Stephen Odhiambo, a deputy headteacher of a leading private primary school conducts simple research every year and the results always turn up the same.
“In the research, I always find a good number of the students have played Grand Theft Auto V so I call parents for a meeting to show them some of the explicit material because most are unaware and think ‘it’s just a driving game’. The most outrageous, is that part of the plot actually require players to ‘engage in sexual acts’ to ‘regain their health’ after an altercation with ‘police’.”
Grand Theft Auto V is an action adventure video game that the Entertainment Software Rating Board, an American firm that analyzes video game content, has raised the red flag on. The game has been rated mature in America (15 years and above) but in Kenya anybody, even primary school children, can access and play it.
“Grand Theft Auto V includes sexual material. It portrays sex acts that the player’s character procures from female characters. While no nudity is depicted in these sequences, various sexual moaning sounds can be heard. Nudity is present, however, primarily in two settings. There’s a strip club and a location that includes male cult members with exposed genitalia. The words ‘f**k’ and ‘n**ger’ can also be heard in the dialogue.”
Stephen has also drawn up about 20 games, played by kids, which do not have blatant explicit scenes like Grand Theft Auto five but are still damaging.
“Although these games may not have overt scenes, they have sexual interludes, for instance Max Payne video game where the player takes the role of a detective. Although, the plot is centered on killing people, at some point one will see the ‘detective’ and the ‘girlfriend’ doing something.”
Advances in computer graphics have made these inappropriate images appear realistic and clear, like watching a movie, making it a lot easier for children to become addicted.
Pauline Kamuti, a counselor psychologists for children, teenagers and families, explains effects of pornography addiction.
“Pornography has been compared to cocaine where even first time users can be addicted. When a child sees the act (in a video game/media) for the first time, they may look for more and do anything to get it, so they become obsessive.”
Furthermore, a 2006 study by University of North Carolina in the US found that every hour a 6-8 year old is exposed to sexual content increases, by 33 per cent, their chances of having sex as an adolescence.
Pauline agrees and puts it in a Kenyan context. “What we are seeing happening, most recently Project X and at the Safari Sevens, may be kids acting out what they see in such media, not realising that the gaming world is a virtual world.”
Apart from being pornographic, these games are also violent, Pauline says. “In some video games, the character earns points for crashing other characters. After a while, the players become desensitised and crave something more violent. Such children — usually 7-15 years old— will come to me experiencing lack of concentration in class or aggressiveness. Then I help them.”
Pauline once worked with a child who kept drawing himself beheading family members (see picture) like in the video games he was always playing. Furthermore, a retired Lt. Col. Dave Grossman of the United States Army, contends that the skills practiced while playing violent video games are based on the same techniques developed by the military to train soldiers to kill.
But not all video games are harmful. The gaming community in Kenya which gets together regularly to play and enjoy a bit of camaraderie, would strongly agree. James Karanu an avid gamer who earns a living from posting YouTube videos about gaming, explains how his interest in video games began.
“In Class Two, the teacher had a reward scheme. Anyone who finished their work first got to play a game called Lotus. So I would finish my work quickly just to get a chance to play the game,” he says.
Together with other video game enthusiasts, James started Gaming for Kenya. “We organise sessions, on a monthly basis, where casual gamers compete.”
Even gaming dens, sprawled all over town and estates, have unofficial competitions especially the FIFA video game where individuals can win as much as Sh10,000. Some of these talented players have gone on to get company sponsors very much like professional athletes.
Gaming in Kenya has potential to grow and create jobs like it’s doing for James. However, the lack of proper legislation opens it to abuse, making harmful games like Grand Theft Auto V easily accessible to children for as little as Sh50.
As an educationalist, Stephen warns parents against being puritanical.
“If you say, ‘in my house we are not playing video games’, then they will go and get the games from their friends. So parents should have the play station but have edifying games, like FIFA and NBA. Also, parents can choose to play the game first. If they find it inappropriate, they can discard it.
If it is not possible, then the parent can be in the room as the child is playing. Finally, parents should be friends with their children, explaining why a particular video game is bad so the children form a criteria. Even if later they come across another similar video game they will know it is bad.”