The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy_ I Link Therefore I Am - Luke Cuddy [18]
But a moment’s reflection tells us that Rob isn’t justified in drawing this conclusion; just because Rob knew a few gaming geeks doesn’t mean that they’re all geeks. It’s probably the case that gamers run the gamut from being stoners, studs, and street cleaners to grandparents, grape harvesters, and grain elevator operators. In other words, there are a lot of gamers who definitely aren’t geeks.
Stereotypes like this can be morally and logically harmful. The moral harm occurs when we assume that “if one or a few are like this or that, then they must all be like this or that.” Shigeru Miyamoto is the Japanese designer of Zelda, as well as other Nintendo successes like Donkey Kong and Mario Brothers. A Caucasian American might think that, because of his Japanese heritage, Shigeru must take pictures wherever he goes as a tourist, or he wants to take an American’s job away, or he wants to convert everyone to Shintoism. “After all,” thinks the American, “Shigeru is Japanese, and they’re all like that …” Consider all of the racism, sexism, ageism, and every other negative “ism” that results from people inappropriately jumping to conclusions like these.
The logical harm of stereotypes occurs because the conclusion drawn isn’t supported by the reasons given for that conclusion. The conclusion that “they’re all like that” or “they all must have that same feature, quality, or characteristic” doesn’t follow from and can’t be fully supported by reasons having to do with one or a few instances being “like that” or having the certain feature, quality, or characteristic. You’ve probably met your share of Japanese folks who take pictures as tourists, but you couldn’t ever legitimately draw the conclusion that all Japanese folks take pictures as tourists. Likewise, not all gamers are geeks. Stereotyping is bad and it’s bad reasoning.
Fallacious reasoning, like stereotyping, is way too common in the real and gaming worlds. Racists think that just because they have had a bad experience with a person of a particular race, creed, or color, then “they must all be like that.” A novice Zelda gamer thinks that an item picked up in a dungeon necessarily will be used to slay that dungeon’s boss. Instead of seeking to become an authority in a particular matter ourselves, we too often blindly accept what someone tells us as “The Gospel Truth” because we perceive them to be an authority concerning that particular matter. Think of all of the gamers who spend hours or days in line to get the next big gaming console—because some big-wig on Gamespot said it was “totally awesome”—who wind up disappointed with that console. On reflection, we see we’re not justified in concluding either that “they’re all like that,” an item picked up in a dungeon necessarily will be used to slay that dungeon’s boss, or it’s true just because the big-wig on Gamespot said so. In these cases, the conclusions that we draw don’t follow from the reasons that are given as supposed support.
As we’ve seen already, people don’t always abide by the principles of logic—Rob Arp included! The way people reason has consequences not only for our gaming decisions but also, more importantly, for how we live our lives in the real world. Good and bad reasoning affect the beliefs we are willing to die for, the policies we adhere to, the laws we make, and the general way in which we live our lives.
Some have argued that videogame violence is directly responsible for cases of violent crimes committed by kids in the real world. As a result, these same people want to see laws enacted that limit the production and sale of, or ban altogether, “rated M for Mature” kinds of violent videogames. Now, there probably are individual cases where a violent game has been partially—note partially