Atkinson Says You Don't Need to Impale People

[DayDark]

Of course I need to impale people if I'm playing a fucking Alien/Predator who's cinematic appearance portrays a creature who kills people sometimes by impaling them.

 

[Yog Sothoth]

Yes, Kudos to ABC for bringing more attention to this situation and making an attempt to be "fair & balanced"...

Stand strong, my Australian gaming brothers... We're all behind you... or umm, over you... oh, you know what I mean!

 

[Ultress]

Spoiler: All I can do right now is this

 

[Kajin]

Atkinson... What little grain of respect I still had for you just went flying out the !@#$ing window. Up until now I accepted you as a misguided idiot who was trying to do what he thought was best for society. Now I realise that you are an old guy douche.

HOW IS THIS GUY STILL IN OFFICE?!?

Jesus tap dancing Christ! Someone kick this guy out of his office, he doesn't deserve to have authority over the the cleanliness of a gas station bathroom let alone a large section of an entire country.

 

[Amnestic]

First: We were recently informed that the number of gamers worldwide is broke the 1 Billion mark, meaning that he's effectively tarring a large number of the population as people who are susceptible to this.

Wait, what?!? A billion gamers?! Ok, 300-500 million I could accept, but this seems very high. Do you have a source?

There was a recent Escapist article on it. Source [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.160475].

 

[Earz4life]

as a matter of fact it has been proven that that 1-2% are LESS likely to cause violence etc if they play violent video games. This Atkinson fruitcake makes me hate my own state even more

 

[dalek sec]

"This is a question of a small number of very zealous gamers trying to impose their will on society. And I think harm society," he said. "It's the public interest versus the small vested interest."

No, this is a question of a single fundy zealot imposing his will on an entire country full of people that, for his repeated idiocy, would like to see his dismembered corpse paraded around as a warning to others of what happens when one person tries to impose his morality on the masses.

This, he's got a lot of nerve to try and sound like he know's what's best for everyone.

 

[Chunko]

I don't mean to sound racist, but as much as I hate American Beurocracy It's much better than australian.

 

[scotth266]

All in all, kudos to ABC News Australia and reporter Adrian Raschella for delivering a decent story that doesn't try to vilify gamers. It's definitely worth a watch.

Important distinction there. ABC News US is still on my bad books for the way they handled the Hot Coffee mod and surrounding fiasco.

I hold grudges for a LOOOOOONG time.

 

[Chunko]

Also, is this guy really stupid enough to think that videogames can actually make people ACT violent.

 

[Kimjira19]

This guy is a complete pillock. That is all I need to say.

 

[SimuLord]

While it is entirely true that one does not need to impale people in order to create a good gaming experience, this does not grant the right to some idiot with a stick up his ass to deny others the right to entertainment of their choosing.

It warms my heart as an American to see a country more fucked up than mine.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

But the choicest soundbites were from Atkinson himself, including "I accept that 98%, 99% of gamers will tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but the 1% to 2% could go on to be motivated by these games to commit horrible acts of violence." He added, "You don't need to be playing a game in which you impale, decapitate and dismember people."

That's just hilarious. Those 1-2% are:

1. People with mental problems
2. Kids

Or, he may be thinking of people who do said things because they're depressed and/or mad, not because they've played to many video games.

 

[the1ultimate]

I think a mod game allowing someone to beat up Michael Atkinson would be the main reason many people would want to buy R18 games.

 

[DayDark]

Atkinson: "I accept that 98%, 99% of gamers will tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but the 1% to 2% could go on to be motivated by these games to commit horrible acts of violence."

So it is with movies and books as well. I read a particularly violent and gory book once, I believe he knows of it, and will surely find that it should be banned.

...It's called The Bible.

I'm pretty sure there's a substantial amount of evidence that this book has motivated some readers to commit horrible acts of violence. Unlike Video Games.

 

[Doug]

First: We were recently informed that the number of gamers worldwide is broke the 1 Billion mark, meaning that he's effectively tarring a large number of the population as people who are susceptible to this.

Wait, what?!? A billion gamers?! Ok, 300-500 million I could accept, but this seems very high. Do you have a source?

There was a recent Escapist article on it. Source [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.160475].

Ah, of course. The Facebook users. Still, impressive. Next step; conquer the world!

 

[Spaghetti]

So because 1-2% of gamers could be dangerous, the games get banned. Well if that's the case, we'd better stop reading books...or listen to music. You know what, lets toss World History out the window as well because that's sure as hell more violent than most video games.
What about Aussie Rules football of Rugby? That deffinitly makes people act more violently, should we ban that as well?

I'm not Australian, but this Atkinson bloke needs a swift kick to his ****Expletive Deleated by Attorney General of South Austrailia due to Excessive Violence**** and that would sort things right out.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

If a kid decides to emulate Predators by designing and building a personal cloaking device, advanced plasma weapons coupled with multi spectral image enhancments, then I say all the power to them.

 

[Swaki]

if 1-2% of gamers who play r rated games become inspired or motivated or just plain ol' batshit crazy, then there would be a couple hundred thousand cases each year, instead of just 1-2 where the defendant had previous mental problems.

 

[Kimjira19]

Atkinson: "I accept that 98%, 99% of gamers will tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but the 1% to 2% could go on to be motivated by these games to commit horrible acts of violence."

So it is with movies and books as well. I read a particularly violent and gory book once, I believe he knows of it, and will surely find that it should be banned.

...It's called The Bible.

I pretty sure there's a substantial amount of evidence that this book has motivated some readers to commit horrible acts of violence. Unlike Video Games.

Indeed. The Crusades alone account for between 1-5 MILLION deaths. Witch hunts between 1400-1800 CE resulted in about 55,000 deaths. The list goes on and on.