Columnist: Games are Crack Cocaine of Electronic World
Columnist: Games are Crack Cocaine of Electronic World
December 13, 2007
A columnist for Canada's conservative National Post writes that games are electronic crack - and doesn't stop there.Father Raymond J. de Souza (left) who also teaches and serves as chaplain at Queen's University, opens by copping to a Tetris addiction during his college days:
I learned the truth about video games the hard way, and so this is the lesson I offer for free: Don't play video games. Don't own them. And for the sake of all that is good and holy, don't buy them for your children...
Since [deleting Tetris] I have never played another video game. It's too dangerous. Video games take what is most precious -- time and thought. And they are making kids fat.
Video games are like a black hole into which time disappears...They are the crack cocaine of the electronic world...
Did I mention that far too many video games celebrate graphic violence, multifarious delinquency and borderline pornography? I don't have to. Tetris had none of that, and it was deadly enough.
GP: With all due respect, how does one condemn an entire form of media based on one's own problems with time management? Never thought I'd be tagging Tetris under the "controversial games" category, by the way...
Comments
"With all due respect, how does one condemn an entire form of media based on one’s own problems with time management?"
GP hit it on the head. This comes down to a man who feels he has to save us all from his OWN failings.
That's all that needs to said about the worthless turd writing that crap in Canada, really.
Screw it, I can' wait...
So...Games are making kids fat, eh? No they're not... I'm American, k? I know all about the fatness 'round here. Our society is full of lazy people who thinks dining on McDonalds' heart-attack on a bun everyday is a good idea.
A lot of people around here do NOT eat healthy. I notice this around my school. I've seen pleanty of other students snaking on cookies or chips in the morning, and have you seen what the school serves for lunch? God...
Oh and it's not very hard as a parent to get your kid off of the games and outside. Seriously, If i ever become a father with a wife and child and I believe he's playing too much games, all I need to do is flat out tell him that I want him to save his game and GET OFF. Since I'm a gamer, he/she can't lie to me/trick me either, so I'll know whether or not he happens to "accidently" pass a save point or not :P.
...And if he doesn't get his/her arse off, I'm pulling the damn plug.
Comparing games to drugs ticks me off. It's much easier to turn off your game console rather than trying to stop snorting crack cold turkey.
Violence? Well sure, violence is everywhere. Why should it matter? Especially when the majority of violent games are for... ADULTS. Anything "violent" for a younger audience usually has cartoonish violence which dates back to the good 'ol days of Looney Tunes. Ah...how I miss those unnecessary wacks to the face with a hammer...
P.S. If anything, games has made my life worthwhile. It gives me something to look foward to, and something which has "helped me" gain some real-life friends.
Well, you know, if you line up those blocks just right, you could probably make some sort of obscene yet really low-res image. Those L-blocks are kinda phallic too, now that I think of it..
Won't someone think of the children?!1
Btw, the Star is garbage too (typical leftist Michael Moore-style crap) -- it ran the NFS/Street Racing angle a while back. Again, the only real paper is the Globe.
Holy crap! I've never thought of that. Those L-shaped blocks are rather phallic. Tetris needs to be banned immediately. :O
Actually, after this...I wouldn't be surprised if Tetris gets on that special "index" in Germany now...
Bad enough this guy does nothing more than rant on and on without any facts to support his claims and then calls it an editorial, but he has the nuts to insist that video games take an eternity to play, when even a casual gamer will be capable of completing most games within 1-2 weeks. And that's with a 2-hour play minimum. And of course, if anybody can tell me how "passive" a single round of DDR is, or how motionless a single run through a Rock Band song on the drums tends to be, let me know on paper how many calories you lost first. Meanwhile, I'll trust Knights of the Old Republic a lot more than this dude to tell me what is right and wrong in this world.
Haha, but what about those of us who go Dark in KOTOR EVERYTIME? I can't seem to be able to help it :P
Yeah, Church is kinda pointless and boring. It IS a free lunch, however, so I didn't complain when I was made to go as a kid.
I know what you mean. I'm always the dude who uses logic and tries to be as neutral as possible, while my friend is darkside all the time. I'd STILL rather be able to make my own decisions than have some bible-thumper tell me that what I'm doing is bad, when half the stuff he preaches is probably worse.
So how could he play Tetris in 1980, and how would someone even in 1989 go about deleting a Game Boy cartridge?
