Newtown Boy Campaigns Against Violent Games

[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.

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

I understand and respect his standpoint. After something like that, it would be difficult to enjoy a shpoting game. His logic for his campaigning against shooters on principal is wrong,make a bin for guns, without which massacres cant happen

 

[Woodsey]

Good for the kid.

While I disagree that violent games cause people to be violent. This child believes it strong enough that he's putting himself out there to support what he believes in. Not like politicians that are doing it for a shameless vote grab.

Yeah, and if he were old enough he'd be voting for those idiots.

 

[crazyrabbits]

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

See, this is where I have a problem. How much do you want to bet they bought the game for him, sight unseen, and allowed him to play whenever he wanted? My (understandably limited) experience with the recent CoD multiplayer had me turning off the mic to mute kids who were swearing and hacking. If online accounts are any indication, every multiplayer lobby is filled with 10-12 year olds being 'tryhard' players who don't understand what they're doing and just play it because it looks cool.

Instead of telling people to throw out violent video games, he should have been advocating education programs/advertising campaigns to teach parents about the potential pitfalls of giving violent games to impressionable young kids who don't know any better. It shouldn't take a friend passing away to realize there's a larger problem than "violent video games bad, me smart".

 

[Groenteman]

Yup lets all happily pad bandages on healthy parts while we leave the real wounds to rot and fester.

This one kid isnt particularly wrong, hes understandably put off by violence in general and not of voting age, but people with similar attitudes will vote for politicians who favour useless placebo solutions, because those are much much easier than adressing the real problems of mental healthcare and gun control not existing to any meaningful degree.

This kind of stuff is the proverbial sticking ones head in the sand. Its not only useless, its destructive.

 

[m19]

To be fair to his parents they might know their kid well enough not to worry about him playing Call of Duty. His heart is clearly in the right place at least.

 

[Ryank1908]

Fucking... HE'S 12. WHY IS HE PLAYING CALL OF DUTY.

Oh, wait guys, it's fine, he has the approval of his parents, they're totally doing a good job.
There is a problem with violent videogames and THIS is it. Violence in media isn't going to go away, so yeah, you can't mollycoddle your kids and keep their delicate little eyes from seeing it forever. But you have a responsibility to make sure that your fucking twelve year old's aren't playing something as violent as Call of Duty, which is easily as violent as any top shelf gritty action film these days.

Kids need to be eased into this stuff, and parents need to have a better understanding of this stuff. I personally don't know if exposure to violent media at a young age will have a negative effect on said child's mental health later in life but jesus, I wouldn't want my hypothetical progeny seeing half the shit that goes on in the games I play.

And no, parenting isn't the only issue here. There's a hell of a lot of issues. But this annoys me so much.