Grand Theft Childhood 6

CHAPTER 6

Sex, Hate, Game Addiction and Other Worries

The most politically incorrect video game ever made. Run through the ghetto blasting away various blacks and spies in an attempt to gain entrance to the subway system, where the Jews have hidden to avoid the carnage. Then, if you're lucky, you can blow away Jews as they scream "Oy Vey!" on your way to their command center.

-Promotional material from a lleb site selling the game Ethnic Cleansing-

THE SIMPLISTIC BELIEF THAT EXPOSURE TO MEDIA VIOlence will lead directly to individual violence is clearly wrong. So what, if anything, should we as parents, teachers and public policy makers be concerned about? Based on our own research as well as the research of others, we -believe that many of the true risks to our children share several characteristics:

.: . They're subtler than the issue of violence, which means that they may be overlooked by casual observers who are focused primarily on game content, such as drugs, sex, crime and so forth.

+) They don't affect all children in the same way. Some children are at significantly greater risk; others are likely to be unaffected.

in

children and their emotional connections to adults and peers inside and outside their families.

.: . There are practical things that parents can do to limit many of these risks. We'll go into greater detail on some of those in chapter 9 as well as throughout this chapter.

The content of some of the games readily available to children will likely give pause to even the most ardent supporters of free speech. Like earlier generations of media critics and social reformers described in chapter 2, it's tempting for parents and politicians to focus on rare and extreme examples of troublesome games, like some of the neo-Nazi recruitment games we'll describe later in this chapter. However, this may lead to two unintended negative consequences for society in general and for our children in particular.

First, this approach gives those "outlier" games the recognition and publicity that their makers crave but otherwise wouldn't get. It legitimizes them and makes them appear more popular and mainstream than they actually are. Second, it shifts our focus away from finding effective ways to address the underlying problems, such as racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, poverty, drugs and social isolation. It's much easier to blame a game (or a comic book or a film) than it is to examine complex social issues.

Also, by focusing our attention on dramatic and upsetting content, we run the risk of glossing over some potentially significant but much more subtle problems. Are video games being used to market unhealthy or otherwise inappropriate things to our children? Are games shifting our children's perceptions of normal or appropriate behavior and healthy relationships?

Video Games, Sex and Teens

It's easy to leap to the conclusion, as so many parents and politicians have, that the sexual content of video games has significant and deleterious effects on the sexual attitudes and behaviors of the teenagers who play them. So why not just restrict it in the name of protecting children?

Even setting free speech issues aside, researchers are much more cautious

in assigning blame for what teenagers do and believe when it comes to sox, In a major article published in 2005 in the prestigious medical journal Pediatrics, public health researchers point out that the proportion of high school student who have had sex has actually declined over the past decade. They add:

Data regarding adolescent exposure to various media are, for th most part, severely dated. Few studies have examined the effects of mass media on adolescent sexual attitudes and behaviors: only 12 of 2522 research-related documents ( < 1 %) involving media and youthaddressed effects, 10 of which were peer reviewed. None can sorv as the grounding for evidence-based public policy.2

A few recent studies of television and popular music suggest thul, lUI wllh violent media content, the influence of sexual media contont on tllUII hllhllv ior may depend in large part on the context of the sexual talk or Il1lllum', IWI! longitudinal studies of teens aged twelve to seventeen found thot:

Watching TV shows that talk about or show sexual activity 111l1kou IUIlII more likely to engage in earlier sex, but this effect was reduced for II 0 III teens if programs showed the risks and consequences of sex.^l

Frequent listening to music with sexually degrading lyrics hostoned tOOll sexual activity, whereas other sexual lyrics did not.'

Parents concerned about their children's exposure to sexual content In video games should keep in mind that, among ESRB-rated games, the content descriptors are not all as intuitively obvious as "Sexual Violence" and "Molur Humor." For example, "Lyrics" and "Strong Lyrics" can refer to sexual content,

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor

Let's begin with what is perhaps the most American of mass media loolH: advertising. You won't find the game Prom Paranoia, featuring Capil~11 Cool and his female sidekick Super Silky, on game store shelves. Nor will you find Sneak King, Bratz Kidz Racing Starz or Buzz's Adventures: '11/1' Mumbee's Curse. Most of these games, which are aimed at children and teenagers, have no ESRB rating, although almost all would clearly h rated E (Everyone).

They are examples of a growing advertising and marketing tool known as "branded immersive advertising" or "advergames": commercially produced, simple video games distributed for free or at low cost to promote a product, brand or idea and to gather marketing and contact information, often from children. As with all marketing to children, these games raise the question of whether the target audience understands the underlying motives and goals of the sponsor.