Either hes lying about his playing of Tetris at college, or God, ironically, hasn't been kind to him.
I enjoy wildly unfounded sweeping generalisations as much as the next man, I'll label mac users in with child molesters and cult leaders because I think there's a serious psychological defect in anyone who willingly uses a 1 button mouse but damn, this one is sort of about ME! That dog won't hunt monsignor!
"In this game, water is HORRIBLE! DON'T TOUCH IT! If it's more than a foot deep it will kill you and your entire family! RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!"
He spent half that article going on how much time is wasted and how it and every other form of media take away from one's imagination, and how they're the 'source' of childhood obesity. I don't even need to go into those things, common sense already supports my point against those things he said.
Beowulf(the movie) anyone All the way through it I was saying "This is trying to be a porn movie for kids". Why is no one attacking this movie for the same reasons as above?
Remember an episode called "The Game" where all the crew get addicted to a game? The game stimulated the brain rewarding them for a relatively simple act of putting a disc in a cone and basically disabled them so aliens could take over the Enterprise. That sounds faintly reminiscent of tetris to me. MAYBE he had the souped up alien version of tetris and he's trying to save us all from their evil scheme! Why the man's a bloody HERO!
Oh wait, it was made by a russian wasn't it. He's trying to save us from COMMUNISM! Damn he's a double hero!
He cant take it that Nintendo's donation plate is always so much bigger. I'm sorry but the Church of Miyamoto is so much more compelling.
Let he who is without sin throw the first Wiimote...
I cant believe this kind of argument has endured so long. Online gaming has created global communities the likes of which have never seen before. It opens doors and erases borders. Games bring us together. I dont see that as a waste of time. Writing and reading propoganda is a waste of time.
"Video entertainment is by nature passive"
I thought this line was quite funny because most anti-game campaigners keep saying that violence in games is different than other media because the person takes an active role in them.
I always thought that the gamers are the skinnier of the lazy people, versus the ones that just sit and watch tv. Cause you can't eat and play at the same time (yet)
Exactly. But you're being shortsighted, missing the big issue: why is a comparison to crack automatically seen as such a negative? Crack, after all, only has a bad reputation because of the failings of a few. I myself use it all the time with only mild recourse to murder and prostitution.
Cripes - he looks old enough to be my dad, and he still considers his Tetris addiction - I have to say it, that is pathetic - some traumatic moment in his life?
Sounds like somebody's running out of ideas to write in his column...
GP hit my other thought on the head on with the "With all due respect, how does one condemn an entire form of media based on one’s own problems with time management?" at the end of the post. Really no better way I can think of to put this. It really is this simple though, if you're wasting your life away playing too much tetris it's your fault and not the game, you fail at basic time management and the game is simply a distraction you're too weak to overcome. If the game wasn't there you'd find something else to latch onto probably even more worthless, like daytime soaps or interpretive dance.
I'm personally offended by his choice of words in one line: "...for the sake of all that is holy and good" so games, and by proxy gamers, are unholy and evil? As for video games being a "black hole into which time dissapers" so is TV hobbies and chruch so he proabably shouldn't be talking. As for fatness its because the "streets are dangerous" or at least thats what parents think so they don't let little Jimmy go out and instead keep him inside and the style of teaching were subjected to effictivly kills all imignation unless you're really strong willed so where else are we going to go to enterain ourselves?
And no - not for flaming's sake. It's about time we sent him replies indicating that his assumptions about our interestes are dead wrong.
Yeah, I emailed this to him using a link I found on the site. Maybe he'll put it in the next post, or actually reply? That would be cool, since I actually goto Queen's University -- I used my queensu.ca email to try to get his attention ;).
Here is my letter.
I've seen video games blamed for a lot of things, but this really takes the cake. Psychologists might quibble over the consequences of violence on youth (there is no clear evidence for a causal relation between media violence and aggression/violence), but this really takes the cake. Now we're blaming procrastination on games too? People waste time, therefore video games are like crack -- this seems to be the gist of your column and it seems to be fairly ridiculous.
We do not get rid of the tendency to waste time by removing the means by which people waste time. Heck, you can waste time doing just about anything, as long as it is not what you're supposed to be doing! I have a friend who makes food instead of studying sometimes, is cooking like crack too? Also, you seem to dismiss the entire medium out of an off-handed assertion that most video games are either frivolous or indecently frivolous. Wasn't that the accusation levelled at Shakespeare way back when?
