[/caption]Samantha Torrence - When people think of video games the imagery that comes to mind is too often that of violence and addiction, but maybe there is another use for video games that is less apparent but vastly needed. There are some video games which hold life lessons that can be reflected to our children.
In the 1980’s video games were still a rather new concept, but there was another moving screen which captures the imagination of our children, television. Cartoons on TV were the target of scrutiny and in order to address concerns from parents and educators laws were put in place to include healthy messages in cartoon features to educate children. Cartoons like He-Man contained a message within a story that was later on explained at the end of the cartoon in a fun and sometimes blunt manner by the characters. These types of public service messages have become more nuanced for the children of today, and are often times ignored due to a short attention span.
Reaching kids in a busy and technologically heavy world has become more involved. Now with video games being the modus operandi of the “now” generation, ethical messages need to be placed within the games in the guise of tasks or quests. MMORPGs (Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) are some of the most popular games purchased by young tweens and teens. In most MMORPGs there are quests one must complete to level a character or gain power. It is within these quests that lessons on morals and ethics are hidden.
In Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) a quest that takes place outside the town of Bree highlights many ethics and teaches many valuable lessons.
A young blacksmith is ordered to make a sword for a brigand leader and if he does not comply his family will be killed. The human blacksmith has no materials for a sword so he steals a sword from a respected dwarf blacksmith. The quest begins with the dwarf asking you to find his sword where you find the young human who at first lies and says he does not have it, but then in a fit of guilt confesses to have stealing it. He tells you who has the sword and that the thief plans on murdering innocent workers with it. When you find the thief he was mauled by a large animal and the only part left of the sword was a hilt. You bring the hilt back to the human who is now distraught that the brigand leader will come looking for the sword and murder his family. He asks if you will take the sword hilt back to the dwarf with the request that he makes another to save his family. The dwarf, at first indignant, remembers that his father had been murdered by Brigands and he agrees to making another sword because he could not allow another family to go through that. His condition is that the young human blacksmith help him with some smaller jobs he will have to push aside and that if the brigands do not come back for the sword that it is returned.
[caption id="attachment_7438" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Questing on Lord of the Rings MMORPG"]
[/caption]What lessons are learned in this one quest?
1) Telling the truth is better than lying. Because the human blacksmith told the truth he learned of the thief’s death and that the sword was never delivered to the Brigand leader. He now has an opportunity to save his family.
2) Kindness ascends beyond race. The different races in LOTR have peace but many times have prejudices against one another. This does not stop them from doing what is right.
3) Unconditional Compassion. Who has compassion for a thief? Yet the dwarf took pity on the human blacksmith who was desperate to save his family.
4) Reciprocating and making amends. The dwarf was willing to give his help, but he did need to still make a living. He simply asked for help in a way the human blacksmith would be able to. He did not ask for riches, blackmail, or think of personal gain. Simply that the human blacksmith make amends by helping with small tasks well within his capabilities.
5) Willingly giving back after you have been helped. The human blacksmith was more than happy to give back to the dwarf for the help for his family. He showed that he valued the charity of the dwarf and did his best to help him not fall behind on work.
This type of help is hard to come by in this day and age and it is because of our entitlement mentality. People who give their help are constantly burnt out from how many times they give without seeing results. Often times the lack of grateful response from a person helped will cause people to become punitive and disgusted. Those overly punitive actions will result in charity not being available for those who truly need it and would be grateful for it and the consequence is that they stay in poverty. The vicious cycle is relevant in America and many other places around the world.
The lessons of morality, ethics, justice, and goodness can be found in many role playing games that are available to people of all ages. They are hidden within the game, but they serve to teach what many times parents have no time to teach these days, the value of being good to one another.
