Sunday Thoughts: Equality
And how videogames offer it.
Published: 16:00, 04/09/2011 by Toby M [Dexter17].
12Equality is a term that is thrown around far too liberally in my opinion. At an extremely basic level, we could all be tagged as equal because every healthy human being is born with two arms and two legs. Regardless of skin colour and our personal anomalies, being defined as human suggests that everyone living on Earth is given the same opportunities, the same healthcare, and the same teaching. Unfortunately, we all know that isn’t the case.
If I were to be extreme, I could compare the difference in societies when looking at the western world compared to the Middle East. I could look to Africa, and draw comparisons from the money in government with the astounding level of poverty. If I really wanted to scrutinise the supposed unfairness of living, I’d highlight the fact that some earn £330,000 a week, whilst someone, somewhere, is still not being granted access to clean water.
However, this kind of inequality is relatively well publicised and as a result, is of general knowledge. The majority are aware of the differences in wealth around the world, and yet it gets pushed to the back of the mind to hibernate, even by those who are in a position of power. Human nature dictates that we look after our own, and we have gradually come to accept that the human race has developed into a precariously unbalanced one as the decades have rolled into one.
So this is the reason why I wish to focus on inequality from an alternate angle, an angle which begins in your very street. On the surface, everyone has a home, a car, and a variety of possessions, but by intensifying the magnifying glass, things aren’t necessarily as clear cut as the bricks and mortar on the outside lead you to believe. Wealth and opportunities all vary to some degree, and how fortunate you are in this respect also has an impact on the quality of health that you benefit from. Due to the complexity of effectively catering for millions of people, true equality within reality could be deliberated as completely impossible.
Home often gets criticised, but very rarely praised for the sense of equality it provides.
Even Call of Duty and similar online videogames promote equality; possibly not so much within the heat of a shootout, but those eight or nine seconds before a game starts? It’s a rare moment of true equality where everyone is simply a replica and is provided with exactly the same situation to combat.
There are obvious dangers to these level playing fields; it’s certainly not unheard of people inhabiting virtual worlds for days to make up for what they feel they lack within reality. The mainstream press grab hold of stories like this and call it videogame addiction, but what they conveniently ignore however, is how millions of people healthily indulge in videogaming to escape a judgemental society, and to enter a fantastical world where you can be exactly who you want to be.
Most Comments This Week
- Gaikai’s Streaming – Does This Mean No PS4? [65]
- PSN Store Update: 23/05/12 [55]
- First Party Vita Games Drop To £12 On PSN [52]
- PSN Store Hit With 80023163 Errors [51]
- Is Something Big Coming To PlayStation Plus Soon? [50]
- “Leap” Motion Controller Could Revolutionise Gaming [43]
- Ghost Recon: Future Soldier PS3 Install Is Huge [42]
- Australian & New Zealand D3 Players Suffer High Ping Rates [41]
- Sony Files Patent For Game-Interrupting Soda Adverts [40]
- Ghost Recon Future Soldier Review (PS3, Xbox 360) [39]
Latest Reader Comments
-
Sunday Thoughts: Leaking E3 And Ethical Debates
- 18:12 TSBonyman: Integrity, yep that’s another reason i stick around here! I’m feeling the E3 anticipation...
- 18:06 skibadee: roll on E3 love it. great read CB :)
- 18:05 gazzagb: This article highlights just how good the writers here are, they actually care + take pride in what they...
- 17:49 seedaripper1973: And this ^ (great article) is why i’ve been a member forever.
- 17:42 Lymmusic: That, and the community here is by far the most respectable and the least bit fanboyee of all sites
- New Hardware, New Plus: All Eyes On Sony This E3
- E3 2012: New “Tomb Raider” Teaser Shows Off Some Lovely Visuals
- Meet the Reader: KAMIKAZE-UK
TSAtv: Original Video Content
Batman book review
Kris Dancing, again
Joe Danger interview
Sonic Generations
04/09/2011 at 16:08
Member since: Jan 2009
A very good topic to choose there Toby. It does make one pause for thought that whenever anyone is playing online against other people, no one’s going to be segregated by others in their team regardless of colour, sex, appearance or otherwise. I think journey aswell could play a role in this topic when you think about it. If you’re online and someone else is there at the same time, you might want to play alongside them and they won’t discriminate against you because for all they know, they could be just like you.
04/09/2011 at 16:12
Member since: Apr 2010
In terms of Home, couldn’t one argue that if you don’t have a fair amount of disposable income, you can’t afford the swanky personal spaces, new clothes or furniture? Therefor, not everyone is equal ;)
As for Call of Duty, equality isn’t necessarily something I would associate with it, but that’s a topic for another day…
Anyway, nice article Toby ;)
04/09/2011 at 16:33
Member since: Apr 2010
That was my first thought, an environment catered around microtransactions for meaningless items isn’t the best example of equality!
