Report: Effects of Gaming Worse Than "Smoking on Lung Cancer"
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
A general rebuttal towards media perceptions of gaming as a new 'sin':
You know what? You're entitled to your opinions. If you say games are destroying our youth and breeding armies of disenchanted, psychotic killing machines, go out and say so. Our industry is an amalgamation of numerous companies selling vastly different products, some designed to deliver cheap thrills, others to push the boundaries of storytelling, interaction and moral choices but to name a few, some of which make half a billion dollars in their first week of release.
The only industries that have that kind of financial clout are the true world-changers - Arms, Tobacco, that sort of thing. What would you rather have you son come home with, a gun, a pack of smokes or a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV? Even if you truly believe in your heart that we purvey sick, twisted filth, could you honestly say we were any worse in terms of damaging quality of life than these other giants of industry?
Guns are made expressly to kill. Cigarettes are made and sold with the goal of addiction in mind, in full knowledge that this addiction will likely end in a premature death or crippling disease. Games are designed to entertain. They may go about achieving those goals in gratuitously violent, obscene, even disturbing ways, but the intention to cause literal harm against the player is non-existent.
So, please, feel free to yammer and cry your eyes out over the so-called destruction of our youth, throw as much mud as you see fit. Just remember, at the end of the day, amongst the giants of industry, supplying us with our cars that kill and maim millions every year, our cigarettes that slowly crush the life out of people hopelessly addicted to a substance harder to quit than most other hard drugs, our weapons that find ever more inventive ways to kill people for reasons that never seem right after the act, at least you can sit down with a dumb little game, ignore the horrors of the world for a few hours, and try to have fun.
Regards,
The Informed Opinion
You know what? You're entitled to your opinions. If you say games are destroying our youth and breeding armies of disenchanted, psychotic killing machines, go out and say so. Our industry is an amalgamation of numerous companies selling vastly different products, some designed to deliver cheap thrills, others to push the boundaries of storytelling, interaction and moral choices but to name a few, some of which make half a billion dollars in their first week of release.
The only industries that have that kind of financial clout are the true world-changers - Arms, Tobacco, that sort of thing. What would you rather have you son come home with, a gun, a pack of smokes or a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV? Even if you truly believe in your heart that we purvey sick, twisted filth, could you honestly say we were any worse in terms of damaging quality of life than these other giants of industry?
Guns are made expressly to kill. Cigarettes are made and sold with the goal of addiction in mind, in full knowledge that this addiction will likely end in a premature death or crippling disease. Games are designed to entertain. They may go about achieving those goals in gratuitously violent, obscene, even disturbing ways, but the intention to cause literal harm against the player is non-existent.
So, please, feel free to yammer and cry your eyes out over the so-called destruction of our youth, throw as much mud as you see fit. Just remember, at the end of the day, amongst the giants of industry, supplying us with our cars that kill and maim millions every year, our cigarettes that slowly crush the life out of people hopelessly addicted to a substance harder to quit than most other hard drugs, our weapons that find ever more inventive ways to kill people for reasons that never seem right after the act, at least you can sit down with a dumb little game, ignore the horrors of the world for a few hours, and try to have fun.
Regards,
The Informed Opinion
Thank you, I was waiting for someone to say this, something a bit more constructive than "Michael Atkinson sucks".Razel Davies said:
I would really like to read that "study", but since it outright contradicts existing research, I doubt it's very well done.
Similar things were said about rock music, comic books, and tons of other things. At least nobody is trying to say that video games encourage suicide... yet.
However, this shouldn't surprise anyone. The tactics are the same ones we've already seen used politically, and right now there is nobody to balance it since the games industry is not involved in producing it's own research to officially counter these claims and have it broadcast.
On a lot of levels it's very much a one sided battle.
However, this shouldn't surprise anyone. The tactics are the same ones we've already seen used politically, and right now there is nobody to balance it since the games industry is not involved in producing it's own research to officially counter these claims and have it broadcast.
On a lot of levels it's very much a one sided battle.
"In Modern Warfare: Call of Duty 2 (sic), the highest selling media product of all time, gamers plot terror attacks against civilians."
Yeah, I love when then take something like this out of context. All this proves is they haven't played the game and have no idea what is going on. Isn't this the same type of crap they tried with comic books in the 50's? Heavy metal music, well, pick whatever time metal was the devil in the room? All these people do is make the case for people that already agree with their own form of retardation. Gotta love yellow journalism.
Yeah, I love when then take something like this out of context. All this proves is they haven't played the game and have no idea what is going on. Isn't this the same type of crap they tried with comic books in the 50's? Heavy metal music, well, pick whatever time metal was the devil in the room? All these people do is make the case for people that already agree with their own form of retardation. Gotta love yellow journalism.
Sounds like Austrailia has its own version of Fox News there.
EDIT: And everyone else, thinks so too in fact I've inadvertantly quoted someone almost exactly. But if they're a news agency they have no political power so they can just be ignored like Fox News, nothing to get worked up about.
EDIT: And everyone else, thinks so too in fact I've inadvertantly quoted someone almost exactly. But if they're a news agency they have no political power so they can just be ignored like Fox News, nothing to get worked up about.
I only trust Canada for my gaming news. Good old, unbiased Canada. If it's Australian and relates to games, I am going to be skeptical.
What the hell is going on today? Has Australia just been churning out anti gaming propaganda in the past week?
Theres this, and then there is their new "addiction", scale. Can we just skip ahead to the part where the Aussie government imposes a ban on all uncensored media, and then the population revolts?
Theres this, and then there is their new "addiction", scale. Can we just skip ahead to the part where the Aussie government imposes a ban on all uncensored media, and then the population revolts?
