Week 7: Gaming, Ethics and Democracy

Remembering what we learn vs. I have to be the best; I got to beat your score man!

We all learn as children about ethics; such as not cheating, or lying, and playing fair, following the rules of the game, around the same time as we learn all about the rules in the game of life. I remember as a kid, competing against my cousins in games such as tug a war, races, and the rest of those cool games we play as kids.

And I also remember my brothers fighting all the time with our male cousins. They had to always be the best in everything, and used all the tricks of the trade per say. And a lot of these tricks would have been considered cheating at the minimal. Because according to the article; Cheaters: A Special Report, from gameinformer.com it wasn’t even close to what they called a; Glitch. It seem like it was pretty much more like a free for all, using thing that they could.


My brothers and male cousins were a mixture of all ages and sizes, as well as different levels of skills in games; videos as well as physical ones. It seemed like the older ones took advantage of the younger ones, because the older ones should and did know better than to challenge the younger ones. It seems to me that because of their ages (the younger ones) would most likely not have had the same level of knowledge or skills, and the older ones should have taken this into play and played accordingly, i.e. “Fair Play”.


But, it seems like when it came to games and boys, democracy went out the door. As it seems to be that the male DNA comes into play when it comes to games and winning. Most of the time all you could hear was; “I gotta beat your score, man or you loser, is that all you can get, I can beat that”. As well as; “Yeah, I beat your score, take that man”. And there was a lot more detailed descriptive things said; but they were not really appreciate ones or repeatable here. Now, while it’s not mention here, I am sure you can image what was said or at least close to it.


I have notice that while gaming; video playing, sports etc can be good for children as well as adults to be involved in, building up your hand and eye coordination, makes you use your mind, making strategies moves as well as it is helps you to learn how to be a team player. It also opens up another different area; fighting, being competitive, making you get so crazy and needing to win, no matter what the cost is.

You tend to get pulled away from your code of ethics that you have learned/or learning as a child. Sucked in cheating, playing dirty tricks, just so you win. And sometimes, it happens without you even being aware of it, because that need to win has so strong of a grip as well as it’s not something that you can see with the visible eye.

One of the things that I have notice in today’s world of gaming is that it looks the same as it did when I was a child growing up. Because I have noticed my son’s pulling a lot of the same tricks on their friends that my brothers pulled on my cousins. As well; as I noticed that it wasn’t just the boys pulling them, but my daughters as well. So, it seems that this problem is not just a male issue anymore; it has expanded to include female DNA in its equation.

But, I had noticed something interesting as I watched the kids playing Video games. And that was it wasn’t just the older ones pulling unfair tactics on the younger ones. As I mention previously it seemed like the older ones were playing unfair; i.e. using knowledge/skills levels more advanced (from age etc). What I found out was that a lot of times it was the younger ones who actually had more knowledge or higher skill levels per say.

Age did not always come into play, but mostly the things that were was; time to play/practice (time to play/amount of time etc), to who had access to the games themselves to even play on them. This is what really is what builds up your levels of skills/knowledge on the games.

I also notice that not all of the kids tried anything slick, or those cute little cheating tricks. While they wanted to win of course, they seem to recognize that the wins seem to feel more real and that they had really earned it. And realistically most people will feel this way. Because deep down you are a good person or at least most of us are. In the end when playing those games and the competition part of it comes out roaring its head like a lion remember these little words; you cheat and that win is not really yours to enjoy. So, DON’T CHEAT….