They also raise questions about the effects they'll have on the game players. Unlike commercially produced fantasy games, most advergames have a well-defined behavioral goal: getting players to ask for or to purchase a product. They also help make a Web site "stickier," which means that visitors stay there for a longer time. This stickiness metaphor seems especially apt for the children's game Buzz's Adventures: The Mumbee's Curse, underwritten by General Mills's Honey Nut Cheerios cereal.

The player begins by reading, ''After tracking the mumbee's movements, Buzz [an animated bee] and his pals find themselves in a system of lost catacombs nestled deep within the hive. Maybe the key to the recent disappearance of golden honey used to make Honey Nut Cheerios so irresistible is down here?" In the next panel, one of the bees says, "I don't know what's scarier-breakfast without Honey Nut Cheerios, or this creep-tastic cave!" The cereal's logo is clearly visible throughout the game.

This heavy-handed marketing approach (and ham-handed writing) is common among advergames aimed at children. Current advergames remind us of children's programming during the early days of television. Many of those shows, especially the ones produced by local stations, contained repeated product mentions and other plugs by the hosts between the commercials. It was common for television programs of that era, like the radio programs of an earlier generation, to contain the sponsor's name in their titles: Texaco Star Theater, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.

To play upon teenagers' acute sensitivities about how they look, Procter and Gamble's Head & Shoulders shampoo sponsored Prom Paranoia, a Spanish-language advergame. It's set in the futuristic Caspita ("dandruff") City, where Capitan Cool and Super Silky patrol the skies in their Head & Shoulders-branded spaceship. They receive a message that three teenagers Gorge, Gabriela and Miguel) arc having problems with-you guessed it-dandruff on their prom night. The player can select and guide either Capitan Cool or Super Silky as they baule sebaceous flakes, fungi and other adolescent scalp horrors.

Children are offered a free sample of the shampoo if they complet o an online form giving their mailing address, e-mail address, telephone nUIlIber and other information. Filling in the form also allows them to com pete with other players to have their high scores on the game poatcd 011 the sponsor's Web site.

Sneak King takes a different approach to marketing. It was one of II trio of inexpensive Xbox 360 games created for Burger King reBUIIH'lIJil in 2006 and offered for sale exclusively at those restaurants. The ~Illlll' were promoted through a national advertising campaign and wert' 1'111,,11 E by the ESRB.

This game, like the cereal-sponsored game mentioned earlier; 11411111. more than an extended advertisement since the Burger King 1111111('01 the protagonist. The premise for the game is painfully strained:

It takes a special person to sneak up on someone with a hot, delicious sandwich. It takes an even more special person to get away with it. And only the King can pull it off with vigor, finesse and fI royal flourish .... So step right up and into the royal shoes. Sneak down alleys, roads and sidewalks to surprise innocent bystanders with a burger. If you do it well, you'll be rewarded."

In addition to distributing the game, Burger King offered severn I tournaments at which being rewarded (receiving a prize of an Xbox gam ing system) was not a function of doing well in the competition; prizewinners were selected at random from entrants. To participate ill the tournament, however, children had to register by providing thch name, date of birth, e-mail address and cell phone number. (The notice lit the top of the registration page read, "Okay, so we need some information from you. It's no big deal really. Just fill out the form below to gel II mail or mobile alerts from BK® and BKgamer.com. All vital information, right? So sign up today.'")

Rules for the tournament, which are in tiny type on a separate page, state that participants must be at least eighteen years old at the time they enter. (Would anyone over the age of eighteen be interested in such a game? We doubt it.) A few paragraphs lower, Burger King adds, "If a potential winner is a minor, his/her parent or legal guardian will be required to sign the Affidavit/Release on the potential winner's behalf." ? Clearly, they're aware of their real audience.

For sponsors, a key attraction of advergames is that they provide a means and excuse to obtain contact and demographic information on children who are prospective customers so that they can be approached directly. Parents should be concerned about any Web site that asks children to submit personal information for inclusion in any database.

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission regulates gathering information online from children under the age of thirteen through the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).8 That act requires the posting of privacy policies on Web sites, limits the use of data collected, and defines those circumstances in which Web site operators have to obtain permission from parents to gather or use data from each child. In many cases, Web sites will automatically "lock out" a child whose birth date shows that she's younger than thirteen, eighteen or whatever cutoff they've chosen.

But kids are smart. After a few experiences like this, they learn quickly that they should submit a birth date that makes them appear to be over twenty-one. When the Burger King Web site locked us out after we submitted a birth date claiming that we were twelve years old, it only took us a few seconds to remove the lock and resubmit the same information, changing only the birth date to claim that we were now suddenly fifty. The second try was immediately accepted. Clearly that lock is not very strong.

