Gamers: The media hates you even more than you thought.

[ManekiNeko]

I've had mixed feelings about Penny Arcade lately, but it's hard not to give them the credit they deserve for the Child's Play charity drive, which earned nearly two hundred thousand dollars' worth of merchandise and money for needy children.

Actually, it'd be hard for us to do that, but for the backstabbing, sensationalist media, it was no trouble at all. One report swept Tycho and Gabe's monumental effort under the rug and gave all the credit for the gift to a Catholic church instead.

My question is this... just how much abuse will we as gamers take before we take a stand against the lying scum who dare to call themselves news journalists? How much longer will be let ourselves be villified in the name of higher ratings? This is the last straw. It's time we fought back.

JR

[wberdan]

i really dont think its a conspiracy.

those are called mistakes, people make them



willie

[Solid Snake]

Yeah, that's true. Also, I was reading the news article Tycho was going on about. It seems that the media is too stubborn to realize that people are stupid rather than pointing the blame at video games all the time.

GTA3 and Vice City were violent, no doubt about it, but so are a lot of movies. Movies like Se7en are rated R (17+), while games like Vice City are rated M (also 17+). The problem is not the violent videogames, it's the morons that aren't doing their jobs at VG retail stores. Seriously, places that sell games should card people if they're buying "Mature" games. The article also mentions the incident where two boys (14 and 16 years old) shot out of their vehicle. The real problem is not that they were playing videogames, it's the fact that they had extremely easy access to firearms. Then it goes on to relate the games to "that Beltway Sniper guy". Please. That's like blaming shootings in the 80s on Space Invaders or Duck Hunt. It holds no water.

Blaming videogames for shootings is like blaming The Dukes of Hazzard for car crashes.

[Dahne]

It's all true. When my soft, young little head was filled with glamorous, violent images - brutally stomping on innocent turtles, vicious yellow mouths rending ghosts into bits - with absolutely no other influences to dilute them, I became, through no fault of my own, a blood-crazed maniac. As the case has been made, human beings are too stupid to differentiate between reality and lots of little dots of color on a screen. I now spend my days hunting for a floating white stick to fling a small cube at, in the vain hope that it will bounce back to me, then out again, then back. Oh, the children. Won't someone PLEASE think of the poor, stupid, conveniently moral-free children?

[BoOchan]

All the Department Stores here don't give a flying fuck how old you are, even if it's a MA15+ Game (15+ Only). I may look 15-16 or so, but back even when I was 11 I've bought a MA15+ game before and got it without a parent being there. Blame Liberman for first bringing it to the public back in the Mortal Kombat days, he basically bought it up that All video Games = Evil, Violent, Mind Warping.

[Sotenga]

One day, one of my friends, an avid gamer, was real pissed because he didn't like being called scum on the sole account that he was a gamer. I could identify with that. I'm actually a bit afraid to let many people at my school know how deeply into video games I am. It's only going to ostracize me more from the crowd... as if I already wasn't a lone wolf enough.

Don't get me started on that Lieberman prick. I can't say that his heart or mind are in the right place. He obviously fails to see the enjoyment that they bring about. He blames a few games for being ludicrously violent, and it somehow spreads the word that ALL video games, even friggin' Bible Adventures, are inherently evil. This isn't all Lieberman's doing. There are many other culprits that give us a bad moniker... namely, EVERYONE.

Okay, that's too general. ALMOST everyone.

Like Solid Snake said, it's the people's fault for damaging games and our rep as gamers. He makes a very good point about other parts of the entertainment industry possibly being responsible for several shootings and murders. Even so, movies and music aren't even to blame. It's all about the retards that are too cowardly to take their comeuppance, and badly need a scapegoat. I don't know why they target video games... my guess is that they fail to see them as a major part of the entertainment industry, and they regard them as nothing more but "a mere hobby." Goddamn morons...

I'm with Jess. We need to make ourselves known. We got to fight for our right... to GAME! I'll be damned to hell before I let a few mindless pencil-pushers take down video games, dragging us with them! This bullshit has to stop, NOW.

Come on, who else is with us?

[Solid Snake]

Most Rap music is ten times more violent (in terms of lyrics) than most videogames. Vice City is child's play compared to rap music. And for some reason, videogames get the shaft and rap is recognized the world over. What the fuck?

