10 Attacks on Videogames in 2007
A gamer calling himself Recoton2007 has compiled a video of the top 10 attacks from the mainstream media regarding videogames in 2007 (taken from GameTrailers.com). It showcases why we do what we do and why it’s important. Go ahead and watch the video while I comment on them one by one. I can’t seem to embed this video, so please come back after clicking the link.
10. Games cause Epileptic Seizures: Thanks for the news report but this is a 30 year old story. I mean it dates back to the Atari 2600/Collecovision/NES days. It’s also why every single video game made since the early 1980’s has a warning about this on the first page of the manual. I’d say they handled this fairly though, noting how extremely rare the condition is and admitted it can be caused by strobe lights and the sun.
9. CNN Claims a “whopping” 72% of parents don’t know what’s inside “these games.” I’d modify this alarmist statement so it reads a little less insulting to parents. I’d say that parents may not know the specifics, but they do know that a game called Grand Theft Auto might feature felony carjacking and that Manhunt probably involves hunting men. I’ve spoken to PTA groups locally in Milwaukee (not the savviest of towns) and found that parents know a lot more than CNN thinks they do. Also, CNN how about telling us where you got that number? I love the editing though, asking a random 12-year old why they like to play something is usually going to get an answer like “I like to kill people.” The next kid might have a different answer but hey, CNN got the answer they needed for the story. Also, why no mention that this 12-year old and 9-year old are playing a violent game in a public place? Which retailer made that bonehead move? There’s your story.
8. CBS’ Katie Couric quotes the head of Common Sense Media as saying that games cause aggression and violence. There are actually a lot of reputable studies that refute this claim and it’s also notable that the studies Mr. CSM quoted also indicate that watching sports on TV increases aggression and violence. There are also studies that show an increase followed by a dramatic drop in aggression after the game is done. Couric isn’t bothered by all that, she found the “expert” she wanted to believe and ran with it. (Disclosure: I review video games for CommonSense Media) Thanks Katie, you’re doing a service with your quote/unquote “NEWS” program, aren’t you.
7. FOX Attacks Maple Story for being addictive: At GamerDad I tend to warn parents away from online roleplaying because the games are designed to “suck you in.” But is this the game’s fault? Or are parents failing to curb children who have poor self-control? Most kids play games like this with few problems and there are a lot of positive stories about these kinds of games – but that goes unmentioned here.
6. MMORPGs can Lead to Suicide!: If you take out the histronics you have an accurate story. Kids should be controlled and limited when playing these kinds of games because obsessive anything is bad. Even my teenage vice of obsessive reader wasn’t good for me. But blaming a game for a suicide? And showing a mom who can’t be bothered to stop her teen from playing for 4 hours a day? And blaming all this on a game does a real disservice to the VAST number of people who play these games safely and with no ill consequences. My condolences to anyone harmed and I do warn parents to limit time with these kinds of games but it sounds to me like there are deeper problems at work behind these two particular families. “I blame the gaming companies, they’re using this like a drug…” this after talking about a litany of problems including ADD and Epilepsy. You could argue that the game contributed to his suicide and perhaps it indirectly did… but this was a 21 year old who clearly was looking for an escape and found it, temporarily, in EverQuest.
5. Jack Thompson: School Shooting Expert explains VTech: Forget about the students and teachers who were afraid of this young man. Forget the psychiatric institution that completely failed him. Forget that according to his room mate he DID NOT PLAY GAMES and you’re forced to come to the conclusion that games made him into a psycho killer and trained him how to shoot. Personally, I blame Collective Soul and their song “Shine.” No, wait, I’m sane. I blame the psychiatric institution and school that failed him.
4. Thompson again, this time about banning sales to minors: Games have been ruled as “speech” which means they’re covered by the First Ammendmant. Look, I’m as interested as anyone in keeping adults games out of the hands of kids but this ban proposes to fine or punish retailers for breaking unconstitutional laws. Also Jack, the movie ratings system is just like the video game one. Any theater that wants to risk public wrath can sell a ticket to SAW III to a 5-year old. There’s no law against it. Should there be? That’s a good argument but I’d prefer parents, rather than opportunists, be involved. Listen to Paul Levinsen, he’s the one on the right of the screen. The one not lying.
3. Thompson blames Halo for Malvo Sniper Shootings: I suppose you can buy the argument that playing as a sniper in a game teaches you how to look through a scope and pull a trigger. But it took the other guy to really train this kid to kill innocent people. I know a lot of Halo fans, they play all the time, but they aren’t much better than anyone at shooting ranges and guess what? They find actual killing abhorrent. Also one wonders what crazy snipers trained on before video games. As for the military claim, I’ve heard that supported and refuted. Mostly refuted.
