Nazi''s copied the idea of concentration camps from Brittain.
interesting, but true.
===============================================
"Tell brave deeds of war."
Then they recounted tales, -- "There were stern stands And bitter runs for glory."
Ah, I think there were braver deeds.
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X-Files Misconception
My Dad recently banned all FPS''s and then all M-rated games at my house. He says it''s because of some religious stuff, but it very coincidentally happened directly following the Columbine tragedy.
I think that one Calvin and Hobbes strip had it right. It showed Calvin''s Mom taking him out from in front of the TV - too much violence - and them him going upstairs and reading an excessively violence- and sex-centered comic book.
I think the Computer Game industry has gotten too much heat and grief from the press as it is. Maybe they should start worrying about other, more realistic threats.
-Ben Dilts
I think that one Calvin and Hobbes strip had it right. It showed Calvin''s Mom taking him out from in front of the TV - too much violence - and them him going upstairs and reading an excessively violence- and sex-centered comic book.
I think the Computer Game industry has gotten too much heat and grief from the press as it is. Maybe they should start worrying about other, more realistic threats.
-Ben Dilts
A couple of random thoughts on this.
First of all, I thought that the scene when the guy gets his hands sliced off, and we see the bloody stumps spraying blood, was FAR more disturbing than anything I''ve seen in a video game. I''d cut that off before the video games.
Secondly, as a parent myself, with children at a very impressionable age, I have a REAL problem with parents that make decisions based on media-induced hysteria. In this particular instance, video games are no more or less "dangerous" than any other potential influence, including television, movies, and especially books. Besides that, real life can subject people to things that are far more influencial than anything they see on TV or in a video game. My point is that singling out video games is just plain stupid, and anyone who blames games or anything else for the behavior of their child is making an excuse for bad parenting.
That said, I think it is the responsibility of every parent to decide what things they are going to allow their children to be subjected to. The extent to which they protect their children should be a personal decision, and I''m not about to suggest where the appropriate limits are. But what I think is very important is that parents care enough to not make "blanket" policies. That is to say, a parent who doesn''t want their kids to be subjected to violence should not say, "video games are violent, so my child can''t play them." They should take the time to look at individual games, read the boxes, look at the ratings, read the reviews, and play the demo. There are sites and magazines that review games specifically for this situation, so there''s no excuse. In general, a problem I see is that many parents just aren''t involved enough in their children''s lives. And by "involved" I don''t mean interferring. I mean actually caring about what your child does, developing a genuine interest in their interests, being their friend in addition to their parent.
Anyway, I suppose my rant will mostly be wasted, since it''s unlikely that parents who don''t already agree with me will read it. But going back to the original post, I''d suggest that you get your parents to take a closer look at your games, rather than banning them all.
First of all, I thought that the scene when the guy gets his hands sliced off, and we see the bloody stumps spraying blood, was FAR more disturbing than anything I''ve seen in a video game. I''d cut that off before the video games.
Secondly, as a parent myself, with children at a very impressionable age, I have a REAL problem with parents that make decisions based on media-induced hysteria. In this particular instance, video games are no more or less "dangerous" than any other potential influence, including television, movies, and especially books. Besides that, real life can subject people to things that are far more influencial than anything they see on TV or in a video game. My point is that singling out video games is just plain stupid, and anyone who blames games or anything else for the behavior of their child is making an excuse for bad parenting.
That said, I think it is the responsibility of every parent to decide what things they are going to allow their children to be subjected to. The extent to which they protect their children should be a personal decision, and I''m not about to suggest where the appropriate limits are. But what I think is very important is that parents care enough to not make "blanket" policies. That is to say, a parent who doesn''t want their kids to be subjected to violence should not say, "video games are violent, so my child can''t play them." They should take the time to look at individual games, read the boxes, look at the ratings, read the reviews, and play the demo. There are sites and magazines that review games specifically for this situation, so there''s no excuse. In general, a problem I see is that many parents just aren''t involved enough in their children''s lives. And by "involved" I don''t mean interferring. I mean actually caring about what your child does, developing a genuine interest in their interests, being their friend in addition to their parent.
Anyway, I suppose my rant will mostly be wasted, since it''s unlikely that parents who don''t already agree with me will read it. But going back to the original post, I''d suggest that you get your parents to take a closer look at your games, rather than banning them all.
Mith, one thing. Video games don''t make people shoot other people at all (unless we''re talking something like 3 or 4-year-olds playing them). Once you get to a certain age, things like that really don''t influence you too much at all. Yeah, if you were to play it about 24 hours a day, you''d probably be de-sensitized from death, but Doom or Quake won''t make you kill. That only comes from something internal. To say that video games cause murders is ridiculous, and the next thing you know, people are going to want the government to ban violent video games -- a clear violation of Freedom of Speech, one of the most important freedoms our founding fathers gave us. Sure, when violence becomes overwhelming in games, I''d agree it should be stopped, but when does the censorship stop? When you start it, you can''t stop it. Okay, enough ranting.
