Certainly, games that glorify killing police are immoral like one I won’t name that shows an officer in a uniform like those worn by Chicago police. The officer is brutally murdered after begging for his life. Other games that offer “decision points” where the player can choose to engage in realistic sodomy or fornication are also sinful. But there is nothing wrong with playing Scrabble on-line any more than pulling out the board and the letter tiles. The question is, do gamers make entertainment an idol?
I once met a gentleman at a conference who described the damage to his marriage from his wife doing almost nothing but playing games online. Perhaps she was clinically depressed, I don’t recall all the circumstances. He had tried to get her to go hiking or camping with their children to no avail. The problem was taking a serious toll on the family. I still pray for him and his family occasionally. And since I pray almost every day for everyone who has ever touched my life, he is remembered along with thousands of others, even those whom I’ve forgotten. God never forgets!
For many families today, it isn’t the spouse who’s caught up in the gaming frenzy but the children who spend more time relating to their screens than to their families and rebel when parents take control. Is forbidding games altogether the only answer? One Catholic mom doesn’t think so. In an insightful article at Catholic Answers, Christine Flynn, a mother of four wrote this:
...video games [her family mostly uses Nintendo] offer wonderful opportunities for siblings to work collaboratively toward a goal, helping older children to be patient with and learn to teach younger siblings....[They] also give kids a chance to practice good sportsmanship and fair play. Nothing ends a child’s turn at video games faster in our home than whining, cheating, or gloating...gaming has helped our children with time management skills, temperance, and work-play balance. Through games...lessons can be imparted on how to moderate media usage....
We also have a rule about not even asking to play video games until all chores and schoolwork have been done...well.... If they ask before the work has been done, then the answer is no for two days....
It’s also a group effort. No one can play until everyone is finished with his work, so they cheer each other on in order to get the job done....Video games that offer multiplayer or collaborative play get emphasized.
Overall, as a family unit, we are creating positive memories around wholesome games while promoting temperance and prudence, among other virtues.
Obviously, not every parent will agree with Flynn’s approach. Personally, I’d rather see my grandkids building a fort together in the back yard, riding bikes, kicking a soccer ball, or turning bamboo poles into swords and playing pirate. We often enjoy board and card games when they visit, but usually shelve the Ipads and only pull them out for math tutoring since their lessons are online. But, let’s face it, computers are here to stay short of an EMP attack that fries all our electronics. Isn’t it wise to teach children how to use technology in a controlled and temperate way?
Temperance is one of the cardinal virtues along with prudence, justice, and fortitude. Unfortunately, the rich meaning of temperance has mostly been lost in our modern culture, which pretty much limits it to moderation in eating and drinking. But St. Thomas Aquinas has an entire treatise on temperance that offers a much broader context. First, every virtue inclines man toward the good in accordance with his reason. Temperance, in that regard, also involves prudence and holy fear. The virtue doesn’t just apply to the use of things like food and drink, but also to the nature of man: his thoughts, his speech, his passions, etc. Here’s how St. Thomas describes the virtue:
...temperance regards need according to the requirements of life, and this depends not only on the requirements of the body, but also on the requirements of external things, such as riches and station, and more still on the requirements of good conduct. Hence the Philosopher adds (Ethic. iii, 11) that "the temperate man makes use of pleasant things provided that not only they be not prejudicial to health and a sound bodily condition, but also that they be not inconsistent with good," i.e. good conduct, nor "beyond his substance," i.e. his means. And Augustine says (De Morib. Eccl. xxi) that the "temperate man considers the need" not only "of this life" but also "of his station."
Obviously, temperance means a lot more than moderate use of physical pleasures. One can be intemperate about even good things. Shakespeare and Marlowe showed that in many of their plays. The pursuit of power is a theme in King Lear, Macbeth, and Richard III which leads to violence and murder. Even the pursuit of knowledge can be a source of sin and pride like it was for Dr. Faustus. Neither power or knowledge are intrinsically evil. A good king like St. Louis of France is a blessing to his people. The knowledge of the Doctors of the Church has provided a wealth of wisdom to the faithful.
Getting back to games, they are not intrinsically evil. Their intemperate use, however, can be sinful. If they interfere with an adult’s duty of state, they’re wrong. If instead of giving a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, a man spends several hours playing games, he’s a cheater stealing from his employer. If a mom plops the kids in front of the TV for hours while she plays games, it’s wrong. If a student neglects his homework for gaming, removing the tempting devices is appropriate. How we use our time, talent, and treasure is a worthy subject for an examination of conscience with regard to the virtue of temperance.
At the beginning of this article I said I was an addict. Am I really? No, but I could be. Temptation to, as they say, “veg out” is always present to suppress pain or even boredom. It’s easy to seek worldly “solutions,” instead of turning to God. But those “solutions” offer only a false promise of happiness. Embracing false promises always ends badly as testified to by the hordes of poor slaves to drug and alcohol living on our streets and the number of people glued to their cell phones and screens instead of relating to their families and friends. All you have to do is look at the first family to see the damage of a lifestyle of intemperance in almost everything!
