May 07
I’m a Loser
Or so says Glenn Beck.
Side note : I’m sorry I used that line to open up this post because I know everyone else who is talking about these Glenn Beck statements have done the same thing. But hey, just be glad I’m posting at all. (#);)
If for some reason you DIDN’T know where that all came from, Glenn Beck calls “video game bloggers” losers. But that’s not what I’m really writing about anyway… I’m writing today in defense of the game industry.
My Initial Reaction
If you haven’t seen the video, you can watch a bunch of his statements here but in a nutshell Beck starts off by saying that he doesn’t blame video games for everything and that basically all forms of media are doing damage to our kids. But then instead of talking about the entertainment industry as a whole, he focuses on video games and in particular Grand Theft Auto IV. What gives?! It seems to me that if you were going to have an intelligent discussion about “this”, you would clearly define what “this” is!… If you’re going to talk about GTA IV being the downfall of society, fine. But don’t say that all media is to blame and then focus on one product from one industry. *rolling eyes*
Quotes
Beck alleges that
[Grand Theft Auto IV] is training our kids to be killers…and training our sons to treat women like whores.
and
In Grand Theft Auto your son or your husband or your boyfriend or whoever can hire a prostitute, have sex with her and then beat her to death with a baseball bat. When a police officer comes after him, he can either light that police officer on fire or cut him in half with a chainsaw! This is entertainment!? As he makes his getaway, Niko can carjack the ride of his choice and drive down a sidewalk mowing down as many pedestrians as he’d like. It took 75 YEARS and countless BILLIONS of dollars to train our soldiers to kill. Today - 60 bucks buys your kids the same thing. Whatever happened to pong?
At the moment I’m not gonna lie - I’m pretty hungry. Which makes responding to these comments a bit difficult. I will say though that I believe video games get a bad rap and I think a lot of that is due to the more mature ones being readily accessible to younger people and (what may go hand in hand with that) much like the Internet, most parents just don’t know enough to be able to make responsible informed decisions for their kids. Is this the problem of game designers? In my opinion : No. Look - obviously I’m a big believer or parents parenting their kids and teaching them morals and helping them to interpret the world around them and I think a lot of the problems we have as as society now is because we leave media in charge of teaching our kids about the world.
And look, I don’t have many problems with the media because I believe it is the society who largely drives their content. And I don’t have any problems with people listening to the media, but I think it has to be tempered with personal morality and scruples. Okay enough of this, I really gotta get something to eat.
Anyone have any thoughts?
May 7th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Wow. I totally agree that parents have to take responsibility for parenting - it is not and that it is not the media’s job. The games already have the ratings on them. I don’t think you can/should expect much more than that. I’ve seen workers at Toys ‘R’ Us warn parents when they are buying a video game that is of a more mature rating and sometimes the parent just doesn’t care and buy it anyway.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:12 am
I think it’s a combination of things. Parents, as you pointed out are definitely a big problem in that they don’t do their job in a lot of cases; buying videos without considering what they are about is one of them.
But then, another part has to do with the video game industry itself. Not the entire industry because there are some really good games out there. No, I’m talking about the ones that produce games like GTA. Honestly, what’s the entertainment value in mowing down innocent bystanders or killing law officials? The answer: the value is zero. It only serves to “train” or desensitize our kids to morals, to decency, to the difference between right and wrong.
Someone might say, “But it’s all fantasy. It’s only existing inside that little cartridge.” Nope, not buying that. It’s also running through a person’s mind after they put down the game controller. It’s called “training”, but under the guise of “video entertainment”.
What’s the difference between wielding a sword at Mario in Smash Bros and shooting a gun pointed toward a policeman in GTA? Easy: one is fantasy and the other is more closely related to reality.
Think of it this way, would the military or law enforcement agencies be spending millions of dollars to train their personnel if video games weren’t effective? Sure the content may be slightly changed, but the result? No difference. It’s all meant to make you better at what you’re doing in the game, which, in turn, can make you do that same thing better in the real world.
Should video games be banned? No way. Should video game manufacturers be more responsible in the content they peddle? Absolutely! Nothing wrong with raising the bar of standards.
Whew! That took a lot out of me. Sorry for the rant, buddy. This just touched a nerve with me. :)
May 8th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
@Teeni - Agreed. I guess for me I just get ramped up about it because I see so many parallels between the game industry and the movie industry you know? The only difference is it seems parents can more easily “understand” movies and we’ve recently really cracked down on letting kids into R rated movies.
@Mark - No problem about the rant buddy and I’m glad you took the time to add some really good thoughts. And I think there’s something, no - Probably a lot to be said about the desensitization of all of us due to media and specifically in video games.
I think one of the issues there is you have this game industry (which is still relatively young) whose average consumer is like 25-34. So naturally products are going to come out that have mature themes and gameplay. Moreover, this consumer base wants the latest and greatest graphics and such so everything you see is going to look much more realistic.
And another problem about the realism angle is that as possibilities increase, gamers want their games to be more interactive and free roaming. … That’s to say, games nowadays aren’t considered fun if the player is forced to do things in the order A, B and C and forced to stay on the same road to do that. … You know, the rest of my comment is turning into a post so why don’t I just do that instead? (#):)
May 13th, 2008 at 6:03 am
Woah Bush, I’ve missed so many updates! And I’m glad that you’re back blogging :razz: I shall read through everything carefully and leave my thoughts if I have any. This post has an interesting title so I thought of starting with it first, heh.
Mark has taken all the words out of my mouth, lol. I personally think that it’s a combination of factors that has contributed to a higher rate of crime, drug abuses and etc in the world, not only limited to the United States. Perhaps in the US where the average wage of a working adult is higher than many countries around the world, allowing people to spend more on leisure (such as video games and etc), the depiction of violence in video games does play a larger role than in many other countries. I think improper, or the lack of it, parenting is the main factor behind this social malaise. Parents can use violence in video games as the basis for education against violence and abuse - the same way how parents educate their children on safe sex and STD prevention. This is the more effective method, rather than simply banning such games outright - as a popular saying goes, the more you ban someone from attaining something, the more he wants to have it. That also applies for teenagers whose choice of games have been hugely affected by government-imposed age ratings. Yes, I don’t deny that a top-down, regulatory approach is needed, but there is also a bottom-up approach that is sorely in need - education and guidance from parents and teachers, as well as the elimination of negative influences imposed upon by their peers.
GTA finds itself in the media spotlight because, like what Mark has said, depicts scenarios in a very realistic manner, such as hiring prostitutes and going on a chainsaw rampage. Oblivion escaped the onslaught, although it has an almost equal amount of bloodshed, gore and violence, is because it bases the storyline in a fantasy, not in a pseudo-world.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:46 pm
I think this is mostly up to parents. There should never be any restrictions of any kind in a games content…ever. I believe in freedom. Let’s cut through the bull and get to the real truth: the answer is clearly, forced prayer in school…hahaha:)