Call Goes Out For Shooter Cease Fire

[thepyrethatburns]

It's not so much that I think this would do anything so much as I think it illustrates why Newtown is going to change anything. If you can't get people to give up Call of Honor: War Ops for 24 hours, the odds of doing anything constructive that might make a change in our culture is nonexistent.

Also, for those of you who keep arguing "BUT THEN TEH FOX NEWZ AND JACK THOMPSON WILL TAKE OUR GAMEZ FROM US IF WE STOP", two points of order need to be made.

1) Jack Thompson hasn't been relevant for years. If the best boogieman you can scrounge up is a former lawyer that has been disbarred and discredited, then maybe the forces arrayed against gaming aren't as bad as you want to believe.

2) Django Unchained and Jack Reacher's release have been pushed back. Hollywood did this without any admission that movies cause violence. If you want to look for a headline that makes gamers look bad, I would imagine that gamers refusing to stop playing FPS games for 24 hours would be a far worse headline.

I get that this whole idea is an empty, symbolic gesture towards something that a lot of people don't care about anyway. I do. But the argument that not playing FPS games for 24 hours would lead to some form of admission of guilt seem like a desperate way of justifying one's actions.

 

[xen0blade]

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Granted, I probably exaggerated with how hard it was to kill someone with a knife. The brunt of the argument however was that it's harder to kill someone with a knife than with a gun(if anyhting, people can block or deflect your stab easier than they can dodge your bullet), hence the number of deaths would be much lower if guns would be controlled.

That's all. The article I linked did mention "stabbed" numerous times, though, and I'm not sure I believe the assailant was deliberately aiming for non-lethal spots like some charitable criminal.

A Little background: I'm a former US Marine with combat experience in Iraq, and I know a fair bit about other, more grisly topics as well. Experience, as they say, trumps a lot.
1) A knife is more dangerous then a firearm in actual close quarters combat. Period. Ask pretty much any trained professional. They'll say the same thing: knives scare me. They're very easy to use, very easy to get ahold of, and very very easy to kill with.
2)Guns are actually dangerous too. That doesn't make them any more dangerous then knives, or less dangerous. Knives are more dangerous for spur of the moment attacks, whereas guns have the edge in preplanned violence. Guns must be prepped (ammo, safety off (if it has one), round chambered, etc. Knives: grab and stab. Done. Blocking a knife DOES NOT MEAN YOU WILL LIVE. Knives, and bullets, do MASSIVE amounts of damage and you can easily kill and cripple with both without much training. Finally, if you want to use statistics like every other person, here's one: the majority of homicides are not caused by guns, but by blunt force trauma: i.e., hitting someone with a HAMMER or other blunt object. Fact lesson over, return to your pointless argument.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

Yeah no. Go get... Anyway, this is stupid.

First off, gaming has nothing to even remotely do with the shootings. Full stop. .

Secondly, if gaming does indeed have nothing to do with the shootings, as he states, then why are we throwing down shooters for a day? To show gamers will sit back and ignore lives that are lost?

I agree with that hilarious Spock GIF.

The logic in this is stupid. If we are going to stop shooters, then why not Zoidbe-Breathing? Why not driving? Fighting? Working? Christmas? Dog Patting? Sleeping?

Christ, it would make more sense to just give up a dollar, as that would do a lot more than some idiot trying to stop people playing shooters.

Also, screw you, I'm gonna go play some Garry's Mod/Natural Selection/TF2/Call o' Booty.

I understand that people are going through as disaster, and it doesn't have anything to even remotely to do with me, so why should I feel bad/give up things/go all depressed?

Listen, I can understand doing these things when the bad thing affects you OR it's a MAJOR HUGE INSANE disaster, AKA Earthquakes, Tsunamis and more, but when it's something around the other side of the world, I'm sorry, I have better things to do.

 

[Piorn]

This would only imply that this tragic event and video games are directly linked somehow, which they aren't.

We don't stop playing soccer when someone dies by a kick in the head, either.

 

[Lovesfool]

Would be a fantastic message to the world if we manage to keep all online shooter servers empty for just one day.

It shows that we are not addicted to our video games. We are not mindless zombies. We are not the stereotypical, always fat, always spotty, always in a dark room, always antisocial, always adolescent, always male nerds that the mainstream media frequently portray us as.

