Mark Kermode - Do violent computer games turn us into killers?

[Starnerf]

We need more Mark Kermodes, spreading the word of "Shut up if you don't know anything about the subject matter."

BTW, for those who didn't read the article/watch the video, his answer to the opening question was "No, and I'm not in a position to make a decision regarding that, given my lack of experience with the subject matter."

 

[Drexer]

Oh wow... there goes my opinion that gamers are smarter when in the end almost no one here has taken the effort to read/see the article/video.

He does make a good point, about all of those politicians/opinionated people who evaluate thing without seeing them and who are not involved in the medium. Much like most of those posters.

Shame on you all.

 

[benylor]

Meaning that this thread has actually disqualified his argument, as it has shown gamers to be hostile and combatitive and not even listen to one defending them!

Please read the article next time, otherwise you're as bad as, or worse, than our critics. It's hard to not be jaded after years of being told we're becoming violent psychopaths by people who think they know more than we do about our own hobbies, but a reaction like

Mark Kermode can suck my fucking left nut.
/thread.

or

"What I know about videogames wouldn't fill the back of a postage stamp"

That's it, right there. He instantly disqualifies himself.

only weakens our position and makes our uneducated detractors feel more vindicated.

 

[Kasawd]

Meaning that this thread has actually disqualified his argument, as it has shown gamers to be hostile and combatitive and not even listen to one defending them!

Please read the article next time, otherwise you're as bad as, or worse, than our critics. It's hard to not be jaded after years of being told we're becoming violent psychopaths by people who think they know more than we do about our own hobbies, but a reaction like

Mark Kermode can suck my fucking left nut.
/thread.

or

"What I know about videogames wouldn't fill the back of a postage stamp"

That's it, right there. He instantly disqualifies himself.

only weakens our position and makes our uneducated detractors feel more vindicated.

Perhaps but that is not what I'm necessarily attempting to get at here.

Journalism, whether it be professional or casual has an element to it that requires the person reporting to either study or become active, at least for a time, in that which he or she is attempting to report on. Although I agree with what he says and am showing this article to my father when he gets home, I do not believe, without playing the games, he has much ground to stand on when giving his opinion as a news contributor.

It's his approach to what he is doing itself that tweaks me.

 

[Kasawd]

"What I know about videogames wouldn't fill the back of a postage stamp"

That's it, right there. He instantly disqualifies himself.

did you read it? his article basically says "i don't know anything about games but this looks like that bullshit with the horror films twenty years ago, if you want an informed opinion on this debate ignore Mps and judges and ask a gamer"

you don't need any qualifications to have that opinion.

Mark Kermode can suck my fucking left nut.
/thread.

seriously people? we think its bad to type "first" before watching zero punctuation, but tis ok to insult a professional journalist who's defending us because we're too lazy/dumb to read/understand the article? shame on us all.

I did read it. It isn't his opinion which angers me but rather his actual effort put into the work.

 

[benylor]

Perhaps but that is not what I'm necessarily attempting to get at here.

Journalism, whether it be professional or casual has an element to it that requires the person reporting to either study or become active, at least for a time, in that which he or she is attempting to report on. Although I agree with what he says and am showing this article to my father when he gets home, I do not believe, without playing the games, he has much ground to stand on when giving his opinion as a news contributor.

It's his approach to what he is doing itself that tweaks me.

Okay, in that case forgive me earlier rudeness.

I still disagree with you, but far more amicably

I don't believe that this man is as clueless as he says he is - he actually has a unique angle at the problem in that he has experienced the same phenomenon of having his medium denounced as evil. He knows little about video games in particular, but having a medium blamed of causing loss of morals and murder? He's been there before, and it was bullshit even then.

I would actually argue that that is a great position to argue in our favour from. It won't buy any die-hard game-haters, but it will help set the tone against them so Thomson, Lieberman and Atkinson's bullshit won't be given any serious social credence.

