Berating videogames in the mainstream back in vogue?

[Concept]

BBC the other day had a news piece on videogaming being bad for children (they should be building model airplanes instead) and now C4 is characterising Saint's Row as being representative of videogaming corrupting teh yoof.

And with Bully due for release September or October it's only going to crop up again.

Is the media ten years out of date? Still?

[jimmbob]

Yes, the media are a strange lot. I think a lot of videogames are too violent for kids, but that's not the games fault, it's the fact that they can get hold of said game with no worries. The media don't blame the people who make Carling Black Label for all the booze related crimes.
Plus if people are worried about their childrens well being, perhaps they should take a look at the **** they have on their mobile phones, not the stuff in their playstations.
Videogames will only corrupt the youth if the youth are allowed to get hold of it, like fags, drink and 18 certificate movies.

[spagmasterswift]

they should take a look at the **** they have on their mobile phones

Crazy Frog?

[jimmbob]

Crazy frog can make people do violent things.

[eastyy]

Well i have alway felt blaming games is just the easy way out.

I reckon if somebody was compelled to do terrible things it was in there own head to begin with and anything would have set them off.

Like i have mentioned before you never see headlines of "playing tiger woods golf caused my son to take up golf for real"

Oh yes i do agree about crazy frog to

[dataDave]

We need a big war. This world is becoming pettier by the day.

[El Leone]

Obivously the parenting skills are never questioned.

[MattyD]

Blaming videogames has never gone out of fashion. It's just the conveniently new and unfamiliar scapegoat for the older generation's moral panic. In the 50s it was Rock 'n' Roll, in the 60s it was drugs, etc etc.

I can't believe they missed the point so badly with Saints Row though. The game simply reflects the gang mentality, drugs and crime that exist (albeit in a less stylised way) in our real world society, yet now is being blamed for them. Obviously the rampant materialism, social depravation and intolerance bequethed us by the older generation has nothing to do with causing these problems, oh no. It must be these newfangled videogames!

[Concept]

Well put. C4 even went as far as to suggest videogames akin to Saint's Row were the cause of the problems (or some of them), as opposed to Governmental policy failures resulting in poverty, increased crime, urban planning, increased ethnic tensions and drug use. That such issues are reflected in gaming (albeit immaturely and caricaturish in the case of Saint's Row) is evidence of culture reflecting society, not directly influencing it.

I'm sure the introduction of VHS during the 80s went through similar tribulations. The disappointing thing for me is that the likes of Saint Row are far from being indicative of gaming (it's grown to be an incredibly diverse medium, even more so over the last five years), yet they're placed on a pedestel to represent the form to the media in easily digestable soundbites.

Still, that's the news for you. Editorials coated in the trappings of news are all conquering these days.

[Flabio]

Bully has been renamed now to the Latin for 'dog eat dog'.

And the preview of it on Eurogamer makes it sound about as subversive as Skool Daze.

Still, nothing like a good Witch Hunt to keep newstooms busy in the dull summer months.

[SUMIRE]

The media has de-censorised us all so much over the years that almost nothing is shocking anymore. Even the real life things we see on the news is becoming less and less shocking. As we become less effected by what we see, the more they need to show even more graphic detail to get our attention.

The human brain (in most cases) will learn the difference between what is real and what isnt. I think the problem is that some young people are exposed to it far too early in their lives.

But yeah, Video Games are not to blame, I blame the parents then the government.

[eastyy]

I blame the parents of the people in goverment

[MiaBocca]

Same old same old..... Remember when they said the same things about Mortal Kombat and such?


Although after playing the Saints Row demo, I have to wonder what on Earth anyone sees in that game!....... I thought it was pointless and totally lacking in humour and fun, generally one of the biggest turn ons in video games, for me at least.

[ProgScan]

Although after playing the Saints Row demo, I have to wonder what on Earth anyone sees in that game!....... I thought it was pointless and totally lacking in humour and fun, generally one of the biggest turn ons in video games, for me at least.

I was mowing people down to the exquiste sounds of 'mahna mahna' being streamed off me ipod - absolutely hilarious!

[$h@d0w]

Didn't Volition themselves say that Saints Row is meant to be a parady of all of the whole 'gangster' thing.