Long Feature — 10 Moral Lesson Kids Can Learn From Rated M Video Games
Author Note: This was a fun essay/article I wrote last fall that I felt proud about, and just wanted to share with you folks, because why the heck not?
What was once considered a relatively new form of entertainment has become global, spanning multiple generations. Reports as of 2017 state that there are 2.2 billion active gamers in the world, and projections estimate there will be an additional half-billion active gamers by 2021, As someone born on the line between Millennial and Gen Z, gaming has played a part in my entire life, and though arguably irresponsible of my parents, games rated M for mature specifically have played a major role in teaching me moral lessons that I might have otherwise not learned. Here are 10 moral lessons kids can learn from playing rated M video games.
10) The Halo Combat Evolved — Perseverance and Trying Till You Get It
I first played Halo: Combat Evolved at the age of 6, and it was my first ever rated M game. While there are distinct characteristics that make each Halo game worthy of their own point, the underlying lesson all the games have in common is perseverance — trying till you win. This lesson came for first in Halo: CE, when my brothers and I decided to tackle the challenge of beating the campaign on “Legendary” difficulty. The ordeal took weeks — in part, because we had daily time limits — but also because the sheer challenge of surviving wave after wave of the Covenant and Flood, as well as misthrown grenades, resulted in death after death. It was a grueling challenge, but it made every bit of progress that much more rewarding, that by the time we were driving the final Warthog Run, every checkpoint was cause for cheers, and an eruption of joy when we finished the campaign.
9) Fable Franchise — Consequences for Actions
Fable is a pretty straightforward franchise that dabbles in questions of morality between good and evil. Throughout most of the games’ narratives, players are presented with opportunities and choices that impact the outcome of the people and characters around you, giving weight to your every action. As a kid, facing these choices wasn’t anything difficult per se — it was the consequences that came from my choices that I was caught off guard. Some outcomes were more predictable than others — e.g. help the farmer, the farm stays; help the bandits, the farm becomes abandoned — and it was a true question between whether you wanted a good or evil outcome. The tougher questions came later though — with moments like “Do you save the lives your wife, child, and dog, or the lives of thousands who died after a traumatic event?” or “Do you cause your people to suffer to survive, or do you treat your people properly, at the cost of millions of lives?” Questions like those were much more difficult to answer as a kid, but they forced me to think of my own actions early in life, and how what I do has an impact on the lives of others.
8) Unreal Tournament (1999) — Teamwork
Unreal Tournament was the first game I played in a LAN-Party setting with my siblings, cousins, as well as our fathers. I was never great at it, but it was the sort of game that taught me to focus on teamwork and communication with those around me. Past hurling insults back and forth at one another, with most of us split in different rooms while playing, we were forced to communicate with one another if we ever wanted to make tactical plays in modes like capture the flag or domination. Other games taught this later in life too, but with this game being the first large multiplayer game I ever played, this was where I got my start.
7) Diablo II — Bartering and Trading Up
Speaking of multiplayer, though, another online multiplayer game I got into later in my childhood — around the age of 9 or 10 — was Diablo II. While technically being a loot-grinding game, emphasizing a fantasy/demonic aesthetic, one unique feature about Diablo II’s online components was the community of item traders, which quickly became my favorite feature of the game. Perhaps it was the thrill of pursuing young capitalist endeavors, but the idea behind bartering and trading between players was a complete thrill. The idea that I could ultimately get some of the best gear in the game for my character without having to grind at all, and instead, trading up one item for another — so that everyone got what they wanted — just put a smile on my face while I played that game.
6) Dragon Age: Origins — Recognizing Diversity and Different Cultures
The Dragon Age franchise on its own could constitute several moral lessons as well, but the major one that stands out comes from the first installment in the series — Dragon Age: Origins. The unique quality to Origin’s narrative is how players’ choice of race and class ultimately changes and impacts the story from the get-go — similar to that of Fable. However, while Fable covers questions of morality, Dragon Age Origins approaches conflicts and situations in much more nuanced ways, with many plot points in the story changing due to one’s origin. For example, the origin of being an Elven slave changes how you interact and are perceived, as opposed to being Dwarven royalty. While race and culture are a hot topic in modern times, this game was one of the first moments in my life where I realized there are a lot of people who come from different backgrounds, and those backgrounds impact how people act.
5) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City — Repenting for Crimes
This is a funny moral, as, of all the rated M games I was allowed to play as a kid, it relates to Grand Theft Auto — arguably one of the more controversial games in the industry. As a kid, this game was a unique experience because — when my mom bought it for us — my brothers and I were told we could only play it if we didn’t commit any crimes, and if any of us did, we were to report that to mom. Of course, with the game as it is, that’s near impossible. So as kids, we developed a rule that for every crime we committed in the games, we had to repent in some equal fashion. Repentance could be shooting another criminal in the game — because that makes logical sense — or leaving a fancy car outside a poor person’s house as a gift. While it wasn’t quite what our mom told us, it taught me that sometimes one has to act first and ask forgiveness later, after the waters have settled. Or at the very least, it taught me that we can get what we want, as long as we don’t snitch on each other — though that’s not the greatest moral lesson. Just forget that last part.
4) Fallout 3 — Everyone Has Different Strengths
One of the many aspects of games like Fallout 3 is that players can play them however they like. If someone wants to be a sniper, they can focus on skills to be one. If someone wants to be a baseball bat-wielding, post-apocalyptic knight, they can be that too! The thing Fallout 3 taught me is that players can only be one thing or the other. Sure, gamers can try and play as a jack-of-all-trades, but Fallout 3 seems to take the “master of none” approach for those who try pursuing every skill. Instead, Fallout 3 encourages players to focus on specific character strengths that help them hone in on a certain playstyle — meaning if one wants to be that sniper, they have to invest in skills that will help with that. The idea isn’t innovative or groundbreaking, but for a kid, it in some ways gives a good picture of reality — how there are just some things some people are better at than others, but that’s alright.
3) Call of Duty: Black Ops — Shutting Up
On another humorous note, around the same time the first Call of Duty: Black Ops came out, my brothers and I finally got Xbox Live — and it was at that point I got to play my glorified role as a squeaker on the mics! Just like every pre-pubescent gamer kid, I was, of course, sophisticated and wasn’t like other kids screaming in the mic. I was a great communicator and just enjoyed telling everyone of my Major League Gaming skills (as long as my team was also good). And just like every gamer kid, I was an inferior judge of personal character and was completely wrong. Perhaps it was because of all those games that made me hyper-aware of my actions and their consequences, but after a while, I realized I was not hot-stuff I thought I was. I was a squeaker. So eventually, I decided to drop using the mic, and instead, let my actions speak for me. If I sucked, then I sucked, and if I was good, then I was good — either way, the stats show the sort of person I was, so let them do the speaking — let your actions for who you are.
2) Mass Effect 2 — Pursue Deep Relationships
While the series as a whole covers this point quite thoroughly, Mass Effect 2 does it best. The characters within Mass Effect 2 are, of course, fictional, but that doesn’t mean they lack depth. On the contrary, Shepard’s crewmembers in Mass Effect 2 have so much depth to them, that on a first playthrough, I didn’t know there were multiple endings. I naturally pursued every character’s relationship out of pure wonder, which is the major narrative changing factor apparently. Each character had a unique take on life and the adventure. Each character had a backstory — built with solid reasons as to why they were who they were. From Mordin to Garrus, or Jack to Legion, the game built such solid characters that were impossible not to fall in love with — which in some regards, taught me to appreciate deep characters, as well as deep relationships.
1) Elder Scrolls Series: Oblivion — Take Your Time and Enjoy Life
While the first Elder Scrolls game I played was actually Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, the fourth installment — Oblivion — taught me a simple lesson: take your time, and enjoy what you want to do. It’s alright to divert from a quest, and instead, explore a cave, or pursue a completely different questline altogether — shifting from the main quests to the Dark Brotherhood or Thieves Guild. Oblivion takes the high fantasy route in presenting a whimsically fun and diverse world — encouraging the player to smell the flowers or visit that tiny village over the hill, explore at one’s own time. As a kid, Oblivion was the sort of game that felt truly magical and had a similar strength system to that of Fallout, it kept me coming back again and again as I pursued whatever wonders the world showed me. The same can be said with Skyrim — the fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls series — though the major difference with Skyrim is that it took a grittier and more realistic approach to fantasy. As a whole, the Elder Scrolls franchise is enchanting, but with Oblivion especially, the moral takeaway for a kid is to just enjoy one’s self and to pursue what interests they find in life.
Conclusion)
With thousands of gaming options available for kids these days, there’s nothing wrong with waiting till one’s kids are older to play rated M games. While this article argues the benefits of playing mature games as an underaged individual, there are still cases in which kids shouldn’t play rated M games. However, with proper supervision and rules provided, allowing children to play some mature games can present them with a variety of scenarios to learn from that they might not have otherwise. Further, discussions about rated M games can allow safe and healthy opportunities for parental figures to engage with their kids, and discuss serious lessons that can be learned from in gaming. In the end, it’s the parents’ job to decide what to allow their kids to play, and the choice should be discussed, with the pros and cons weighed on both sides — and this article simply seeks to provide food for thought to this discussion.
