videogame attitudes UK vs USA

[shootthebandit]

Im currently watching a program called "how videogames changes the world". It basically goes from the early days of text based games to now. It covers everything including the controversy behind games like mortal combat, GTA and COD. However it is still shows games in an incredibly positive light but more than that it shows how games have shaped our culture over the past 30 years

Why does the american media not seem to have the same attitude as the UK. Part of the documentary mentioned groups like the NRA using gamers as a scape goat and it just basically said that the people involved in mass shootings may have an interest in videogames which has nothing to do with the fact they are a psychopath

It shows how games like the wii have helped keep old people active, how games like minecraft have helped spur on childrens logic and creativity and how games like last of us have effectes us emotionally

 

[gibboss28]

Eh, the uk media have demonised much more than praised the medium. A lot more.

 

[shootthebandit]

Eh, the uk media have demonised much more than praised the medium. A lot more.

Id say the UK is pretty positive towards the medium, sure certain media outlets such as the daily mail will portray them negatively however channel 4 (which the documentary is on) and the BBC have always been very positive towards videogames. When GTA 5 came out british media couldnt sign its praises enough whereas the american media as usual said that everyone who played it was going to violently rape and kill their sainted grandmother

 

[SckizoBoy]

Id say the UK is pretty positive towards the medium, sure certain media outlets such as the daily mail will portray them negatively however channel 4 (which the documentary is on) and the BBC have always been very positive towards videogames. When GTA 5 came out british media couldnt sign its praises enough whereas the american media as usual said that everyone who played it was going to violently rape and kill their sainted grandmother

Thing is, the criticism is still there, just not the follow up, unlike in the States. It's like that Anders Brevik thing in Norway. When the press found out about the whole FPS related thing, they tried making a big deal of it, but it kinda turned into a damp squib. It still happens (i.e. press going 'think of the children' through every pore) just nowhere near as much.

Still, funniest thing I remember was the ITV documentary that claimed to have film footage of the IRA shooting an RPG at a helicopter, only for some viewers to say... uh... that's gameplay from a recently released MW shooter, ye eejits!

So, in the UK, the media's response to games is more not getting it and leaving it alone, rather than not getting it then grossly misinterpreting it. *shrugs*

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

I'm not sure it counts since Charlie Brooker is known to be an avid gamer and is pretty liberal (I mean, he's a guardian columnist). I'm sure Sky and the Daily Mail still think it's made by the devil

 

[shootthebandit]

I'm not sure it counts since Charlie Brooker is known to be an avid gamer and is pretty liberal (I mean, he's a guardian columnist). I'm sure Sky and the Daily Mail still think it's made by the devil

Thats why fucking idiots get their news from murdoch's monopoly. The guardian and independent are by far the better sources of news in the UK, hell the metro (free paper on buses and trains) is superior to murdochs news

The BBC games coverage is actually good and they usually dismiss the controversy surrounding titles like GTA 5 (see link below)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24173266

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

I'm not sure it counts since Charlie Brooker is known to be an avid gamer and is pretty liberal (I mean, he's a guardian columnist). I'm sure Sky and the Daily Mail still think it's made by the devil

Thats why fucking idiots get their news from murdoch's monopoly. The guardian and independent are by far the better sources of news in the UK, hell the metro (free paper on buses and trains) is superior to murdochs news

The BBC games coverage is actually good and they usually dismiss the controversy surrounding titles like GTA 5 (see link below)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24173266

Aye, but if we're doing a comparison of USvUK its not fair to compare Fox News to the Guardian is it? You have to compare the equivalents. Which is the UK Murdoch press, which is probably pretty anti gamers.

(also, I know the Mail is Dacre, not Murdoch, but it is also a super rightwing fearmongering news outlet with poor fact checking, which is the important point)

 

[shootthebandit]

I'm not sure it counts since Charlie Brooker is known to be an avid gamer and is pretty liberal (I mean, he's a guardian columnist). I'm sure Sky and the Daily Mail still think it's made by the devil

Thats why fucking idiots get their news from murdoch's monopoly. The guardian and independent are by far the better sources of news in the UK, hell the metro (free paper on buses and trains) is superior to murdochs news

The BBC games coverage is actually good and they usually dismiss the controversy surrounding titles like GTA 5 (see link below)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24173266

Aye, but if we're doing a comparison of USvUK its not fair to compare Fox News to the Guardian is it? You have to compare the equivalents. Which is the UK Murdoch press, which is probably pretty anti gamers.

