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Video Games—Good or Bad?Video Games—Good or Bad?
by Nancy Prasetio – Fall 2004
Can you imagine if one day you have to settle down in a small village and be a farmer, what would your life be? That is the setting of my favorite Play Station game, ‘Harvest Moon—Back to Nature’, is like. In this virtual world, the gamer would play as a young man whose grandfather has just passed away and left him with his farm to inherit. However, it is all broken down and practically has nothing in it—all the chicken and farm animals died. So now it is the gamer’s objective to amend and repair this farm in three years; have it up running, while interacting with the villagers at the same time. Playing ‘Harvest Moon’ made me realize that while some video games can actually influence children to think that men are more superior than women; video games are also educational by providing children replicas of how adult life is like.
Recently, there are some claims by experts that believe video games are not entirely positive. Studies have indicated that because of its popularity among the American society, especially children, video games carry a big influence in determining how children would behave as men and women. As I play this particular game, for instance, I realize that the game indirectly teaches children the concept that men are more significant than women. In the village in this game, the men in all married couples are actually the only ones who can work and earn money for the family, while the women either stay at home and take care of the family or gossip with their female friends. Even most of the young unmarried girls portrayed in this game do not have a character of a career person. These girls either accompany their mothers to do the grocery or play around the village with their girl friends. Those that do work—a nurse and a girl that helps in her family supermarket business—can not be considered a career woman as well because once they are married, it is programmed that they would be like the rest of the villagers’ housewives—cooking and waiting for their husbands to come home.
In addition, children who play this game are most likely to get the perception that girls can be easily courted by material things. The game ‘Harvest Moon’ requires the gamer to get a wife in order to increase his/her percentage of wellness. And it is the rule of the game that the gamer can only get to know the ladies better by giving them presents, such as wild flowers, jewels and food. The more presents you give to these ladies, the higher their love-ratings would be (indicated by the color of each lady’s heart in the game). In my opinion, this part of the game could bring a negative impact to children if they come to believe that all girls are money-minded and they can get any girl they want in real life just by giving them presents.
Despite all the negative impacts video games could bring to the society, I believe video games could also educate children in some way. Video games let children imagine themselves in a whole other world that they have never encountered before. Video games could actually deliver many valuable lessons to children in an entertaining way, making them more aware about other different kinds of world around them. The game ‘Harvest Moon’, for example, is a fun game that introduces new farming activities such as planting vegetables and taking care of your lovely farm animals. When I play this game, I am also taught to love and care more about nature. I have learned that living in a simple life can also be very exciting. Before, I always thought that I was very lucky to be born in a place that is high in technology. So, when I am bored I can always turn to my television, video games, and internet to fill up my free time. But now, through ‘Harvest Moon—Back to Nature’, I realize that not living in a high-technology society does not always mean bad luck. There are other kinds of fun activities I could do without using technology. Being a farmer is, after all, not as boring as I thought it was. It would be fun if I can get a chance to ride a horse and enjoy beautiful scenery, just like in ‘Harvest Moon’. In this way, I think video games are actually positive as they let gamers to experience the kinds of life they would never experience in real life. In this particular game of ‘Harvest Moon’, it gives the opportunity to people, especially those who live in modern countries like us, to get a touch of how it feels like to be a farmer.
Finally, the most educational benefit that children could gain from playing video games is that video games could provide children with imitation of how their life would be when they all grow up. To be successful, “Harvest Moon” gamers need discipline and responsibility. Playing this game, I am responsible of all the crops and livestock I have in my farm. Somehow, I have to organize my time effectively, so that I could water crops and feed my livestock, all in one day everyday. I would not want to trouble myself for not feeding my animals as the first thing that would happen if I do not feed them is that they would get sick. If they get sick, I have to buy medicine, which is very expensive. Or else, it would die and I would experience a loss because buying animals are even more expensive. The same thing goes if I do not herd my animals into the barn when it rains or stormy, they would all die. Successful gamers of ‘Harvest Moon’, therefore, mean that they are both very discipline and responsible of everything that happens in his/her farm. This somehow reflects to the way of people live in the real world; that if they are not discipline and responsible of their own life, they cannot to survive.
The game ‘Harvest Moon’ also teaches children that hard work is the only key to be successful, rich, and respected. The gamers practically have to earn their own money if they want to have a better life—bigger house, bigger chicken coop and cow barn. They would start off with a plot of land that is full of weeds, stones, and wood. Then, they would generate their money by harvesting and raising animal stock. The profit of the farm depends on how many crops they plant, how frequent they water their crops, and how well their raise their farm animals. Through these profits, the gamers would gradually work their way up, extending their house and upgrading their chicken coop and cow barn. All these features in the game are actually derived by observing how adults live in real world. In the society, people who are hard-working, discipline, and responsible are the ones who usually succeed. They make more money and live in a better condition. The maker of this game must have noticed this and so, he/she put all these features into the rules of success in this game. If in real life, the degree of a person’s hard-work, discipline, and responsibility is measured by how rich or what class he lives in; in ‘Harvest Moon’, it is determined by the extension of his house, the level of his chicken coop and cow barn, and the percentage of wellness located in the ‘select’ menu of the game.
All in all, through the study of the game ‘Harvest Moon—Back to Nature’, I came to a conclusion that video games are all things that are fun and sometimes educational for kids. However, these media can be a bad influence on children, depending on the content. Children are easily impressionable and if they are exposed to the way men and women behave in video games, then they will start to emulate that video game with their behaviors. If parents are not careful, these games can actually influence how children would grow up as men and women—men being seen more superior to women. However, video games do have their educational contents. They are very educational in a lot of ways—exposing children to how adults in real life live, preparing and nurturing their minds for their better future.
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