Australian Christian Lobby Compares Games to SAS Training

[Outlaw Torn]

I would totally agree with the idea that games are just like an SAS training regime, that is if the SAS trained only fat kids who just want to 'headshot noobs'. I can see it now, terrorist insurgents throwing down their weapons in defeat as a dozen obese kids in ill-fitting fatigues abseil through a skylight and call each other 'fags' before waddling to the nearest vending machine for a snack.

Look out Al Qaeda, they're coming. For you!

 

[Zersy]

Errrr this guy is a idiot....

And seriously I have killed nearly millions of people in games, but I would still refuse to kill anyone in real life unless it's the last resort.

Games don't change the way you think, (Unless you play online with douchbags)

 

[Sixties Spidey]

This just in, Escapists compare religious loud mouths to extremist terrorists.

Okay, fine. Cheap shot. But that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. There's a huge difference between shooting a target and shooting a living, breathing human being that these people don't understand. If only they took the time to just think before they open their mouths.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

I'm really, really sick and tired of these kinds of things popping up. We shouldn't even bother responding, because at this point those who continue to claim videogames cause violence just don't care. They know their arguments are flawed and continue anyway. Forget the fact that most videogame violence isn't realistic. Forget all of the studies that have been done and that have found nothing. Hell, we should just forget everything except the possibility that they could be right, a percentage getting smaller every day. That's how they'd like it. So just ignore news pieces like these when they come up and maybe they'll go away.

[hr]

"There is perhaps no phenomenon which contains so much destructive feeling as moral indignation, which permits envy or hate to be acted out under the guise of virtue."

?Erich Fromm

 

[Treblaine]

What bollocks, by that logic they should ban the production of 18-rated films in Australia. After all, the actors have to "simulate" and "repeat" their "violent acts".

I am still amazed at the hypocrisy of opposing a public consultation precisely because people who are most affected by it will be most interested. Surely if the public REALLY thought 18+ games were a risk to the general public then they would turn up in significant numbers as well. See the "Christian Lobby" know full well they are talking bollocks and they know the public are not bighting either.

I can see why they are worried, because though they like to speak for the Australian public, they probably realise the majority of the public will not swallow such hypocrisy as to allow 18+ rated movies but not 18+ rated games.

And what the hell are they going to be desensitised to doing? Killing Nazis? Fighting terrorists? Blasting aliens? Oh, wouldn't want that.

And what about all the EX-soldiers who WERE trained and reinforced with the "instinct to kill", should they be considered dangerous individuals once they have left the command structure of the armed forces? Of course not, people have free will, they know what is right and wrong.

 

[Outlaw Torn]

What bollocks, by that logic they should ban the production of 18-rated films in Australia. After all, the actors have to "simulate" and "repeat" their "violent acts".

They should ban the bible too since it glamourises crucifixion and watersports.

 

[Macgyvercas]

From a protect the children stand point, Australia needs an R18+ rating so games rated M everywhere else aren't rated MA15+ in Australia. Do you really think 15 year olds should be playing Fear 2 and AvP?

But, the average age of gamers in Australia is around 30, so I declare Atkinson's and the ACL's viewpoint invalid.

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

I'm continued to be baffled by some peoples stupidity.... It almost makes me speechless.. I thought there was only one idiot in Austrailia, but apparently there is a whole group of them. I thought we killed off idiots back in the 50s? I'm not so sure if I'm fully up-to-date on this R18+ rating thing, does not having one mean games that would otherwise get one don't get to come in the normal paths? Otherwise it's like screaming No-Porn In schools then going to the playground and passing around playboys to younger kids.

Crazy idea for the morons-against-gamers group. Shut up, if you reallly really REALLY want to keep the kiddies "safe" then take alittle hint from our glorious golden standard group the ESRB, they send out papers to ever store, posters, pamophlets, all kinds of large colorful paper-made ads telling the parents that they need to be responsible, because its not the 9 year old kid buying the game(in almost all cases) its the parent. Maybe these parents need to grab themselves by the balls and man-up and take their blame. Before we play strip thermo-nuclear war.

 

[Irridium]

I played craploads of games where you murder people.

Hell my first game was DOOM and I played that when I was 5!

