5 ms·

Yeah, okay, so the plot sucked you in, but are you happy afterwards that you did that? Uh, yes. Why wouldn't I be? Should art not be compelling? Enjoyable?

• skybrian 10y ago
  Is worrying about crap like this more or less worthwhile than playing video games? Seems like you say it's less worthwhile (and apparently feel strongly about that), but that's a judgment call too. Yes, you can use your free time however you like. It's still a decision everyone needs to make, somehow.
  • zzalpha 10y ago
    Sure, so make that decision. But do it based on what you want and what you value, and let others do the same. Wasting time being concerned if someone else thinks what you're doing or reading or playing is important or valuable is a silly waste of time that could be better spent actually living.
    • skybrian 10y ago
      Totally agree that you shouldn't be much concerned about what other people think. (Especially on the Internet.) I don't agree that thinking about what you want to do with your life is a waste of time. I also don't think you need to decide on this alone - talking to other people about it seems quite okay.
• r_smart 10y ago
  I think he correctly points out, though, that the games industry and culture have a massive self-esteem problem. For the most part, when it gets kicked, it just lays there and takes it. He may be a touch effusive in his positivity about games, but it's for a reason. You can argue the gaming subculture shouldn't care what people outside of it think, but it's too often been picked on and used as a scapegoat for societal ills. Ignoring that kind of 'opinion' is a bad idea.
  • zzalpha 10y ago
    You can argue the gaming subculture shouldn't care what people outside of it think, but it's too often been picked on and used as a scapegoat for societal ills. I don't think gaming has been a specific target of moral panic for 10-15 years. It's far too engrained in our culture, now. I'd argue the Internet has taken its place in that respect. Hell, I'd say the pervasive belief that gaming is somehow under attack is the exact kind of victimhood you're talking about. Gaming is accepted. It's here. It may not be taken seriously by some, but to that I repeat: who cares?
    • r_smart 10y ago
      So you've missed the attempts to blame videogames for school / mass shootings? Or do you think that doesn't qualify as an attack on the community?
      • zzalpha 10y ago
        Apparently. Citations, please, and not just from the odd right-wing politician trying to drum up votes. I've never seen a serious news article making a claim like that in the last ten years. Fun fact: googling for "video games mass shootings" finds nothing of substance, other than the odd article about Hatred, which is a very specific case.
        • r_smart 10y ago
          Okay, firstly, just because you don't respect the opinions of right-wing politicians, doesn't mean no one does, and it doesn't mean it invalidates my claim. Would you say the same thing about gay marriage ("Show me opposition to gay marriage, but don't use right-wing politicians!"). That's just silly. Secondly, you apparently looked at your search results with your eyes closed. I typed in the same terms and got some Christian news, as expected, which was published this year [0]. They're half the country (in the US at least), so don't tell me it doesn't count when we're talking about people attempting to blame it on video games. I also got an article by CBS News talking about the 'complex link' between video games and mass shootings, published in 2013 [1]. An article from Fox News (again you may not like them but they're a huge player in the cultural space) published in 2013 [2]. And an article that links through to a piece written by a member of the gaming press lamenting the presence of violence in video games in the wake of the Orlando Shooting [3]. These are all in the first 10 results from the search you claimed to do. Getting really crazy, I changed the search to "violent video games mass shootings". Advanced level stuff I know. In addition to some of the aforementioned, this also yields a piece from NBC news (video, requires flash) [4], an op-ed from CNN saying not to link video games to mass shootings (the author didn't just wake up one day and write that, they wrote it because it was happening), which also has links to 'research' claiming there's a link between violence and video games [5] and another piece from Time, written in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings [6]. Actually using some knowledge of matters, I searched for "Call of Duty Mass Shooting" and got this same article that keeps showing up at the top of the search results, from Charisma news (I've never heard of them but Google wants me to read their stuff apparently) [7], an article from CNN written in 2012 [8], an article from the Guardian written in 2012 [9], and several articles published in the Daily Mail [10] [11]. That should be plenty of reading material from within, not only the last 10 years, but the last five. So let's move on. For some reason you rule out Hatred. Why? It was a game that got banned from Steam briefly for being too violent and depicting playing a mass killer. People were worried it would beget more violence of the kind depicted in the game. And of course there's the ongoing battles with Grand Theft Auto. Banned in Target Australia, many news stories having been run about those games. San Andreas got a lot of attention in particular. Lastly, I wouldn't even know where to begin getting you local newscasts pitching the same tired arguments, but there are plenty of them. > I've never seen a serious news article making a claim like that in the last ten years. We're talking about the larger culture looking to blame video games for societal ills. Why does it need to be a 'serious' news article? If half the country aligns with Fox News, and Fox News runs a piece decrying video game violence, and politicians push legislation on these ideas, does it then still matter that you don't consider Fox News to be a serious outlet? Also, I distinctly recall a clip from the Daily Show where Jon Stewart is objecting to the latest (at the time) Mortal Kombat game. No idea how to find that. [0]: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/mass.killers.in.us.all.found.to.be.addicted.to.playing.violent.video.games/67910.htm http://www.christiantoday.com/article/mass.killers.in.us.all... [1]: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/violent-video-games-and-mass-violence-a-complex-link/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/violent-video-games-and-mass-vio... [2]: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/09/12/training-simulation-mass-killers-often-share-obsession-with-violent-video-games.html http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/09/12/training-simulation-m... [3]: http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/12/11914658/electronic-arts-e3-press-conference-gun-violence http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/12/11914658/electronic-arts-e... [4]: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7288381/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/school-shooter-followed-video-game-like-script/ http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7288381/ns/us_news-crime_and_court... [5]: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/20/opinion/ferguson-video-games/ http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/20/opinion/ferguson-video-games/ [6]: http://ideas.time.com/2012/12/20/sandy-hook-shooting-video-games-blamed-again/ http://ideas.time.com/2012/12/20/sandy-hook-shooting-video-g... [7]: http://www.charismanews.com/culture/52651-14-mass-murders-linked-to-violent-video-games http://www.charismanews.com/culture/52651-14-mass-murders-li... [8]: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/19/tech/gaming-gadgets/games-violence-norway-react/ http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/19/tech/gaming-gadgets/games-viol... [9]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/19/anders-breivik-call-of-duty https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/19/anders-breivik... [10]: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1226588/Call-Duty-Political-storm-brutal-video-game-allows-killing-civilians-airport-massacre.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1226588/Call-Duty-Po... [11]: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2153218/Violent-video-game-Call-Duty-linked-high-profile-mass-murder.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2153218/Violent-vide...