Newtown Boy Campaigns Against Violent Games

[2clueless]

First off, I am going parrot what a bunch of people have all ready said. Twelve year old. Playing Call of Duty Multiplayer. To be fair, I dont think I was much older when I started playing Half Life and Unreal Tournament, but at least widespread voice communication was none existent. Really hope his parents are at least engaged and monitoring his play, and talked to him about difficult interactions. But I digress..

Context. We need it.

The quote "how real this is", in what sense does he view his online slayings as real? Did the massacre hit too close to home because on occasion he'd picture bullies and objects of his envy taking bullets to the head? Was he sheltered to the point that he thought actual murder and killing didn't exist in the real world? After the tragedy, was he afraid games might make him a killer later on in life?

All right, he has been part of a traumatic experience, but throwing away his violent games seems like a very knee jerk reaction. As others have suggested, this may not be his idea at all, but a suggestion by someone else taken one step further. I think it is great that the boy is questioning why he plays the games he does, and what he wants out of his gaming experience. Now is a time for personal reflection and growth. Depending on what conslusions he comes to, he could be very sorry he chose this path. Money and entertainment down the drain..

For myself, it was the challenge of better myself, of being the best player, solving skills challenges and problems, learning from defeat, and loving the sweet taste of victory. Sure, there were rivals, people that really stood out and forced me to up my game to beat them, but that was always as far as it went, a rise to the challenge.

 

[ThisGuyLikesNoTacos]

OT: Why do I feel like this kid is going to get his ass kicked?

I want it on video, it will be HILARIOUS.

Gamers: Supporting child abuse since 2012.

The Internet: Supporting child abuse and every other horrid act since its inception.

It's just a kid! He is shocked and confused from the shooting! Oh! It's not even a normal kid!

at the funeral of his friend's brother

Let me just sink this in: You just wished physical harm, and said you'd take satisfaction on seeing it, of somebody who was affected by the shooting. Think about what you're saying!

Hell, you shouldn't wish harm on anybody for something such as this! He's trying to do something good FFS!

God dammit people! Am I the only one here who sees something wrong in what we're doing here!?

I don't know, what are we doing wrong? Far as I can see only one person has given a rather trollish response to the kid's actions. He's making a sweet gesture, really he is, and I doubt many of us at that age could stomach CoD levels of violence after living through that. His actions beyond that are no less naive and the adults around him that have already started to take advantage of his innocence as a rallying cry are no less despicable. All this is going to end up being is a harsh lesson for the kid that the majority of the world really doesn't care too much about what he's going through; they just enjoy watching the train wreck of a media circus that surrounds it.

I found most of the comments (notice the time of my original post) somewhat mean spirited and dismissive. Considering the person who is on the receiving end of it.

I overreacted. I admit it.

 

[1337mokro]

Destroy your expensive games as a proxy for my grieving process! Because if we destroy enough games that might bring back my brother and/or prevent another shooting!

Eh... I think you need therapy kid. You need it anyway for having lost your bro's brother, which is probably a trauma especially now that there is no one to answer for the crime. However you are now blaming a piece of media for what a person with a gun did. How about you invite people to throw away their guns? Seems allot more effective than throwing away games.

Also there is no such thing as a Violent Videogame. It implies that the videogame has some kind of anger issues and is threatening you constantly. It is just a term used to make the videogame sound like an entity rather than an piece of software.

 

[Keltrick]

he is for the most part talking about why do we play these games that depict violence when it can "remind" us of very real occurrences, and then adding that "to all those who don't wish to be reminded of this violent act to do the same as him"

Oh I get the point, but that doesnt make him right in any sense.

I have had friends that were killed in combat, but that doesnt mean that military shooters, or military films, or violent TV shows make me think about them and grieve whenever I play one or watch one, because I know that there is a difference between a game and real life.

Well, you can't decide if he's 'right'. If I see someone who's a tad over emotional, and crying over some spilled milk, I cannot go up to them and say "Excuse Me Sir, that emotion you're feeling? Well, its wrong. No, no, don't argue. I see where you're coming from, but you're not right, in feeling upset because this happened."

If you don't react emotionally as easily as the 12-year-old, good for you. I'd expect as much. The point is, he is not arguing anything, so you cannot dismiss him as not being right. He is a kid, and being put in the first person perspective of someone shooting another human, and taking their life, for entertainment, upsets him.

If you have a hard break up, and you hear a break up song or read a story about a break up, and it reminds you of it, and you get emotional, 'knowing the difference between between fiction and real life' doesn't stop you from sympathizing. You would be excused if you thought about going out of your way NOT to hear that song again, or read that story, so you can AVOID bringing up those negative feelings. As 'not real life' as Taylor Swift's song is, you still get sad, and you still don't want to feel sad, so you'll turn tune to another station.

 

[yankeefan19]

And thus, hundreds of dollars worth of games will be stolen and sold.

 

[eternal-chaplain]

I am already imagining a movie made about the last two intelligent people in Newtown and their quest to find this dumpster and save the games from destruction. Or, at the very least, get an ass-load of free games.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Why the hell is a 12-year-old playing Call of Duty in the first place? And why do his friends (who I suspect to be in the same age group) do the same?