The growth in e-mail, instant messaging on computers and SMS text messaging on cell phones opens new frontiers for marketers and advertisers trying to reach children with sales messages. Young children and even teenagers may not be aware of why marketing firms are collecting their contact and other personal information.

The situation is disturbingly similar to that of lonely, elderly people whose cognitive abilities are no longer up to par and who are targeted by telemarketers. As a result, some of those people are financially and emotionally exploited. The same could happen to children who cannot put the marketing and sales messages they receive into perspective.

Keeping "Buy Me" at Bay

There's no doubt that playing some advergames can be a lot of fun. Howovor, it's not a good idea to let your children play them unchecked. What you should do will depend upon the age and sophistication of your child.

Protect your child's privacy. Children should know never to put corsonnl information such as their name, address, e-mail or birthday on a computer form unless it's for school or for health care. This applies to any request for information on the Web or elsewhere, not just those associated with gomll", They should know to check with you first.

Children in elementary and middle school are especially vulnoroblo to thl type of marketing. They're used to taking directions from adults oncl 0111111 cannot fathom the true goals of marketers and others in gathorlno Kuch 111101 mation. They're also easily lured by the promise of a gift or momborllhlll III special club.

As a parent, you should act as an intermediary between all of tho so Illllt rials and your child. If your child insists on filling out a form that roqulrus pur sonal information, use your e-mail address and other contact information 110 that you can screen what gets sent by the company before relaying any of II' to her.

Teenagers are savvier than younger children about company marketlnll strategies and motives. This is a reflection of their brain development. You COil use this to your advantage in helping them become more media literate. (Wo'li go into this in greater detail in chapter 9.)

Talk with your kids about why companies use advergames. The lovol of your discussion will be determined largely by your children's age. Point out how sponsors make their product more attractive by having game charactor say and do certain things. Point out logos and other marketing material embedded in the game. Help them understand what the sponsor hopes to not children to feel. believe or do.

Be wary of downloading games. Spyware and other software that tracks your child's online activities can be embedded into games. So can computer viruses. Make sure your computer has up-to-date virus and spyware protection programs.

Social Marketing Games

Social marketing, also known as cause-related marketing, focuses on such important and noble issues as youth smoking prevention, organ donation, wearing seatbelts in cars and the benefits of good nutrition. We've both worked as consultants in this field of communication for many years. The things we've observed in other media also apply to video games.

Most people who engage in social marketing are filled with the best of intentions. They really do want to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, much of the material produced for these campaigns is strikingly ineffective and, all too often, stunningly inappropriate. Video games, especially advergames, are now a part of that morass. Here are a few examples:

Hallway Hurdles, which was sponsored by the Ad Council and the U.S. Army, is a rather bizarre bit of social marketing designed to encourage teenagers to stay in school. Players get a choice of assuming the roles of" 'A-Plus' Alice" or " 'True Fact' Jack" as they make their way toward graduating from high school. Oddly, they do this by engaging in many of the behaviors that real schools frown upon. Players can only succeed if they run through the halls; get into frequent fistfights with oversized orange gang members and green drug dealers (apparently the Bloods and Crips of this animated world); leap over desks that symbolize detention, bottles that symbolize alcohol abuse and overflowing garbage cans that apparently symbolize overflowing garbage cans; and receive grades of "N' simply by being in the right place at the right time.

There is nothing in the game that bears any resemblance whatsoever to the academic skills or emotional resilience needed to graduate from high school. None of the behaviors that are rewarded in the game, such as getting into fistfights with drug dealers and gang members, make any sense at all in the real world. What did the designers of this game think this running-jumping-punching race would accomplish as part of a program to prevent high school students from dropping out? It is bizarre, to say the least.

Similarly, MTV has promoted its online Darfur Is Dying game as a way that players can help stop the genocide in the Darfur region of western Sudan:

Darfur is Dying is a narrative-based simulation where the uscr, from the perspective of a displaced Darfurian, negotiates for, that threaten the survival of his or her refugee camp, It offers a faint glimpse of what it's like for the more than 2,5 million who have been internally displaced by the crisis in Sudan."

