If a game or toy started to be hostile I'd probably want to ban it too.
Aside from the weird word usage, this is just another example of games being in that comic-book ghetto of being "for kids." That hasn't really been true for a long time.
If ratings aren't enough to guide people to buy age-appropriate entertainment in general, then do they intend to start banning books, movies, and other media that may depict war or violence? Probably not, but I guess no one cares about being consistent in these matters.
I don't know if getting a flood of emails really makes much of an impact - real letters are always the best for these things as they show you at least spent more than ten seconds reacting to the issue. Do both.
I also think it's important to state your age and that you're a demographic they need to pay attention to, and that this crap makes you take your money/advertising weight elsewhere. My friends are gamers, we're all mid to late 20s with no children and money to spend on entertainment, and a lot of us are women.
One of the reasons gamers get slammed so much is that reactionaries still cling to the outdated belief that all gamers are pubescent guys without no income or attention span. Easy target.
Yeah. This kid clearly has a problem understanding that consequences arise from his actions, and lacks the usual inhibition kids have when they consider tinkering with large moving objects. Patting him on the head and telling him he's a smartypants? That's a great idea.
Just because someone locks their house with a twist-tie doesn't mean it's okay to go in and leave their stove on.
I agree with much of what you've said. For one thing, one of the problems in the discussion of the potential link between videogames and violence is the fact that comparisons are usually drawn to passive media (film, tv). Someone will always bring up the fact that games must be worse because you are a participant in the fantasy violence.
IMO it's far more fitting to make a comparison between videogames and sports - both abstractions of fighting in an us vs. them activity. I don't think there is any way to deny that these kinds of activities come with risks attached for people with undeveloped or impaired self control. I mean, just witness what inebriated football fans can get up to.
But would someone sue a sports league because it made them beat someone up - okay, don't answer that - there is always some litigious idiot. But most people would probably roll their eyes.
An area in each state filled with people convicted of sex-crimes? Wow. I can only imagine the kinds of violence people could get up to if they knew they could go to a town and be pretty much guaranteed that every person they beat down and/or killed would be someone they felt justified in doing that to. I dislike living anywhere near kids, but you couldn't pay me enough to move to that proposed community. Jail would be safer.
It's been a long day at work and I've been listening to the Powerglove cover of Holy Orders - awesome for the metal-inclined. The original is great too, and is really helping to keep me awake.
I'm in total agreement. The preordering thing is a hassle, especially when you actually have to show up at the store and wait 30 minutes in line for some mouth-breather to take your preorder and payment in the first place.
The last two times I preordered a game, I didn't even get a phone call to let me know it came in, so the advantage of getting a game the day it's released is gone anyway. I just order online now, since there is no actual benefit to going to the store - no selection, no good deals, and no customer service.
I think that your story is a good illustration of what I've been thinking is a problem now. There have probably always been kids who are shy and have anxious reactions to social situations. People just have different dispositions.
I think the problem is that, the kinds of recreation that are available now make it really easy for a shy person to completely avoid human interaction of any kind - and that path of least resistance tends to make the anxiety pathological. Sure, a lot of online games have a sort of community component, but that kind of interaction is misleading because you don't have to interpret facial expressions or gestures. Also, it's so easy to just disconnect if someone pisses you off - or worse, just be an ass in instances of conflict. It's illusive, and only leads to the perception that a person's world is really big and they have accomplished things, when it's really as small as the area around the computer chair, and all they have gotten in any real sense is a case of RSI and some EXP.
But the fact is that a lot of people who play games don't become hikikomori shut-ins with social deficits.
A person's vulnerability has more to do with their reasons for doing something than it does with the actual form of entertainment. It could be some other hobby, but the ubiquity of computers and game consoles now makes it that much more common as a form of escapism. For kids who already have a really limited comfort zone, the fact that current entertainment forms enable that social withdrawal is probably enough to foster anxiety that feeds back into it. Most kids who are shy will do a lot to avoid social situations (I know I did), making these forms of entertainment the obvious choice.
When I was a kid, I didn't have access to games, but I did have access to the library. I spent a fair amount of time holed up in my room, reading all night. But when I finished my books, I had to go out and get more - meaning I had to interact with the librarians, clerks, take the bus to used bookstores, etc. I had extra-curriculars that I resented my parents for making me do, but can now appreciate. These days, though, I can see how someone with indulgent parents might be able to get whatever they wanted without even having to leave the house. I guess that's the price paid for convenience - but it seems to me that the important thing is that there be an appropriate diversity of activities. Skills don't just spontaneously develop; kids have to be put in situations where they need to use them.
It looks like this is aimed precisely at the segment of the consumer population where pirates and people wanting to make HD amateur porn intersects.
Next thing you know the rootkit kicks in and a nondescript white van is parked across the street. Dun dun dunnn.
If by "different space," he means people's living-rooms, then I'd agree. If people have the choice between the 360, the PS3, or the Wii + being able to eat more than ramen in order to buy the console and games - it's not a hard choice. No amount of processing power is going to wash that MSG taste out of my mouth.
