Why British Papers Hate Games

[Cousin_IT]

using actors to portray "men on the street" is nothing new. Its alot easier then using real ppl (both in terms of their answers & the paperwork that comes with them. Some of Charlie Brookers Screenwipe episodes touch on different parts of it.

edit: this is referring to conservatives in the UK not USA. here concervatives effectively mean they dont like anything that might change the status quo & since every change is for the worst they have to find something "new" to make a scapegoat.

Heres two episodes with relavent parts to this discussion. This one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAdoqK5yWTE&feature=PlayList&p=699392ADA7625F68&index=0 about 5 mins in & this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSkqGSu-3eI&feature=user at the beginning (yes their rants & yes their funny but it makes the point )

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Oh and if you want a real scare story. Look what the British press are doing to smokers...

 

[Force Feedback Codpiece]

By the way, games that have violence as a main selling point, are actually very rare. Games like Manhunt, etc. Not even Grand Theft Auto is a game like that, it has a story too. Not to mention some of the most cynical, blackest humour ever put in a game.

Remember that pie chart in one of Yahtzee's videos?

People who care about Manhunt: the mainstream media (98%), actual gamers (2%)

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2048-Zero-Punctuation-Manhunt

Edit: actually it was Penny Arcade.

 

[Monodi]

By the way, games that have violence as a main selling point, are actually very rare. Games like Manhunt, etc. Not even Grand Theft Auto is a game like that, it has a story too.

Remember that pie chart in one of Yahtzee's videos?

People who care about Manhunt: the mainstream media (98%), actual gamers (2%)

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2048-Zero-Punctuation-Manhunt

Touché. Not to mention I find Manhunt very generic and pointless.

 

[dekkarax]

Yes, British newspapers are unfortunatly biased. I did see two articles in the Daily mail, which, from most gaming magazines that I have read, seems to be the prime culprit. In one article 6 games were reviewed by a child phsyc...person with a job which I cannot spell the name of; the reviewer stated that the games featured distressing images of violence and persuades the player to commit murder, but the article loses credibility when you look at the list of games reviewed: Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, resident evil 4, scarface, dead or alive and another that I cannot remember; I mean, seriously, dead or alive?, wtf is this lady's mindset? I doubt that she even played the games, she said Master Cheif from Halo was some form of superhero(?) and that the covenant were "stereotypical aliens"; fair enough, Halo's story is full of cliches, but a composite race of religous zealots are not stereotypical.

There was the other article, that was even worse. It was a pathetic attempt at linking gaming with autism. That's all I'm gonna say because I didn't read anymore.

Methinks we should have a public-owned newspaper, like the BBC is a publc-owned tv...thingy.

 

[Sniper_Zegai]

Its a newspaper and bullshit like this sells. Either stupid parent or people who just want someone to agree with them will probably pick this up and take it in but it will have no real effect.

What can you do. . .

 

[Sixties Spidey]

anti gaming articles are a joke. These are written by a bunch of stuck up obnoxious fucksticks claiming they are somehow superior, which in reality is a lie. Video games have been around for more than 30 years. it dates back to Pong. We had so much of a space in time, where games started to evolve, and technology and games themselves started to change. There is no excuse. These days, looking at any of these articles are ridiculous, and all what they are for is just to get a little cash flow going. Liberals like Hilary Clinton (Who i am against) are acting like total tool chests, and just jumping from bandwagon to bandwagon on these issues. The point being is that people will always find a scapegoat for anything, and no matter how many drafts you set, kids will always find a way to get this stuff. I am 14 years old, and own the original version of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. I still play it in short bursts to this day, cause i want to have fun. If these guys dont understand that games arent about controversy and more about fun with a friend, or by yourself, then we have a problem. Psychos will be psychos, and Stupid shitty parents will always be stupid shitty parents unless they are taught in such a way that doesn't scare them.

 

[PhoxHound]

I'm pretty sure the last time the media actually had any major impact on the world was Watergate.

 

[sammyfreak]

I'm pretty sure the last time the media actually had any major impact on the world was Watergate.

???

What kind of strange alternative dimension doth thou live in? Take me there, i want sane politicans to run my world, not silly journalist.

 

[Kiytan]

some of the arguments raised by the "video games are bad" group of people imo are perfectly valid and i agree with them - they need to make parents more aware, and they need to have stricter rulings on selling games (mailbombs incoming for me i have no doubt) They just seem to get the wrong people to argue them, jack thompson for instance, that man is full of it. Worst example of anything i've seen him do (im searching for it on youtube, but finding a non "jack thompson must die" video is pretty tricky) is while he was talking, there are montages of games in the background, one of which is city of heroes (has the statesman and BAB spinning around to fight someone) COME THE FUCK ON, you're not even trying anymore, god forbid it should influence my kids to be like comic book hereos, wouldn't want them getting morales and other "goody" stuff, you think he would have atleast chosen CoV.