2. Thompson again blames VATech on video games despite the fact that Cho didn’t play them. No comment needed.
1. Xbox Live is full of racist, homophobic, idiotic trashtalk! Okay, yeah, they got this one right. No argument here. One could point out that trash talk is a tradition in all sports and existed well before videogames but why bother? Freedom of speech exists, there’s no real way for Microsoft to police or stop it, and it stinks. Parents should know about it.
Stay with the video until the end. Jon Stewart of the Daily Show sums it all up. If only there was something parents could do!
-GamerDad
January 24th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
You forgot to mention the part I thought you would catch on the most to in the last one. The fact that the parents can’t use a controller and didn’t know it had parental settings. I mean seriously. I’m happy that parents are becoming more active in gaming though. My friends mom is now playing all of the halo games on co-op with him not because she doesn’t want him playing the violence but because she wants to have fun with him which I think is important. I think any parent should be involved in what there kids are interested in.
January 24th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
“Thompson again blames VATech on video games despite the fact that Cho didn’t play them.”
See – that just illustrates that the negative impact is so terrible and all-invasive that you don’t even need to *play* them for them to ruin your life!!!
January 24th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Well Derek,
I’ve found this to be true. Not that parents aren’t interested, but that they find the gamepad baffling and Xbox’s blade system difficult. Can’t say I disagree completely. As far as Parental Controls, well, yeah, they should know about that but in fairness it’s a VERY recent thing. Xbox was first, then Xbox 360, then PS3, and then Nintendo patched it into Wii. And nobody started talking about it until Christmas last year.
That’s when Microsoft, the Boys/Girls Club, and Best Buy hire ME to do a big radio tour about parental controls. True story!
It’s not that surprising though is it? Actual use of the V-chip is, according to polls, extremely rare. And it’s not that parents don’t care so much as its hard for parents to care when they work a 40-hour week and are exhausted when they get home. Anti-video game groups basically try to scare these parents, while I tend to work to reassure them.
Your friend’s mom is awesome. Gaming with Children is exactly what parents need to do. I understand why they don’t (there’s a long tradition of parents not even trying to understand what the kids are into), but I try and fight to see that they do.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Well, the parental controls may be recent but with the amount of technology that has it I mean it’s sort of just logic. If I was an adult and concerned that my child may be playing violent video games or talking to people I wouldn’t want him to I’d hop on google and search “xbox parental controls” and see if anything comes up. What you said though doesn’t deter from the fact that the parents had no idea how to operate the controller.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Yeah, I love the trained on games to be a sniper thing. Yep, everyone knows you can just go to the store and either buy a rifle with a scope or put a scope on a rifle to start shooting people minutes later. I bought my dad a hunting rifle w/ scope. Guess what?? Even after all of my game playing where I get to snipe we both missed the target 50 feet away. Why, because we hadn’t fixed the scope to be used with that rifle. How many games out there even tell you you have to zero in a scope before you can use it or even show you how? None that I’ve seen.
As for setting up the Xbox parental controls, if the parents don’t know how to use the controller little Timmy does! Call your kid in, have him show you how to use the controller and then send his / her little butts outside or to their rooms. Then go set the controls. Simple enough isn’t it? I mean, most parents don’t have problems asking their kids to set the VCR clock right?
January 24th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Thanks Katie, you’re doing a service with your quote/unquote “NEWS” program, aren’t you.
That made my day 😀 I needed someone to get back at her for calling games quote/unquote “Entertainment”
January 25th, 2008 at 5:34 am
Sanity, such a beautiful thing. Thanks for providing a not only sane, but well educated and informed comments on this fundamentalist orgy.
I saw this inspiering video with Seth Godin, on curiosity. He basically says, a fundamentalist is someone who before investigating something, ask oneself: ‘does this conform with my current world view?’. If the answer is no, the fundamentalist will not investigate and give it a chance. This in stark contrast to the curious or open-minded person who will first investigate, then see how this fit into one’s world view, adapting the world view if needed.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid980097284/bctid1385253108
Anyway, thanks!
January 25th, 2008 at 6:41 am
While it is possible that certain media outlets are anti-game, I think this is a better example of lazy journalism and sensationalism, and is certainly present in plenty of other areas. I am not a media expert, but have some contact with the media. Sensationalism sells. How often do you see an ad for the news with some teaser like, “coming up on 6 Action News…are toys killing your kids?” Now they have hooked all the parents. I’ll admit I have fallen for this and watched to see what the problem was. Some of the stories were factual. Some young children play games because they enjoy the killing aspect and as a parent, it is somewhat disturbing to hear those words from a child. There is some evidence that violent games cause an increase in aggression in some children. Some people become addicted to video games.
The problem is they didn’t present the other side. There are many kids that don’t play violent games or play ones that are age-appropriate. There is evidence that violent games don’t cause aggression, or that the aggression is mitigated by good parenting. Most people don’t become addicted to games.
