The Ethics of computer games
Grand Theft Auto V is a worldwide famous action-adventure video game by Rockstar North. It revolves around some gang members engulfing the city and the “open” world in terror, acting against the law to accomplish their missions and whatever they feel like doing in ways they see as a “cool and free” way. From simple cursing, to killing innocent people on the streets, robbing banks, having sex with prostitutes, or even blowing up buildings and cars and killing cops, this game contains different sorts of outrageous violence, sexism, hatred and rebellious activities. It’s an addictive game that many people find as a way of escapism, a way to let out all of the bad emotions that they have been suppressing. The game was highly anticipated and sold a worth of 800 million dollars in its first day and is considered for many as the best video game ever made (Grand Theft Auto V, 2018). However, many ethical questions have being raised about the game that was banned, censored or edited in many countries like Thailand, Australia, Germany and Japan… Thus the question follows, is GTA V protected by free speech principles or did it cross the line by causing social harm?
In short terms, GTA V crossed the line in mainly 2 things: Violence and sexism. Freedom can protect the game but only until a certain extent; there is a fine line between indecency and obscenity that should not be crossed. According to the US law, the Supreme Court has to punish the game if it contains obscene content yet indecency is protected somehow by free speech principles (Packard, 2013, p. 304). However, this can be problematic .This is why the court issued a 3 part test in order to judge a content of being obscene or not:
1-” An average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest”.
2- “The material must depict or describe, in any patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law”.
3- “The material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value”. (Packard, 2013, p. 304)
Now looking back again at GTA five, we can easily find examples that in which it violated all three law sentences. First of all, many claim that the game is designed deliberately to degrade women. It encourages players to kill women just for entertainment, to get health points. Most of the women represented are either hookers or strippers, strippers to throw money at and hookers to pick up. In addition to all of that, lots of nudity can be found as no female characters are represented in a good way, lots of intimidating sex scenes also involved. As a result, hackers created an online rape mode to have more freedom and then published their virtual rape scenes on YouTube while bragging about them (Kasumovic and Brooks, 2018). Now despite that Rockstar North has refused to create that rape mode, this company is still considered responsible for channeling those people towards prurient interest which confirms the first statement. Now speaking about violence, “Rockstar North has crossed the line by effectively forcing people to take on the role of a torturer and perform a series of unspeakable acts if they want to achieve success in the game,” said Freedom from Torture chief executive Keith Best, according to a report in The Guardian (Hern, 2013). There is an outrageous famous scene that in which almost all human rights against torture are being violated, and it is mandatory to finish that scene if the player wants to move on in the story mode. However, horrific violence is much easier to achieve, the player can use a chainsaw at any moment to cut off whoever he would like to.
Now let’s take a look at the story, what can we learn from that absurdity? Where people are being ran over by cars in the plain streets, where violence and sex are as easy as burning cops alive with no consequences to follow. There’s nothing educational or beneficial about it, nothing that justifies this abuse of civilized and moral virtues. Gamers say that the game should not be banned under freedom of speech but the thing is that they have almost no defense, they can’t elaborate. They want to keep playing just because they enjoy it. Others say the game is good because it is showing the harsh reality, hence the truth; but if the truth was corruption, it definitely should be punished. To imitate all the killings and violence was never a solution.
In fact recent studies show that the influence of these immersive games goes beyond casual gaming addiction. Spending countless hours playing this sort of games can permanently alter the user’s personality thus changing his conduct. The brain confuses the role played in the game with real life events. Influenced by these games, the user tries to duplicate the lifestyle experienced within the game therefore he becomes more violent. This claim has been proven by a series of unfortunate events that clearly link domestic violence and may heinous crimes with gaming addiction (Cheryl, 2006, p. 12). Studies have shown that the heaviest game users are more likely to be bullies; in fact 11.6% of children who played nearly every day admitted that they bullied someone once or twice in the past couple of month (Cheryl, 2006, p. 8) .The same goes for adults dealing with depression who dedicate a large amount of their time for these video games. This way of handling depression is not only a major setback on the way to recovery, but it is also a way to nourish these strong emotions which may lead towards committing a crime or worse. Take for example a mass shooting in Washington, D.C. in which an angry, mentally-ill young man shot and killed a dozen of his fellow citizens. It happened on the same week when GTA V was released. A friend of the shooter confirmed that he used to spend hours and hours playing violent video games till at some point he became obsessed by them with an unpredictable behavior (Kain, 2014).
Despite the numerous defects and inconveniences of this game and despite what some people think, the prohibition of this game is not the answer. In fact many want what they can’t have and the fact that the game is off limits is going to make gamers more desperate to obtain it, which will not eradicate the violence caused by this game. So what is the solution of this ordeal? The main problem with this game is the “barbaric” lifestyle that it presents to all of its users regardless of their diversity and social backgrounds which can critically alter their perspective on moral subjects. Therefore, new guidelines must be generated in order to protect those threatened by the effects of this game. For example sadistic and inappropriate scenes and missions included in this game should be featured as an extension for the game that only qualified people are allowed to purchase. In order to satisfy these conditions the user must provide certain documents proving the nonexistence of any mental illnesses and the attendance of a certain age limit. In addition to that, the user must agree to certain terms and policies that command the gaming experience. That way the gamers who are eager to play this game without any restrictions will have their chance to do so if they are qualified; and the risks of this game will be highly reduced with at the same time freedom will be protected.
REFERENCES
Cheryl K. (2006, January 27). Effects of violent game content on youth behaviorGrant # 2003-JN-FX-0078. Final Project Report to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Awarded to: Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media
Grand Theft Auto V. (2018, March 23). Retrieved March 25, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_V
Hern, A. (2013, September 18). Grand Theft Auto 5 under fire for graphic torture scene. Retrieved March 25, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/18/grand-theft-auto-5-under-fire-for-graphic-torture-scene.
Kain, E. (2014, June 12). Do Games Like ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ Cause Real-World Violence? Retrieved March 25, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/09/18/do-games-like-grand-theft-auto-v-cause-real-world-violence/#49a9212f3241
Kasumovic, M., & Brooks, R. (2018, March 02). Virtual rape in Grand Theft Auto 5: Learning the limits of the game. Retrieved March 26, 2018, from http://theconversation.com/virtual-rape-in-grand-theft-auto-5-learning-the-limits-of-the-game-30520
Packard, A. (2013). Digital media law. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
