Call Goes Out For Shooter Cease Fire

[Karloff]

Call Goes Out For Shooter Cease Fire

In the wake of the Connecticut school shooting, a call has gone out for a show of shooter support.

The tragic deaths at Sandy Hook have prompted GamerFitNation's President and founder, Antwand Pearman, to ask that gamers make a show of support for the families of those killed. The support takes the form of one day where gamers worldwide will stop playing shooters; the day of cease fire will take place from 12am December 21st, and conclude 12am December 22nd.

Pearman says that this stand is not intended to raise money, nor is it meant as some kind of game-blame. "We are simply making a statement that we as Gamers are not going to sit back and ignore the lives that were lost," says Pearman. "Instead we will embrace the families with our love and support." Full details, including means of participation, can be found on this Facebook page. [http://www.facebook.com/events/421834957888142/] Over 1,400 gamers have already confirmed that they will cease fire for the day.

GamerFitNation [http://gamerfitnation.com/] is a gaming lifestyle and health website founded by Pearman, a chef and amateur boxer. The Facebook plea has attracted its share of likes; though a small number of comments were wary - "the media will use this very force against us", said Isaiah Johnson - most were supportive, and willing to down virtual firearms for one day.

Source: VG24/7 [http://www.vg247.com/2012/12/18/cease-fire-campaign-calls-for-online-peacetime-in-memory-of-sandy-hook-victims/]


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[CardinalPiggles]

I have to agree with Isaiah here. The media has used lesser excuses to blame games in the past. This may well seem like a guilt trip to some people.

It's a lovely thought but it's one I'm personally not ready to support. Even though I do feel so very sorry those parents and friends who lost someone.

 

[GoddyofAus]

Chyeah, good luck with this. Since when have the majority of gamers been compassionate enough to take up any cause except playing Half Life 2 to try and get Valves attention. As others have stated, this is perfect bait for fuckwits like Fox News to latch onto.

 

[SageRuffin]

Eh, I can roll with this. No Borderlands 2, ME3, or Bulletstorm for 24 hours? Sure.

Besides, I was always more of a melee person anyway. This gives me more time to brush up my mad SCV skeelz.

 

[VeryOddGamer]

Now, I have no problem with this, but I just can't stop thinking "how"?

Just how is people not playing a certain genre of video games going to help anything?

Still, I might take part in this too, Dawn of War isn't a shooter, right?

 

[felbot]

I don't even play shooters so, yay I am doing charity without actually doing anything, or something like charity.

I am going to be honest I am not sure how this helps anybody.

 

[Blunderboy]

No thanks. Not unless people are also going to stop doing ironing, washing up and everything else that had nothing to do with this.

 

[tangoprime]

Better idea- Spec Ops: The Line free to play day, and see how many people you can get to play that. THEN an online shooter cease fire might just happen organically for a few days. ...or at least only the sociopaths will be the ones playing.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

It's a nice gesture, but I fail to see what good it's going to do as I doubt many of the friends and families of those lost are even going to know about it or know who participated. Besides, when they say 12am is that EST or PST or what?

 

[Cpu46]

I am all for showing respect and support for tragedy, especially if I can do it with my favorite pass time but there are better ways to do it than this. Despite his statement that he wasn't blaming games, asking gamers to stop playing an entire genre because it tangentially deals with the same action as a tragedy still feels a bit like an accusation.

The 21st will not be the day I skip attempting to beat Metro 2033 on ranger hardcore. I don't mean to be disrespectful of this event, it's just that I'll pay my respects in my own way.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

You might not see this as 'game blame' Mr Pearman, but nonetheless this will serve as ammunition (no pun intended) to every lazy, sensationalist, borderline fascist fuck-tard who wants an easy target to prey on. Please do not do this. Show support to the families by continuing on as normal, and showing that one lone nut with a gun is not going to make the whole world just stop, because that's exactly what they want. Do not bring games into this, at all, in any context, because no good will come of it for anyone concerned.

We do stuff like this, well intentioned or not, we just draw attention away from the actual issues that need attention, whether they be access to firearms, the media's glorification of such events and morbid idolization of their perpetrators, or the continuing stigma and lack of understanding surrounding mental health issues. These are all things that need to be talked about at least, in some degree. Games are not.

 

[WanderingFool]

Now COD, No Halo, No Borderlands, No Blacklight: Retribution...

*has minecraft on XBox*

Im in.

 

[DataSnake]

The 21st will not be the day I skip attempting to beat Metro 2033 on ranger hardcore. I don't mean to be disrespectful of this event, it's just that I'll pay my respects in my own way.

Sounds like you're already doing some serious self-flagellation there, that skill level is BRUTAL.

On a more serious note, I can sort of see both sides on this one: on the one hand, it's like flying flags at half-mast: a symbolic "we know you're hurting and we sympathize" gesture. On the other hand, flags, unlike FPSes, have never been blamed for school shootings, and there's a good chance the "new media are evil" types will see this as a chance to say "see? Even gamers know violent games are responsible for this! Time for a ban!"

 

[samus17]

Yea nah, this is dumb. In fact, I might just go boot up one of the Postal games in retaliation for gamers feeling they owe anyone anything or have guilt for playing a video-game.

 

[Orange12345]

Yeah I don't like the sound of this, by not playing a FPS intentionally it would almost make me feel like I was accepting that FPS had anything to do with this. It's a nice sentiment but count me out for the moment

 

[Bobic]

I love campaigns like this, it means I get to have the super good feeling of helping others without providing any actual help. Awesome!

 

[teebeeohh]

eh no
this looks way too much like guilt
and why do we need a special "gamers show sympathy" thing? i mean there is no "not watching movies with guns in them" and "not reading books with guns in them" and nobody would get the idea to do this because it is rather silly. everybody who feels the need to express their sympathies probably already did, in special church services or they sacrificed a goat or something.

and even IF we decided to do something like this wouldn't is be better to do something ingame like deliberately not kill or force everybody to play through spec ops before starting up cod or halo

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

I can see the sentiment behind the idea, but such a gesture could (and probably would) be taken by certain segments of the media as almost an admission of guilt on the part of those games and those that play them. So I won't be participating.

What happened was tragic, but this is not the way to show support for those affected.