Generational differences

I normally receive one of two reactions from people upon telling them I’m studying video games at University and am seriously thinking about pursuing that study at a higher level. Firstly, there’s the, “Shit man, I wish I was studying video games this summer instead of anthro. Anthro’s fuckin’ terrible. You got any smokes?” from my people my age, and the, “Oh, Really! … Really? Ah well, how lovely for you. My son’s currently studying (insert internationally respected and definitely legitimate field of study here). Perhaps you’ll serve him at Burger King one day when you realise you’ve made a terrible career choice and your life collapses,” from nearly everyone aged over 40.

Funnily enough, it really is almost that clear-cut. I know I’m making a sweeping generalisation here, but from my experience, people from previous generations just don’t seem to understand video games a lot of the time, and are incredibly reluctant to treat them as a legitimate hobby or media texts to be studied. Of course, this is not an uncommon phenomenon; typically, older generations have a much harder time adopting, understanding and using new technology, and they are far less likely to appreciate it and support it they can’t make it past these preliminary stages. But it seems to me as though video games overrepresented (not only in film or television, but in conversations between people) in negative contexts in comparison to other forms of media; they have acquired a certain type of notoriety that concerns people for reasons unknown even to them.

Is it really just a generational thing? No, but in my opinion, the societal context of your upbringing definitely affect your desire to engage with and understand new media technologies. The advent of new technology historically causes huge amounts of controversy, and I think it’s important to take this recurring reaction into consideration when trying to figure out why older people are more reluctant to engage with a video game. Of course, there’s the idea that the new technology – in this case, a form of media – is going to eradicate a form of media that they grew up with and cherish. Although this has proven to be an easily falsifiable claim in recent history, the thought of, say, film being replaced by a new medium which transcends your immediate understanding is a frightening one. I grew up with video games, but I’m arguably part of the only generation that did. Interacting with them comes naturally to me, but I can appreciate that it doesn’t come easily to older generations.

Futhermore, the actions one can perform in many modern video games are incredibly violent, sexual and sometimes even sadistic. I’m not trying to say that violence, sex and sadism weren’t all the rage in the days of hoop stick, but they certainly didn’t receive anywhere near as much attention in film and television as they do now. I think the amount of questionable content in modern video games is a reflection of how desensitised our generation is to this type of content; whereas older generations are frequently shocked by the depictions of violence in video games, my generation can carve a hole in the side of a titan and cut him open from the inside out as his entrails blast forth from his abdomen without even changing their expression. Whereas older generations grew up surrounded by the horror of global conflicts, we can appreciate the violence because we can separate it from reality and contextualise it appropriately. When we commit acts like these in video games, we are aware that they are meant to be enjoyed and marvelled at, not imitated; however, this must be hard to understand for those who have experienced violence in an entirely negative context for the majority of their lives.

On top of this, video games often allow us to do things that would be frowned upon by those who typically limit and restrict us the most – our parents. I constantly get the impression that because parents are unable to completely dictate the types of games (and therefore the types of content) their child is exposed to, they develop a deep mistrust for video games in general. Our desire for autonomy during adolescence can often be misinterpreted as disobedience and rebellion, and since video games often encourage (or at least allow) that sort of behaviour in their diegetic worlds, they are seen as having a negative influence on the malleable and directionless youth.