Commander M
http://commanderm.8m.com
cmndrm@commanderm.8m.com
Commander M
http://commanderm.8m.com
cmndrm@commanderm.8m.com
I think these posts are very well written and full of insight, considering how the media portrays myself and everyone who posted as mindless killers.
I agree with wath has been said here. Crimes are usually commited out of passion, may it be love, hate, etc. Seing a bunch of pixel turn red won''t make anyone a killer. It is just a healthy way of dealing with violence, something which is part of all of us, wether we like it or not. Everybody has the potential for anger, hate, fear. We should instead encourage kids to channel their violence. Saying our kids aren''t violent isn''t true. Who hasn''t raised their voices ? Lost their temper ? The idea the poeple should not be violent and that kids today are not sensitize to violence is ridiculous. If history has tought us anything, it''s that the past is full of war and death. Poeple in the middle ages were not sensitize to death. Violence was brutal and few poeple cared about it. We can now say that today''s youth has a more caring and sensible approach to violence, and to live with those instinct we should have a forum for it. Jocks hace football and hockey, other poeple hace horror movie and paintball, etc. Video is just another medium.
As for discrimination, I know of it. Being a 20 year''s old Punk, with the metal studs and the dyed hair, I know for a fact how hurtful it can be to be taunted and shaken up by kids, I have live this all my high school days ( 2 years over now ), instead of targeting the focus on Ad&d kids, goths or Quake fans ( I won''t ever talk about punks which in the minds of many are synonymous with trash ) we should target the ''mainstream'' who take pleasure in insultingn, making fun off and abusing teanagers. What can bring poeple of supposdly such ''good'' christian values take pleasure in seing someonelse suffer ? Maybe we should look at how those kids parent have brought them up.
Sorry for my bad spelling, but english is not my first language. And on an unrelated matter, I know street punks they may look bad and give you a bad look, but their just having a bad life, their really quite friendly when you know them, it''s just a matter of perception ( kinda like video games and some parents ).
Sorry for this long rant...
As for discrimination, I know of it. Being a 20 year''s old Punk, with the metal studs and the dyed hair, I know for a fact how hurtful it can be to be taunted and shaken up by kids, I have live this all my high school days ( 2 years over now ), instead of targeting the focus on Ad&d kids, goths or Quake fans ( I won''t ever talk about punks which in the minds of many are synonymous with trash ) we should target the ''mainstream'' who take pleasure in insultingn, making fun off and abusing teanagers. What can bring poeple of supposdly such ''good'' christian values take pleasure in seing someonelse suffer ? Maybe we should look at how those kids parent have brought them up.
Sorry for my bad spelling, but english is not my first language. And on an unrelated matter, I know street punks they may look bad and give you a bad look, but their just having a bad life, their really quite friendly when you know them, it''s just a matter of perception ( kinda like video games and some parents ).
Sorry for this long rant...
My brother tried an experiment once.
He''s one of those people who dresses in all black, spikes his hair, wears chains, etc. The kind of person that society thinks is insane, basically.
Well, he got a job at JCPenney, and came in for a month wearing only nice dress clothes, and people thought he was a nice, dignified, NORMAL person (he is, really), but one day he came in wearing his normal garb, and they immediately started thinking of him as a psychotic murderer.
Even though he is nothing of the sort.
This world is so hypocritical, opinionated, and prejudiced it makes me sick.
===============================================
"Tell brave deeds of war."
Then they recounted tales, -- "There were stern stands And bitter runs for glory."
Ah, I think there were braver deeds.
He''s one of those people who dresses in all black, spikes his hair, wears chains, etc. The kind of person that society thinks is insane, basically.
Well, he got a job at JCPenney, and came in for a month wearing only nice dress clothes, and people thought he was a nice, dignified, NORMAL person (he is, really), but one day he came in wearing his normal garb, and they immediately started thinking of him as a psychotic murderer.
Even though he is nothing of the sort.
This world is so hypocritical, opinionated, and prejudiced it makes me sick.
===============================================
"Tell brave deeds of war."
Then they recounted tales, -- "There were stern stands And bitter runs for glory."
Ah, I think there were braver deeds.
All the way back to Ronald''s post...
Maybe you should have continued explaining to your parents that the characters in FF7 routinely survived being hammered with meteors, shot with lasers, poisened, shocked, drowned, BBQ''d, frozen, shot, slapped silly... err, then again, maybe you shouldn''t.
. Actually, for tear jerkers you might try Sanitarium. Fairly low-violence and the scene when the protagonist meets his sister, well I didn''t cry, but there sure was a pang.
. About dressing on-job. I''ve never thought "my god, this punk could kill be anytime" when a worker dressed dark and grubby, but I do have to admit that dressing up does tend to instill a bit more respect. Actually, the one thing that I always take note of [whether I want to or not] is how clean the persons hair is. I don''t consider dying it, styling it in spikes, etc. as dirty, but when it looks real oily, is full of flakes, or the hair looks like it died last year [you know, dry, crackly, frizzy] it denotes in my mind that this person doesn''t care enough to care for themself.
