Play Meter

THE LAST WORD Any excuse will do by There's something very curious about all the arguments against coin-op video games. When opponents of these pastimes say the games (1) are addictive; (2) take away children's lunch money; (3) bring children together in an unwholesome environment; (4) are owned and operated by the criminal underworld; (5) are creating gamblers out of our youth; (6) cause physical maladies and ailments; and other arguments too numerous to list here-they' re really telling us something about themselves. A flag should go up in the head of any thinking person whenever somebody comes up with innumerable reasons for doing anything at all-and that includes banning or severely restricting coin-op video games. There's a good chance when someone gives you countless reasons for doing something, it's because he doesn't have one good reason . We've seen this happen before, and on a much grander scale, with nations, in fact. Adolph Hit ler obviously gave the Germans a limitless number of reasons to justify his " elimination of unreliable elements" (i.e. the Jews). Richard Nixon and his loyal followers also had quite a number of reasons to justify their attempts to subvert the American electoral process. And, most recentl y, the Ayatollah Khomeini was noted for his endless list of justifications for the kidnapping of innocent U.S. Embassy personnel. Anti Video Game Argument #186325 " They take away children's lunch money." This tendency to make up countless reasons where possibly none reall y exists is not only the mark of demagogues, however. It's a very basic human trait. As parents will no doubt realize, children are at their creative peaks when they are told to do something that they just don' t want to do, like when Mommy or Daddy 174 David Pierson says it's time to go to bed. A flow of " reason s" (rea lly excuses) is bound to flow from these little minds. It's re-enacted in millions of American homes every night. " I'm not sleepy." " I'm scared." " M y legs hurt." " I'm thirsty." " I' m hungry." " You promised me we could go to the park on Saturday." " Nick doesn't have to go to bed." " I have to go to the bathroom ." " I have to brush my teeth ." "I can ' t find m y ted dy bear. " "I didn 't do my homework ." Some experienced parents will tell yo u, in fact, that any child who cannot come up with at least four different but good reasons for not going to bed each night may be a prime candidate for a special creativity assertiveness class. That's because kids will just naturally come up wit h hundreds of reaso ns why things should go their way. To these little mind s, it' s not the quality of their reasons that's important, it's the quantity. The same thing is true of the new vigilantes against coin-op videos. Instead of coming up with one good rea son why videos should be banned or restricted, they will bombard you with count less reasons. What they are really doing is adding to a bottomless grab-bag of one-liners to do away with something they just don't like. And it reall y doesn't matter how many of these creative arguments you knock down, because they' ll just keep on making new ones. Still, it seems some of these coinop vigilantes should know better. After all, they themsel ves are parents. Then again maybe they never really grew up and learned that they couldn't always get t heir way . Oh, well, little minds. The more things change, the more they stay the same. - -Permission to reprint is hereby granted. PLAY METER, April 15, 1982