A faint glimpse, indeed! To start the game, the player selects one of several children who must forage for water and bring it back to the camp. The instructions warn:

You risk being attacked and possibly killed by Ianjaweed militias when you leave the confines of your camp, but you must do it in order to provide water for your community. Navigate by using th arrow keys to move and the spacebar to hide.w

The pathetic-looking child grasps a water can tightly in her hands al she runs through the desert, sometimes hiding behind the occasional cattle carcass or bush. Meanwhile armed militiamen in four-wheel-driv vehicles hunt her down. When the player is caught, the following message appears:

You have been captured by the militia. You will likely become one of the hundreds of thousands of people already lost to this humanitarian crisis. Girls in Darfur face abuse, rape and kidnapping by the Janjaweed .... As someone at a far-off computer, and not a child or adult in Sudan, would you like a chance to try againi'"

Dig Beneath the Surface

The problem with these types of social marketing games is that they may give us, as parents and as children, the unwarranted sense that we're actually accomplishing something when we're not. This can have the unintended and dangerous consequence of our not paying attention to the real issues that underlie what makes a child drop out of school or what can be done to help the victims of genocide. (Some cynics have referred to this approach to solvIng social Ills as "slaoktlvlsm,") You may feel good for a moment or two, but you accomplish nothing.

Talk to your child about the underlying problems that inspired the game. Let the game naturally trigger conversation. Keep things light; don't turn it into a lecture.

Explore ways of becoming involved in these issues outside of the game. That may be as simple as looking up more information or finding out how a problem affects your community.

Portrayal of Women

The "good girl" drawings in the 1950s comic books that we mentioned in chapter 2 can't hold a candle to many of the images of women in video games. There is nothing inherently wrong with this; many drawings in fantasy games are, like the drawings in comics, creative, over-the-top caricatures. The exaggerated eyes and mouth of the chef in Cooking Mama: Cook Off are as unrealistic as the exaggerated breasts and fangs of the half-vampire in BloodRayne.

These omnipresent buxom, wasp-waisted video game women-even those who don't sport fangs-draw the ire of social critics who say that they promote superficial definitions of beauty and impossible physical proportions. They may be right.

But the real issue of concern is both less obvious and more complex.

While there are a few heroines in these games, such as the impossibly proportioned Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider series and Rayne in the BloodRayne series, most game protagonists-especially adventure game protagonists-are men. This is probably because boys and men constitute the majority of game players. Thus, many adventure game heroines fit stereotypical male fantasies. There are exceptions, such as Kate Walker, the attorney-turned-adventurer in the Syberia series. Also, there is some evidence that the proportion of video game heroines is increasing.P

The greater problem may be that most of the women in most of the current games are adjuncts to the plot, not main characters. They're like the "Bond Girls" in the movies: they're known primarily for their looks, they often need to be rescued and they are surrounded by many men

who have much more power, money and influence, 'rho James Bond movies also had exceptions to this rule, of course, but they are largely noticed because they are exceptions: exotic temptresses who could deliver a lethal punch, kick or squeeze,

Of the sixteen major characters in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, for example, only one (Auntie Poulet, a voodoo chemist and the elderly leader of a Haitian gang) is a woman. A few more women are minor characters.~s with films and comics, this male-female discrepancy is still th norm for adventure video games. This leaves girls without many nonviolent video game heroines with whom they can identiffJ

Explore Role Models

It became clear during our focus group interviews with middle schoolers that they identified strongly with the characters in the commercially produced games that they played. Some even fantasized about what life might be like It they could become that character in the real world.

Talk about different characters' roles in the games. let your child do most of the talking. See what he thinks about a character's personality and values as well as his goals. Find out what he likes and dislikes about the character's apparent values.

Use games to trigger conversations about your child's own aspIrations and dreams. Don't take these too literally, of course. And don't be surprised if he hasn't thought much about them or is reluctant to talk. Just let him know that it's an open topic.

Express your opinions clearly but gingerly. If you think that a game is sexist, point that out but don't harp on it. Because children identify with these characters, they're likely to defend them out of a sense of loyalty. If you attack an issue like this too hard, your children will probably feel so defensive that they won't listen.

Flash Dance

The easy availability of Flash and other inexpensive software and integrated development environments has spawned the creation of many

thousands of games. Most of these are obviously innocuous: in Frisbee Dog, the player guides a dog that's riding a skateboard. The goal is to have the dog catch either a ball or a Frisbee with his mouth and to avoid catching the occasional flying hand grenade.

This is fairly typical of the types of homemade games available on the Internet: simple, single-task-oriented tests of skill, coordination, timing and luck. Amateur developers can create more sophisticated games by purchasing a "game engine" -customizable software that forms the core of a game's graphics and action. These powerful programs are inexpensive, with some available for free and others costing only a few hundred dollars or less for noncommercial game developers. They have allowed hobbyists and organizations to create much more graphically and structurally sophisticated games than they otherwise could. Consequently, children have access to a growing number of video and computer games that are created and distributed outside the bounds of traditional retail channels.