 

[funguy2121]

This argument has been drudged up over and over again by crusading preachers and opportunistic politicians and blame-game pundits. The question is over 2 decades old, older than that if you replace "violent video games" with "violent movies/cartoons."

Do you want to guess my take on this?

 

[Kasawd]

Perhaps but that is not what I'm necessarily attempting to get at here.

Journalism, whether it be professional or casual has an element to it that requires the person reporting to either study or become active, at least for a time, in that which he or she is attempting to report on. Although I agree with what he says and am showing this article to my father when he gets home, I do not believe, without playing the games, he has much ground to stand on when giving his opinion as a news contributor.

It's his approach to what he is doing itself that tweaks me.

Okay, in that case forgive me earlier rudeness.

I still disagree with you, but far more amicably

I don't believe that this man is as clueless as he says he is - he actually has a unique angle at the problem in that he has experienced the same phenomenon of having his medium denounced as evil. He knows little about video games in particular, but having a medium blamed of causing loss of morals and murder? He's been there before, and it was bullshit even then.

I would actually argue that that is a great position to argue in our favour from. It won't buy any die-hard game-haters, but it will help set the tone against them so Thomson, Lieberman and Atkinson's bullshit won't be given any serious social credence.

Absolutely no problem. I forsook my verbose nature and it made me seem ignorant of the actual issue. You responded accordingly with what you were provided with. I must apologize for the blunt nature of my original response.

He knows the issue itself to a degree, yes but those were differing times with differing figures. Also, the time frame to which he refers was, most likely, focused mainly on the violence of movies whereas we have video games AND movies under the watchful attention of the ignorant demagogues of the various parties. Fortunately for us, people don't readily listen to the words of those in power, these days and are less likely to respond to them. The display in Germany was testament to this, in my opinion.

We're quite lucky to have freedom of expression, in this regard. After all, WE know that video games don't make us serial murderers. For me, this is enough to rest easy and have a laugh at the expense of the extremists.

Although, to call this mans arguing position favourable is a little ironic, to me. If he hasn't played many games, then he's arguing the other side of Jack Thompsons coin, if not as zealously. I find "I have played video games and I'm not a maniac" to be more convincing then urging the public to ask the gamers themselves, which they are clearly not interested in doing in the first place a tad futile.

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

They sure do, I vaant to suck your blaad.

Not really, these are the main people who think games turn people into killers and why they're idiots:

Religious fanatics who are idiotic hypocrits. Religion has created thousands of mindless killers (terrorists) and has resluted in the death of millions in history - and there were no games.

Attention seeking politicians who nobody took seriously until they make accusations on games and they get lots of coverage an attention, so they keep doing it. Like Michael Attkinson.

Parents who use them as a scapegoat to cover up the fact that they severely lack in parenting skills. Like the guys in Germany who blame games because their psycho kid killed himself and a number of people.

 

[i2esol]

Biased opinion: Been playing violent video games all my life. I have yet to murder a person.

 

[squid5580]

Perhaps but that is not what I'm necessarily attempting to get at here.

Journalism, whether it be professional or casual has an element to it that requires the person reporting to either study or become active, at least for a time, in that which he or she is attempting to report on. Although I agree with what he says and am showing this article to my father when he gets home, I do not believe, without playing the games, he has much ground to stand on when giving his opinion as a news contributor.

It's his approach to what he is doing itself that tweaks me.

Okay, in that case forgive me earlier rudeness.

I still disagree with you, but far more amicably

I don't believe that this man is as clueless as he says he is - he actually has a unique angle at the problem in that he has experienced the same phenomenon of having his medium denounced as evil. He knows little about video games in particular, but having a medium blamed of causing loss of morals and murder? He's been there before, and it was bullshit even then.

I would actually argue that that is a great position to argue in our favour from. It won't buy any die-hard game-haters, but it will help set the tone against them so Thomson, Lieberman and Atkinson's bullshit won't be given any serious social credence.

Absolutely no problem. I forsook my verbose nature and it made me seem ignorant of the actual issue. You responded accordingly with what you were provided with. I must apologize for the blunt nature of my original response.

