Can video games teach you something?

Microsoft is hoping that this is true and is spending $1.5 million to produce games that are fun but not violent. Question is, will it work?

Microsoft is hoping that this is true and is spending $1.5 million to produce games that are fun but not violent. Question is, will it work?

Since you, like everybody else, are awed by the victories that Slumdog Millionaire has won at the Oscars, let me ask you this what is the difference between a movie and a video game? The answer is simple while there are a great many genres in movies, like romance, violence, sci-fi and more, video games are predominantly violent. So much so that some don't even need a story line you just pick up a gun and shoot anything that moves.

Killers' delight: Reservoir Dogs, a video game based on the Quentin Tarantino film of the same name, was banned in Australia and New Zealand because of violence pic for representation only

In this context, what Microsoft is doing may seem either commendable or foolish depending upon your point of view. The company wants to spend a lot of money and, along with a variety of institutions like The Games for Learning Institute and New York University, wishes to discover if it is possible to come up with a video game that is fun and at the same time non violent.

Violence sells

In some ways, this seems silly, given the fact that people have loved violent video games from the very beginning. In fact, the world's first video game has its roots in violence according to Wikipedia, the earliest known interactive electronic game was created by Thomas T Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann on a cathode ray tube when India gained independence. The game was a missile simulator inspired by radar displays from World War II.

And let's face it, one reason why people play a video game is because a game allows you to do something that you can't do in real life. You don't always get an opportunity of picking up a shotgun and tearing apart violent animals in real life, so you do it in a video game. This is true even of games that don't belong to the violence genre, like The Sims, a game that involves strategy.

Topping charts

And though The Sims is said to be the best-selling PC game in history, let's face it, end of the day, violence is inseparable from video games. One simple test I used to gauge this was to type the name of one of my old favourites, Quake, which was released in its original avatar way back in 1996. When I Googled it yesterday, these were the top six links that I got:

1. www.idsoftware.com
2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake
3. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_(series)
4. planetquake.gamespy.com
5. planetquake.gamespy.com/quake1/
6. quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/

Of the above, the first five links deal with the game and only the 6th entry relates to earthquakes.

Once upon a time, people used to expand 'IBM' to mean 'I Blame Microsoft' but right now, we need to praise what Microsoft is doing. While studies into video games have been conducted in the past, most of them have focused on violent video games and how they affect aggressive behaviour, especially in teens. Now, with Microsoft's help, researchers may look at some of the positives in gaming like how it improves hand-eye coordination, which just may save your life while driving and who knows, instead of just blaming them, we may come up with games that truly make life better.

QUICK TAKE
>>Microsoft is trying to make games less violent
>>This may be difficult because most people enjoy violent games
>>But research is always beneficial