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This is not a happy Neku...

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Nekusagi

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So last night, the news ran this report on how it turns out the guy who shot that school up recently was a gamer who played BloodRayne and GTA... I just want to know, is anyone else sick and tired of this kind of thing?

I'm tired of the media always pointing out how some homicidal maniac happened to play video games in his spare time, and then speculating on how they twisted his mind, and how they might have inspired their killing sprees. I'm sick of politicians like Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman constantly trying to find ways to waltz around the First Amendment and get video games classified as "harmful material" and regulate their sale like the sale of porno (as they are currently attempting to do). I'm sick of ambulance chasers like Jack Thompson pointing out all the Columbines, and DC snipers, and other crimes that just happened to be committed by gamers and then generalizing gamers as a bunch of psychopathic, antisocial nutjobs who should be locked away with the filth they play with.

Why can't any of these reports focus on the normal, sane gamers out there, who wouldn't hurt a fly? Why not do a story on how the creators of Penny Arcade have set up a charity called Child's Play? Why not look at the other 99% of us who play games all the time and have never so much as thought about going on some crazed killing spree?

Really, I'm getting just sick and tired of this. I happen to know two guys who are Baptist missionaries that could kick your butt in Halo anyday. I could share that tidbit with Jack Thompson, but I fear it would cause his narrow mind so much trauma trying to make sense of it that his very head would explode. And for some gamers, that may be a good thing, but I'm a pacifist, so I really can't vouch for that. (And a gamer! Imagine that!)

Feel free to comment.
 
I personally don't like GTA myself, and think it is way overrated...

But yes, Thompson is a moron. Next thing you know, someone will jump on a guys head and sue Mario.
 
Yami Habunake said:
I personally don't like GTA myself, and think it is way overrated...
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Never said I liked it, but isn't that ALWAYS what "they" play? Can't the media find out that "they" play Tetris, or Animal Crossing, or Katamari Damacy, or something? Maybe then, video games wouldn't be blamed for all the world's evils (unless someone got arrested for rolling innocent bystanders up in a giant sticky ball, which would be a hilarious story in itself...)

Seriously, it's like the new Mortal Kombat, or something...
 
I don'T know about the US of A, but up here (you know, where it happened), most of the focus has been on the Goth subculture and Vampirefreaks.com specifically. Which, as per my brother (who is most certainly not a goth) is just a site where mostly everyone can get their own littler corner.

Needless to say, they go with blatant sensationalism in that direction too.

OTOH, they're covering the whole "reject" culture in schools, too. And rightly so ; unlike video games and goths, the concept that kids and teens have that it's ok to single out one or two classmates and heap insult upon insults on them IS a social problem, and one that needs confronted head on, primarily by getting the goddamn parents to educate their kids, something many of them are reluctant to do, let alone do well.

Sheltering kids from the results of intolerance, hatred, etc only lead to more intolerance. Tell them about the holocaust, tell them about Columbine and Dawson. And tell them intolerance, setting other aparts because they were "different", led to all this (and it did).

IF the world could do a bit more of this and a bit less of freaking out over random body parts, it'd be a much better place.
 
Exactly. Like my friend at lunch said today (when I was giving him pretty much the same rant), most of these problems start in the home and in life. Videogames can't make you want to kill a person anymore than watching a show like 24 can. But your emotional state can, unfortunately, and not enough people can get help. We're so quick as a culture (Americans, I mean), to blame superficial things that we don't get to the root of the problem. And you can apply that to anything going on right now, too, be it terrorism, hunger, unemployment, etc.
 
Are you sure he didn't watch the BloodRayne movie? Because watching and Uwe Boll movie would make anyone want to mow down some people, I think.
 