And yet, show me a picture of blood and gore in real life and I will probably throw up and cry.

His argument is so invalid it makes my head hurt.

 

[FactualSquirrel]

is it okay that I hate him but he has a point?

no, no it's not What I mean is (a genuine question btw), what part of that did you think he had a point about? as I felt that it was patently ridiculous myself.

 

[stonethered]

I'm really sick of this. People need to stop reacting so badly to everything.

No, not the Aussies and their hellish ratings system; they're ridiculous and need to lose the Big Brother mentality that they can legislate morality.
I'm sick of hearing this tagged to christians.

Many Gamers here in America are christian. The less outspoken 95% of us don't give a rat's ass about violence in gaming; save maybe that parents should know their children and handle the situation accordingly. Yes, it sucks that the people who spend there time talking about how evil everything is all seem to be christian. But for cripes sake stop tagging it on the rest of us. We want nothing to do with those lunatics, they speak for us about as well as most terrorists speak for your average Muslim.


OT: Of course Military training programs and Video games teach the same way. History has proven that the most effective way of getting better at something is to do it over and over again. The Mongolians, the British, the Romans; they all drilled their troops constantly and because of it they were the largest most powerful countries of their day.

And of course it's going to be realistic. In case they haven't noticed, people like things to be more realistic. Even Science fiction and fantasy are expected to have characters, and in the case of the former science, that are believable. Very few people want to play something that has no basis in reality.

Further, I think someone should do a study on this. My belief is that the gamers who commit violent acts are generally predisposed towards such acts anyways. That violent gamers are a percentage of the gaming community roughly equal to that of violent non-gamers within the non-gaming community. That the fact the media tags gaming as a reason is simply because so many people game, and as the mind naturally seeks paterns it's the most obvious external connection they could find.
Then again, I think the media in general is just biased out of its mind and so deep in denial about it they actually think that there is no truth but the one they spin for themselves. I also think people should learn to think for themselves, crosscheck sources, and take everything said by anyone in public with a few heaping spoonfuls of salt.

 

[ma55ter_fett]

Gee-wiz, you guys have to pay alot for all those nice beaches don't you? Christ forbid you ever get both 18+ rated games and nice beaches.

 

[jamesworkshop]

That means playing Call of Duty is going to turn me into Andy McNab I guess that now means I should be writing books for a living.

 

[FactualSquirrel]

I played craploads of games where you murder people.

Hell my first game was DOOM and I played that when I was 5!

And yet, show me a picture of blood and gore in real life and I will probably throw up and cry.

His argument is so invalid it makes my head hurt.

Actually, I've been thinking about that recently.

I am the same as you, and growing up in the Halo generation has meant that I've got more realistic blood effects with me, and yet I still hate the sight of blood/guts.

You notice how they say that these people played videogames, and murdered people, and yet I'm pretty sure more people bought MW2 than there are adult gamers with the right consoles (just a guess, but still), and yet, not a single murder.

Fucking sensationalist media.

 

[dalek sec]

Yeah cause I'm so sure that I could take a bloody SAS trooper in a real fight from playing games....

 

[Lono Shrugged]

So does this mean I can write D grade fiction or write a phony biography about my time in the Gulf? Or both?!

Man it's great being a Super Army Soldier.

 

[HT_Black]

Look-- I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

I will accept-- Hell, I'll support-- the abolition of violent video games once all the world's nations are in a peaceful alliance and every gun and nuclear warhead on earth is melted down or in pieces. Full stop, end of story. Get rid of real violence, and then you can get to the simulated stuff.

 

[Plurralbles]

Wow, just wow, how come I'm not surprised that Christians would be saying this (no offense intended to other christians).

Every religion says it. Bah, you and your prejudices...

Anyway, it sounds to me that this guy actually has formed an opinion that is not just a knee-jerk reaction to a couple of red pixels showing up. i still don't agree with him though and will continue to shoot people. The thing is, most characters in the games I play fight back, which is something important he should consider.

 

[Therumancer]

I honestly fail to see what point, if any this guy has to be honest... even if what he was saying was a fair comparison.

I mean it's been said before, and tapped for things like "America's Army".