Addressing Uncomfortable Topics

Take a moment to do a Web search using the terms "racist games" or "porno games." As of mid-2007, each of these resulted in more than two million hits, which gives an idea of how common games with these themes have become. The number of actual games in each category is far less, of course, and they still constitute a small minority of games. But in each case, the actual number of racist or pornographic games is likely to be in the hundreds, if not the thousands.

This shouldn't be surprising. Sexual content has been a mainstay of many new media, including the Internet, video, comics, film, photography, books, sculpture-even ancient European and Asian pottery.

Similarly, fringe political groups have tended to embrace new media earlier and more enthusiastically than more mainstream groups. The Library of Congress maintains an impressive collection of hand-printed broadsides published by radical groups and individuals in the mid-eighteenth century calling for the American colonies' independence from Great Britain. These single

sheets of paper, sometimes filled with graphics and caricatures, were the mass media of their day.

Coming across sexual material in games, or adjacent to games that are played on the Web, can be upsetting and confusing to young children. That's another reason why it's a good idea to supervise any online game playing,

Games with a Social or Political Agenda

Today there are a lot of games-many of them available for free-that make no bones about spewing racist, sexist, homophobic and antiSemitic beliefs, often wrapped in attempts at humor. Many are quite simple. In Kaboom: The Suicide Bombing Game, players use a computer mouse to direct an Arab suicide bomber along a city street, timing th explosion to maximize the carnage. After each explosion, the scoreboard lists the numbers of men, women and children killed and injured by th blast. The start page of the game shows a caricature of the late Yssir Arafat; all of the people killed on the street except the suicide bomber are white.

Border Patrol has slightly more sophisticated graphics and related themes. The game is set along what is presumably the Rio Grande on the border between Mexico and Texas. A sign, filled with bullet holes, I stuck in the sand. It says, "Welcome to the United States." In the American flag depicted below those words, the fifty stars have been replaced by a large Star of David, thereby awkwardly combining anti-Semitic and anti-Mexican sentiments. A nearby handwritten sign points the way to the "Welfare Office."

The player points a rifle sight at any of three types of caricature cartoon targets as they run across the desert: an armed "Mexican Nationalist," a "Drug Smuggler," or a "Breeder"-a pregnant woman dragging two young children behind her. When a player hits a target, it spurt blood for a second and then disappears from the scene. With each killing, the player gets a higher "wetback" score.

There are hundreds of similar games: Virtual Drive By 2 ("Feel what it's like in the ghetto"), Watch Out Behind You, Hunter ("Shoot the fag before they rape you"), NES KKK (liThe original Mario Brothers with a good 01' Ku Klux Klan twist"), Amor Caliente (an animated low-budget porn film).

Link to the Real World

You should expect your children to run across these games, either by themselves or with the help of their friends. As with all generations of children, there's a particular thrill in doing something that you know your parents don't want you to do. (We'll see how one group is exploiting that feeling in the next section.)

Don't assume that playing these games occasionally reflects your child's true beliefs. More likely, he's exploring what it might feel like to be someone who has different values from his own and different perceptions of the world. It's like using a major league baseball video game to see what it's like to be a manager, or a flight simulator to try out being a pilot.

Talk to your child about the values being promoted by the game. listen more than you lecture. Explain why you disagree with the assumptions built into the game and the actions taken by the characters. Encourage your child to think about why someone might find these games funny or rewarding.

Link the games to real-world problems. Illegal drugs and drug culture, for example, are routine themes of homemade games and even some commercially produced games. If you find your child playing Drug Pusher" online, use that as an opportunity to talk about the larger issue.

We Want YOU: Recruitment Games

The National Socialist Movement (NSM), an American neo-Nazi organization, offers links to free downloads of several games, including Concentration Camp Rat Hunt, in which the player shoots Jewish "rats" inside the Auschwitz death camp. The NSM Web site promotes these games' specifically to children:

Yes, these free computer games will drive teachers and parents crazy, because they are politically incorrect, and even downright NS (neo-Nazi). So much the betterl

how to have a good time. But YOU do! So do your friends,

These free computer games are real collector (sic] items,

Let's face it, the retail stores do not carry these computer games.

And you won't see them advertised on TV or in your local papers.

The NSM in joint cooperation with the NSDAP/AO [Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei/ Auslands-Organisation, the National Socialist German Workers Party/Foreign Organization) are launching a mass literature distribution of flyers announcing these video games.

