Michael Atkinson Once Again Dismisses Gamers

[Treblaine]

Hear that parents of Australia?

Atkinson said you "can't do your job" of protecting your kids so he is going to treat you like children instead.

My god, this guy is the ultimate troll.

 

[wizkid17]

Yay, Australia becomes more and more horrible of a place to live everyday. I say to you the same thing I've said before. "Democracy only works if there is some safeguard againsts idiots who can block a majority/consensus/unanimous decision/whatever. Sometimes it's a good thing that the minority gets put in its place. Sometimes the minority is made of idiots." Let's think about this for a second. One man decides that he will vote against a given bill. In America, that means that if he wants his side of the argument to prevail, he has to garner support from enough of the lawmakers to at least prevent a majority decision. Granted, the American governmental system isn't perfect, or even good, but it is functional. From what I read, the Australian system, much like the European one-if my information is correct, requires a 100% unanimous vote to ever get anything done. While that means that in theory every bill that is worth ratifying is compromised and rewritten over and over again until all parties in opposition are content, in practice, bills that don't get passed after relatively few re-writes are just dropped. Human beings are by nature lazy creatures. So to all you Australians out there, and everybody else, griping about how much it sucks that this guy makes the rules, DO SOMETHING. If you feel strongly about this, don't complain on the internet. No one cares. Nothing posted on a forum is ever taken seriously by anyone important. If you want change, make yourselves known. Make your voices heard. Organize protests, sign petitions, march on the guy's house. If you complain about your problems and never even attempt to fix them yourselves, you are just as much to blame for said problems. If you want change, you have to earn it.
-Wiz

 

[Talyn.Co]

Interesting thing is... Parents CAN'T take care of their kids, most of the time. I myself find the concept of parents giving their children what they want just to shut them up unfathomable, but that is simply because I was raised quite differently.
I think people give in to the urge to procreate far too easily and do not take the time to consider the absolutely staggering responsibility and insight required to properly raise a child.

 

[CanadianWolverine]

Wow. I love this guy. It is true as proven in the US that ratings do not work. People just buy their kids whatever they want and everyone thinks that kids have the right to play whatever. So no, parents do not take care of their kids. They just give them whatever they want to shut them up.
Basically it comes down to this. It is the law. Shut up and deal with it or leave.
You do not see pedos or other criminals trying to state the laws are stupid. (well except for stoners but who gives a feth what they think.)

(Of course it helps that I am in New Zealand. A sane country where ratings exist and are enforced as well as such things can be. Plus this is amusing as hell.)

I have a deep respect for New Zealand apparent 'level headed-ness' in its citizenry and politics for the most part but you are not doing your fellow Kiwis any favors with this post. Oh well, every where has douchebags and/or morons, especially my own country, I suppose if you are the worst New Zealand has to offer and you have no real position of power, it is still a decent place with Mäori, very polite and friendly people, legal brothels, Peter Jackson/WETA, reasonable approaches to the high impact of local enviromental issues for the most part, pretty women, places to go surfing, and Indy Game developers.

 

[hittite]

Does anyone know how to hack a UAV?

I think there might be a Predator in range.

 

[spartan773]

The Australian Jack Thompson, lovely.

I agree.

 

[dalek sec]

Who got this prick into power again?

Pretty much this is my question as well, how the fuck did this guy get into power?

 

[Therumancer]

I disagree with him on most things, plus if you think about it the same logic could be applied to anything, and once the precedent is maintained it becomes increasingly likely that it will. That's a bad thing if you believe in free speech. Not to mention that what counts as "extreme" material is highly subjective to begin with.

Generally speaking, I think him "having no time for nerds" largely has to do with the nerds being unwilling to do anything but make noise. This includes relatively powerful "nerd corps" like Valve who have refused to fight back when their games have been forced into censorship, refused classification, or banned outright.

The US is in the shape it is now (for good or bad, depending on perspective) because of 1960s liberals who instead of just making noise decided to get up and fight for their beliefs and do something. This ranged from protest marchs, to extremely illegal and violent behavior directed with a purpose. That's what it takes to succeed.

Really I feel Aussie geeks need to seriously start looking at what it takes to knock this guy out of power (one way or another), get some protest marchs going, and make it clear that you simply won't be ignored. Heck even if it comes down to illegal behaviors and such it can be pointed out that people did TRY simply making noise, but it was totally ineffective under the circumstances.