It will show that we can act and react as a community. That we are mature, thinking people, that actually give a damn and can actually send a message to the world.

Facebook campaign or not, it is irrelevant. What matters is for the servers to stay empty for that one day.

I'd like to see Fox News and the lot try and give a negative spin to something like that... Go ahead. Just try it...

 

[AstaresPanda]

pathetic cheap and so very very hollow. How is this going to help the victims of this? Its not, are the family's going to even care? No. Its like having some random dickhead you dont even know come up to you and say "sorry for your loss" or ppl at work giving you a card signed by all the random pricks who i dont know but "they are sorry and care" Fuck that crap. If you wanna HELP then im sure there are ways to REALLY help. Not playing a video game for a day is not going to help. Pulling episodes of family guy and american dad did not help. These dicks need to focus on the root of the problem and not start up all these random crusades that do nothing but pander to the idiots. And not to be harsh but, children die everyday from starvation and war, that we do nothing about or even care......the hypocrisy is amazing.

 

[Arakasi]

I can't wait to go online and kill all the TF2 pacifists that are bound to show up on this day.

 

[Rblade]

Is it really that hard for us people to be the bigger people and just hold our day of silence in respect. Something anything to rise above the baseless empty accusations and take a symbolical stand.

But no everybody shoots in silly defence mode blaming other things in a sarcastic way, yeah that is going to turn fox news around, they are going to see our sarcasm and reflect upon their sins.

Lets show the victims some compasion and draw attention to things like childsplay instead of a big digital b@#%# fight

This would only imply that this tragic event and video games are directly linked somehow, which they aren't.

We don't stop playing soccer when someone dies by a kick in the head, either.

very funny, actually a very good example. Just because it's not our fault doesn't mean we can't in anyway give ground. Common it's possible to say you regret something happened without admitting guilt.

 

[BroJing]

No, I'm afraid that since they're already trying to blame Starcraft for the shootings the kind of people this might be aimed at solidarity with won't be satisfied until noone is playing any games.

 

[Sonicron]

Laudable intention, phenomenally bad idea. Inside legal parameters I'd be hard-pressed to think of a better way to paint a big fat target on the gaming community for media outlets to take potshots at.

 

[Lovesfool]

Is it really that hard for us people to be the bigger people and just hold our day of silence in respect. Something anything to rise above the baseless empty accusations and take a symbolical stand.

But no everybody shoots in silly defence mode blaming other things in a sarcastic way, yeah that is going to turn fox news around, they are going to see our sarcasm and reflect upon their sins.

Lets show the victims some compasion and draw attention to things like childsplay instead of a big digital b@#%# fight

Couldn't agree more.

It's not about whether it helps the families of the victims.

It's about what is says about the gaming community as a whole. Can we coordinate? Can we be compassionate?

Or are we just a mindless horde of sarcastic, nihilistic, mindless addicts, that can't put their controllers down for one day and can actually face an ugly fact in the face without automatically pulling up a huge wall of denial on anything and everything?

 

[Legion]

Is it really that hard for us people to be the bigger people and just hold our day of silence in respect. Something anything to rise above the baseless empty accusations and take a symbolical stand.

But no everybody shoots in silly defence mode blaming other things in a sarcastic way, yeah that is going to turn fox news around, they are going to see our sarcasm and reflect upon their sins.

Lets show the victims some compasion and draw attention to things like childsplay instead of a big digital b@#%# fight

Couldn't agree more.

It's not about whether it helps the families of the victims.

It's about what is says about the gaming community as a whole. Can we coordinate? Can we be compassionate?

Or are we just a mindless horde of sarcastic, nihilistic, mindless addicts, that can't put their controllers down for one day and can actually face an ugly fact in the face without automatically pulling up a huge wall of denial on anything and everything?

We are none of these. Because there isn't a "gaming community". There is no "group", "collective" or "organisation".

People play games, people read books, people watch TV.

Should all book readers not read crime novels for a day?
Should all film fans avoid action movies for a day?

Does it say something about them if they don't?

No, because they are just hobbies. Playing games does not make you a representative of a larger community, it does not mean you have any responsibility, it does not mean you have any relation to anybody else who plays games unless you choose.