All Pro-White groups and activists are urged to assist in this

project and get the word out to the Public. Any NSM or NSDAP/ AO activists willing to pass out these leaflets in large amounts are

urged to contact us asap. Hail Victory!l4

We quoted some of the marketing material for Ethnic Cleansing at the beginning of this chapter. The game is produced and sold by Resistance Records, which is a division of the National Alliance, another neo-Nazi and white-supremacist group in the United States. The premise for Ethnic Cleansing is outlined at the beginning of the game:

The Race War has begun. Your skin is your uniform in this battle for the survival of your kind. The White Race depends on you to secure its existence. Your peoples [sic) enemies surround you in a sea of decay and filth that they have brought to your once clean and White nation.

Not one of their numbers shall be spared ....

Unlike other games of this ilk, which can be downloaded for free, this one is sold for a token amount of money. While the money received by the National Alliance is relatively small, much greater value comes from being able to build a list of contact information from children and adults who purchase this material. Indeed, recruitment is a key goal behind this

type of game development.

Using games to recruit adolescents into organizations is not limited to

neo-Nazi, white-supremacist and skinhead groups. The U.S. government

does it, too, Since]uly 2002, the U,S, Army has used 8 series of America's Army video games as recruitment tools, These games and their promotional materials combine video images with sophisticated graphics. The introduction to America's Army- Virtual Army Experience begins:

The Virtual Army Experience (VAE) provides participants with a virtual "test drive" of the Army, with a focus on operations in the Global War on Terrorism. The core of the 10,000+ square foot VAE is the America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) computer game, rendered with state-of-the-art Army training simulation technology to create a life-size, networked virtual world. The VAE highlights key Soldier occupations, Army technologies, operating environments and mission profiles, within a fast-paced, action-packed, information-rich experience that immerses visitors in the world of Soldiering in the U.S. Army. Participants employ teamwork, rules of engagement, leadership and high-tech equipment as they take part in a virtual mission to capture an HVT (High Value Target).15

The Web site refers to real-world army recruiting fairs across the country as "upcoming missions." Players have the option of participating in formal competitions, such as those run by the Hostile Tactics Gaming League."

Palestinian groups have developed games to recruit teenagers in its intifada (uprising) against Israel. In Under Ash, the player assumes the role of Ahmed, a young Palestinian stone-thrower who battles the Israeli army and settlers. The game publisher's Web site states in fractured English:

A nation in Palestine is being uprooted: their houses are being devastated, their establishments are being destroyed, their lands are being occupied, their trees are being pulled out, their property is being confiscated, their cities are being besieged, their schools are being closed, their sanctuaries are being violated, their sacred structures are being made permitted, their children are being beaten, their hands are being broken, their bones are being crushed and they are imprisoned, tortured and slain. They are even prevented from crying and moaning, The whole world i plotting to ignore them. None hears them moan. None sees the

trains of their martyrs. None says a word of support to their

rights ....

Un~rAsh is a call to justice, realizing truth, preventing wrong-

ing and aggression.

This idea, accompanied by the best available technology, is still

handy to our youth, trying to dry up their tears; heal their wounds; remove all the feelings of humiliation, humbleness and wretchedness from their souls, and draw the smile of hope and the sense of dignity and efficiency on their taces."

A more recent game by the same publisher, AfkarMedia, called Under Siege, is more sophisticated. Despite the protestations of the publisher that "it does not include shooting a~ civilians or abusing them, nor does it include suicide bombing or any terrorist simulation,"ls its "teaser video" includes scenes of a child's teddy bear being crushed by a tank, a Palestinian father being executed on the street, and Israeli soldiers firing

at a Red Crescent (Red Cross) ambulance.¹⁹

Welcome to Our (Scary) World

Video games can be extremely powerful lures, especially when they're trolled in front of teenagers. One of the hallmarks of adolescence is that children this age feel invulnerable. The games allow them to take risks in the virtual world without consequences in the real world.

There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that's what adventure games are all about. But we know that it's unlikely that we'll soon be battling aliens or zombies; the scenarios for recruitment games are much closer

to our world, emotionally if not physically.

This relates to the issue of relevance discussed in chapter 1. Game

fantasies can be particularly engaging and appealing when they offer a child or teenager someone at whom they can direct their real-world anger. He or she might even consider adopting some of a game character's behaviors and attitudes as his or her own behaviors and attitudes in

the real world.

This doesn't mean children will turn into nea-Nazis or join the army because they choose to play games that attempt to convert or recruit. The games allow them to see themselves in different roles, and often with significantly more power in the virtual world than they have in the real world.

These simulations are of necessity and purposely incomplete. The same could be said of college recruitment brochures aimed at adolescents and their parents; they focus only on select positive aspects of an experience rather than a complete picture. Children and teens are likely to be unaware of this, and sometimes, that's exactly what the game developer is counting on.