Sure, most games aren't art -- they aren't meant to be, but there are many titles which provide truly great narratives and satire. This is all not even mentioning that video games have demonstratively improved the mind's ability to multi-task and problem solve, as well as hand-eye coordination to boot. Accusing gaming as frivolous would be to also condemn reading fiction or playing sports as frivolous too. And, if you haven't noticed, reading is a passive indoor activity too -- should we blame obesity on reading too, or only on activities that seem strange and foreign to us?
Your reasoning against video games is out right atrocious. You're a professor -- at Queen's no less. Do better.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/index.html Thats the pape he writes for
http://educ.queensu.ca/index.shtml that's where he teaches. Most academic email addresses I've seen are first initial last name format.
Thanks. Looks like you've said just about everything I wanted to tell the padre. Here's to hoping he gives it a meaningful reply.
Cheers
i explained that it was a hobby and done for fun, thus you didn't need to produce any work. she just didn't understand. her major hobbies are all arts and crafts (and she does stained glass work for a living) so she expects output of a physical nature, but games (as with reading) is mental.
yeah since tetris is so FUCKING violent and miserable
dont condem a industry that makes more money a year than you will ever see in your life you bastard
"Don’t play video games. Don’t own them. And for the sake of all that is good and holy, don’t buy them for your children…"
yeah okay ill just stop playing games and you will just stop condemming games and being a as said by jonc 2006 "remarkable example of a real douchebag."
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha *choke* death via laughter
He had fun playing a game, and that's bad?
It's obviously the GAME's fault he can't manage his time sensibly.
Big ups on that letter, I think you said exactly what we were all thinking.
Additionally, what are you doing at Queen's? I was just wondering because a friend of mine went there for her undergrad, my girlfriend is there for grad school, and I'm planning on going there in 2009-10 for my B. Ed.
Thanks.
Though to tell the truth, emailing him was an act of procrastination on my part (and so is this!); oh, the irony!
I'm currently doing a Ba(Hons) in Philosophy -- or pre-law, as I like to call it, if only to feel less useless. That's cool, I know people who are planning to go into the Faculty of Education as well. Small world, eh?
De Souza teaches in the Faculty of Education, btw. So, if you see him, say hello for me, will ya?
Pre-tell, how old was this guy when he went to college? To look at him, I’d say he was 18 in around 1980…
So how could he play Tetris in 1980, and how would someone even in 1989 go about deleting a Game Boy cartridge?
Either hes lying about his playing of Tetris at college, or God, ironically, hasn’t been kind to him.
Tetris was released for about a bazillion different platforms. That includes various computer editions in the 80s. Calling him a liar just shows your own ignorance, and makes it look like you aren't smart enough to counter any of the real holes in his argument.
They've toned it down since Conrad Black sold them, but he pretty much started it as a newspaper to allow him to bitch about liberals...
The fact is that some people find some things so addicting that they can't stop. That isn't the fault of the product, that's a psychological fault of the user. In the case of this Tetris problem its a thinking problem, not a gaming problem. Odds are he'll never be able to game without help.
I don't believe that games come under the evils of the world so appealing on the grounds of "all that is good and holy" is pretty repugnant.
"Since [deleting Tetris] I have never played another video game. It’s too dangerous. Video games take what is most precious — time and thought. And they are making kids fat."
So what you are telling us is that you have no concept of computer games outside of playing one of the most famous ones that uses the most rudimentary graphics and playing styles. I attended church as a child so does that qualify me enough to dictate to people what religion they should follow? By your logic it does.
Quite often Time is used up in a mutitude of ways from watchign television to playing sports. If you can demonstrate how a hobby that improves hand eye coordination and thought processes which can now have a story or plotline akin to a basic novel is less worthy than reading a book, I will listen.
As for making kids fat, no. Eating too much and/or not doing enough exercise is making kids fat, and I don't see the church helping with that.
Heres a story about how much the church cares about children's health - when I was 7 I used to go to church on sunday morning and then on the evening goto a church run football/sports hour. I decided to stop going to sunday school as I wasn't enjoying it - wasn't even so much the message, but how it was being told. Singing lame songs and listening to someone preach for 30 minutes was dull. What happened next? I was told if I didn't goto church then they wouldn't let me play football. Result? I stopped playing football.
