back to article Buddhist video game aims to teach morals

We hear a lot about violence in video games being to blame for all the ills besetting the youth of today. Now, a Thai games developer has decided it is time to right the balance and has developed a snappily titled Ethics Game to teach youngsters about being good, decent and teetotal. The game is based around the five precepts …

COMMENTS

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  1. Gareth Douce

    Great... but English version?

    This looks like a great idea for one of my colleagues who is a very pro-active, and computer literate RE/Beliefs and Values teacher... but we don't know any Thai... I hope it gets translated!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The King is Blue

    Democracy:

    Elected leaders are voted in with ballots and voted out with ballots. Unelected leaders are voted in with bullets and can only be removed with bullets. One of those systems is consistent with Buddhist 'respect for life' and one is not.

    Freedom of Speech

    Buddha says no lying.

    Suppose it was a crime to say 'TheRegister.co.uk's logo is red'. I go around saying 'TheRegister.co.uk's logo is blue". The lie remains because it's illegal to tell the truth.

  3. Greg Nelson

    It may be all for naught

    The U.S. Army has recently become proactive about producing good killers. Apparently only 15% of combatants are effective killers. During the battle of Iwo Jima a marine sargent made the observation that, at best, 15% of U.S. marines were effective in battle. There have been similar observations made by military people throughout history. The number seems to be between 10 and 15% of combatants are stone cold killers while the rest just keep their heads down waiting to go home.

    There are over 6 billion of us crowding the planet scrambling for scarce resources, not to mention one another's significant other; and, often, we go about our business deep in the throes of substance abuse. Why isn't there much more, not much less violent crime? The world is awash in weapons. If I were so inclined I could put $500 dollars in my pocket and go downtown and pick up a 9mil without too much difficulty.

    For the most part are we genetically inclined to avoid violence? Males are programmed to violently contest access to females but most contests are bluffing matches. In nature I'd rather face a bull defending his territory than a mother protecting her young. The high incidence of young men playing violent video games may be representative of the majority who are playing out a disposition to bluff violence.

    In the face of free will and loss of face it may be that the most part of violence is perpetrated by a genetically predisposed minority.

    just my loose change

  4. Martin Owens

    I knew it!

    I knew learning to read and speak Thai would come in handy!

    good job it works on linux or I'd be stuffed.

  5. peter ashworth

    of course violent video games cause violence................ so make peace games

    anyone who seriously believes that the availability of violent, morally-corrupt video games does not subvert the comprehension of youth to society, is missing the point.

    imagine, for a moment, that you are a child again. what your parents surround you with, is taken for granted as being good for you (there are many variations in this scenario so bear with me on this). you are given food, you eat, you are given love, you accept it, you are punished, you try to avoid doing the things that caused you to be punished.

    now imagine being given things that give you pleasure, but at the discomfort of others around you, with no come back.

    what do you suppose the result would be?

    a young person who will strive to do kind things for others?

    or a young person who will take pleasure in hurting others?

    to me the increasing pleasure and tolerance (by youth) in violence on the street, seems to indicate that being offered violence as a form of entertainment has confused the moral development, and only when it is pointed out that this thinking is totally WRONG, can progress be made

    the arrival of this video game, from a buddhist, is the first step in letting ADULTS RETHINK THEIR TOLERANCE OF MORALLY DUBIOUS 'GAMES' and to start to ban them outright, or at least put a 21+ age limit on them

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