Simply put as bad as this guy is, those who don't stand up to tyranny (of any sort) are themselves responsible for their own oppression.

 

[kannibus]

My sympathies to our southern colonial cousins...

 

[Squeaksx]

I will not beat a dead horse and instead give a word of warning to ALL who have a substantial public presence. If you EVER call a nerd a nerd without you yourself being one or their video game universes 'imaginary, a waste of time, useless'. If you do so you will feel as though the entire internet has turned against you.

To be honest I don't think the majority of gamers would be so insulted and outraged if these people of power would simply refer to us with a slight bit of respect. I have no idea why they devolve into name-calling.

 

[CanadianWolverine]

Apart from that's not what an 18 certificate is about. He's quite cleverly insinuated that all 18 certificates are grisly, gorey and cruel, but he forgets to mention that 18s are often given to scenes that involve suicide, sexual violence, homosexuality or politically oriented. (Which leads us to banning Romeo and Juliet, Platoon, Lolita, Catch-22, 1984, Animal Farm, Day of the Jackal, Madame Bovary, Anna Kareina) This doesn't include overt sexuality, torture, animated violence though so we're ok with Carrie (R) (Despite decapitation, buckets of blood, naked Sissy Spacek being beaten and humiliated), Alien (M) (Only real gore scene I can remember is the famous John Hurt one), Predator (M) or Battle Royale (R).

Now if Battle Royale, which is about a bunch of school children having sex and gunning each other down, gets an R in Australia - How the hell is L4D2 unclassifiable?

This is an opportunity where I think we, as a video gaming community, can begin to educate those not involved with our community about our hobby. The problem is, over-gratuitous violence and sex are often prominently featured in video game advertisements, which for some people, such as most parents, is all they will ever see or know about our hobby. It's sort of a case like Americans from the southern states, too many of the wrong games are getting too much publicity. And the wrong publicity at that. They won't know the complex moral struggle of Niko Bellic, and the subtle subplots entwined in GTA IV, because all they have seen is the rampant shooting and slaughter. They will never understand the elaborate story and world of Bioshock, because all they may know are games like Manhunt. And that is exactly what gives Atkinson's arguments credence among the general public, because to them, he is exactly spot on. So what is it we can do? How do we stop ignorance and assumptions of such magnitude? We fight with the one thing we have they don't: knowledge of the gaming community.

Next time you're gaming and someone who doesn't know much about gaming comes in, maybe let them play for a bit. Let them experience some of our best side, the side mainstream media doesn't let them see. Let them experience the thrill of the dystopia of Rapture, and the story of her fall. Allow them to make the moral choices Cole is forced into, and how his choices forever change Empire City. And show them the others, games like GTA IV and L4D2, and show them that the arguments against us the media makes are entirely unfounded. Sure, it may start small. But gradually they will see our hobby isn't that bad, that it isn't the boogeyman the media makes it out to be. And who knows, maybe they will start their own collection, picking up a Wii, or a PS3, or a 360, or a low end computer, and maybe they'll start gaming. And they'll show their friends who don't know much about gaming at all. And maybe, just maybe, it will spread from their, and as people realize that video games aren't all as bad as the media makes them out to be, they'll begin to realize people like Atkinson and Thompson are full of shit, and that they're nothing but raving lunatics. And gradually, politicians will start to see the gaming population grow, and being opposed to video games won't be a good idea anymore. Sure, maybe it's wishful thinking, but I think with a little work, and taking a little extra time to show mom and dad the wonderful stories behind some of our favorite games, it could happen.

Australian gamers, I think Soviet accidentally came up with a way to battle Atkinson directly on this issue with this post.

Go out into the regions his voters frequent, set up a LAN party with projector and a friendly commentator and then post signs around the display of fun saying "Atkinson Will Not Let You Play." With a small flier that is a reprint of his letter and a clear argument why his censorship of adult entertainment is wrong and demeaning of his electorate and how this impacts his credibility in other issues of "real" importance. Thought police and false assumptions of games turning children into vile criminals when crime among children has actually been dropping, indeed it is this world's new false evil conspiracy to harm your children so they keep you in a controllable place of fear ruling your life instead of taking a closer look at "real" issues impacting the citizen's and those of his family, friends, and neighbors lives.