I'm not saying that blaming music is a better option, because it really isn't. Judas Priest was sued for putting the backwards message "Do it" into their cover of Better By You, Better Than Me. This caused two teenagers to kill themselves. It was a ludicrous lawsuit and further went on to show the public that heavy metal was evil and wanted everyone dead. :roll:

And in relation to the Haitians debacle, if the words "Kill the White People" were put in the game, no one would care. If it was "Kill the Black People", then there would be hell raised. If it was "Kill the men", again, not a lot of response. "Kill the women" on the other hand, would anger a lot of people.
So it's ok to kill white males, but not african-americans or females? Ok, glad I know that now.

[jaydubnb]

To me this is most definitely not an issue because if you look at things historically, every 'next big thing' causes uproars, boycotts and questioning of values. It happened with comics, Elvis, rap, porn, and now its gamings turn.

What the anti-gaming people need to realize is that for every GTA, there are hundreds of more "morally correct" games. The may cry from lack of knowledge.

[E Nice]

Mars University slogan: Knowledge brings fear. - Futurama

While that was presented as a joke it also has some truth.

Knowledge = fear, finger points back. Can't have that. Pointing finger moves elsewhere, scapegoat = fear.

[Aswald]

I've had mixed feelings about Penny Arcade lately, but it's hard not to give them the credit they deserve for the Child's Play charity drive, which earned nearly two hundred thousand dollars' worth of merchandise and money for needy children.

Actually, it'd be hard for us to do that, but for the backstabbing, sensationalist media, it was no trouble at all. One report swept Tycho and Gabe's monumental effort under the rug and gave all the credit for the gift to a Catholic church instead.

My question is this... just how much abuse will we as gamers take before we take a stand against the lying scum who dare to call themselves news journalists? How much longer will be let ourselves be villified in the name of higher ratings? This is the last straw. It's time we fought back.JR


But that's the way the media always is. Don't expect a fair shake from them; those days are long gone. Just figure to hell with `em.

[hezeuschrist]

I've had mixed feelings about Penny Arcade lately, but it's hard not to give them the credit they deserve for the Child's Play charity drive, which earned nearly two hundred thousand dollars' worth of merchandise and money for needy children.

Actually, it'd be hard for us to do that, but for the backstabbing, sensationalist media, it was no trouble at all. One report swept Tycho and Gabe's monumental effort under the rug and gave all the credit for the gift to a Catholic church instead.

My question is this... just how much abuse will we as gamers take before we take a stand against the lying scum who dare to call themselves news journalists? How much longer will be let ourselves be villified in the name of higher ratings? This is the last straw. It's time we fought back.

JR

That example is quite out of hand, and I agree that it's bullshit... but as far as being a gamer goes? No one I know gives a damn that I play videogames. My non-gamer friends don't care, my family doesn't care, the people I know online don't care, the women I meet don't care. I'm not about to start caring about the people who think I'm different from them simply because I have a different hobby. They think I'm a leech on society, I think they're a leech on humanity. Whoopee, life goes on.

[Sniderman]

The 00's - "Videogamers are a pox on society! They learn bad social habits from this hobby and are violent or -gasp - unGodly!"

The 90s - "Those Goth kids/Anne Rice fans are a pox on society! They learn bad social habits from this hobby and are violent or -gasp - unGodly!"

The 80's - "Dungeons and Dragons players are a pox on society! They learn bad social habits from this hobby and are violent or -gasp - unGodly!"

The 70's - "Disco dancers are a pox on society! They learn bad social habits from this hobby and are violent or -gasp - unGodly!"

The 60s - "Those dirty hippies are a pox on society! They learn bad social habits from this hobby and are violent or -gasp - unGodly!"

The 50s - "Comic book readers are a pox on society! They learn bad social habits from this hobby and are violent or -gasp - unGodly!"

Early 50s - "Those kids listening to that new 'rock-n-roll' music are a pox on society! They learn bad social habits from this hobby and are violent or -gasp - unGodly!"

Trust me gang, this too shall pass when the next "pox" is discovered by the mainstream media.

[Nature Boy]

My question is this... just how much abuse will we as gamers take before we take a stand against the lying scum who dare to call themselves news journalists? How much longer will be let ourselves be villified in the name of higher ratings? This is the last straw. It's time we fought back.

You know, by 'fighting back' we'd only be admitting that we thought their points were valid. I prefer ignoring them out of hand.

What's been said already really covers it I think: everything from comics to rock and roll has been 'blamed' for corrupting youth. 95% of the population realizes it's just the squeaky wheel trying to grab some attention and ignores it.