. That X-Files episode is named after the fictitional company and game, "First Person Shooter." Yeah, that was a really bad episode [no wonder they didn''t advertise it as strngly as the COPS one.] The depiction of violence isn''t what gets me, it''s how mindless and 1-dimensional [linear] they make games look. Sure, there are some bad ones that really are like that, but please, "start at level one, mow down everything in a straight path, proceed to level two, mow down everything..."
. This is even more stereotypical than how [supposedly] violent games are. Every show [TV show, not movie] I''ve seen showing someone playing a video game always shows the same stupid footage over, and over, and over... as if there''s no variation and is made for the mindless non-masses [if there is such a group of people.] That X-files episode wasn''t any better, yeah okay, they only wanted one limited set, but they could have at least made an attempt at making it look like a real level. It pretty much says that they never even looked at one of these games that they are trying to parody, err, sorry, I mean realistically represent. It''s just the media same old recklessness about the facts.
Maybe you should have continued explaining to your parents that the characters in FF7 routinely survived being hammered with meteors, shot with lasers, poisened, shocked, drowned, BBQ''d, frozen, shot, slapped silly... err, then again, maybe you shouldn''t.
. Actually, for tear jerkers you might try Sanitarium. Fairly low-violence and the scene when the protagonist meets his sister, well I didn''t cry, but there sure was a pang.
. About dressing on-job. I''ve never thought "my god, this punk could kill be anytime" when a worker dressed dark and grubby, but I do have to admit that dressing up does tend to instill a bit more respect. Actually, the one thing that I always take note of [whether I want to or not] is how clean the persons hair is. I don''t consider dying it, styling it in spikes, etc. as dirty, but when it looks real oily, is full of flakes, or the hair looks like it died last year [you know, dry, crackly, frizzy] it denotes in my mind that this person doesn''t care enough to care for themself.
. That X-Files episode is named after the fictitional company and game, "First Person Shooter." Yeah, that was a really bad episode [no wonder they didn''t advertise it as strngly as the COPS one.] The depiction of violence isn''t what gets me, it''s how mindless and 1-dimensional [linear] they make games look. Sure, there are some bad ones that really are like that, but please, "start at level one, mow down everything in a straight path, proceed to level two, mow down everything..."
. This is even more stereotypical than how [supposedly] violent games are. Every show [TV show, not movie] I''ve seen showing someone playing a video game always shows the same stupid footage over, and over, and over... as if there''s no variation and is made for the mindless non-masses [if there is such a group of people.] That X-files episode wasn''t any better, yeah okay, they only wanted one limited set, but they could have at least made an attempt at making it look like a real level. It pretty much says that they never even looked at one of these games that they are trying to parody, err, sorry, I mean realistically represent. It''s just the media same old recklessness about the facts.
here''s a little bit of info, i read somewhere (i think at www.ign.com) that the episode was written by two guest writers who weren''t even real gamers. So basically, the episode was written by two idiots about something they didn''t even know about or understand. Talk about stupid...
This is what i call irresponsible parents. Ronald- for how long have you been playing videogames already ? A couple of years ? Your parents have been all happy about you being occupied with something interesting ? And now some stupid movie makes them change their mind ! Total ignorance, irresponsibility, stupidity, and acting on freaking impulses!
Actually i like xfiles a lot, and i dont think any of the episoded has been stupid. Its just the matter of how the people interpret things. I think it was not meant to be taken literally, so it doesnt matter whether the writers were real gamers or not. In 60ies there were a lot of sci-fi writers writing about nuclear war, and the stories were meant as warnings. And people didnt ran for cover, because sci-fi readers are mostly intelligent audience. TV doesnt pick its audience so carefully tho ...
I admit that mostly Doom/quake wont make to kill you anybody, but for some reason games in recent years ARE more violent than they were ... "FRAGS, XPLOSIONS, BFG"
Blah, i just personally happen to dislike FPS''s, i''ve been playing em, and it great adrenaline rush, but StarCraft is much more(well, its kinda violent too).
-kertropp
Actually i like xfiles a lot, and i dont think any of the episoded has been stupid. Its just the matter of how the people interpret things. I think it was not meant to be taken literally, so it doesnt matter whether the writers were real gamers or not. In 60ies there were a lot of sci-fi writers writing about nuclear war, and the stories were meant as warnings. And people didnt ran for cover, because sci-fi readers are mostly intelligent audience. TV doesnt pick its audience so carefully tho ...
I admit that mostly Doom/quake wont make to kill you anybody, but for some reason games in recent years ARE more violent than they were ... "FRAGS, XPLOSIONS, BFG"
Blah, i just personally happen to dislike FPS''s, i''ve been playing em, and it great adrenaline rush, but StarCraft is much more(well, its kinda violent too).
-kertropp
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