In defense of our genre

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Video gamers everywhere i am calling you to rise up, violent video games have been a target for long enough!

politicians say practically nothing about movies like 300, or my bloody valentine or SAW, but when some one plays HALO it's OMG DESTROY THE GAMERS, THEY WILL DO COLUMBINE!

I have had just about enough of that crap, i hate the double standard and I really hate the politicians saying

PROTECT THE CHILDREN FROM VIDEO GAMES!

when they are thinking "I can score some easy points from this..."

thank you and express opinions now

now that you mention it, why do gamers like the ultra violent video games, anyway?

Thats just it, I HATe grand theft auto, but when they start getting on video games in general...

Th real problem is a lack of parental censorship. At a certain age, a kid can play violent games provided they understand the wrongness of real violence. It becomes a problem when kids of like 4 or 5, who barely have a sense for the world, are exposed to this.
That aside, violent games are fine.

To be honest, I have never understood politicians and their issue(s) with games/gamers.

I mean, don't they have more important things to do? Seriously.

The video game industry is the youngest form of entertainment in the world, I mean it's only in the 90s' and 2000s' that the video game industry has became a powerful force to rival the music, TV and the movie industries. all those three had to face the same when they first came to the world, or whenever they tried something new – It’s just growing pains, I was reading an article about BioWare defending the sex scene in Mass Effect, I thought well on them for defending themselves because it was done in a mature way rather than “LOLZ! B0oBZ!” And I’ve far worse on TV and films.

To be honest there isn't much we can do to sway these people, but there isn't anything they can do to stop us either. If they could then we wouldn't have had Rock and Roll.

Yeah thee is generaly a negative outlook on gaming, there has to be a standard that more dangerous games people tell the difference between reality and fantasy. Though most do, games can't be much more damaging then other media, and if anything it can be good as it uses the mind as opposed to just watching.

Yes and no. The big gaming companies would be affected the most if such a thing was to happen, thought I pray it never does, it’s easy to regulate retail disks but most developers are shifting towards online distribution. Also the indie game market has rapidly grown and majority of them work under the radar using just the net to promote their works.

The piracy of games is strong and there isn’t much developers can do to stop piracy either, I had an issue of PC Gamer UK that brought up the opinion that the piracy of PC games could actually be good for the business, EA couldn’t stop the Sims 3 leaking out, and Stardock couldn’t stop what happened to Demigod. SecuROM was the biggest mistake to happen in gaming as it pushed quite a few people, even people I knew to actually pirate games as an act of some revenge.

So it's just as hard to regulate gaming as much as it is to stop a garage band or someone from making their own film.

We have a long history of blaming all society’s problems on whatever is new at the time. The reason so many problems are blamed on young people or immigrants is that they weren’t here in the ‘good old days’, therefore they are the source of the problem. It’s the same with various forms of media. We’ve had violent comic books, Rock & Roll, violent films, gangsta rap all blamed at time or another, now it’s the turn of video games. For any genre to gain mainstream acceptance it must first survive a witch hunt stage.

At the moment video games are scapegoated by politicians and the tabloid media because most of their target audience are not gamers, therefore they are ignorant of the facts and are a more likely to swallow their BS. It will be a tough few years, but the phase will pass as games become even more popular and people start to wise up to the truth. By then the politicians will have found something else to point the finger at anyway. I expect the popularity of social networking sites will set them up for a 'moral' backlash soon enough.

In the wise words of my younger brother: "Can a game make you want to kill people . . . no. Can people make you want to kill people . . .HELL YES!! !" Games, tabletop or otherwise, will be the scapegoat of irresponsible parenting for ages. D&D bore the brunt of it back when it came it with the cries that its, "Devil worship." (my parents played a bit back in the day and they remember this rally cry a long time ago). Not to mention the whole Columbine stint . . . cmon, those guns and bombs where in the kids room . . . why the hell didnt the parents go in. Did they not see the stuff or did they just say, "Make sure you tighten and lubricate the barrel before you go on you shooting spree . . . oh, and dont forget a fresh magazine." <sigh> Essentially, when people are faced with a horrifying truth that something is their fault, their first reaction is to blame something else. Thats been a defense for ages because they dont want to own up to their mistakes. As for politicians, they think doing this with get parental support for whatever soapbox theyre standing on. . . but the sad thing is, the pathetic parents will likely be the ones supporting them. "Hey, follow me, I wont blame your kids, i will blame what your kids use . . . their video games." <sigh>

It's true that violent games may have an impression on younger kids, however by the time kids turn 13 they've usually drawn the line between reality and virtuality. This, of course, is why we have a rating system to begin with. IMHO, I really don't care for some of the games that are violence for the sake of violence, such as Grand Theft Auto and a lot of the zombie shooters. When I do play shooters, I prefer straight-up war games like Battlefield, C.O.D., Halo, etc. that are combative without being exceptionally violent. However, I will say that video games, like other forms of media such as fiction books, movies, and even some music, are popular because they allow us to escape from the humdrum of life. A lot of gamers claim that violent games are a de-stressor, and I agree with that philosophy. If someone picks on you at school and you hold it in and let the anger fester, chances are you're going to get yourself in a heap of trouble; however, if you go home, boot up Left 4 Dead and project your tormenter's image onto the zombies, then you relieve that stress by carrying out your revenge without actually carrying out your revenge. What politicians don't realize is that blowing off someone's head in a game is much preferable to blowing off someones head in real life. Since you can do things in games that in real life would be illegal, immoral, or even impossible, it helps to blow off some of that 'deviant steam.'

I would love to see politicians try and ban violent games just to see how long it takes for them to repeal the ban after everyone is bitching about the rapid increase in juvenile crime. After all, every kid at home on the Xbox is one less kid on the street corner selling drugs. That's my 2 yen.

Roxas

I never get tired of arguing about this. Video games have nothing to do with the mental state of someone. Can you believe they tried to pin Music on this latest guy that killed people at Longwood. The people said on there that Music or TV or Films would have no effect. I hate how they left Video games out of that list. Its terrible that so many people are ignorant enough to believe violent games can harm someone's mental state when we have movies like SAW and Hostel and claiming a game can do more harm. They just torture people in those movies how is that not more of a violent cringe than a video game.

This is an easy one: Certifiation as standard for Games in the same way Films have it, and better enforcement of the regulations regarding sales to the underaged.. in much the same way as drinks sales are regulated (ie No ID, NO 18+ Game.)

Consider this: People have been raping, murdering, stealing etc for MILLENIA.. before the advent of films, rock musi, guns, cars, or any of the other things that get blamed for such events.

Consider also: The Censors themselves, the good people at the BBFC and its overseas equivalents.. watch HOURS of uncut footage of the worst kind of horrific films.. how many people who have ever worked as censors have EVER gone on a killing spree?