Controversy in video games and the media reaction

[Blade]

While games have evolved over the last few decades, but controversy has always been present in video games. From Custer's Revenge depicting cowboys raping Indian women and the sheer violence of Mortal Kombat right up until GTA and Call of Duty 2, controversy has just followed video games around.

The media always seems to cause a shit storm over the more daring moments in video games. But in fairness, the media is full of shit. 99% of the journalists who report on this have no idea what they're talking about.

I think of GTA: San Andreas and the Hot Coffee incident. For those of you that don't know, GTA: San Andreas had hidden code in the game that allowed the player to unlock a sex minigame. Naturally, once it was found by hackers, the media were all over it. Rockstar, the makers of the game, got sued by alot of people. One of those people was an grandmother who bought the game for her 14 year old grandson. There was plenty of uproar about a game for 14 year olds featuring hidden sex minigames. But the thing is, it's not for 14 year olds. It's got an 18 certificate for a reason. The media just happens to forget that tiny little detail.

Another problem is the double standard. The media will only care about games if they're mildly mainstream. GTA, killing civilians in Modern Warfare 2, the Manhunt 2 rating fiasco. But in Fahrenheit, a game that has become a cult classic, there is a sex minigame and a sex scene with both characters completely nude. Somehow, it only got a 15 rating over here. Not only that, but the media care about (or didn't pick up on) the sex scene in the game.

So how much does crap like this annoy you? The ignorance put forward by people such as Hilary Clinto and *shudder* Jack Thompson is ridiculous, but games will never get a fair say because it's not a form of entertainment that is used by the more "respectable" members of society. But this is bullshit as the video games industry is one of the few industries that is still consistantly pumping money in the global economy.

So, what is your opinion on the media's view of gaming, especially when it comes to potentially offensive material?

 

[Dave]

While games have evolved over the last few decades, but controversy has always been present in video games. From Custer's Revenge depicting cowboys raping Indian women and the sheer violence of Mortal Kombat right up until GTA and Call of Duty 2, controversy has just followed video games around.

The media always seems to cause a shit storm over the more daring moments in video games. But in fairness, the media is full of shit. 99% of the journalists who report on this have no idea what they're talking about.

I think of GTA: San Andreas and the Hot Coffee incident. For those of you that don't know, GTA: San Andreas had hidden code in the game that allowed the player to unlock a sex minigame. Naturally, once it was found by hackers, the media were all over it. Rockstar, the makers of the game, got sued by alot of people. One of those people was an grandmother who bought the game for her 14 year old grandson. There was plenty of uproar about a game for 14 year olds featuring hidden sex minigames. But the thing is, it's not for 14 year olds. It's got an 18 certificate for a reason. The media just happens to forget that tiny little detail.

Another problem is the double standard. The media will only care about games if they're mildly mainstream. GTA, killing civilians in Modern Warfare 2, the Manhunt 2 rating fiasco. But in Fahrenheit, a game that has become a cult classic, there is a sex minigame and a sex scene with both characters completely nude. Somehow, it only got a 15 rating over here. Not only that, but the media care about (or didn't pick up on) the sex scene in the game.

So how much does crap like this annoy you? The ignorance put forward by people such as Hilary Clinto and *shudder* Jack Thompson is ridiculous, but games will never get a fair say because it's not a form of entertainment that is used by the more "respectable" members of society. But this is bullshit as the video games industry is one of the few industries that is still consistantly pumping money in the global economy.

So, what is your opinion on the media's view of gaming, especially when it comes to potentially offensive material?

This has been a pet peeve of mine since I was actually playing games. Although Custer's Revenge is pretty fucking out there... Literally. I mean, a game in which you have to dodge incoming spears to get to the other side to rape an Indian that is tied to a cactus is pretty hardcore, to be honest. Personally though, I get offended with very little I see now and I think that this has been built up by watching violent movies, playing violent games and seeing things that I should not have seen at such young ages. However, I never thought it was the responsibility of the media to tell me what i should or should not be playing/watching.

Personally, I could not care less about what a sensationalised news headline says about anything. I don't mean to sound uppity but I just do not bother reading bad newspapers any more and I try my best to avoid articles that try to draw me in with stupid headlines like "Playing Doom causes 4 year old to murder entire family of kittens". It's obvious to me that something as horrific as violent acts are not cause by the media. Unless you are eternally weak-minded, you should not believe anything you read in tabloids and you should definitely play anything that they suggest you don't. Mainly because they have no idea about anything that they ever talk about.

Interviews for games reviewers in tabloid newspapers generally go like this:

Interviewer: So how involved in the games industry are you?

Interviewee: Oh! Me! Nah, I don't play but I saw a games console once. Think it was called a "We" or something...

Interviewer: I'll see you Monday!

Seriously, when I read newspapers review of games, I actually want to go and play the game it is talking about. I play games a lot of the time and I have never felt the urge to go to a train station and just mow down innocent people with a bunch of Russian guys. A lot of shit and I personally take no notice of it.