He knows the issue itself to a degree, yes but those were differing times with differing figures. Also, the time frame to which he refers was, most likely, focused mainly on the violence of movies whereas we have video games AND movies under the watchful attention of the ignorant demagogues of the various parties. Fortunately for us, people don't readily listen to the words of those in power, these days and are less likely to respond to them. The display in Germany was testament to this, in my opinion.

We're quite lucky to have freedom of expression, in this regard. After all, WE know that video games don't make us serial murderers. For me, this is enough to rest easy and have a laugh at the expense of the extremists.

Although, to call this mans arguing position favourable is a little ironic, to me. If he hasn't played many games, then he's arguing the other side of Jack Thompsons coin, if not as zealously. I find "I have played video games and I'm not a maniac" to be more convincing then urging the public to ask the gamers themselves, which they are clearly not interested in doing in the first place a tad futile.

I do agree with you that they should not be asking gamers. Just not for the reasons you provide. They shouldn't ask us because we don't know how to fight back. And when we are asked we end up doing more harm than good. We tend to fight against the stereotypes instead of calling out the stupidity of their arguements. We tend to go rarr rarrr raarrr back at them instead of asking can you prove this? Is there any validity to these accusations? Sure sometimes the question is posted here or there but not when faced with our accusers do we publicly ask any of these questions. And whenever someone should dare say something along the lines of Obama's speech (the put down the controller once in a while and read a book or volunteer at the soup kitchen or go outside and play). We interpret that as some sort of attack. And that works against us.

 

[sheic99]

I still cant believe people are being told video games will soon kill humanity and shit.
Oh hey, im playing L4D2, im gonna go outside and pounce onto people ripping their stomach out.

Mark Kermode can suck my fucking left nut.
/thread.

"What I know about videogames wouldn't fill the back of a postage stamp"

That's it, right there. He instantly disqualifies himself.

I've never cared for the whole "games make people violent" media bullshit anyway. There's nothing a piece of harmless entertainment could cause that wouldn't have happened one way or another. If a person is the kind of person who would murder someone, it's probably going to happen regardless of whether they played GTA or Banjo Kazooie when they were kids.

Remember back when people tried to claim rock music was corrupting youth? 'Nuff said.

Please read the article first next time. He says that video games are no worse than a horror movie during the 80's. He's defending our fucking hobby and you go and insult him. Nice going.

 

[Icecoldcynic]

I still cant believe people are being told video games will soon kill humanity and shit.
Oh hey, im playing L4D2, im gonna go outside and pounce onto people ripping their stomach out.

Mark Kermode can suck my fucking left nut.
/thread.

"What I know about videogames wouldn't fill the back of a postage stamp"

That's it, right there. He instantly disqualifies himself.

I've never cared for the whole "games make people violent" media bullshit anyway. There's nothing a piece of harmless entertainment could cause that wouldn't have happened one way or another. If a person is the kind of person who would murder someone, it's probably going to happen regardless of whether they played GTA or Banjo Kazooie when they were kids.

Remember back when people tried to claim rock music was corrupting youth? 'Nuff said.

Please read the article first next time. He says that video games are no worse than a horror movie during the 80's. He's defending our fucking hobby and you go and insult him. Nice going.

Point out where in my post I insulted him please. I was expressing my distaste for the subject. I know full well what he said in the article, so stop assuming shit.

 

[DemonicVixen]

*sigh* we studied this in class. If the person playing a violent game is insane then yes maybe they may just decide to go out killing people because they think it will be fun and score them points. Otherwise, no games do not make us brutal killers. Either that or i should be out biting people's neck for playing Vampire Wars on Facebook, or killing and mugging people having played Mafia wars... give me a break.

 

[A Raging Emo]

Totally.

I'm hiding the bodies as we speak.

I still havde the blood-stains on my clothes and carpet, and it's been 3 weeks!

 

[|Ragnarok|]

People love scapegoats.

I don't see why Video Games would give people motive to do violent crimes that are harmful to society.

