Fox News Says Bulletstorm Could Make You a Rapist

[shiajun]

Well, people who say that associating guest speakers' comments as opinions of the news agency is wrong are completely correct. However, Movie Bob made a video a while ago that summed it up quite nicely: fair play is stupid. It can be outright dangerous at times. If something is downright fallacious and you do not describe it as such, even give it airtime and exposure,you are not doing your job right. A news agency is supposed to inform, not place everything on a simulated balance and give validity to something that's false just to appease some interest group. That's why agree that even though FOX didn't itself state "bulletstorm=rape" it is endorsing that kind of backwards thinking by not decrying the falseness of what people say. Whoever is anchoring that show is moronic and guilty of the worst kind of "journalism" available.

Going back a couple hours, but I just noticed this.

Yes, the rape claim is fairly ridiculous, but its a website article so the author wants it to be viewed. But in general terms, the question of whether a game like Bulletstorm damages young children and makes them more prone to be violent is not worth dismissing straight out. It is a debate that should be held. Now, like most people on this website, I don't think games cause that kind of harm, but its not so obvious that any debate on the subject should be ridiculed

Well, if it was a debate with sound grounds it would have to be discussed. However, the fact remains that Bullestorm (and similar games) are not intended to be viewed and/or played by minors. Some movies, book, plays, sculptures, paintings, songs, etc., require some degree of mental maturity to comprehend context and perhaps absorb the shocking emotions without leaving some mental scar of some sort. All media are capable of influencing minds, specially those not mature enough to understand all the layers. In games that's what the M rating is for. The debate shouldn't revolve about how a game can influence kids (it most likely can, like all other media) but about why are parents being so negligent towards their children's gaming habits. You don't hand of over some Marquis de Sade book to your 9 year old, why are you exposing your child to a game whose sense of humor, sarcasm and parody will not be understood?

All opinions can be heard but not all opinions are equal. Some people just speak out of ignorance and if no one corrects them the audience leaves confused or worse with the idea that what was said is true. The "fair-play" format can artificially turn a 95%-5% issue into a 50%-50% debate. This uncorrected presentation (which FOX just looooooves doing) is bad journalism, be it for games or whatever topic at hand. It's just that in this case the people opposing violence in M rated games aren't just a minority, they are a minority that has its facts all wrong and have been given the chance to spread confusion against truth.

 

[Noobsalad]

Do you even watch FOX news? It's mostly garbage....

I do watch some of Fox News and have been for about 6 years, and it's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. I don't agree with everything (and disagree with a lot of it) but I suspect most people hate Fox because they see cherry-picked clips, not because they actually have a clue about the network as a whole.

 

[Credge]

Anyway, is anyone still surprised by this?

I'm surprised by the fact that the Escapist would put this on the front page, and I'm surprised at Chalk's complete lack of integrity in this particular story.

I'm sickened (but not surprised) by the vitriol being spewed against Fox News in the comments section.

This sums up what I was going to say.

Way to, as Andy Chalk would probably say about Fox if they had done the same thing, bring it to their level. Such hypocrisy.

In related news: It's ironic that an incredibly liberal article (saying the answer is government penalties for selling games to minors? lolk) is being bashed on Fox.

Also in related news: GG. I'm done here.

 

[Nouw]

As many said, their take on the big DNF is going to be very amusing. Probably going to be branded a Porno Rape Simulator that encourages killing people then kicking them in the nuts.

Fox News, are you trying to troll us?

 

[DirgeNovak]

*snip* And Fox never claimed the games caused rape. That was the wacky lady. Who here actually read the article before bashing Fox News? I'm sickening by this bias against Fox News. You want to show that Fox is biased? Then DON'T MAKE UP THIS KIND OF NONSENSE.

And who made the editorial choice of interviewing the wacky lady?

That's Fox's main defense: "We didn't say Bulletstorm was a rape simulator, that was the psychologist". By interviewing those prejudiced so-called professionnals who didn't do any kind of research about what they're talking about (I remember the psychologist they invited to talk about Mass Effect candidly admitting she never played the game before literally slandering it), Fox can get their message across without being accused of unethical journalism, because, well, the actual journalists didn't actually make baseless accusations. They just reported what others said.

This isn't a news story. It's an editorial. If they hadn't been biased, they wouldn't have talked about Bulletstorm at all. It's also worth noting that the part where they show the other side of the medal is littered with comments like "Epic didn't respond to our requests" or even "Warner Bros, [who don't have a fucking thing to do with this game], had no comments about this story." Outstanding.

Also, the title of the article is IS BULLETSTORM THE WORST VIDEO GAME IN THE WORLD? That hardly seems unbiased.

No Andy's article wasn't objective, but Fox, with this article and all the other slandering shit they wrote/said about games, is provably worse.

 

[Mitchell Smith]

It really bothers me that news can publish things like this.... it doesnt even make sense.
There's plenty of pictures of dogs and cats who are best friends... that would be more news worthy.


I'm sure these "young minds" can identify the pun here using the certain terms of an "explicit sex acts".

 

[Paksenarrion]

All I could think of when I saw this thread was Oprah being trolled by Anonymous.

"OVER 9000 PENISES."

 

[BrownGaijin]

I'm giving the comments (in the article itself) a read over. Guess how many criticize Fox on their own site.

