Sex, Violence, and the Wii

[Harrie]

The problem is not that people think that games are violent. People have no problem what so ever with violence and they even enjoy watching violence. They go to movies with violence. Watch people hurt each other in sports. Read books with conflict and violence. That is not what people hate about games.

What people fear is that somehow the games will result in more threats to them in real life. Thats why the news and car chases and bombings are important to them. It could threaten them. And hearing on tv that kids in the real world shot people because they play games means that the threat is now getting nearer to them. They have kids, what if their kids do this to them because of games?

What will make people see games more positively? Disconnecting games from violence in the real world will. Teaching people that violence in the real world is committed because of negative emotions or having a bad life. It sound cheesy but violence is used as a tool for people to get what they want (like money or status) or because they have such intense negative emotions that they need to commit a violent act (like shame or hate or anger).

Disconnect games from real world violence by teaching people about real world violence and your there.

 

[Optimystic]

So in other words, Wii is going to show people that video games don't turn you into murdering psychopaths.

Yeah, duh. In 10 years we won't find anyone suing a single game for having violence. Currently, the medium is still relatively young, and a lot of people don't have a clue what it's all about, so when an attention whore comes in with a lawsuit, they follow. But it's just a matter of time until people get over it.

Didn't we say that same thing 10 years ago?

We did, but games were simply not as mainstream before as they are now. The Wii and DS were the first systems to bring grandparents to the couch, or have entire families mashing buttons on controllers together. And now the console makers know how to reach that market and will continue to support it, through initiatives like Project Natal.