(also, I know the Mail is Dacre, not Murdoch, but it is also a super rightwing fearmongering news outlet with poor fact checking, which is the important point)

You raise a good point but the mail and BskyB whilst being super rightwing fearmongering are still nowhere near as bad as the westboro bapist FOX News outlet. The fact that they dont see a link between there being a lot of guns and a lot of people getting shot yet somehow see a link between videogames and violent crime

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I'm not sure it counts since Charlie Brooker is known to be an avid gamer and is pretty liberal (I mean, he's a guardian columnist). I'm sure Sky and the Daily Mail still think it's made by the devil

Thats why fucking idiots get their news from murdoch's monopoly. The guardian and independent are by far the better sources of news in the UK, hell the metro (free paper on buses and trains) is superior to murdochs news

The BBC games coverage is actually good and they usually dismiss the controversy surrounding titles like GTA 5 (see link below)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24173266

Aye, but if we're doing a comparison of USvUK its not fair to compare Fox News to the Guardian is it? You have to compare the equivalents. Which is the UK Murdoch press, which is probably pretty anti gamers.

(also, I know the Mail is Dacre, not Murdoch, but it is also a super rightwing fearmongering news outlet with poor fact checking, which is the important point)

You raise a good point but the mail and BskyB whilst being super rightwing fearmongering are still nowhere near as bad as the westboro bapist FOX News outlet. The fact that they dont see a link between there being a lot of guns and a lot of people getting shot yet somehow see a link between videogames and violent crime

You know what's hilarious about this argument? Rupert Murdoch owns Fox News, too. It's all part of his company, the aptly named Newscorp.

OT: From an American perspective, there hasn't been much about games in the news in the last decade, aside from a bunch of stories around 2008 about how popular the Wii was and how it was being used in nursing homes as a kind of physical therapy. The NRA attempts to shift the blame to games in the wake of recent shootings just came off as outdated and weird -- they were regurgitating talking points that had last been used around the time GTAIII came out, and had last been updated while Doom was still a current title.

There has been the occasional story on Fox News (like the infamous Mass Effect sex thing), but those stories make a bigger splash in the gaming media than they do even on Fox, where they come up once in a blue moon. The rest of the media ignores those stories almost entirely.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

I'm not sure it counts since Charlie Brooker is known to be an avid gamer and is pretty liberal (I mean, he's a guardian columnist). I'm sure Sky and the Daily Mail still think it's made by the devil

You might want to read the review...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2422483/Grand-possible-sense-MailOnline-reviews-Grand-Theft-Auto-V-controversial-game-hits-shelves-Xbox-360--PS3.html

You have to remember "The Daily Mail" is written by a number of different contributors, as long as it'll get them readers they'll publish articles with contradicting viewpoints in the same issue.

While I can't really comment on the US, in the UK, the original Playstation managed to get quite a decent penetration into the young adult market, it became a cool toy to play with when you got back from the club, some clubs had Playstations in them. It means we get quite a lot of people in their mid 30's and even early 40's who, while they aren't really "gamers" as such have had quite a bit of personal exposure to videogames.

TLDR: Perhaps earlier widespread penetration of the young adult market by consoles?

 

[J Tyran]

I think it helps we don't have huge lobby groups that perceive the need to try and shift focus onto something, anything other than the thing they are lobbying for. The biggest dick we have is a Labour politician called Keith Vaz, every 18 months or so he starts ranting about games again.

Another thing I think helps is that age limits are legally enforceable, PEGI ratings are not but if a game has enough violence or sex in it to attract either a 15 or 18 label its a criminal offense to supply it to anyone under that age. It pulls the teeth from anyone who tries the "think of the children" tactics, the natural response is "erm, yeah we did... its illegal for people to sell/give them to kids...". Even if the age limits don't really achieve the real purpose thats more than worth it by itself.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Why does the american media not seem to have the same attitude as the UK. Part of the documentary mentioned groups like the NRA using gamers as a scape goat and it just basically said that the people involved in mass shootings may have an interest in videogames which has nothing to do with the fact they are a psychopath

Charlie Brooker is pretty much the only person on mainstream TV to ever devote a programme to vidyagaems. There are a few proponents in the mainstream comedy/entertainment circles (Dara O Briain in particular), but typically I think the British would regard it as silly - rather than dangerous - if they were to have a negative opinion of it.

