why does the media poo all over gaming?

[redstar alpha]

well i think the title says it all but i think that with the immente realise of GTA 4 possible the most un-contraversaly contraversal game ever to be made i have been thinking about why the meadia feels compelled to (and is allowed to) basicly shit all over gaming.

just to so you no where i stand i am sort of i the "games are art" camp whilst still making the odd visit to "OMG!LOL!ART IS F0R FAGZ!!!!" camp (i am not good at leet speak because i have a life) so that is why i get very pissed of when ignorant people are not only given a outlet for there porly thought out (and some times down right wrong) views but are payed to do it.

ok thats me done so what is your view point?
is gaming the perineal scapegoat of the world or is this all just a mouses fart in the hurrican of the bigger prolems facing our respectve sociyatys

 

[Fire Daemon]

Why did you make two of these in seperate topics?

When halo 2 came out I saw a story on 60 minutes dedicated to halo 2. They interviewed some guys from bungie and then interviewed some guys who planned on having the day off to play. They then talked to tiger woods about his game and asked people if they would rather play as Tiger Woods of Beat Tiger Woods.

I have also seen TV shows that feature games in them. The most notaple would be the South park episode "Make love not Warcraft". In this episode they used footage from WoW and while made fun of the users it did bring WoW into the view of the public.

In my opinion media is not "pooing" on games but is making games more popular. Unless your talking about FOX news.

 

[boyitsme95]

It's just what the Goverment('s) does to get there kicks.
They did this to movies, to comic books, and now video games. Expect this to happen to the next big thing. "Holo-movies ruin our childrens minds!" or "Mind Games ruin our childrens minds!" (A mind game would be a game you see in your brain.) Just see it in the future. And yes this is a perinial fart, because people may be homeless, starving, and dying, but we want to make sure video games don't make your children act like they do in video games. (Yes, little Bobby is gonna grab a sniper and run around saying "Freindly Fire!" or "Damn Russians!" or my favorite "Push forward!" because he is a retarted idiot who can be influenced by pants on head retarted NPC's)

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

The Escapist has an article about "bias towards video games" it's really really good, sadly, Yahtzee overshadows EVERYTHING on this site.

 

[bulletproof12]

yeah media does poo all over gaming, its just what they do. but in all fairness i hear toys being yelled at cause they might have led baised paint in them.

the order of media juicyness

gaming=celebrities>1missing person>factory recall>real news

 

[stompy]

Its because aming as an art form is relatively new, and previous generations have been biased against change. Thats why in the 60's our parents were clean cut and conservative, and stuck to their positions in society. Oh wait...
Its cause they are hypocrites and don't understand. Its really simple.

Quite well put Dingo.

- A procrastinator

 

[Fire Daemon]

yeah media does poo all over gaming, its just what they do. but in all fairness i hear toys being yelled at cause they might have led baised paint in them.

the order of media juicyness

gaming=celebrities>1missing person>factory recall>real news

Are you talking about those toys..you know with lead paint...that you know killed people. And you are saying that the media going crazy over this is a bad thing?

 

[shadow skill]

For the same reason people make threads on this board that basically lament the lack of political correctness with respect to people's opinions about various games or the state of gaming itself; for the same reason people on the internet cannot form coherent arguments and when confronted can't function....They are hopeless.

 

[bulletproof12]

i was just adding a joke in my thing....but yeah the media does tend to play anything it can out of proportion to get some ratings.

 

[sirdanrhodes]

It's because they just want all childeren to grow up boring and nice, so they leave us with things like... erm... tetris. Games don't cause violence, CONTRAVERSY DOES

 

[Doug]

It's just what the Goverment('s) does to get there kicks.
They did this to movies, to comic books, and now video games. Expect this to happen to the next big thing. "Holo-movies ruin our childrens minds!" or "Mind Games ruin our childrens minds!" (A mind game would be a game you see in your brain.) Just see it in the future. And yes this is a perinial fart, because people may be homeless, starving, and dying, but we want to make sure video games don't make your children act like they do in video games. (Yes, little Bobby is gonna grab a sniper and run around saying "Freindly Fire!" or "Damn Russians!" or my favorite "Push forward!" because he is a retarted idiot who can be influenced by pants on head retarted NPC's)

Indeed, the only thing that never changes is people's reactions to new technology/media. Some doctors said travelling over 30 mphs on the first trains would cause madness based on...well, no evidence at all, really. But we're doctors damnit, listen to us! We are obviously better than you and by extension are perfect and right!

