Gamers Are Good People, Too

The Ticktockman writes "For years, gamers have been looked down upon by the media. We are said to be crazy lunatics who, given the chance, might decide to shoot up our school because of the games we play. Well, the game-themed webcomic Penny Arcade has had enough. They have now started a little something with the Seattle Children's Hospital called 'Child's Play', where gamers can buy videogame and non-game-related gifts for patients there. So if you feel like showing the world that gamers are compassionate people too, then head on over to the Penny Arcade 'Child's Play' page for more details."

Comments

Good responses today!

[Fantastic Lad]

Lots of balanced slashdotters posting today. Nice to see.

However. . , being from the 'media as mind-control' camp, I'd like to add my two cents to round out the discussion.

'Command and Conquer' and 'MOO2' style games left a powerful impact upon the psyche of millions upon millions of gamers, many of whom are now grown up from those days and now participate in society as young, working voters.

I found the insane zeal, (yes, insane), for the initial American advance into Iraq to be, well, 'shocking and awful'. You could especially see it on Slashdot during the first week. --All those RTS game fantasies and C&C visions being played out for 'real' in a war zone seemed to be a hard-on thrill for more Americans than you could shake a stick at. (A nuclear powered stick, even. --And you'd have needed to!)

All the guys I know who play 'Ghost Recon' as their primary source of interactive fun are either hard-core pro-war, or it was a slow process for them to realize that Iraq was a Big Fucking Mistake. (Though, now that Bush got his bloodmoney-making machine going, it doesn't matter now what anybody thinks. The screw is in and gamers waking up late to the reality no longer matter.)

Those who find those types of games distasteful, seemed to have a much more balanced view of things. --Of course, perhaps my sample is too small; I only know a dozen or so guys who play that stuff. . , but among them, the observation holds up well.

So were popular war games a form of media influence used to direct people into accepting the drive toward global war? Oh, yes. I think so. Was it deliberate? Were the bosses of game companies accepting manilla envelopes from shadow figures while feeding pigeons? Heh. Probably not.

But here's the thing. . , and yes, this sounds sci-fi, but I do think it works this way: millions of people are subjected to powerful and deliberate forces they do not understand. Ask any number of influential writers and creators where they get their ideas, and when it comes right down to it, most of the time they'll say, "Hell, I don't know. It just came to me." Or, "I was taken by inspiration and just had to write it!" Or, "It just seemed to write itself!"

Yes, yes. Tin-foil hats, "get back on your medication" and "boy you're nuts," blah, blah, blah. But this is the shape of the world that I see. And the proof, as always, is in the pudding.

-FL

Clearly:

[Inoshiro]

the moderators involved are unfamiliar with Monty Python.