That being said, the average games consumer over here doesn't seem to be credited with much of an attention span. COD FIFA COD FIFA WII SPORTS BORED NOW COD FIFA COD FIFA ANGRY BIRDS CANDY CRUSH SAGA I'm done.

 

[VodkaKnight]

I've noticed there's a lot less about video games in the UK media.
Not that it's necessarily good that there's less, but when it's there, the attitude generally positive.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

A lot of this crap in the US is just an extension of the "blame everything but the perpetrator" line they feed the average American that needs someone else to tell them what is what. People think they aren't responsible because of because x-media tells them so, then the morons in Washington and their jackass lobby interests use tragedies to their advantage of taking one more bit of freedom away from the People. Either we all have free will or we're just a product of our environment and nothing is our fault, and if so how can we convict anyone ethically if no one is held responsible for their actions?
Blame game bullshit.

 

[Edl01]

The BBC news website reguarly has articles on the new consoles(almost called them next-gen, my bad), how there selling and I even saw an article a few days back where they interviewed several people from websites like Polygon about the new(almost called them next-gen again, my bad) consoles. They also had an article I read about the Golden Joystick awards and who won them, and it seemed genuinly positive towards GTA5 for winning. So I would honestly say, the BBC at least, seem to treat video games fairly decently nowadays.
But then again what do I know? The US had its own video gaming TV channel, so maybe there attitudes towards gaming is more positive to us, I mean we don't have a TV channel for games

 

[UltraPic]

I mean we don't have a TV channel for games

We don't have any TV programmes about games either, well regular ones that review stuff.

Eh, the uk media have demonised much more than praised the medium. A lot more.

Id say the UK is pretty positive towards the medium, sure certain media outlets such as the daily mail will portray them negatively however channel 4 (which the documentary is on) and the BBC have always been very positive towards videogames. When GTA 5 came out british media couldnt sign its praises enough whereas the american media as usual said that everyone who played it was going to violently rape and kill their sainted grandmother

It does help that rockstar is a British company , but you are right, just look at the bafter awards.

 

[Britishfan]

Personally I find that in the UK we get less of the "This will turn you into a serial killer" nonsense but more of the "This isn't a legitimate way for adults to find entertainment" nonsense.
Essentially video games just aren't taken seriously, nor are the people who play them frequently.

 

[Battenberg]

Im currently watching a program called "how videogames changes the world". It basically goes from the early days of text based games to now. It covers everything including the controversy behind games like mortal combat, GTA and COD. However it is still shows games in an incredibly positive light but more than that it shows how games have shaped our culture over the past 30 years

Why does the american media not seem to have the same attitude as the UK. Part of the documentary mentioned groups like the NRA using gamers as a scape goat and it just basically said that the people involved in mass shootings may have an interest in videogames which has nothing to do with the fact they are a psychopath

It shows how games like the wii have helped keep old people active, how games like minecraft have helped spur on childrens logic and creativity and how games like last of us have effectes us emotionally

I totally forgot about that, meant to watch it as well, cheers for reminding me!

OT: Gun crime in America is infinitely higher than here in the UK as a result of much laxer gun laws and higher availability of lethal firearms. Rather than admitting guns are the problem (like the UK has, hence our stricter laws) the US is still clinging on to their "constitutional right" to own guns which means blame for gun crimes has to be placed elsewhere. Shooting games make a convenient scapegoat for that since they come as close to actually commiting gun crimes as you can legally get. Example: There was a fairly well publicised case a few months ago of a young boy who played/ was playing GTA (or some gun game, I can't remember what) and then accidentally shot and killed his grandmother while she was sleeping. Naturally a lot of people came to the conclusion the video game was responsible, very few people took note of the adjective 'accidentally' and even fewer questioned why there was a loaded gun lying around the house that a childe could get to.

This is all my personal conjecture of course but I think this is a good example of the sort of thing that causes one culture (with unrelated issues) to consider video games a source of bad influence while another culture (without said issues) to focus on their beneficial qualities.