"Video games are like a black hole into which time disappears…They are the crack cocaine of the electronic world…"
I see your video games and raise you Television. As soon as you want to lead the way and remove the evangelical tv stations and songs of praise from the airwaves, I will listen.
"Did I mention that far too many video games celebrate graphic violence, multifarious delinquency and borderline pornography? I don’t have to. Tetris had none of that, and it was deadly enough."
If you consider Tetris to be deadly I suggest you never goto a building site. Once again I ask you how you come to this conclusion when you have just openly admitted to never playing another video game.
If this is your idea of the Church being relevent to people in the 21st Century then I suggest you give up now. Poorly researched soundbites and misinformation really is not helping your cause and all you will succeed in doing is turning more children away from your religion.
Unexpected weight gain? BLAME the GAME.
Small world indeed, and I will say hi to him for you if I get in. ;) I was just wondering what you were doing in case you knew either my girlfriend (started her Masters in Biochem this year) or my friend (she just finished a psych degree.)
Poverty, chastity, and humility. You pretty much filter out the best, brightest and most capable leaders with that.
So you're stuck with the modern equivalent to a book burner, instead.
Anyway, back to topic, people who play videogames have less time to go to church, because playing is fun and going to listen to 2.000 years worth of hypocritical rants isn't. I wonder if there is a correlation between that and "video games are evil"...
And who didn't slack off in college at some point, either due to girls, beer, girls, drugs, girls, skipping classes? Sorry father, but just because you had a problem with Tetris, doesn't make it evil. It means you have an addictive personality and probably found your God who saved you. I wonder just what else distracted him from his studies that he won't go into.
Hmmm... When it comes to a time loss, you'd think video games fail in comparison to talking to yourself about a theistic God several times a day and devoting your entire life to the study of self-contradictory Bronze Age superstition.
No further comments needed, lols.
This looks to me of being more of a case of a preacher who hasn't been doing his homework, rather than the religion stating that gaming is evil.
LOL Whilst I'm not neccesarily agreeing, I'll fully support that one mans 'waste of time' is another mans' 'life-choice', I don't tell Preachers not to Preach, I don't tell Ninjas not to Ninje, so why should other people tell me what to do?
Well I am a huge gamer, probably bigger than he could ever be, yet I still have time for:
Going to the gym
Going to college (didn't miss a day this term)
Doing my homework and passing it in on time
Some of us can handle our crack well, can't we?
Throwing violence into the mix is another issue. He is doing nothing but adding fuel to the fire, although that is likely what he wanted.
" Not only do games get you fat and stupid, but they desensitize you to violence too!!! "
That's essentialy everything he just said condensed into 1 sentence.
Also what in the world is up with the usage of the term "deadly" when he is describing video games. They don't hurt people. The only way one could be considered deadly is if someone beat someone else over the head with an xbox 360 (a game cartridge would likely break first).
He says that gaming takes away thought, well here is a thought.
You are wrong. No one is forcing you to like them, so what right do you have to attack games.
The saddest part is that some people will believe him because he is a "survivor" of video game "addiction". Because he was in the "front lines" so to speak.
I am ashamed that he is a canadian too, but I guess we have crazies north of the border too.
I do agree that gaming can be addictive to certain personality types. If it us to the individual, or their parents if the person in question is a minor, to make sure that they don't start falling into addictive behaviour patterns. Its a part of learning to be accountable for your own actions. For a lot of people part of that process will inevitablly involve prayer, and going to people such as trusted friends, a pastor, maybe even a therapist. Doing all that should help in dealing with the many issues that lead some people down the darkened path that is addiction.
Everything can be addictive. Also, tell me how reading the Bible not make you obese. What physical activity do you get out of reading the Bible or any other book?
...looney...
'nuff said.
Move along, kids.
Am i the only one who is completely bewildered about what the heck he is raving about?
"I don’t tell Ninjas not to Ninje"
That's one of the funniest things I've read on GP in a while. =)
@Chuma
All good points.
And @ GoodRobotsUs
I believe you're looking for “I don’t tell Ninjas not to Ninja”
Still very funny post though.
