Virtual Worlds No More a Threat to ‘Values’ Than TV
I came across an article from the BBC titled “Virtual worlds threaten ‘values.’”The substance of the article is based on film-maker Lord Puttnam’s keynote speech at the Virtual Worlds Forum.
Puttnam expresses concern about children “think[ing] of themsleves as not much more than consumers” noting that many of the virtual worlds for children are created and run by toy makers. Unfortunately, the BBC article doesn’t go into the substance of Puttnam’s arguments, but anytime a politician starts talking about morals you can expect a lot of hot air. However, Michael Parsons, writing for the Times Online, was impressed by “how evolved Lord Puttnam … [was] in [his] understanding of the scale, scope, and importance of this new medium.” I would be very interested in seeing the full text of Puttnam’s speech, but I haven’t had any luck finding it online.
Puttnam asks: “do we really want [children] to think of themselves as not much more than consumers.” My rather cynical reaction is that if they don’t already think of themselves as consumers then commercial online worlds aren’t going to make them start. How different is an online world like BarbieGirls from a television show like Thomas the Tank Engine? Is one more commercial than the other? These virtual worlds aren’t going to cause children to think of themselves as consumers any more than they already do.
I do have concerns; the biggest concern being the effect of virtual worlds on a child’s social development as I outlined in a recent post on MMORPGs for young children.
Probably the most important factor in ensuring that children get quality (whether you define quality in terms of values, education, or something else) television and virtual worlds experiences is parents. If parents demand a certain level of quality, if they deny their children access to poor television or virtual worlds, and make their voices heard, then, eventually, the companies will listen.