Jack Thompson…well, there isn’t much I can say that hasn’t already been said.
As for video games and shooting skills, I am going to disagree with what has been said here, with the caveat that this is just my observation and I am not aware of any other evidence. Among the things I do, I am a part-time firearms instructor. Students that have played FPS’s and haven’t fired a gun tend to do a little better that the ones who haven’t firead a gun and don’t play FPS’s. Obviously, games don’t simulate proper stance, breath control, grip, and trigger pull. Some do a really good job with simulating sight picture and sight alignment, so that is one less thing I have to explain. That being said, they don’t act any different then other students. They aren’t blood thirsty or careless.
I know that some parents are clueless when it comes to technology, but I think there are many that just don’t care. I am amazed at the number that don’t provide any supervision whatsoever. They make absolutely no effort to see what their kids are playing, watching, or doing. I have worked with many kids that had computers with internet access in their room and parents seem surprised when it was later learned that they were staying up all night looking at porn. These parents aren’t interested in parental controls or ratings. This certainly isn’t the fault of the industry and there is no reason that those of us who do care and do take the effort should suffer.
As an aside, Magnus, that view of fundamentalism is not correct. While there are fundamentalists that do what is being described, that trait is certainly found in all sorts of people, even among people who claim to be open minded. A discussion on the fundamentalist movements is outside the scope of this blog, but I believe that most people don’t have an accurate picture.
January 25th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Aren’t we forgetting the fun we had in Blighty with the Resistance – Manchester Cathedral incident?
I find it very interesting that they wait until Resistance: Fall Of Man becomes the top selling PS3 game to have a go at it..
January 25th, 2008 at 8:42 am
I thought that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? … probably because I love that level and that game and it never occurred to me that there was anything disrespectful about using a real world place as a “setting.”
January 25th, 2008 at 9:20 am
@ Magnus
That’s brilliant! Thanks. I’d add to that definition that a fundamentalist also wants to impose their world view while accusing their open-minded enemy for doing the same thing (even though they’re not really doing that).
January 25th, 2008 at 10:51 am
The section of the level you were in Manchester Cathedral? Yes, that was ridiculous. Still, I did get an Auger out of it..
January 25th, 2008 at 10:53 am
No no BlackIce, sorry, I meant the controversy was ridiculous.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Steve S,
you have a strong point in that much of the slander gaming industry is recieving is more due to sensationalism and generally poor journalism, than an outspoken ill-will toward gaming as such. Although Fox equally manifest both, but then again, Fox play a league of their own basically.
Interesting to hear of your experience as a firearms-instructor. I am not surprised of the resoults. I have heard of similar analogies. For instance, young recruits who have previous experience of flight simulations have been showed to ‘pick up’ the basics of flying real aircrafts more intuitively. I’m sure the same go with driving a car and what not. What needs to be recognized here, which is really beyond the intellectual horizon of the Fox crew and those they adress, is that: whereas being able to operate a vihicle is required to drive drunk and possibly kill people, being able to operate a vihicle doesn’t CAUSE drunk driving.
Further, you are right, fundamentalism and it’s charesteristics is quite off-topic. However, for the sake of argument, I’d say one could speak of ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ fundamentalism, where strong fundamentalism is manifest in people willing to kill innocents for their beliefs, whereas weak fundamentalism could be said to be more or less every-day ignorance and narrow-mindedness. That is, something which is very much present in normal people, even among self-proclaimed open minded ones (I consider myself open minded, which include being open to the notion that I myself am sometimes narrow-minded 🙂
So, in response to your questioning of this definition of fundamentalism, I say there are different sorts of fundamentalism, this definition is by no means complete, but it is useful and it very much applies to the Fox crew.
Glad you appreciated the link otherwise, and thanks GamerDad: you are very right, fundamentalist-minded people do wish to impose their views on others, often resoulting in verbal violence and disrespect of their ‘opponent’. Open-minded people have no ‘opponents’ nor do they wish everyone to think the way they do (would be boring, wouldn’t it!). Or, phrasing this in another way; fundamentalists seek conformity and homogenity, openminded and curious people appreciate the beauty in non-conformity and heterogenity of mind.
January 25th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
@GamerDad
So did I. I managed to type something else entirely..
January 25th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Well said Magnus. While it turn out that violent games contribute in some to violence, my gut says this contribution is small, when compared to other factors, and is not the same in every person.
In regards to fundamentalism, I guess the point I was trying to make is that there is nothing inherent in fundamentalism that says you have to be forced to conform with the beliefs of the fundamentalist. There are many that are content to believe what they do and leave others alone. Unfortunately, the media likes to focus on the ones that want to tell others what to do.