04/09/2011 at 19:36
Member since: Jun 2009
The microtransaction element of Home was something I certainly took into account, and although it’s true that the variety of content that can be purchased within Home doesn’t promote equality as much as I have suggested above, a lot of extra content can actually be gained for free by partaking in the wealth of minigames on offer. Everyone is provided with the opportunity to gain new items, whether they have money or not.
To reply to DrNate’s point about the items within Home being meaningless; to you they might be, but to those who spend a lot of time in Home, they could be considered to be well worth the money. They provide users with the opportunity to customise themselves further, and influence the initial judgements thrown upon them to their tastes.
Home may be an environment with which microtransactions can thrive, but my reason for using Home in this article is that everyone is simply an avatar. Social barriers that apply in reality are non-existent, providing everyone with a feeling of equality.
Finally, Call of Duty. I agree, equality isn’t the first thing that springs to mind! However, during the few seconds, before the game starts, every player is just another soldier on the battlefield tasked with completing the same objective. When the shooting starts personal skill takes over, but before? I personally feel as equal as the seven other players around me.
04/09/2011 at 16:14
Member since: Feb 2010
I’ve read through this article several times now… and I’m unsure what the point you’re trying to get across is?
04/09/2011 at 18:13
Member since: Jul 2009
Same here but I think it’s more observational as oppose to it having a point as we close. The internet, gaming, Home – all break down barriers that would naturally exist in the real world. The nature of Home I find scarily generic as it often creates such equality that individuality is often suppressed for obvious reasons (eg. screwing around and causing mischief). However, the internet allows for the most fascinating of friendships to grow with people from half way around the world. Welsh (me), English (you), Scottish, Irish, Frisian and beyond. Home, games, the internet. It’s bound so many together it sometimes takes an article like this to make us stop and ponder for a moment. :)
04/09/2011 at 19:10
Member since: Jun 2009
What Mike has said above is spot on. In addition, I also believe that sometimes it is beneficial to hold back on a clear point. If I were to have provided you with my ideas and left no room for doubt, would you have read through the article more than once and thought about it as much as you have?
Not every article needs a distinct conclusion; sometimes it’s best just to make the reader think.
04/09/2011 at 17:12
Member since: Dec 2009
Humans judge, Home is full of ‘em. It’s easier to tune-out from all that in Home than it is in real life perhaps, but there’s no real escape imo. :)
04/09/2011 at 18:37
Member since: May 2010
I too (@yogdog) am struggling to see the message of the article. It is that at the end of the day we play a game equally as a gamer, that it doesn’t matter about nationality, race, gender or even wealth but we’ve all come just to play the game nothing more. If so this is pretty hard to come across in any game, I’ve been sworn at for being Welsh (no change there then) and other stuff too. Seems there’s no respect these days in anything even gaming.
04/09/2011 at 18:40
Member since: May 2010
still it’s given me a pause for thought :) I also forgot that it can allow people, as you’ve similarly said in the last paragraph, that many can escape a society which doesn’t treat them well and enter another world online where they are treated the same as someone with a much better social standing in reality.
04/09/2011 at 18:47
Member since: Feb 2009
Gaming doesn’t offer equality on any level, in fact if you don’t have 2 perfectly functioning hands you’re completely excluded. Try giving a paraplaegic a controller and see how they get on. It’s not a moot point, there are hundreds of thousands of people in the uk alone who are totally unable to enjoy it due to the disability or illness they have. Suppose that’s why kinect is good (about the only good thing about it!)
04/09/2011 at 19:50
Member since: Feb 2011
In this one game I have played recently (which I will not mention out of embarrassment), despite discrimination against some players, it is a game that allowed me to socialise and speak with other users confidently, at a time when I was very shy and had little confidence in myself. Games have so much to offer, and it’s a shame to see it be overlooked by many.
04/09/2011 at 20:45
Member since: Aug 2009
Long live equality. :)
04/09/2011 at 22:24
Member since: Mar 2011
The last point you touch on, escapism, is a massive reason as to why I play games. As to equality, I’d never really thought at about it, but I suppose I agree that on online games everyone starts on a level playing field, only problem is that with games with levels, WOW, CoD, it soon becomes unequal, as the higher levels then have better equipment..
04/09/2011 at 22:33
Member since: Aug 2009
Equality huh?
In the wider world, there’s a lot to like about communism but in practice it just doesn’t work. Nothing and nobody will ever be equal and it’s both charm and curse to the human race in every possible aspect.