SOL #3: Video Games And Real World Lessons

Many people think that most video games in the market are violent for today's teens. From the way I see it, many of these violent video games have important lessons for the real world. Sometimes themes are incorporated into video games as a part of the plot for the game. Sometimes the themes aren't important to the game but are something extra to learn or take away from.

A commonly used theme I'd like to talk about is revenge. "Watch Dogs," made by Ubisoft and released in 2014, was a game that had a story focused mainly on just that. The player learns that the protagonist, Aiden Pearce, had a niece that was killed by an assassin. The assassin was supposed to kill Aiden but he screwed up and now Aiden's niece is dead. Because of his past and an empty hole in him for revenge, Aiden gets to work on finding out who ordered the hit on him and why.

While he goes on his unforgiving rampage, Aiden works with a young hacker. I forgot to mention that the game takes place in a smartphone equivalent of a city. The game is centered on Chicago if Chicago had everything controlled by a private company and corrupt politicians. Sewers, cameras (which are placed basically everywhere, even inside homes without people knowing), traffic lights, locks, and more are controlled by one software. The young hacker helps Aiden hack almost everything in Chicago to solve his unsolved questions.

The hacker that Aiden works with is eventually killed. You may have heard the phrase "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." A lot of people die just to satisfy Aiden's revenge. This doesn't really happen in the game but a relative or friend of one of those victims could go on the same killing spree that Aiden has, making a cycle of revenge and death.

That's one theme that "Watch Dogs" focuses on. Another theme is technology and its vulnerability. The software controlling Chicago was easily hacked by you. This applies to any computer or software in the real world. Every piece of technology can be hacked in some way. Computers, drones, car radios, TV's, even smart homes are just a few of the targets. "Watch Dogs" illustrates what could happen if we had smart cities. They can be easily controlled by authorites but can be hacked almost as easily. The last mission in the game shows what would happen if a maniac gained full control of a city. Sewers and steam pipes bursting everywhere, traffic lights going haywire, and bridges rising at the most unfortunate moments are just some of the possibilities. This is just one video game with a couple of important themes that many deem violent.