 

[Noobsalad]

snip

I was speaking more generally. This particular Fox article is poorly done because one side is so obviously wrong (that the game will lead to rape).

But the general debate about whether violent games lead to violence is worth having. The selling of cigarettes to minors is banned. We accept that smoking causes children harm, just like violent games (arguably) cause children harm. Parents should monitor their children and not allow them to purchase cigarettes. But that doesn't always happen, so the government has taken an additional step to keep cigarettes away from minors. Should the government do something similar for violent videogames? I personally think no, but the debate is valid, and both sides should be heard because it is not a clear-cut issue.

You mentioned a debate about why parents are so negligent. That debate should also happen.

 

[Beccax]

Oh dear Lord! This actually hurts.

My first reaction to this was to laugh and let it go, but the more I think about it, the angrier I get just thinking about Fox News.

Every time I read an article about Fox and video games it makes me want to hit them in the face. So actually the problem isn't video games making normal people violent, its Fox News and because of this, I think they should be banned for having a negative affect on the development of usually normal, law abiding people.

 

[Deathkingo]

Video games are the cause of rape? I'll never look at pong the same way again...

 

[NinjaTigerXIII]

How many times does a news network or anyone need to bring up that video games are "bad" before they realize that the games they are warning parents about are rated M FOR MATURE! Which means you cannot buy the game unless you are older then 17. And really it all comes down to the parents. If the parent doesn't think the kid is old enough to play an M-rated game then guess what, THE KIDS' NOT PLAYING BULLETSTORM! And this is coming from someone who didn't own an M rated game until he was 17.

 

[shiajun]

snip

I was speaking more generally. This particular Fox article is poorly done because one side is so obviously wrong (that the game will lead to rape).

But the general debate about whether violent games lead to violence is worth having. The selling of cigarettes to minors is banned. We accept that smoking causes children harm, just like violent games (arguably) cause children harm. Parents should monitor their children and not allow them to purchase cigarettes. But that doesn't always happen, so the government has taken an additional step to keep cigarettes away from minors. Should the government do something similar for violent videogames? I personally think no, but the debate is valid, and both sides should be heard because it is not a clear-cut issue.

You mentioned a debate about why parents are so negligent. That debate should also happen.

Well, yeah, it's a debate that should be had but in a proper forum without the sensationalism often brought to the table for ratings (and it's not just FOX). I would like to make a distinction on the direct, quantifiable, cause-effect, physical harm done by cigarettes (or other things banned from sale to minors) and the abstract, fuzzy influence games may have upon an individual that's impossible to separate from the influence brought on by every other thing that individual experiences. I'd say that's where a line could be drawn. It can be regulated (as it is, mostly, being done now) but not banned or fined as the relationship cannot be traced back.

On the other debate, yeah, I'd like to see that. Why is a parent who exposed their kid to unsuitable content allowed to shift blame and not be reprimanded for bad parenting, as it would be it they let their kids run around with knives? Companies can do everything they can on their end but they cannot police who ends up playing the game if it was bought legally by an adult, nor should they be held responsible.

 

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

Ah, Faux News strikes again.

OP:...

...

At least it's kind of entertaining at this point.

 

[BrionJames]

if idiot parents don't by a game inteded for those 17 and up, then I don't think there's a problem. It's not the games fault it wants to amuse man-boys, keep the little crumb snatchers from gettin their mitts on it and then everyone can shut up about how videogames make jeffrey dahmers.

 

[Noobsalad]

snip

I didn't say Fox was unbiased; they do have a bias. More importantly, they are the most sensationalist of the major news networks. The title is there to get views (just like Andy's title). That's my biggest problem with Fox News; it loves to bring on crazy people. I don't think they do that because they agree with crazy people; they do it because it's good business. Crazy people generate popularity.

I guess I'm just upset that Chalk used the exact same method to get views; he used a attention-grabbing title and slanted an article to get a bunch of gamers to angrily comment and bash Fox News.

 

[Karthek]

After Fox's epic failure(the Mass Effect controversy), I proudly say that I do not watch it anymore. The fact that those twats are STILL trying to turn viewers against video games tells me that they are desperate to jump on the anti-video game bandwagon that all the other assholes are riding on.
Or that they are desperate for attention.
Or that Jack Thompson is behind these shenanagins.

Well, whatever is the case...I HATE FOX NEWS!

 

[Karthek]

I guess you could say *Puts on shades*
Fox news is pulling a Jack Thompson
YYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!

 

[TilMorrow]

This just in! Fox News have just realised that the news that they keep spewing out has directly increased the rates in which rape and crimes occur. They have also realised that by bringing the whole of America into the knowledge of certain explict movies and games that they have done quite the opposite of what they intended. They have increased their sales dramatically. The head of Fox News had this to say "WE TAKE BACK EVERYTHING WE SAID VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES ARE GOOD YOU HEAR? THIS SHOW ENDORSES VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES. LOOK HERE *shows a bunch of random game advertisements including Bulletstorm, Call of Duty, Dora and Disney games*. Also Bill says he is close to unraveling the Moon mystery."

OT: Oh Fox how dumb can you be at times?

 

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

Warning, Parental Advisory:

Prolonged exposure to any FOX programming can and will make you an insufferable imbecile over time.

Wouldn't you have to already be an insufferable imbecile to voluntary expose yourself to FOX news in the first place?