-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Oh boy here it comes. Video games done did it again...
- Thread starter NYCrooner
- Start date
HiredN00bs
Banned
Politicians that blame video games are just as dumb as liberal gamers that blame guns. The problem isn't a culture of violence, it's a culture of ignorance.
SolidSnakex
Member
Here's the best selling games in Europe for 2010 (I can't find the chart that shows 2011's overall best sellers)
In the top 10 alone you have 4 games (BO, RDR, MW2 and BC2) that many in the media would take an issue with. For comparison, here's the top 10 best sellers in the US for that year
Again, there are 4 games that the media would take issue with. Overall the games that are most popular in the US are pretty much the same as the games popular in Europe.
IrrelevantNotch
Banned
How about they study whether or not guns cause violence.
Phaethon0017
Member
Yeah but it's easier to pander to the "I ain't getting rid of my M16 in the garage but I can stop spending $60 on my sons games" crowd.
When something like 95% of males in the country play video games, blaming something on video games is like blaming something on drinking water.
The US constitution is a living document and it has been changed (i.e. amended) many times over the years. Often for the better, for instance the changes that outlawed slavery.
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/how-us-constitution-has-changed-times
That's not the whole story. The video game industry spends little to nothing on political lobbying. Gun manufacturers and sellers spend an insane amount of money on political lobbying. If you want politicians to get off your back, you have to pay up.
IdreamofHIME
Member
The more Obama pushes for tighter gun laws, the harder the right will push against anything but Guns.
Videogames, Facebook, Movies, rap music, too much Junk food, not enough hugs....it's all gonna be thrown under the bus before they go of their grip on guns.
Videogames, Facebook, Movies, rap music, too much Junk food, not enough hugs....it's all gonna be thrown under the bus before they go of their grip on guns.
Bans totally work! Just look at Chicago!
Hey, genius, if a bad guy wants to get a gun a ban wont stop them.
Guns aren't the issue, chap. I've never ever heard of a gun killing anyone. I've heard of PEOPLE killing people - but i've never seen a gun jump up on its own accord and kill anyone.
Might as well ban sharpened pencils since they can be used as lethal weapons.
We need better recognition of the mentally unstable. Banning of anything wont stop them from acquiring another tool to do the job.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
Politicians: Fighting the Fights They Can Win, Not the Ones We Need Them to Win.
Yep. The original US Constitution allowed slavery and prevented minorities from voting. Times have changed, the Constitution should too.
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, that had to be added later, so the original Constitution was pretty fucked up for allowing slavery. The 15th Amendment gave minorities the right to vote. The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.
Fun fact: In 2012, Gun Rights lobbying totaled $3.7M, including $2.2M from the NRA. The ESA spent $3.5M. That doesnt tell the whole story, of course, but video game companies spend a healthy amount lobbying.
Isn't there already a gun thread for you to argue this stuff? This is the video game thread.
Being the moderate that I am, I can quote this all day. But some regulations on firearms should be common sense. If you have no criminal background, mental disorders or history of violence after a clean screening, then you should be a allowed a gun for sport or protection. But assault rifles and extended clips are ridiculous. I am for protecting the second amendment, as a ban would create a black market worse than the war on drugs. But I am also for keeping these weapons out of the hands of lunatics. It's a fine balance and we need to level the scale.
It's ludicrous that the gun show loophole exists at all.
Go to a gun show and you can buy a semi-automatic rifle on the spot with no background check if you have the cash on hand. Have they ever tracked gun show guns to see how often they turn up in crimes? Why even buy black market guns if you can get one at a gun show without a background check?
Go to a gun show and you can buy a semi-automatic rifle on the spot with no background check if you have the cash on hand. Have they ever tracked gun show guns to see how often they turn up in crimes? Why even buy black market guns if you can get one at a gun show without a background check?
Peanuts compared to what? It's more than the NRA spends on gun rights.
SolidSnakex
Member
Yep, there are already a report that the NRA is planning to bring up games and movies at their news conference on Friday. With that said, it's not just the right doing this. That California games law was headed up by a Democrat. And David Axelrod posted this on twitter
Which is also part of the problem. Good point. Gun owners are going to have to learn give and take. Some measures need to be taken, but that does not mean completely erasing the second amendment. For crying out loud, even the pro-gun crowds should want to keep these weapons out of the hands of people like Adam Lanza.
SkyscraperFan
Neo Member
On the news they were talking about how the killer played Starcraft, and whether it influenced his violent behaviour. Seriously? an RTS? I understand a lot of people in the media aren't familiar with video games, but I think watching a two minute clip of Starcraft gameplay would show this to be completely ridiculous.
Yep, there are already a report that the NRA is planning to bring up games and movies at their news conference on Friday. With that said, it's not just the right doing this. That California games law was headed up by a Democrat. And David Axelrod posted this on twitter
Ignorance at it's finest. Precisely why I don't subscribe to either side of the left vs. right tug-of-war.
DR2K
Banned
Gun lobbyists need a scapegoat, but videogame lobbyists are also great at their job. Nothing will get done per usual in congress.
Flame Lord
Member
Video games more dangerous then guns confirmed.
IrrelevantNotch
Banned
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sandy-hook-shooter-linked-violent-404576
Did he eat hamburgers too? The best they could find was the plumber? How often was he in their house?
Did he eat hamburgers too? The best they could find was the plumber? How often was he in their house?
endresults
Member
Fucking guy calls first person shooters shoot-'em-ups. He's not one of US GAMERS.
forgeforsaken
Member
I would not be remotely surprised to find out he played CoD, but this report seems highly suspect.