Sidetracking aside, i think it is mostly because it sells, in the 50's elvis made kids rebel and do bad shit, in the 70's clockwork orange turned people into hypercriminals, now its just halo training the new generation of psychotic killers. because ;ets face it, its easier (and more fun) to ***** about a problem, than say something is fantastic

 

[Cooper42]

Just maybe.

Writers know an 'anti games' article will get picked up very quickly on the 'net.
Will get lots of page views.
Many comments in comparison to most other articles.
This gets noticed by their eds.


It's a great way for side-lined or otherwise dwindling hacks to keep their finger in.

Best answer: Don't bother to keep reading, much less commenting on the same ill-thought-out tripe.

 

[TomNook]

As the U.S. goes, so goes Britain...

 

[Fire Daemon]

some of the arguments raised by the "video games are bad" group of people imo are perfectly valid and i agree with them - they need to make parents more aware, and they need to have stricter rulings on selling games (mailbombs incoming for me i have no doubt) They just seem to get the wrong people to argue them, jack thompson for instance, that man is full of it. Worst example of anything i've seen him do (im searching for it on youtube, but finding a non "jack thompson must die" video is pretty tricky) is while he was talking, there are montages of games in the background, one of which is city of heroes (has the statesman and BAB spinning around to fight someone) COME THE FUCK ON, you're not even trying anymore, god forbid it should influence my kids to be like comic book hereos, wouldn't want them getting morales and other "goody" stuff, you think he would have atleast chosen CoV.

I think everyone who plays games would agree that violent games should not be sold to children.

But that dosn't make them "evil".

 

[TimeTraveller]

I think some of the accusations made against videogames are pretty dumb. Not every gamer is a violent sociopath who delights in games where you can beat people to death with table lamps. OK, I loved hitting people with the wrench in Bioshock, but they were deadly psychopathic mutants, not innocent bystanders.

I just know that personally I'm not going to let my kids play games too old for them, and that when they're young gaming time will be limited in favour of playing outside.

I think parents should be mindful of what their kids are playing, but don't think gaming will turn the brains of future generations into peanut butter like mush.

 

[Dectilon]

Usually I wouldn't be worried by something like this, but I saw Demolition Man the other day and now I can't help but worry (yes, it's completely ridiculous, but hey, so is hopefully this subject).

Britain has, more than many other countries, gone hard on liberties, among other things. Cameras, strange arrests and the like makes me worried. When I was younger I always wanted to move to Britain, but now I'm not so sure anymore...

"I think some of the accusations made against videogames are pretty dumb. Not every gamer is a violent sociopath who delights in games where you can beat people to death with table lamps. OK, I loved hitting people with the wrench in Bioshock, but they were deadly psychopathic mutants, not innocent bystanders."

Bah, who cares? If movies are allowed to present violence as something cool, why shouldn't games? Some claim it's worse when you "do it yourself", but I agree with Yathzee on the "dark side of the moon" analogy. Getting to choose who to beat up is about the same level of involvement as rewinding the tape to watch a certain scene again : P

 

[LisaB1138]

My dad has an argument he throws out about nuclear power whenever the panicky sort go on about how dangerous it is: "Hell, more people were killed at Chappaquiddick than Three Mile Island."

I shall update it for the Brits: "Hell, more people are killed at football matches than video games."

And yet you rarely see editorials commenting about how dangerous soccer--er . . . football matches are, and how they should be regulated and controlled. That's because people seem to innately understand in that context that IDIOTS cannot be controlled, and yet, with video games they can? LOGIC=FAIL

 

[Arbre]

They hate games and France. Who said they were rational?

 

[Same River New Water]

What does this have to do with conservatives? The stereo type is conservatives like guns and violence. It's liberals that want to ban video games. Tipper Gore, Hillary Clinton...

US politics =/= world politics.

"Hell, more people are killed at football matches than video games."

Mmm, it's like how any discussion of the dangers of nuclear power plants fails to mention the many many coal-industry-related deaths every year.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Hating france is entirely rational. Game hate-is not. Killing someone in a game won't make a kid a psycho, but it may trigger a psychosis is a child who already had problems.

I suspect a great many of children who do commit videogame-related crimes were actually abused, and the parents managed to conceal it from the investigators.

 

[Same River New Water]

Hating france is entirely rational. Game hate-is not.

...are you serious?