In conclusion, let the people play games and be entertained, he will soon be shown to be a dangerous fool to his own electorate if they are just given a chance to see our mature art form's content. Sure, anger is so much easier to act on but showing his electorate a bit of love and compassion for having to suffer under his stewardship could have a much more satisfying impact on the culture as a whole. Do we gamers want to be seen as smear campaigners working with fear and hate or educators attempting to uplift our fellow man by teaching them the joy of gaming?

I for one am trying to raise a very smart, strong, healthy, caring, beautiful gamer girl who I will teach to question authority, even if it is me, if she can do so with a well reasoned approach of which the truth I can not deny.

 

[Arkfeller]

*snip*

There IS actually something being done. Someone's established a Gamer Party, and once they've amassed enough people to actually be called a political party, they're going to run against Atkinson when the next election comes around.
Though, of course, the seat Atkinson holds is rather safe.
http://www.gamers4croydon.org/home

 

[mooncalf]

And we once again dismiss Michael Atkinson, if only his bosses would notice and ask him to resign.

 

[Code Monkey]

Who did this guy blow to get in a position of power?

(I can't seem to think of anything mature to say right now, not afer reading that.)

 

[CanadianWolverine]

*snip*

There IS actually something being done. Someone's established a Gamer Party, and once they've amassed enough people to actually be called a political party, they're going to run against Atkinson when the next election comes around.
Though, of course, the seat Atkinson holds is rather safe.
http://www.gamers4croydon.org/home

Awesome! Thanks for the link. Check it out, there is even a link to donate and any proceeds left over from the campaign is going to Child's Play, very cool ... say, that sounds familiar, didn't the Fly Gabe To Australia for that L4D campaign have something similar? If gamers can get behind sending some Valve folks to Australia, surely we can get behind this if our donations are legally allowed even if our votes are not.

 

[Vierran]

The problem is that it isn't about wanted depraved sex and violence, it is about choice, we should have the right to choose within a good means what entertainment we should access. He has never put forward a good argument as to why not to have R18 ratings and this is just another poor excuse, if this were really his stance then he would be trying to remove all games rated 15 and above because in the end most of the games that would be rated R are rated M with one section watered down, stating that parents can't be responsible enough to not give these games to their children is a cop out.

How about putting more emphasis on teaching parents about the rating system instead of just broad-brushing everyone with the same stroke. He is basically saying that HE doesn't trust us to be responsible, well who made him god?

As for being re-elected, as a main attack dog for the premier and a constituency that seems to to not be overly interested in this debate i doubt he won't get re-elected which is a shame because i think he abuses his power and not just on this issue.

 

[RealLifev2.0.09]

For me my life is the anti-argument against the care bear governments of the world. I have watched R rated movies since I was 6 years old. I saw saving private ryan in theaters as a child. You know what it made me think? War is really bad, we should never do this again... protecting children from tragedy will only doom them to commit such acts. I played perfect dark as a child too and found it to be quite fun. In real life, I have never held a gun, I do not even want to. I cringe when I see real violence on the news even to this day even though I grew up watching fake violence in films and video games. I feel empathetic when I see people going through tragedy. But the care bear governments of the world are telling me that I am a lie. I must enjoy seeing real tragedy since I did so when it was a movie or video game.

I love how apparently it is popular in politics today to forget that humanity has lived a long and at times brutal existence. The Bubonic plague in Europe saw bodies littering the streets. So much death, surely all the children just couldn't handle it and all of Europe just collapsed into chaos and violence and civilization ended in Europe.

Oh wait, I forget I am a descendant of Anglo-Saxons.

I think people honestly should "Grow Up" even children learn at a young age there is a difference between war games (playing with toy soldiers) and actual war.

 

[GamingAwesome1]

God this guy is such a smug son of a *****. If I were living in Australia, I would taint-punch the ************.

Do more than taint-punch him. He doesn't seem to give two shits about the gamers. What a douchebag, I hope he dies and dies soon.......and I mean that.

 

[StarStruckStrumpets]

We could always kill the kids in Australia. That way, he wouldn't have anything to complain about. I'm surprised he hasn't been assassinated as of yet. Oh well, I live in the UK, so this doesn't concern me right now, but I'm sure it will at one point. I don't know why everyone is so bothered about "protecting" the children, it isn't like they're going to return the favour. Some people are just self-righteous.