More Gaming Hysteria

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OK, we've all heard about how some people think violent first person shooter games cause actual violence and can be attributed to things like school shootings and the like.

I think this one hits a new low, even for Fox News. The say that the soon to be released game, Bulletstorm, can be attributed to a rise in the number of rapes. (The actual title of the article is: "Is Bulletstorm the Worst Game in the World?" From the article:

The only problem is, there is no study that points to this actually being true. Rapes are actually down in most states over the past several years. Oh, and there's no actual sex in the game either. (Although reportedly, some characters you the F-word. Oh, no!)

Anyway, if you want to chuckle, here's the article.

 

I agree with the lefties. Games should have no bad language, no violence, no even slight references to sex or anything controversial.

When I walk into a games store, I only want to see shelves and shelves of The Sims add ons and that's it!

 

I always wondered why people just can see that a game is "Just a Game". We as human beings have brains and should use them. When I was kid and watched Looney Tunes, I knew tht when Bugs hit Elmer over the head with a frying pan, several times, leaving 6 lumps protruding from his head that a) it wasn't real and b) you shouldn't hit people in the head with frying pans, you can hurt them. It is basic common sense. Anyone with the ability to rape is obviously not a small child and knows better. Their playing of a video game is not going to change their mind one way or another. If they start showing films about doing good or letting prisoners play video games at prison which promote doing good and obeying the law, will the prisoners change their ways? Of course not.

 

I think there may one exception to the rule here: running red lights in GTA. Whereas rape and murder are things that we are culturally conditioned to view with abhorrence (hence there is cultural pressure not to rape and murder in RL, even if you can in a video game), running reds is not such a big deal. (It can be a big deal if you get killed running one, but it's not something that you feel loathing toward like violent crime. e.g. no "You are a rapist and a murderer, and you run red lights!")

There is so much driving in GTA, and waiting out lights is so inconvenient and time-wasting that I'm pretty sure just about no one does. So in a given evening of gaming you might run 200 reds without really even thinking about it. It's a 3D game, so it's similar in appearance to what you see when you encounter red lights in RL.

Would that condition you to disregard red lights in RL (not so much consciously as unconsciously - like when you're thinking about your to-do list or how your gf pissed you off or how much you like pop tarts)?

 

Not me. When I step away from the PC/Game console, it's back to real-life. Good point though Gaear. If someone was playing 24-7 for weeks and then went out to drive to the grocery store, I could see it happen. But that is because driving is a daily routine that takes no thought or not much. Committing rape is another matter. It takes effort and planning. Gaming in itself is a fantasy, not matter what game you are playing, whether it is a medieval setting or the Sims. It does not give you the excuse to be a monster. Movies and books are no different than games. If you are reading a work of fiction, you have to take it as such. Not real.

 

Though in GTA you can kill cops all you want. I was watching my nephew play a few years ago, he had a entrance to a subway bloocked up and was just sitting there, killing the cops as they periodically showed up. Then he screwed a hooker and beat her down when he was done to get his money back. Nice game... . After palying it, we went outside and were horsing around with the football. I made sure I hit(tackled) him pretty hard a few times. He got pissed and asked me what my problem was? I told him he needs to stop playing games that let you act like an ass and don't expand your intelligence. He got the hint.

 

GTA are great games, much better than most of the crap on the market. As I have said before and will say again, anyone who can be screwed up by a game was screwed up to begin with and if the game didn't trigger it something else would (and even then I doubt a game could have much of an influence).

 

+1

We live in a crowded world, with almost no individuality among us, save for the most obvious of traits.
And we are pushed and pulled by the masses as if it was the oceans current.
Media and more media brainwashes or numbs us properly down, making it a consciousness and tiresome act to stay normal or within it.

If people snap or break it's not from GTA or Counter Strike, but because of everything else.

And FOX- is the crap. Just thinking of the formats they're airing, makes one want to go ballistic.

 

In all seriousness, a nutter is a nutter. It's not going to take much of a catalyst for a nutter to go postal. Whether he gets that from playing Call of Duty, or by watching Eden Lake; they will always find something. It's obviously one of the weakest arguments ever to say that video games are responsible for real life violence. It's a non-starter argument.

 

I agree with you Darion. It's not the games. It''s the individual and the choices they make.

Joacqin,

GTA is just not my type of game, but I don't blame the game.

 

I agree too. Lets say 16 million people own and play GTA4 (just picking a random number), 5 of those people go nuts and kill people with a gun. Belive me; those 5 people are the ones we get to hear about. Not the rest of the people who play the game, and act normally.

 

Wow, such a turnaround from the Tuscon thread. I realize the major players in that thread haven't made an appearance in this one, but I can't help wonder how they feel about this case.

I, too, agree with Darion. If GTA doesn't make them snap, the football game will, or the news, or that big red WARNING sign I see in the add right above this (and God forbid they should see the D&D Online add on the other side, it has a whole SWORD in it!). Rapists aren't made by playing violent video games.

 

Back to rape!

Here a nice article I got forwarded a few weeks back.
Coincidentally on exactly the same matter-

http://iranscope.ghandchi.com/Anthology/Women/rape.htm

A Darwinistic approach to rape.

A decent read. Have a look mates!

 

Stan Lee wrote an interesting letter on the subject, comparing the current climate to the proposed banning of comic books in the 1950s. Chipping it in as it's a good read.

http://www.gossipgamers.com/stan-lee-defends-video-games-nuff-said/

 

Watch this...

Spoiler

Should we blame GTA or Looney Tunes?

 

Neither, my friend, neither. That's an obvious tribute to Benny Hill Show. How ELSE could you explain the sheer idiocy of it? I mean, you can't be THAT stupid, right? Right.. ? Ehhmm.. Guys? *crickets*

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH. Any person who claims to have behaved badly because of a video game (or uttering any such nonsense which ushers blame from themselves for truly reprihensable actions) should die quickly before the media fashions a sensational story around them or an individual finds an avenue to be noticed moreso than she ever would have otherwise.

RAPE is not a character flaw that comes from outside of your biology. MURDER is not a character flaw that comes from outside your biology. Utter disregard for the well being of others originates in *ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER PLACE* than within.

Who is affected by media?>>>>approximately 100% of the population........who commits utterly heinous crimes?...... .001% of the population. If media was such a potent behavioral force, these numbers would be more in line.

**** Carol Lieberman, the attention ***** that she is, and **** anyone who tries to dispose the blame which is rightfully theirs.

 

I never raped or killed anyone before I started playing video games ... of course I haven't after playing video games but I could ... and it would be Bioware's and Origin's fault.

 

No, it'd only be Origin's fault if you put their blood in vials for a special dark ritual to imbue you with their powers. Rape would have to be GTA or the like.