If people don't want to play violent games for a day to mark respect, that's their choice. But those who choose to carry on playing do not "represent the gaming community", they are not "making the gaming community look bad".

Because it doesn't even exist.

 

[Lovesfool]

Because there isn't a "gaming community". There is no "group", "collective" or "organisation".

People play games, people read books, people watch TV.

But this is where you are wrong...

We are a community. Especially if you talk about online shooters, we are the definition of a community. We congregate in online worlds, talk to each other, compete and cooperate. We are not passive viewers of a football game on our TVs. We are the actual players on the team. We have guilds and factions and dedicated servers.

Moreover, we are a community in this website and this very forum. We are all gamers. We meet here and exchange views, mostly about video games, but also about anything that interests us.

It doesn't get any more communal than that.

Yet, when someone simply suggests that we stop playing a specific genre of violent video games for 24hours, as a way to pay our respects and send a message that we DO care, we DO feel, we DO think, we DO communicate, we act like junkies that are asked to skip a fix.

Step 1. We dismiss the idea. We deny that it has anything to do with us, fail to see anything positive about it and refuse to accept that it has anything to do with us.

Step 2. We go to the other extreme and take an extra fix, to prove a point that we are not "mindless sheep" that follow whatever some "wise guy" says. As if stopping playing online shooters for 24 hours would show that we are "mindless sheep" and our inability to even contemplate the notion of staying off our "drug" for a day doesn't...

I find the fact than 8 out of 10 posts dismiss the idea of this very sensitive and thoughtful gesture very disappointing. It makes me sad. Maybe Fox News and Thompson have a point, after all...

 

[AstaresPanda]

Is it really that hard for us people to be the bigger people and just hold our day of silence in respect. Something anything to rise above the baseless empty accusations and take a symbolical stand.

But no everybody shoots in silly defence mode blaming other things in a sarcastic way, yeah that is going to turn fox news around, they are going to see our sarcasm and reflect upon their sins.

Lets show the victims some compasion and draw attention to things like childsplay instead of a big digital b@#%# fight

Couldn't agree more.

It's not about whether it helps the families of the victims.

It's about what is says about the gaming community as a whole. Can we coordinate? Can we be compassionate?

Or are we just a mindless horde of sarcastic, nihilistic, mindless addicts, that can't put their controllers down for one day and can actually face an ugly fact in the face without automatically pulling up a huge wall of denial on anything and everything?

And what does it have to do with the gaming community ? Nothing, some random guy says we should do this to show our surrport. You really have to have some ego to think that THIS shallow gesture would make the situation any less painful for them or if they'll even care or notice. It has NOTHING to do with the gaming community just like columbine shooting had NOTHING to do with Marilyn Manson and Doom. People like Fox news are going to put any kind of negative spin on games regardless they'll milk this story for all its worth. They need to focus on the real root on the issue instead of all this crap people are doing to "help the victims". And like ive said and many others, its not the very first case of kids being killed, but you know how the US media is. So please tell me why we should make a huge community effort to stop playing videos games for the victims of this school shooting but do nothing about kids starving to death, being killed in wars, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time in places like Syria and Bahrain, Palestine etc Or are they not worthy of our time ??? Sick of things like this being blown out and twisted to suit other ppls agenda.

 

[Lovesfool]

And what does it have to do with the gaming community ?

The event at the school has nothing to do with the gaming community.

How we react to it has everything to do with the gaming community.

I wouldn't mind stopping playing online strategy games for a day to send a collective message against wars in general.

I wouldn't mind stopping playing online altogether for a day to make a point against irresponsible and excessive power consumption that depletes Earths natural resources.

I wouldn't mind staying off the internet all together for a day to send a message against online child pornography or depression due to lack of personal communication.

Does than mean I accept blame for those things?

No.

Will my action change the world?

No.

Will it show I care? Will it show I actually give a damn? Will it send a message?

Possibly. Maybe it will.

Will it be good for me?

Possibly. If yes, marginally so.

Does it cost me ANYTHING?

Nope.

So, yes, I think staying off online shooter servers for a day is a nice and decent thing to do. Do it for yourself, if not for anyone else.