(adds in reference to the quote once again) Although I think if they were better parents in the first place they'd have much less to worry about.

Its because aming as an art form is relatively new, and previous generations have been biased against change. Thats why in the 60's our parents were clean cut and conservative, and stuck to their positions in society. Oh wait...
Its cause they are hypocrites and don't understand. Its really simple.

I love this one

 

[edinflames]

In the UK most of the bad gaming press comes from hate-papers such as the Daily Mail (formerly the official newspaper of the British Union of Fascists) or The Sun (Rupert Murdoch's manipulator-in-chief in the UK, favored by the large percentage of our population that are brain dead). Both of these sources are reactionary and sensationalist. They print falsehoods and lies week after week, misleading people intentionally, prodding them towards a particular point of view and then issuing corrections for their 'mistakes' in a later publication, which of course, nobody reads.

Case in point: The Bridgend Suicides. Nobody really knows what has lead 16 teenagers in the same small Welsh town (near Cardiff) to commit suicide. Maybe Bridgend is a really f*ckin depressing place to be. Many things were blamed, initially drugs (standard rag-paper response), computer gaming (after it turned out that one of the suicides *shock, horror* 'played video games') and underage drinking (well, who doesnt?). Until eventually it turned out that one or two (notice: NOT ALL) of the suicide 'victims' knew each other on social networking websites. Following the standard newspaper tactic of 'blame it on the newest thing' social networking sites came under mass media attack for 'encouraging suicide', 'romanticising suicide' and making possible the 'suicide network of Bridgend'. I'm not sure what websites they could mean by all this...Facebook doesn't have a 'group' you can join called 'suicide club' ffs. I know, because I tried very hard to find it.

Ultimately the (deeply conservative)media in the UK (and whatever other parts of the world this may apply to) likes to tell us that everything we do is wrong, except for the following: Watching TV, Drinking, voting for whichever political party currently favoured by Murdoch, becoming a 'hero' in the Armed Forces, having children or 'being famous'(for being a twat on that moron-magnet 'Big Brother'). You may notice that these are things that any idiot/moron/jackass with a functioning arm and sexual organ could achieve.

 

[silentsentinel]

Unfortunately, you have to realise how dangerous this is. In this new age of instant information, sensationalism can travel fast. They're trying to make video game legislation. Did they ever try to make Rock and Roll legislation?

 

[redstar alpha]

simple: It's new and most of the guys running the media are too old or just too serious to be gaming. Therefore, they have no understanding for it in the least. Also, it's better to tell parents that the games their kids play are to blame for the kids' failures than saying that the parents just didn't do their job properly.
Overall it's the same as it was with movies, rock music and other things that make you violent, stupid and/or praise Satan. The youth behaves differently than their parents would like them to, so they find a scapegoat for that.

 

[PhoenixFlame]

The reasons are a bit complex, as they sort of tie into why the media might sensationalize violence in general, or write about a controversial movie in a negative way, or talk about literature that isn't appropriate for children. I do think that for the most part, it's because news media tends to put the sensationalized stories front and center. What do you think is going to lead the newscast or the paper - the story about how a study shows that video games actually help children learn valuable skills at an early age or the story of the unstable, socially awkward teenager who takes Grand Theft Auto a bit too seriously and attempts a carjacking?

The problem is that the street goes both ways - viewers and readers prefer having the "car crash gawker" mentality to their news at times. This is why sites like TMZ continue to exist even though the actual news they report is very shallow.

While I agree the Internet is a double-edged sword, it is also helping to reverse the trend a little. Just about anyone can put up content and the better sites out there report on all the news instead of just the news that happens to be most interesting to the target demographic. The rise of blogs, online magazines like the Escapist, and shared opinions shows that people are more interested in information from all viewpoints rather than just what the media tells them about.

 

[Gavaroc]

The media poos/craps/shits/generates feces/excretes over gaming because the media shows things from one point of view. Just because one child can get addicted to games and grow overweight; every gamer is obese. Just because two doom fans can go on a rampage; every gamer is 'doomed' to be a killer. Just because one 16 year old can play World of Warcraft for 16 hours straight; every player is a hopeless addict.

God help us if somebody jumps in and out of five cars, travelling down a busy street with helicopters and the FBI in hot pursuit. God help us all.

 

[Fangface74]

The media defecates over EVERYTHING!

IT'S THE FUCKING MEDIA!!!!

 

[Gavaroc]

Defecated! There's the word I was looking for!

Also: Is the Escapist not, technically, a form of the media? Gaming magazines certainly don't........ deposit waste upon gaming.