Good old Joe the Plumber. The friendly neighborhood source! This pussification and scapegoating is a tragedy in and of itself. We can find a middle ground here, without demonizing outside parties for innocent entertainment that most of us enjoy without harming anyone. Kind of like eating popcorn and going to the movies. Nice to know that the rest of us has to pay for a rotten apple having worms.
GillianSeed79
Member
It all makes sense now. Look at all that murder. Damn you Vic Viper. Damn you to hell.
Right because a sharpened pencil can kill 27 people. Do people really just think it's a coincidence that the US has the most gun related deaths per 100,000 people and also the least restrictive gun laws? Look at a country like Japan which has effectively banned guns.
http://www.theatlantic.com/internat...-virtually-eliminated-shooting-deaths/260189/
Duane Cunningham
Member
Are you kidding? God, it's always the same old arguments.
I can't believe I even have to say this, but YES I would take my chances against a killer brandishing a sharpened pencil over a killer with an assault rifle you and your buddies have fought so hard to retain the right to have. Or a firecracker or a knife or any other
When I hear "we need to study the culture that glorifies gun violence" I immediately agree, but I don't think of games, at least not more so than any other media. Maybe I play the wrong ones.I was listening to Obama's speech earlier, and I recall he said something along the lines of "we need to study the culture that glorifies gun violence", and I immediately thought about our hobby
If you can't see the difference between the topicality of what I wrote and the topicality of what you wrote, then you're hopeless.
HueyFreeman
Banned
I don't know man... this is going to dog this industry until it either stops with the silly levels of violence in some of it's titles (and if you don't agree that there's silly amounts of violence in some games, we can just stop the discussion right there) or there's some objective large scale assessment of the issue that puts it to rest in the public's mind. It's not going to go away.
I also don't think it's a bad fucking thing for this industry to recognize that it needs to be responsible in the content that it produces, that it's a large cultural touchstone now and not just a couple of dudes in their basement. That may be a related, but ultimately separate discussion, but it could grow out of this kind of dialogue. If it's kept to the level of dialogue, and it's done properly, nobody needs to feel threatened by this, in particular not players such as yourself.
The knee jerk reactions on this board and others is ironically reminiscent of the knee jerk reaction you're criticizing. There's little firm data either way, and as of now, it's just punditry. But hey, it's happening in America, so what's new?
benjipwns
Banned
I'd be interested in seeing the results if they included "eliminate schools altogether" as one of the options.
Dion Blaster
Member
Think how popular military shooters and killing games in general are. Not video games' fault, just unfortunate those are the most popular ones.
Rebel Leader
THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
The illegal drug supply has completely stopped in america.
Drug addicts are a thing of the pa....present
Dion Blaster
Member
Why don't we bother testing this? You don't think it would deter anyone? It's not worth trying to save a few lives?
I bet NZ doesn't have a large % people who would rather let others die than give up their second amendment rights.
Because... ya, know. Hunting is fun, or something.
I'm also aware of the irony of a war veteran calling for the abolition of the second amendment. HAH.
Humans kill humans. We should do a study about if horses drawing in caverns make kids violents.
I hope for the day where a pure christian who read only the bible, do not watch TV, video games or music, go to church every day and have a women and 5 kids and is a 32 yo white male, go do a shooting somewhere. Just for the explosion of the media about trying to find something else than Christianity to blame.
It cant be just a person snapping. It just cant be it seem.
I find it really bad that people with agendas are using dead kids to push a something as weird as hating on video games. Hell, conservators should LOVE video games. The video game business sell 10 to 15 times more than the Books, CD, Movie buisness combined.
I hope for the day where a pure christian who read only the bible, do not watch TV, video games or music, go to church every day and have a women and 5 kids and is a 32 yo white male, go do a shooting somewhere. Just for the explosion of the media about trying to find something else than Christianity to blame.
It cant be just a person snapping. It just cant be it seem.
I find it really bad that people with agendas are using dead kids to push a something as weird as hating on video games. Hell, conservators should LOVE video games. The video game business sell 10 to 15 times more than the Books, CD, Movie buisness combined.
I don't think that games themselves are a cause, but let's not kid ourselves: the most popular videogame in the US is a first person shooter featuring realistic weapons, scenarios, and enemies. You shoot human after human. I don't think someone is necessarily going to be like "boy I love getting killstreaks online, now I'll go get one at the mall!" but these games absolutely contribute to our culture of violence.
After the Columbine shootings they blamed Doom; I think that Call of Duty is in a completely different universe. I think it does deserve some scrutiny. Unfortunately, the people who are submitting these bills don't differentiate games at all, and they'll all be seen as one Video Game monolith. That's completely idiotic.
I just think that dismissing the idea that video games contribute to our culture of violence is a fairly ignorant thing to do.
After the Columbine shootings they blamed Doom; I think that Call of Duty is in a completely different universe. I think it does deserve some scrutiny. Unfortunately, the people who are submitting these bills don't differentiate games at all, and they'll all be seen as one Video Game monolith. That's completely idiotic.
I just think that dismissing the idea that video games contribute to our culture of violence is a fairly ignorant thing to do.
KojiKnight
Member
Haunted
Member
When I read that sentence I immediately thought about the USA.I was listening to Obama's speech earlier, and I recall he said something along the lines of "we need to study the culture that glorifies gun violence", and I immediately thought about our hobby
edit: "Having at least one school official at every school carry a gun"
...
are you people fucking insane? I need to leave this thread and cool off before I go fucking crazy reading this shit.
New Zealand has no restrictions on the manufacture, sale, possession, or use of suppressors. That should blow your mind even more.
plagiarize
Banned
for fucks sake. why do I ever look at polls? they do not make me feel good about this country.
how do more people think media is the problem then the actual guns? look outside your own borders for solutions to these problems. christ.