Barbro Fröding and Martin Peterson’s “Why computer games can be essential for human flourishing.”[2] May videogames be seen as an entertaining way to develop virtues? Or may they be used to help the next generations to develop ways to defend human dignity and to foster social justice? These are questions ethicists ought not simply pass over without examination. Through this we might not only understand the digital generations better but could learn more about human nature and the real world also. Seeing the new generations play, we might discover hope too.
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[1] Council of Europe with the Interactive Software Federation of Europe, Human rights guidelines for online games providers, Strasbourg: Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs, Council of Europe, 2008. Online: https://rm.coe.int/16805a39d3, last accessed September 28th, 2023.
[2] Barbro Fröding and Martin Peterson, “Why computer games can be essential for human flourishing,” Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 81 (April 2013): 81-91. Online: https://www.kth.se/social/files/5a7c169056be5ba270c7276a/3%20-%20Why%20computer%20games%20can%20be%20essential%20for%20human%20flourishing%20-%20fr%C3%B6ding%26%20peterson%20-%202013%5B1%5D.pdf Last accessed September 29th, 2023.