Zeta said:
Are you sure he didn't watch the BloodRayne movie? Because watching and Uwe Boll movie would make anyone want to mow down some people, I think.
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I hope Uwe Boll dosen't direct my planned Pokemon Fleet movie, he'll might end up with a sequel to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
Btw, Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman wanted Parental Rights on Video Games like they did with Television, but, I do know that Jack Thompson dosen't believe in Parental Rights, he believes in censorship.
Also, Is Jack Thompson is an anti-Pokemon activist?
 
I've never head Thompson say anything about Pokemon....yet.

Games are scapegoats now.....
 
In the games, there are special 'breeding centers' where Pokémon make babies. :o

Seriously, though, the media sensationalizes everything since the good things aren't deemed as interesting. If you go by the UK news, you'd think that all young people go around in gangs but that is far from the truth. I'm interested to see if the 2007 World Scout Jamboree being in England gets a mention since thousands of young people around the world coming together to help people never usually gets noticed.
 
They wouldn't write/air anything on sane gamers because people don't WANT to see that. It's boring. Killers get better ratings and attract more attention then some teen that plays games a lot.
 
I think the politcians are going overboard on this issue. Personally, I think that any store that sells rated M games should require an I.D. to purchase them. But the making of such games should not be illegal. And if a parent wants to purchase such a game for their kids, it's their choice.
I know this is not the position most of you would take. Please don't flame me.
Games devoted to slaughter and violence are wrong, but they cannot be the sole cause of blame for any violent act. As Evil Figment said, it has more to do with overall environment and emotional state than video games.
But that's why I bought a Game Cube. :)
 
Personally, I think that any store that sells rated M games should require an I.D. to purchase them. But the making of such games should not be illegal. And if a parent wants to purchase such a game for their kids, it's their choice.
I know this is not the position most of you would take. Please don't flame me.
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That makes a lot of sense. However, I seriously doubt any store would actually ask for an I.D., in the same way movie theaters generally don't I.D. teens who try to buy tickets for R-rated movies. (At least the theaters don't do this where I'm from)
 
Yes, well it should be easy to do. I believe some stores do that already, like I believe I was carded at Target when I was buying Killer 7. It shouldn't be a big deal to treat it like alchol and cigarettes. Though I think besides the choice to parents, I believe that people who purchase it should be reminded that its rated 'M' and tell them that "There is information on the back to why this is rated for adults if you'd like to read it" where the parent/purchaser can check the back.

I've been thinking this way for years but ESRB is perfect (especially because now it has the PG rating) as long as people take the time to recognize it like other things.

Hopefully things change, otherwise people are going to be pointing fingers at the Wii next year... (which could be good for Nintendo, who knows, but its bad for gaming image)

I also like how Jack Thomson likes to shoot down any other media as potential danger to kids, (like books, tv, or music) as if stuff like this only just started to happen. When I see the guy and his attitude towards games, what it really does is makes me wonder what is he hiding or why does he feel this way to preach this forwards, almost as if it is a distraction.
 
bell02 alpha said:
I also like how Jack Thomson likes to shoot down any other media as potential danger to kids, (like books, tv, or music) as if stuff like this only just started to happen. When I see the guy and his attitude towards games, what it really does is makes me wonder what is he hiding or why does he feel this way to preach this forwards, almost as if it is a distraction.
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Music I know he did (it was his first adventure into the Magical Kingdom of Censorship), but books and TV? I have yet to see him ranting about 24 or Tom Clancy novels, and they can be just as bad as the video games he hates, as far as violence goes...
 
Apparently Jack Thompson has some "notable" non-gaming history as well...

He like stooped to bizarre insults running for I think Governor or something in Florida..
 
Almost makes Jeb Bush look desirable, really..

But who could forget when he tried to get the creators of Penny Arcade arrested? Would anyone REALLY want this guy to run their state? Someone who reports people to the police for DONATING TO CHARITY in their name? I mean, sheesh.
 
this happens alot:

Gamers being violent
Muslims being terrorists
Blacks arent as smart as whites
Rock music promotes suicide

They're stereotypes the media uses because it has to have something or someone to blame and talk about.
 
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