Why Game Designers should do whatever they want.
First of all, what is “social responsibility”? As soon as you care about cause AND effect, you act responsible. If you give a shit about the consequences, you act irresponsible. So, if you care about the effect your design will have to the society, you act “social responsible”.
Cool. But does the Game Designer know what impact video games has, to the society? Does anybody know? In Germany we have an active discussion about the “violence in games” and the “impact of video games” issue. The discussion is sometimes confusing and unilateral, but I think we can sum it up to: “We don’t know!”. Different theories, like the habituation thesis or the transfer model are discussed, but neither them nor others have an adequate answer. Even the specialists out there – psychologist, education researcher, scientists, etc. – have no tangible answer, yet.
Well, what are we doing right now? As long as we – the Game Designers – do not harm existing laws, we can design whatever we want. Most of us are living in a democratic society and our representatives – politicians – are setting up rules for our living together. Institutions like the German USK, PEGI or the ESRB ensures, that the video game industry sticks to these rules. I think that that sounds good. Not?!
Let’s talk about the advertising industry, quickly. Hundred thousands of designers are working there. Text, graphical, photo, fashion, food and many other designers. Their main goal is to manipulate people. They tell them how to look, what to eat, what to wear, how to behave, finally: how to live. The current ideal of beauty makes millions of young people falling into depression. Thousands of households are heavily indebted. Kids are sidelined and mobbed because they don’t wear the “cool” sneakers. All because we have to buy a certain product or simply: buy more! For whom is the advertising industry taking care? For their clients! Not for the society. The advertisers should sell something, and nearly nobody ask them for social responsibility. Why is the game industry asked so often for social responsibility? Because we are making interactive products, where the consumer is involved actively? But shopping is a bilateral action too! Buying is interactive!
So why we, the Game Designers and the game industry? Because we have tragic excesses in our society! We have highly insulated or aggressive teenagers. We have desperate people going into their shell, trying to forget their real life problems. We have harassed and burned-out scholars. We have overcharged and forsaken parents. And finally, we have school shootings. But there is no doubt, video games has never been the crucial factor! Video games, independently whether they are violent or not, have never been the reason for the mentioned excesses.
There always was a long sequence of social, familial or personal abuses! Many different aspects must be in imbalance, before people retire from the real life, before they come up with thoughts of revenge, before they freak out or give up. As soon as someones life is out of balance, the society is asked to help! Parents, friends, politicians, educators and teachers.
Yes, sometimes video games are a refuge. And yes, the world of video games could appeal easier for people with real life problems. But as long as the social frame is mostly intact, violent video games would have no dangerous bad influence. As well as action or horror movies, brutal books and comics or other “bad” stuff. In fact, video games are the easy answer, when it comes to finding the guilty one, while the complex and unpleasant problems of our society are swept under the table.
In a democratic society, eligible adult voters can decide what they like to play and what their children are allowed to play. Whoever else? Designers? With some preemptive obedience? And where does this obedience leads to? No more violence in movies and books? No Road-Runner or Itchy & Scratchy? No water guns? No subtle violent children’s games any more (dodge ball, cops and robbers etc.)? Human beings are fascinated by violence. Violence and gore are a part of us. Not in the same way for everybody and that’s the reason we should give the people the choice. Should we ban everything that is not obviously good for us? Smoking (140.000 killed in Germany each year)? Alcohol (16.329 killed in 2005)? Boxing and extreme sports? Driving cars (4.467 killed 2008)? Unprotected sex? Or should we try to fix the real problems of our society?
To sum it up: The Game Designer’s job is to create products for a certain audience, which creates fun or Flow. That’s about it. Of course he or she can have personal moral claims and apply them to the design, but answering the general question “Does a GAME DESIGNER has social responsibility?”, I would say: no. Designers should not limit themselves. They should be free to do everything to create a fun experience. Giving an example: On many freeways in Germany it’s allowed to drive as fast as you like too. If you instruct your mechanic to make your car drive very fast, does the mechanic has the social responsibility to limit the speed of your car based on his personal opinion? No, his job is to make your car drive fast, as long as he sticks to current law! Speed limits are not his business. And the Game Designer should make games fun.
As soon as I start to think about video games and responsibility, I’m thinking about violence, (negative) addiction and so forth. Why? Because the public discussion concentrates primarily on this negative issues. But, beyond question, there are many positive effects and possibilities coming with video games! And we are just at the beginning, discovering these capabilities.
Source of killed people in Germany:
- Smoking: http://www.welt.de
- Alcohol: http://www.destatis.de
- Traffic: http://www.destatis.de
References:
- Title image: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3173181
- Gewalt und Medien (Kunczik & Zipfel)
- Mediale Gewalt (Hausmanninger & Borhmann)
- Vorsicht Bildschirm! (Manfred Spitzer)