Some how you always find away to talk about religion lucky for you it is actually important this time.
just don't forget that theory is theory until proven.
yes he is a Catholic from reading his wiki page
wrong on the principles of Catholicism.
and again, Fr. Raymond doesn't speak for all Catholics, he speaks for himself
"And for the sake of all that is good and holy, don’t buy them for your children… Since [deleting Tetris] I have never played another video game. It’s too dangerous. Tetris had none of that [violence], and it was deadly enough."
Did Armando Iannucci write this? Chris Morris perhaps? You're not seriously telling me it was a real person.
Also I feel like throwing a party to celebrate all the violent, multifarious delinquency and borderline pornography things in the world, filming it, and then sending it to this guy.
Although now I play a few games, only out of boredom.
He would be there in disguise
I barely even play video games now a days, however I did have a problem before with managing my game time, but that's not a problem anymore ;) .
December 13th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Hey, let’s make sure we ban other stuff where all you do is sit on your ass getting fat while listening to nonsense, like reading books, watching TV, and going to church!
Ditto.
It's been this way with every generation. It's really no worse now. The MSM needs witches and straw men every so often that are easy targets for creating fear in the minds of viewers (and keeping them watching through the commercial breaks).
@~the1jeffy -- I wouldn't lay this at the feet of religion. This is a guy with an addictive personality (he could have had the same problem with soap operas, televised sports, ping pong, foosball, or crossword puzzles during college) who is taking his anecdotal problem and trying to make it into advice for others.
How some facts here for a change?
Sources please, or are you afraid we'll see through them?
Might I suggest sir that you find a real Black hole and compare them? Remember to get measurements from the inside as well.
Sources please. Oh, sorry Thompson, I forgot, those don't benefit you.
Also, how did you get around a ban this time?
Only when you put it down.
His statements all boil down to lousy time management and self-control. He doesn't even try to hide it, because with comments like "black hole which time disappears", anyone reading from a birds eye view can tell, it's just an issue of time and prioritizing.
If I started reading from the middle of his column, I would've thought he was talking about building character. Just when you thought the conclusion was going to point to time management, BAM! you get a twist in the column and it turned out to be video games.
If he couldn't stop playing Tetris when more important things are on the line, it's due to his weak character.
Video games take time and thought away at the office as well. Loads of websites specifically made to provide games with Flash are popular with bored students and office workers. I'd wonder what his reactions would be if he switched places with a white collar worker.
And LOL at the "Tetris is deadly enough" statement. Maybe he was playing that version of Tetris where bomb blocks make lines explode.
Does that really happen in black holes? I thought that time actually slowed down...
It's pretty clear he had been playing the MOnty Python tetris game from many years ago that featured naked folks in the block positions, shouting, "I'm not dead yet!" and "I feel fine!"
You know what else increases obesity in exactly the same way?
-Driving in heavy traffic (WAY more stressful, same lack of activity)
-Pretty much ANY stressful job that requires long hours of desk-work... including lawyerin'!
It's not just games, it's computers in general. We use them in all facets of our lives now, and they don't require us to do much movement at all. How about showing both sides of the issue? Or putting the blame squarely where it should lie - with the parents, or if the gamer is no longer a minor, with the gamer him/herself?
I'm a gamer. I love FPS games. I'm also a martial artist. I'm 6'1" and weigh 185 lbs, roughly. Obese? I think not. According to some charts I'm "overweight", but those don't take into account frame-type or muscle mass (of which I have plenty, thanks).
For kids playing games, if they're getting fat because of games, it's because their parents aren't kicking them out of the house to go run around often enough. The game console isn't a goddamn nanny, as many parents seem to think it is.
Darn you X-com! Darn you for being so darn enjoyable!
Seriously though, I wasted a LOT of time on X-com and had more than a few hours disappear because of it, but I don't think I'm going to condemn video games just because I had some fun. Thats just silly.
I mean, come on. It has to be a joke.
A man of the cloth saying something ridiculously inept and absurd has to be joking right?
Please?
Not sure. JBT used religion as his soapbox to preach from yet did not display much of anything in a christian vein. Hilary, Yee and Lieberman are not religious types of course. The Parental Watch Groups are based in religion by theory but have often proven themselves otherwise.
Of course with JBT in Banland yet again we are probably just noticing the other critics. Religion as we have noticed here (ouch) is touchy subject. It is easier to sway opinion when approached from a religious basis and especially the views of the masses.
It is a concern I have had since becoming aware of john bruce a few years back. Him becoming a TV minister.