 

[DuplicateValue]

Totally.

I'm hiding the bodies as we speak.

I still havde the blood-stains on my clothes and carpet, and it's been 3 weeks!

You mean you don't have clinical white tiles all around your house??

What kind of serial killer are you?!

 

[Vrex360]

Totally.

I'm hiding the bodies as we speak.

I eat them, it takes a lot of effort but pays off in the long run... Tonight it Grilled with a teriyaki marinade.

Seriously? Call me old fashioned but I prefer it roasted and served with gravy. It's great for when my mates come around and want to play games and eat roast fingers.

Seriously though, humans have always been violent killers, it's in their nature so I don't think games have had any more or less impact then any other influence on society.

 

[Kasawd]

Perhaps but that is not what I'm necessarily attempting to get at here.

Journalism, whether it be professional or casual has an element to it that requires the person reporting to either study or become active, at least for a time, in that which he or she is attempting to report on. Although I agree with what he says and am showing this article to my father when he gets home, I do not believe, without playing the games, he has much ground to stand on when giving his opinion as a news contributor.

It's his approach to what he is doing itself that tweaks me.

Okay, in that case forgive me earlier rudeness.

I still disagree with you, but far more amicably

I don't believe that this man is as clueless as he says he is - he actually has a unique angle at the problem in that he has experienced the same phenomenon of having his medium denounced as evil. He knows little about video games in particular, but having a medium blamed of causing loss of morals and murder? He's been there before, and it was bullshit even then.

I would actually argue that that is a great position to argue in our favour from. It won't buy any die-hard game-haters, but it will help set the tone against them so Thomson, Lieberman and Atkinson's bullshit won't be given any serious social credence.

Absolutely no problem. I forsook my verbose nature and it made me seem ignorant of the actual issue. You responded accordingly with what you were provided with. I must apologize for the blunt nature of my original response.

He knows the issue itself to a degree, yes but those were differing times with differing figures. Also, the time frame to which he refers was, most likely, focused mainly on the violence of movies whereas we have video games AND movies under the watchful attention of the ignorant demagogues of the various parties. Fortunately for us, people don't readily listen to the words of those in power, these days and are less likely to respond to them. The display in Germany was testament to this, in my opinion.

We're quite lucky to have freedom of expression, in this regard. After all, WE know that video games don't make us serial murderers. For me, this is enough to rest easy and have a laugh at the expense of the extremists.

Although, to call this mans arguing position favourable is a little ironic, to me. If he hasn't played many games, then he's arguing the other side of Jack Thompsons coin, if not as zealously. I find "I have played video games and I'm not a maniac" to be more convincing then urging the public to ask the gamers themselves, which they are clearly not interested in doing in the first place a tad futile.

I do agree with you that they should not be asking gamers. Just not for the reasons you provide. They shouldn't ask us because we don't know how to fight back. And when we are asked we end up doing more harm than good. We tend to fight against the stereotypes instead of calling out the stupidity of their arguements. We tend to go rarr rarrr raarrr back at them instead of asking can you prove this? Is there any validity to these accusations? Sure sometimes the question is posted here or there but not when faced with our accusers do we publicly ask any of these questions. And whenever someone should dare say something along the lines of Obama's speech (the put down the controller once in a while and read a book or volunteer at the soup kitchen or go outside and play). We interpret that as some sort of attack. And that works against us.

It's unfortunate, but true. For some reason, we seem to be seen as a lazy, fat sub-group. Of course, media and popular entertainment doesn't exactly help our case.

For the most part, though, it IS an attack. We're seen to be in the same category as drug addicts. Of course I defend my hobby, anyone would. I recently viewed a "Rage" thread on 4Chan wit ha comic depicting a gamer at 8 AM. His parent leaves, entreating him not to play all day. He mows the lawn, changes the tires and refills a pre-scription. Having done that, he begins to play video games as his parent arrives home who promptly begins to berate him for being lazy and playing all day.

It's ignorance. Ignorance that I would hope we can, as gamers, help to disperse somewhat.