Advocacy

[Sean Sands]

Advocacy

The potential of video games is limitless, and their value understated in a culture that is, at best, grudgingly accepting of their existence. ... And yet, like so many media-fueled discussions of the past decade, the debate over the place of gaming in Western society has been forfeited to the extremes on both sides.

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[Melaisis]

You sir, are an outstanding beacon for the rest of the willing gaming community to follow behind.

 

[sammyfreak]

Hear hear! Nobody but a nerd likes an angry nerd.

 

[boc407]

I think this post raised some good points. It was fairly disgraceful how some gamers replied to that whole fiasco about Mass Effect. That sort of thing gives gamers as much of a bad name as anything from the mainstream media.

 

[oneplus999]

While we are getting better, another area that could still use a LOT of improvement is the number of minors able to purchase M rated video games.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/04/marketingviolence.shtm

While movie theaters at 38% are only marginally better than our 42%, there is still the perception that violent games are marketed towards children (since of course all games are for children, right?) and until that 42% of children who can purchase M-rated games is a much lower figure, all the touting of the ESRB system means nothing. It completely refutes the argument that parents should control what their children play if game vendors are willing to circumvent the parents' decisions in order to make a quick buck. Sure there are parental controls on the game systems, but I think asking parents to be aware of that might be going too far, unless that feature gets more heavily advertised.

 

[FortOyer]

@ Cheeze_Pavilion: Ahh, but the problem in America is that the debate over gun control is also dominated by two extremist sides.
Also, American standards and media are often shunted to the rest of the world, thus it would probably be best if something completely harmless looking should be the face of gaming; it would almost be a certainty that anti-war media in Europe or Australia would have a field day if gaming culture started promoting: "a game where you invaded foerign countries and shoot down 'terrorists'" regardless of the actual storyline/ideas Co4 actualy portrays. Using Murphy's law, I think it's safe to say we shouldn't let mainstream media have the chance to get the wrong end of the stick.