Max was a regular Call of Duty player with the approval of his parents, who "gradually succumbed" to his desire for the game.

There's your problem!

 

[Ashannon Blackthorn]

It's a weird one. The kids trying ot deal. Ok fine. now he's asking others ot do the same. OK... fine... until we have some activist group form up around it I'm ok with it. The minute he starts trying ot say "I'm right so do as I say" I'll have an issue

Also, simply because he is a 12 year old who been through some bad stuff doesn't make his message the truth or shield him from criticism or outright dismissal.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Wish I lived nearby, then I could raid the dumpster and take all the games for myself and trade in the copies

How about throwing away guns rather than CD's? Fucking imbeciles.

 

[Auron]

I think it's fine as his decision but urging everyone to do the same is wrong. It should be an individual solution for people who feel one way or the other about it. It's half a step from blaming shooters for maniacs with guns.

I want to comment negatively on this kid's campaign but I'm too distracted at the fact that he plays cod at the age of 12. I can't take him seriously if he plays mature games at his age and I don't think he should be the one to make this campaign.
But on the off chance that this stops a decent number of under-aged gamers from playing mature titles, then props to the kid!

I grew up playing Doom, what's wrong with that? Have a perfectly clean record and no intention of killing anyone and Doom, Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior and other shooters were, albeit nowadays primitive graphically, pretty gory. As long as someone makes it clear to the kids that it's not real(not that it's particularly hard to discern it in the first place, people give too little credits to kids sometimes.) it's not really a problem if anything it's healthy.


I think the only problem I'd have with my potential young offspring playing some cod is that the community is rotten to the core.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Wanted to not kill anything even in games: Admirable.
Implying that everyone should give up games because of one abstraction in them: not so admirable.

It's quiet insane to think that what separates violent games from perfectly fine games is the level of abstraction. The difference between Chess and an FPS is the rules and the level of abstraction, and some magical arbitrary point separates something intellectual from a killing simulator.

EDIT: Also, shame on you kid for playing an M rated game. Why don't you start a campaign to get people to pay attention to ratings. I'd support that! We need more of that!

 

[BNguyen]

This whole thing falls along the lines of X event happened, so X must be related to Y which is only a part of Group Z, so, in order to stop X from happening again, we should destroy all of Z.
Seriously, it's like saying one book caused a bad thing - ex. Catcher in the Rye, so let's collect and destroy all books because it could happen again or it might indirectly lead to it happening again.
Yeah, this isn't going to end well for them. They may be happy to get some but the majority is not going to follow this.

 

[Easton Dark]

I would be all over that dumpster after dark.

Free money.

 

[Caffeine_Bombed]

It could be argued that it reminds him of the shooting and no longer brings him joy, but I would say that he is more than likely convinced that videogames are the cause, based on how he is urging his peers to throw away their games too. His peer playing violent games should have no impact on reminding him of the murders so I'm rejecting that theory.

Took the words out of my mouth. If he's throwing out his games because of his own personal reasons, why announce it to everyone else? Why convince everyone else to follow suit unless you felt THEY were doing something bad?

 

[Berithil]

Gotta applaud the kid. We all know that games aren't responsible, but he has good intentions.

I've never really thought that 12 year olds shouldn't be playing M rated games anyway, but whatever.

However, I really doubt that he's going to convince his peers to give up their games.

 

[T'Generalissimo]

The addition of the dumpster of games to be destroyed takes what would otherwise be a pretty damn understandable reaction to the experience he had and gives it a whole book-burny element that I find kind of creepy.

 

[sabercrusader]

I appluad the kid for not blaming it on video games, but simply choosing not to play them. Not that I think he's right, I disagree with it, but still, there's nothing wrong with it. He never said that video games were the cause, just that he can't stand playing them anymore because of it. Now, if I were living there, I'd probably go around there and do a little dumpster diving for some games. I mean, if they don't want them, why shouldn't anyone else be able to take them?

 

[Something Amyss]

People with half a brain knows that videogames had nothing to do with this.

Yes, but we're talking about America. Most of us can't find Canadia on the map.

America is anti-intellectual, anti-reason, and anti-critical thinking. We want quick solutions, even if they don't solve anything.

I think the only thing stopping this sort of campaign is that we tend to also lack the moral fortitude to actually give up the things we criticise.

 

[Jamieson 90]

I can certainly see why 12 year old Max wouldn't want to play a violent video game where you kill people considering what's happened around him recently, and he's perfectly entitled to start a group, I mean people don't have to join it, so I really don't see any harm in this. Sure I don't think violent video games cause real life violence, you could even argue they help relieve real life frustration and pent up anger, but that's his view and this is my view. I think that pretty much settles the issue although I really don't think he'll be that successful, but good luck to the kid anyway.

 

[ScruffyMcBalls]

Why the hell is a 12-year-old playing Call of Duty in the first place? And why do his friends (who I suspect to be in the same age group) do the same?

The first damn thought that ran through my head too.