As parents, you can help your children fill in the missing parts of the picture. How is the game different from reality? What things are glossed over during the game play? What are the underlying premises-the things that the game designers are asking you to assume are true for the game to make sense? Are those things true?

Video Game Addiction: It Turned Into a Battle of Wills

Richard Falzone, MD, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist in suburban Boston who specializes in treating teenagers who have substance abuse problems. Most of the time, they use alcohol or street drugs. Some abuse prescription drugs. A growing number, he says, act as if they're addicted to video games.

"I'm seeing a fifteen-year-old boy who has been hospitalized for depression and for cutting himself. He's bombing out of school, not because he wasn't smart, but because he couldn't cut down on the time he spent playing World of Warcraft. He would spend ten to twelve hours a day playing the game; he would play until somebody made him get off the computer. His parents would put controls on the computer to limit its use, but he would figure out ways to bypass them. He would pretend to go to sleep and get up in the middle of the night to play. It turned into a' battle of wills. He would get very upset and angry until he got his fix. Sometimes he wouldn't make it to school and would sleep through the day because he's been playing video games all night."

Clearly this young man has significant problems that are interfering

with his life. But is it really an addiction? That's a term bandied about freely; we describ~ome people as "addicted to food" and others a "addicted to eBay."l;here are three diagnostic hallmarks of an addiction:

A compulsive, physiological craving for a substance

Increased tolerance (needing a higher dose to get the same

effect) following early use \

Well-defined and uncomfortable physiological symptoms during withdrawal.

Among drug addicts who use heroin, for example, these three hallmarks are obvious. We also see them clearly among alcoholics. With these and other classically addictive substances, we can see changes in the brains of addicts in response to both the substances' introduction and their withdrawal.

\

Does this hold true for video games? The best answer today is: w

!_< tI

don't know. Playing video games that involve a lot of action has been

associated with increased levels of two neurotransmitters in the brain, dopamine and norepinephrine, that help brain cells send messages t each other. These neurotransmitters are involved in both learning and addictimd,

Some of the children labeled as addicted to video games may b struggling with a compulsion similar to an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Their game playing behavior may be out of their control and interfering with their lives, but the underlying mechanism may be different than that of someone addicted to a drug. Others said to be addicted to game may simply be responding to the powerful reinforcements they receive every so often (a "variable-ratio reinforcement schedule") when they play. These children may have more in common with recreational lottery players and casino gamblers than with drug addicts.

Some supposedly addicted game players may be behaving normallybut not in the ways that the adults around them believe to be normal. For example, many young children and preadolescents have difficulty making the transition from one activity to another, especially when the initial activity is pleasurable. We can see this when a parent asks a child to stop playing a game or to stop watching television in a minute and get ready for dinner. The child promises to do exactly that and makes that promise

shapeType75fBehindDocument1pWrapPolygonVertices8;6;( 0,19855);(452,19855);(452,0);(21490,0);(21490,21499);(0,21499)posrelh0posrelv0pib

with great sincerity. But ten minutes later he's still playing the game or watching TV, unaware that so much time has passed.

Is this a sign of addiction? No. It's normal. In fact, it's a reflection of brain development. But parents sometimes interpret this type of behavior as anything from spite to laziness. It's not.

Finally, as parents we may unconsciously apply different standards to different behaviors[Q a child plays basketball or plays the piano for four hours per day, we may describe him as a dedicated athlete or musician. A teenager who knows all the game statistics and trivia about a local professional football team, and who spends a lot of money buying jerseys and other memorabilia, is considered a true fan. It's a socially acceptable hobby; in fact, it's encouraged. But if that child takes the same approach to playing video games, spending hours each day at the computer and reveling in the details and strategies of play, we may worry about an addictioru

This concern leads parents and clinicians to focus on easily measured behaviors, such as the amount of time the child spends playing video games, instead of more useful indicators of a potential problem. Is your child finishing his schoolwork? Is he establishing balanced and reciprocal friendships with peers?

The danger in calling some children's behavior a video game addiction if it's not is that we might miss underlying problems such as depression. That's a classic case of treating a symptom (e.g., a fever) and not the disease (e.g., a bacterial infection). On the other hand, if we don't identify the behavior as a video game addiction when that's what's really going on, we may be distracted by other behavioral problems and miss the opportunity to treat the underlying cause.

Did Video Game Addiction Trigger This Suicide?

On Thanksgiving morning 2001, Shawn Woolley fatally shot himself in the head.²⁰ He was twenty-one years old. His mother, Elizabeth Woolley, found him sitting at his computer surrounded by notes about EverOuest, a game he had been playing increasingly and even obsessively for several years. Mrs.