Slashdot Mirror
Negative 5, since people only received a credit if they opted out. They were paying people to keep their crummy souls.
If a game or toy started to be hostile I'd probably want to ban it too.
Aside from the weird word usage, this is just another example of games being in that comic-book ghetto of being "for kids." That hasn't really been true for a long time.
If ratings aren't enough to guide people to buy age-appropriate entertainment in general, then do they intend to start banning books, movies, and other media that may depict war or violence? Probably not, but I guess no one cares about being consistent in these matters.
I don't know if getting a flood of emails really makes much of an impact - real letters are always the best for these things as they show you at least spent more than ten seconds reacting to the issue. Do both.
I also think it's important to state your age and that you're a demographic they need to pay attention to, and that this crap makes you take your money/advertising weight elsewhere. My friends are gamers, we're all mid to late 20s with no children and money to spend on entertainment, and a lot of us are women.
One of the reasons gamers get slammed so much is that reactionaries still cling to the outdated belief that all gamers are pubescent guys without no income or attention span. Easy target.
Yeah. This kid clearly has a problem understanding that consequences arise from his actions, and lacks the usual inhibition kids have when they consider tinkering with large moving objects. Patting him on the head and telling him he's a smartypants? That's a great idea. Just because someone locks their house with a twist-tie doesn't mean it's okay to go in and leave their stove on.
I agree with much of what you've said. For one thing, one of the problems in the discussion of the potential link between videogames and violence is the fact that comparisons are usually drawn to passive media (film, tv). Someone will always bring up the fact that games must be worse because you are a participant in the fantasy violence.
IMO it's far more fitting to make a comparison between videogames and sports - both abstractions of fighting in an us vs. them activity. I don't think there is any way to deny that these kinds of activities come with risks attached for people with undeveloped or impaired self control. I mean, just witness what inebriated football fans can get up to.
But would someone sue a sports league because it made them beat someone up - okay, don't answer that - there is always some litigious idiot. But most people would probably roll their eyes.
An area in each state filled with people convicted of sex-crimes? Wow. I can only imagine the kinds of violence people could get up to if they knew they could go to a town and be pretty much guaranteed that every person they beat down and/or killed would be someone they felt justified in doing that to. I dislike living anywhere near kids, but you couldn't pay me enough to move to that proposed community. Jail would be safer.
It's been a long day at work and I've been listening to the Powerglove cover of Holy Orders - awesome for the metal-inclined. The original is great too, and is really helping to keep me awake.
I'm in total agreement. The preordering thing is a hassle, especially when you actually have to show up at the store and wait 30 minutes in line for some mouth-breather to take your preorder and payment in the first place. The last two times I preordered a game, I didn't even get a phone call to let me know it came in, so the advantage of getting a game the day it's released is gone anyway. I just order online now, since there is no actual benefit to going to the store - no selection, no good deals, and no customer service.
I think that your story is a good illustration of what I've been thinking is a problem now. There have probably always been kids who are shy and have anxious reactions to social situations. People just have different dispositions.
I think the problem is that, the kinds of recreation that are available now make it really easy for a shy person to completely avoid human interaction of any kind - and that path of least resistance tends to make the anxiety pathological. Sure, a lot of online games have a sort of community component, but that kind of interaction is misleading because you don't have to interpret facial expressions or gestures. Also, it's so easy to just disconnect if someone pisses you off - or worse, just be an ass in instances of conflict. It's illusive, and only leads to the perception that a person's world is really big and they have accomplished things, when it's really as small as the area around the computer chair, and all they have gotten in any real sense is a case of RSI and some EXP.
But the fact is that a lot of people who play games don't become hikikomori shut-ins with social deficits.
A person's vulnerability has more to do with their reasons for doing something than it does with the actual form of entertainment. It could be some other hobby, but the ubiquity of computers and game consoles now makes it that much more common as a form of escapism. For kids who already have a really limited comfort zone, the fact that current entertainment forms enable that social withdrawal is probably enough to foster anxiety that feeds back into it. Most kids who are shy will do a lot to avoid social situations (I know I did), making these forms of entertainment the obvious choice.
When I was a kid, I didn't have access to games, but I did have access to the library. I spent a fair amount of time holed up in my room, reading all night. But when I finished my books, I had to go out and get more - meaning I had to interact with the librarians, clerks, take the bus to used bookstores, etc. I had extra-curriculars that I resented my parents for making me do, but can now appreciate. These days, though, I can see how someone with indulgent parents might be able to get whatever they wanted without even having to leave the house. I guess that's the price paid for convenience - but it seems to me that the important thing is that there be an appropriate diversity of activities. Skills don't just spontaneously develop; kids have to be put in situations where they need to use them.
It looks like this is aimed precisely at the segment of the consumer population where pirates and people wanting to make HD amateur porn intersects. Next thing you know the rootkit kicks in and a nondescript white van is parked across the street. Dun dun dunnn.
If by "different space," he means people's living-rooms, then I'd agree. If people have the choice between the 360, the PS3, or the Wii + being able to eat more than ramen in order to buy the console and games - it's not a hard choice. No amount of processing power is going to wash that MSG taste out of my mouth.