Harvard Phd Vs. About.com over Gaming

MaryAlan writes "I don't know if anyone has noticed this, but About.com's Aaron Stanton is in the middle of a back and forth firefight with Dr. Thompson, a Harvard researcher who recently testified before the U.S. Congress about violent video games. She published a study that listed Pac-Man as being 62% violent. Stanton attacked in an article criticizing her research. Then, Joystiq.com contacted Dr. Thompson and got an interview and a response, published her rebuttal, in which she defends the Pac-Man rating and the study. So today, Stanton attempted to tear the study apart, detailing why it's flawed even though Thompson claims otherwise. On one hand we have an established Harvard Phd, who has testified before the U.S. congress, against a game journalist with a bachelors degree in Psychology. Hmmm..."

Comments

The article is 34% interesting

[Rakshasa Taisab]

... or so my study indicates.

PacMan 62% violent? I thought it was sexual...

[Marcion]

Some repressed Japanese game desinger I think, it was the 1970s, after all PacMan himself looks a bit like a femine part and the ghosts look like eja... Oh crud, there goes my karma.

Pub > Computer > Slashdot > Troll

Re:The hell?

[dan828]

To pick a nit, she doesn't have a Ph.D., she has a D.Sc., and it's in Public Health. But she does have a point-- what would happen if THE CHILDREN began to eat power-ups and attack ghosts in real life?

Re:Perfect for Slashdot - Ms. Pac Man

[fahrbot-bot]

I don't really see how Pac Man could EVER be considered in the same violence league as Grand Theft Auto, etc.

Now, Ms. Pac Man is another story - that Bitch with her damn little bow.

Re:Judge the argument, not the person

[binarybum]

Pacman isn't violent, it's just drug obsessed. You're essentially boiled down to a simple mouth with the single goal of avoiding what can only be your own hallucinations (ghosts?!) while constantly munching down little pills fervently just to stay alive. You're so fucked up that most of these drugs just keep you going, nothing more. However, you're on a quest for the real good stuff, the uppers that let you conquer your darkest demons. Still, even these hi-powered feel good drugs really only serve to drop you even harder when you come down and suddenly you're closer to your fears and problems than ever before. Yeah, pacman is a really loser-junkie if you ask me. Sure he might turn to violent crime eventually to feed his habit, he might even slap Mrs. Pacman around a little bit, but I think that's reading into the game a bit much don't you Mrs. Thompson?