Woolley, who later founded the self·help organization On-Line Gamers Anony· rnous, blamed the game for her son's death.

Her seemingly logical argument is that her son had become addicted to EverOuest. (Indeed, some of the game's aficionados playfully refer to it aa "EverCrack," comparing its seductive quality to crack cocaine.) She had noticed that Shawn had become increasingly isolated and had spent most of his last days sitting at his computer, playing the game.

Whatever the cause, Shawn Woolley's suicide was a tragedy. But hi. mother's post hoc, ergo propter hoc ("after this, therefore because of thls"l logic does not tell the whole story. Concluding that video game addiction led to the death of an otherwise healthy young man may unintentionally leed other parents and clinicians to miss opportunities to save lives.

In fact, Shawn Woolley was not otherwise healthy; he had a long history of neurological and psychiatric problems. He had been diagnosed with depression and with schizoid personality disorder, a mental illness charaot.,· ized by an avoidance of close social relationships and a preference for solitary activities, among other things.

Shawn had recently quit his job and been evicted from his apartment.

After moving back in with his mother and then being admitted to and leaving a group home, he rented another apartment despite his mother's objection and started playing the game non-stop. He purchased the gun he used to shoot himself a week before he took his own life.

Major depressive disorders are closely associated with suicide, espe· cially among young people. Having a schizoid personality disorder would make Shawn seek ways to withdraw socially and to isolate himself. It would also make him less likely to seek help from others for his problems.

It's much more likely that his obsessive video game playing was a refleo· tion of his other, more profound problems-a way he tried unsuccessfully to handle the intense emotions and stress he was feeling-and not the root cause of his suicide.

So what's going on with the fifteen-year-old boy being treated by Dr, Falzone? We know that a significant number of children his age use video games to help them cope with their negative emotions, especially depression, anger and anxiety. It's a form of self-treatment or self-medication, similar to people who eat chocolate or drink alcohol when they're feeling sad, In this case, playing video games may be a coping mechanism, (Whether they're an effective or an appropriate coping mechanism is a separate question.)

We also know that this boy has a history of a significant mood disorder.

He's been hospitalized for depression. He's cut himself repeatedly-a type of self-injury that's associated with feeling emotionally overwhelmed. Paradoxically, self-injury is a way that these children try to help themselves feel better.

Is his use of video games simply the best way he can think of to handle his overwhelming feelings? If so, then labeling his behavior an addiction might be a red herring and could lead to focusing on the wrong issues. Or might it be a true addiction that's compounding his other problems? If so, then treating it as an addiction might help him handle his depression and self-injury behaviors as well. At this point, we simply don't know.

This lack of clarity about video game addictions and other computerrelated addictions hasn't stopped well-intentioned therapists and entrepreneurs from developing and selling treatment programs. Often these programs market their services by offering nonvalidated behavioral assessments that are quite broad (e.g., "Have your child's grades gone down?" "Has your child preferred to playa video game rather than spend time with a friend?") . Consequently, many people's responses portray them as potentially addicted.

There are at least several reasons why we may be reading and seeing much more about video game addictions. Despite significant progress in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness over the past few generations, our culture still associates it with significant stigma. Many people still view mental illnesses as the result of a weakness of will, a defect in character or bad parenting. As parents, we may view a child's mental illness as a reflection of our own competence and worth, something we would never do if our child had a disease that affected a different organ.

No rational person would tell a child who has diabetes to "just try harder" to make insulin. ("Your brother's pancreas makes great insulin! Why can't you be like him?") Yet we ten people-

shapeType75fBehindDocument1pWrapPolygonVertices8;6;( 3307,66);(0,66);(0,0);(21500,0);(21500,21500);(3307,21500)posrelh0posrelv0pib

one feels sad at times. It's no big deal. Snap out of it. These are the best years of your life!")

Describing our child's aberrant and even self-destructive activities

and demeanor as the result of a video game addiction is a way for us to distance ourselves from stigmatized behaviors. It's the game's fault, not ours. It's self-protective for us as parents, but it may not help our child. We may focus on limiting his access to a computer but not help him cope with his underlying mood disorder or thought disorder.

Also, fears surrounding new technologies create new markets for services. Video games ire no different. While some treatment programs may be both appropriate and successful for some children, teens and young adults, other programs will offer little more than repackaged nineteenthcentury snake oil. What are needed, of course, are well-designed scientific studies of both the video game addiction diagnosis and various treatments. Impassioned beliefs and slick marketing materials are never a good substi-

tute for strong data and rigorous analysis.

DMU Timestamp: March 08, 2013 19:51