For many families today, it isn’t the spouse who’s caught up in the gaming frenzy but the children who spend more time relating to their screens than to their families and rebel when parents take control. Is forbidding games altogether the only answer? One Catholic mom doesn’t think so. In an insightful article at Catholic Answers, Christine Flynn, a mother of four wrote this:
...video games [her family mostly uses Nintendo] offer wonderful opportunities for siblings to work collaboratively toward a goal, helping older children to be patient with and learn to teach younger siblings....[They] also give kids a chance to practice good sportsmanship and fair play. Nothing ends a child’s turn at video games faster in our home than whining, cheating, or gloating...gaming has helped our children with time management skills, temperance, and work-play balance. Through games...lessons can be imparted on how to moderate media usage....
We also have a rule about not even asking to play video games until all chores and schoolwork have been done...well.... If they ask before the work has been done, then the answer is no for two days....
It’s also a group effort. No one can play until everyone is finished with his work, so they cheer each other on in order to get the job done....Video games that offer multiplayer or collaborative play get emphasized.
Overall, as a family unit, we are creating positive memories around wholesome games while promoting temperance and prudence, among other virtues.
Obviously, not every parent will agree with Flynn’s approach. Personally, I’d rather see my grandkids building a fort together in the back yard, riding bikes, kicking a soccer ball, or turning bamboo poles into swords and playing pirate. We often enjoy board and card games when they visit, but usually shelve the Ipads and only pull them out for math tutoring since their lessons are online. But, let’s face it, computers are here to stay short of an EMP attack that fries all our electronics. Isn’t it wise to teach children how to use technology in a controlled and temperate way?
Temperance is one of the cardinal virtues along with prudence, justice, and fortitude. Unfortunately, the rich meaning of temperance has mostly been lost in our modern culture, which pretty much limits it to moderation in eating and drinking. But St. Thomas Aquinas has an entire treatise on temperance that offers a much broader context. First, every virtue inclines man toward the good in accordance with his reason. Temperance, in that regard, also involves prudence and holy fear. The virtue doesn’t just apply to the use of things like food and drink, but also to the nature of man: his thoughts, his speech, his passions, etc. Here’s how St. Thomas describes the virtue:
...temperance regards need according to the requirements of life, and this depends not only on the requirements of the body, but also on the requirements of external things, such as riches and station, and more still on the requirements of good conduct. Hence the Philosopher adds (Ethic. iii, 11) that "the temperate man makes use of pleasant things provided that not only they be not prejudicial to health and a sound bodily condition, but also that they be not inconsistent with good," i.e. good conduct, nor "beyond his substance," i.e. his means. And Augustine says (De Morib. Eccl. xxi) that the "temperate man considers the need" not only "of this life" but also "of his station."
Obviously, temperance means a lot more than moderate use of physical pleasures. One can be intemperate about even good things. Shakespeare and Marlowe showed that in many of their plays. The pursuit of power is a theme in King Lear, Macbeth, and Richard III which leads to violence and murder. Even the pursuit of knowledge can be a source of sin and pride like it was for Dr. Faustus. Neither power or knowledge are intrinsically evil. A good king like St. Louis of France is a blessing to his people. The knowledge of the Doctors of the Church has provided a wealth of wisdom to the faithful.
Getting back to games, they are not intrinsically evil. Their intemperate use, however, can be sinful. If they interfere with an adult’s duty of state, they’re wrong. If instead of giving a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, a man spends several hours playing games, he’s a cheater stealing from his employer. If a mom plops the kids in front of the TV for hours while she plays games, it’s wrong. If a student neglects his homework for gaming, removing the tempting devices is appropriate. How we use our time, talent, and treasure is a worthy subject for an examination of conscience with regard to the virtue of temperance.
At the beginning of this article I said I was an addict. Am I really? No, but I could be. Temptation to, as they say, “veg out” is always present to suppress pain or even boredom. It’s easy to seek worldly “solutions,” instead of turning to God. But those “solutions” offer only a false promise of happiness. Embracing false promises always ends badly as testified to by the hordes of poor slaves to drug and alcohol living on our streets and the number of people glued to their cell phones and screens instead of relating to their families and friends. All you have to do is look at the first family to see the damage of a lifestyle of intemperance in almost everything!
So let’s get personal! How am I reacting to the temptation to overdose on games? I gave them up for Lent. I removed the Words with Friends app from my smart phone which wipes out a daily temptation. I will no longer go to any games on-line during the Lent and Easter season. Already, I am reading more. My husband and I are studying Bishop Schneider’s Credo together and I’m writing more cards and letters and praying more. Will I give up gaming altogether? No! I play board games and cards with my grandchildren. I still take five minutes while I eat breakfast to play Wordle. But I’m trying to put entertainment in the temperance box and I can’t believe how much time I now have for other pursuits like knitting a blanket for my youngest grandchild due in June. Are you intemperate with gaming or anything else? Let’s all make a resolution for Lent and beyond to take control over those things trying to take control of us. By the grace of God it’s possible!
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