Why does the mainstream media hate gamers so much?

[Nickflip]

This is a serious question, after seeing that animal crossing news story I wonder...
What makes them think that they can get away with doing no research on a story, just because it's about "games"? Why is gaming such an unacceptable thing to most of the population? The escapist forums seem to be the most intelligent forum I've been to in a while, so I'm curious as to you guy's answers.

 

[DM.]

It seems to have started after the columbine massacre and people started blaming violent games for people doing violent things.

It's just a band-wagon thing.

 

[Artemis923]

It seems to have started after the columbine massacre and people started blaming violent games for people doing violent things.

It's just a band-wagon thing.

With a heaping helping of bigotry.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Basically, because it's already been through radio (30s), germans (40s), teenagers (50s), LSD/Dope (60s), video (70s), glue/heavy metal (80s), ecstasy/films (90s).

 

[Inverse Skies]

The media's attention is like an evil spotlight, you really don't want it on you because then you get hounded by them. It's on gaming at the moment, give it some time and it'll shift to something else. The media is a fickle medium which grows bored easily, they'll shift perspectives soon enough.

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

It is due to the fact the gaming population is rather large compared to the '90s, and thus has a lot of attention. The mainstream media knows for a fact that the best way to get attention is to attack what already has it.

 

[Redweaver]

My question is more "why does the games industry hate gamers". Everything is all "casual and mainstream" now. I can't wait til the pendulum swings back the other way for a while.

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

Basically, because it's already been through radio (30s), germans (40s), teenagers (50s), LSD/Dope (60s), video (70s), glue/heavy metal (80s), ecstasy/films (90s).

Also, what they said.

 

[kaziard]

everybody needs someone else to look down upon take me for example, i hate people in general >:O

 

[DM.]

The media's attention is like an evil spotlight, you really don't want it on you because then you get hounded by them. It's on gaming at the moment, give it some time and it'll shift to something else. The media is a fickle medium which grows bored easily, they'll shift perspectives soon enough.

Yes I can see the headlines now.
From "First person shooters raise killers" to
"First person shooters raise heros"

 

[Inverse Skies]

Yes I can see the headlines now.
From "First person shooters raise killers" to
"First person shooters raise heros"

Lol, headline: Halo trains next generation of Space Marines...

Assuming we have Space Marines by then...

 

[Aanorith]

Well, for the "others" as in none-gaming people who just hear or read about games through the media, the only games out there are GTA, Condemned and the *!* full frontal nudity in Mass effect. This is what many believe and every parent gets thier kids a wii because they got the impression it's the first friendly gaming experiance.

But basically DM summed it up best, It's just a band-wagon thing.

 

[Unholypope]

The media's attention is like an evil spotlight, you really don't want it on you because then you get hounded by them. It's on gaming at the moment, give it some time and it'll shift to something else. The media is a fickle medium which grows bored easily, they'll shift perspectives soon enough.

Yes I can see the headlines now.
From "First person shooters raise killers" to
"First person shooters raise heros"

Sadly when BF2 was released in '05 the Army saw an increase in recruitment.... (because as any good gamer knows clicking a mouse and firing an M16 are one in the same) so who knows?

 

[gibboss28]

if it wasnt games that the media was spouting its bile at, it would be something else. Just ignore the mainstream media, a lot of it really is full of shit anyway.

 

[Altorin]

It seems to have started after the columbine massacre and people started blaming violent games for people doing violent things.

It's just a band-wagon thing.

It started long before columbine.

It actually started with the advent of the arcade.. parents hated that kids had somewhere to go where they couldn't control them or supervise them.. ontop of that, they were wasting time playing games when they could be doing other things...

Then Death Race was released, and that became the first really controversial game that got politicians, parents, and the media pissed off.. It basically involved running a pixelated black and white care over "goblins", which resembled people - so basically, it's a game called Death Race, where the whole point is to run people over with your car..

 

[pieeater911]

It's just another scapegoat to blame. It used to be comic books, then it moved on to Television, and then Rock and Roll, then LSD and Marijuana, and then Heavy Metal.

 

[xenxander]

Because Republican Housewives want to protect their children from the "real world" and keep them "save" for as long as possible, refusing to let their babies "grow up" because of their own insecurities.

Stating that, they push others to raise their children (teachers, society, etc) because they can't or don't want to answer the questions their children have.. "why aren't you learning that in school?" is a cop-out answer you get a lot.

*****-slap those women, give the child a dose of reality, and everyone his happy. Of course the U.S.A. is the most restrictive when it comes to expressing sexuality even though we're supposed to be the 'land of the free'.
we gave up our freedom for lawyers... sad system.

 

[DoctorNick]

Simple, gaming is still new enough that by and large most people who are gamers are somewhat on the young side. Thus, the media being the reactionary dinosaur it is that's also usually a good decade behind the times latches on to it as the new thing that's destroying the youth.

Any problems with youth + Something the media perceives that only the youth engage in = Spawn of Satan [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6AQiihYrkI] and the root of all that is evil.

Give it another decade or two when the gamer generation is RUNNING the media and it won't be so bad, except then they'll have found a new corrupting influence to blame all of the worlds ills on as this is the nature of the beast.

Probably something like nanomods or holodecks or trans-species gene therapy or whatever...

And thus the circle of life will continue.

 

[dragoniv1]

People just want to blame issues on other things when the real issue is with thereself!