Captain Spirit & Child Abuse in the Gulf

Trigger warning; mentions of child abuse. Also includes minor spoilers of The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit.

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit opens up with a track named “Death With Dignity” by Sufjan Stevens. You’re Chris, a ten year old boy with a creative imagination scope. As you design your superhero costume and set your personality by playing with toys, you then don your cape and go about your day. Chris’s Father calls him for breakfast, if you linger long enough his mood shifts and he grows restless with your silence.

You slowly learn that Chris’s father is an alcoholic single parent raising his only son. Breakfast is received with remorse, his dad asks him how his food is; “Not as good as moms.” or “It’s okay.”. The dad’s constantly on edge about the loss of his wife. “Hows your arm?” He asks after looking at Chris’s bruised limb. I had to give myself some time before answering each question, careful of avoiding what may agitate the dad. “How do you feel?” asks dad. “I’m okay.” or “It kinda hurts.”

Child abuse is prevalent in the Gulf, I’ve heard stories of abuse in my own social circles, as well as online. Memes about being physically abused as a child are worn as a badge of honor. “Children these days are soft, back in my day our parents used to beat us if we misbehaved.” Some would view it as a cultural thing, others, a right of passage.

A study published in the 2007 Saudi Medical Journal titled “Child Abuse & Neglect in the Arab Peninsula” by Fadheela Taher Al-Mahroos showcased the problems and patterns of child abuse in the Arab Peninsula, to highlight the difficulties in the region. In her conclusion she states that children in the Peninsula are subjected to all forms of abuse, from physical, sexual, psychological, and in some cases these lead to death. Child abuse is tolerated and ignored and children are left to suffer whilst the abusers are unidentified and unpunished. This underreporting may be due to the culture of shame and parental privilege that places abusive parents as excused and sometimes applauded for taking action against their own children.

These findings are hard truths that culture diminishes to progress adulthood. All six countries in the GCC have child abuse hotlines that have been received with sometimes overwhelming amounts of callers.

To see video games represent child abuse isn’t something relatively new. As people explore new ideas of harsh realities, our media reflects what we as people go through. While some video games may be subject to criticism (looking at you, David Cage). DontNod’s Captain Spirit demo personally hurt to play realizing that these are realities some children face. To have something like that shown in such a manner that your choices may reflect your outcomes feels jarringly real.

With the debate of games moving from “games are art” to “games are political”, our media will always reflect our own lives. We cannot deny or water down how inherently political life is, and video games aren’t excused from the conversation.

if you’re struggling with abuse please refer to the numbers down below for help;

Oman: 1100

UAE: 116111

Saudi Arabia: 116111 (?)

Kuwait: 147

Qatar: 919

Bahrain: 998