Do Video Games Make a Significant Impact on Human Values?

At this point, it is hard to deny the distinctive role that video games play within our culture and life styles. Like other sources of entertainment such as television, movies, and literature, video games have the power to inspire, teach, and affect an individual and/or a society’s culture in numerous ways. Knowing this, can video games make a significant impact on human values? On the same note, would a video game design value system such as “Values at Play” (VAP) prove practical and/or effective in attempting to instill these values? In order to recognize the full extent to which video games can make a significant impact on human values, we must have a firm understanding of culture and what aspects of our culture have already been influenced by video games.

Culture is defined as the “set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic.”[1] From this definition, it is clear that video games do have a significant impact on our (the United States’) culture. However, which aspects of culture do they specifically affect? Social practices are clearly impacted by video games. We see that video gaming is now one of the most popular forms of social get-togethers. It has also affected our social norms in connection with the growth of internet culture. The entertainment industry, a large part of the social aspect culture, has also drastically changed as a result of the increasing popularity of video game play. For example, movies such as Supper Mario Brothers and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider have been based off of video games, game-playing celebrities have formed, and athletic all-stars such as Tony Hawk are autographing video games. The significant question to ask, however, is “Do videogames affect human values?”

Human values, as based on the work of Lawrence Kohlberg, are learned through six stages:[2]

1. Punishment Obedience Orientation

2. Instrument Relativist Orientation

3. Interpersonal Concordance Orientation

4. Authority and Social-Order Orientation

5. Social-Contract Legislation Orientation

6. Universal Ethical Principle Orientation

These stages of moral development are primarily experienced through a person’s family, school, and neighborhood. Aside from an individual’s biological heredities, these are three of the most influential forces in shaping someone’s personality. The fact that these factors take place either from birth or very early on in life make them even more influential in creating a system of human values. For this reason, it seems very doubtful that something like video games will have a significant impact on the human values of an individual and society.

Although well-intentioned, VAP appears to lack any possible significant impact on a society’s value system. In addition, it is very difficult for a system such as VAP to take any kind of foot hole in the video game industry due to free-market capitalism. People will buy what they want, and manufacturers will continue to produce and sell whatever is marketed and sold most successfully.

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[1] “Definition of Culture.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture

[2] “Values.” Valdosta State University. http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/affsys/values.html