 

[info62]

I definitely think the media will put video games in the worst light that they possibly can.

The one example that really pisses me off was Bully. Jack Thompson tried to have that thing banned before release, mainly because it was made by Rockstar. Websites were saying stuff like it would be a simulation to act out your revenge on your old classmates by way of a school shooting. People were going nuts over it, until the game was finally released and what do you know, there's no guns in it, no knives, not even one sighting of blood.

They do testings and feed results to the media that are something like this "X amount of kids committed violent acts in school in the year 2009, and 90% of those kids play video games". And of course they will fail to compare that to the amount of students overall who play video games.

Parents just blame controversies in the games for any wrongdoings their kid may have committed. I agree, there is an age rating system for a reason.

 

[The Doctor]

Old media will always claim New Media is evil. It's how it was, it's how it will be. Hell, back in the day, storytellers used to complain about writing, saying it was horrible and an injustice to proper ideas!

The media needs to just stop vilifying games and technology in general. I have no desire to go around slicing people with a lightsaber because I've played No More Heroes, and just because I'm a fan of MegaMan, I don't want to attach a pair of scissors to my head and start slicing everything in sight.

Thankfully, Twitter and the Wii have helped with the media backlash. But it's still not enough.

What really pisses me off is irresponsible parents. I wasn't allowed to play an M-rated game or watch R-rated movies until I was 17, and I'm thankful for that. They have't lost their impact and I'm not desensitized. Do I believe young children can be desensitized to violence? Absolutely! But I don't think that they're going to go blowing people up because they've played too much Doom.

Speaking of Doom, the Virginia Tech and Columbine shooters were both accused of playing too many FPSs, which caused them to shoot up schools. IIt turns out they were all just nutcases. Imagine that!

 

[Blade]

Speaking of Doom, the Virginia Tech and Columbine shooters were both accused of playing too many FPSs, which caused them to shoot up schools. IIt turns out they were all just nutcases. Imagine that!

Yeah, it is always sad when a tragedy like that happens but the media look for what's easiest to blame rather than who is actually to be blamed. The media tried to blame Doom and Marilyn Manson for Columbine, but in reality they were looking for the scapegoat. It's always the fault of the people who commit the crime and to a certain extent, the parents. Blaming video games is such a weak argument.

I don't want to shoot people. GTA doesn't make me want to shoot people. If anything, it makes me want to shoot people even less because, thanks to the game, I have a way of shooting people so no one actually gets hurt. What I'm trying to say is, if anything games make people less stressed and less curious about murder and such. But because of a few morons who decide to shoot some innocent people, video games and gamers are looked down upon even though there's no proof of games causing any mental issues.

Just like video game fans have become criminals, fans of music, movies and books have also become criminals. But games are the latest undeserving victims. Parents spew nuggets of ignorant-ey bullshit out their mouths cause their child was acting violent after playing Halo or whatever. Perhaps if you spent time with your kid rather than allowing him to be raised by games that aren't suitable for him, he wouldn't be so fucking violent. And news channels go after game controversy cause it's still a hot topic and they want them ratin's!

 

[Dave]

The Columbine massacres are the biggest hit that video games industry will ever take, in my opinion. Of course it was a tragedy and the like of which I wish I had never seen or heard of. It was a terrible state of affairs and I really hope that another massacre like that will never happen in my lifetime. However, I thought that it was completely out of line that people blames all of these massacres on the likes of Doom and similar video games. With that in mind, I don't think that a lot of people took it seriously. The problem was, that they had supposedly created a level on Doom that was based on the layout of the university that they were studying at. It's a shame that the level of media attention that Doom and those levels "achieved" had a bad effect on the video games industry. A lot of people legitimately thought that it was because they were shooting things in Doom, they were very likely to go and do what they did. However, I would argue that it wasn't because of Doom. I would argue that Doom was just tied to them for reasons that Doom could not control. People are going to do what they want regardless of what video games and movies they are playing or watching. Blaming games is just the easy way out and people should really think about it before they do so.

As Chris Rock says, "whatever happened to crazy!?"

 

[ABMorales787]

Hey, remember when Mortal Kombat was the center of controversy for its realistic deaths? I'm still waiting for a case in which somebody gets his/her spine ripped off or gets their heart torn off right out of the blue. The closest case I've seen is that case where a crazy bitch cuts off her husbands penis after finding out he cheated on her (I told you its mine you man ****e!) then ran off with it on her car and tossed it off the window while yelling frantically ( ). Yeah, the media milks and exagerates anything that seems lactose intolerant. Its best we ignore it and move on. Video games do influence us but they don't control us. I've been playing M rated games since I was five. Among those were Mortal Kombat, Doom, Goldeneye, Conkers Bad Fur Day, among many others. So far I've only cursed. I've yet to feel the erge to shapeshift into a dragon and eat someone. Or pick up a PP7 and shoot a girl in the ass (Poor Natalya). Let alone run somebody over while driving. I don't that one, not even to frogs.

Gimme! It's mine, you filthy man-****e! All mine!