Sunday Thoughts: 15/08/10

Games cause trouble. Perhaps not to the extent that the mainstream media would like us to believe, more the “Why haven’t you done the washing up?” kind of trouble. To be honest that may be worse, at least you’re not nagged whilst you’re in prison. I’ll be perfectly honest here, gaming has clearly caused me trouble.

Only two weeks ago I was sitting and playing Assassin’s Creed II. I thought to myself “I’ve got a free hour, I’ve finished work, I deserve a treat.” Sadly Assassin’s Creed II is a game that sneaks up on you, rather than playing through the first hour of the game like I’d intended I played it for about 3 hours. That wouldn’t be so terrible, except I was supposed to be catching a train to go and see my parents. In the end I didn’t arrive until gone ten in the evening, not quite what I’d planned originally.

For some of us trouble may go a little further than that, take a certain prison officer in the Phillipines. Stupidly he decided to partake in the crack that is Plants Vs Zombies whilst at work. Playing games at work might end in getting fired if you get caught for most people, so it’s hardly the best idea. Of course it does get a little worse when you’re supposed to be guarding prisoners and you’re distraction allows them to escape.

I wouldn’t say Plants Vs Zombies is entirely to blame, although PopCap are the undisputed kings of addictive gaming. No it is tough to blame a game when the officer left his keys within reach of the prisoners. Unless you’ve gone to the ‘easy escape in a movie’ school of jailing it seems like a rookie mistake, the zombie killing distraction just allowed them to get away before he noticed.

We need to remember, and remind the mainstream press at every chance, that games don’t always lead to trouble. Yes there have been a few, relatively rare cases where people on trial have blamed video games for influencing their crimes. It’s hardly like every gamer is a criminal, or every criminal a gamer. This study from the Secret Service suggests that gamers aren’t even the most troublesome group. On page twenty you’ll find some stats which indicate that only twelve percent of school shootings in the US can be linked to games, compared to twenty-seven percent for movies and twenty-four percent for books. The largest group (thirty-seven percent) actually express anger in their own writing, rather than being influence by others.

Sorry for that little spell of darkness in what was supposed to be a light hearted piece on the trouble that gaming has caused us. I think it’s my own bitterness about the way that the gaming industry is treated by main stream press that leads to spontaneous outbursts of relevant statistics. I’ll try and keep it in check in the future.

So to return to the light heartedness that’s supposed to be brightening your presumably dull Sunday – as pretty much all Sundays are dull – let’s hear what you’ve got to say about getting into trouble. Have you ever shot someone because of gaming or, more likely, forgotten to take out the rubbish? Have you suffered the nagging of a loved one due to your love of electronic entertainment? Of course don’t reveal anything that might get you thrown in jail, I actually advise against admitting to any acts of violence.

All credit to bunimomike for suggesting this and sending in the tip about the Phillipines. Good job.