Game Awareness

[Hippobatman]

I still don't know what DIAF means.

Die in a Fire

Thanks

I have no idea where thos abbreviations get used often enough for me to pick up on them. Probably WoW or something...

MMO's and MMO forums really. I play SWG so its common for me to use the slang.

SWG?

lol

Star Wars Galaxies

I'm quite an inadvertently witty person.
I hope you enjoyed yourself, while you were LAUGHING OUT LOUD.

K

+1

sorry..

I agree on the previously mentioned posts. Arrgh, the stereotypes. Unfortunatly there's a lot of them, which makes us (partially) sane and proper human beings look bad. I'm fortunate enough to have grown up in a family who's quite acceptive of video games, though a bit strict on age limits, however, I think that's a good thing.My mother can be a little "uninformed" at times when it comes to games, but she's smart enough to check with me (oldest brother) when she's buying games for my younger brothers.

You can get a long way with common sense, bad thing is that common sense is becoming an endangered species.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Your aware that only gamers would support you and they're in the vast minority right?

 

[Ronwue]

Pro gaming propaganda will never work, simply because people who are actually qualified to give competent statements about the industry and the message... i.e. gamers... are too busy enjoying themselves while playing the games.

 

[coldfrog]

MAVV and FAVV need to DIAF TBH.

What?

Mothers Against Violent Videogames (MAVV) Fathers Against Violent Videgames (FAVV)

I'm still not clear, what's that last bit?

I think we need to form GASP!. Gamers Against Stupid Parents.

I'm in!

 

[Twilight_guy]

Your aware that only gamers would support you and they're in the vast minority right?

thats like telling the black panthers of the 60's the same thing.
anyway, heaps of people play games now.

I don't think that Gamers are considered "oppressed." Therefore, less people will stand up for this cause. The general stigma on gamers still floats about and that is what you want to fight(but will not beat until video games become much more common place).

 

[Becoming Insane]

I think the real problem is that people seem to be biased against video games simply due to the fact that they are interactive. I've read things in books that far outstrip anything that is in video games, yet (as far as I know) there aren't any people out there boycotting books. And what about movies, TV shows, and other forms of media? Most video games come off as tame when compared to other forms of communication.

My final point: Until force-feedback virtual reality is invented and people start confusing real life with video games (a scary thought) I seriously doubt the validity of the "video games cause violence" argument.

I also question the intelligence of the people who stand for said argument.

 

[Grimm91]

Well you see most people don't understand games and the few that ever truly do don't speak up when games get bashed. this leads to an ideology that all gamers a psycho shut-ins that don't care about society.

 

[PirateKing]

I think the Metal Gear games make a good point about war, nuclear weapons and dangers of being a part of the system. I've never heard anyone cite these games as sources of anything good or bad but I think they stand for a good cause.

 

[Fightgarr]

I don't think that many people are going to be influenced if "gamers" say that games are okay. We need an outside to some and view the gaming experience to condone that it is indeed fine to play video games and it does not actually lead to murder. What we need is someone influential (say for sake of example, Obama) to play a game considered to have serious negative effects of children (say CoD4) and prove to the world that video games do not cause violent tendencies.

We can band together until the cows come home but until "the influencer" (Oprah Winfrey or whoever) says video games are okay, we'll just have to deal with all the bullshit.

 

[TarrumanThur]

We can band together until the cows come home but until "the influencer" (Oprah Winfrey or whoever) says video games are okay, we'll just have to deal with all the bullshit.

Anyone know how much Oprah costs per hour?

We MUST fight back.

Fair enough, how do you propose we do this? Personally, all I've seen are a few forward-thinking pieces of academic research that are ignored by the mainstream media for being insufficiently incendiary

We need to something big. For example, The Pirate Bay recently sued the people that were after them for copyright infringment. Everyone knew they weren't going to get anywhere, but it got them on the news for a good week. It doesn't have to be directly constructive, but shouldn't be destructive either. Any publicity for our side of the issue shall be good publicity. Maybe we should send a petition to major celebrities and politicians. Surely *some* of them play games. That will light some (metaphorical) fires, no?

Your aware that only gamers would support you and they're in the vast minority right?

Really? Now here was me thinking that a VAST majority of people at least own a PC. We also need to set a decent definition of "gamer". 1 hour a day? a week? a month? where is the line?

 

[Cadren]

The problem with gamers uniting is that most gamers are self righteous and uninformed. This does not make a good formula for uniting. What ends up happening is one guy says "that stupid guy on TV said games are bad" and another says "let's all send him email messages telling him he's gay" which then happens because so many gamers think that's funny. and the next day the dude on TV provides an example of why gamers are obviously stupid and immature further justifying disgust in the genre.

Then there are the few who try sending understandable counter arguments by email (see ZP mailbag showdown) poorly spelled, one sided, providing no insight into the issue, and sad because they seem to come from the sheepish pen of a 13 year old fanfic author.

The few that might bring maturity and professionalism to the whole thing end up getting no attention at all. How many people here are members of the ECA? TurrumanT? Join up, organize an ECA event to promote video games, educate the public, encourage people to join the group. Then come to the forums with a rallying cry about what you did and encouraging other people to follow suit.

And that is not a subtle flame, I'm serious, do that, or something like that, I'd 100% back you up and help you out in any way I could, and I'd really respect that. and that goes for every single person on this forum.

I entirely agree. I'm a member of the ECA and regularly read up on political and business related gaming news blogs, but I feel that most people responding have little knowledge at all on the subject. People always throw Jack Thompson into issues when he's not related and codemn anyone who says anything that can be interpreted as anti-game, even if it is not. To make matters worse, most of them have a correct conclusion, but their arguments are absurd, so when they try to defend the point, they come off badly.

A big problem I find though, is a lack of verification on most gamer's parts on issues. Many gamers listen to hearsay and act as if it is stone cold evidence and scream all about it.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Your aware that only gamers would support you and they're in the vast minority right?

Really? Now here was me thinking that a VAST majority of people at least own a PC. We also need to set a decent definition of "gamer". 1 hour a day? a week? a month? where is the line?

Owning a PC does not a gamer make. You also need to own games. Additionally, people who play games only occasionally don't care enough to go out of their way to support this kind of thing. Dedicated gamers would support this, but they are in the minority. If they were not, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

 

[stormcaller]

I think we need to form GASP!. Gamers Against Stupid Parents.

I'm in, no joke do it probably not stupid parents though GATU? Gamers Against the Uninformed, not as catchy but less people are going to be pissed off.

 

[J.Ballzy_75]

I think gamers are facing a problem much in the same way Jeff Foxworthy mentions the problem people from the Southern US face; too many of the wrong members of our community are getting too much news time. We always hear about the lunatic who played GTA for thirty-seven hours then got the bright idea to go out and shoot at people. We never hear about games and gamers that at least have a semblance of good to them. I've never seen games like BrainAge make the news.