Nintendo Murder Simulator
This will be a short post, hopefully. I just wanted to convey a thought I had about some possibly unexpected backlash to Nintendo's new console.
For years the videogame industry has come under fire for violent and sexual content in videogames. Starting with Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl, and now with Hillary Clinton, Leland Yee, the ranks of "concerned" politicians have grown over the years. Throw in quack attorney and anti-videogame activist, Jack Thompson, and there's virtually a throng of videogame haters.
Now, don't get me wrong. I absolutely believe that some games are really violent for nothing more than shock value. They are gratuitous and usually not good games. Furthermore, they should be kept out of the hands of children. But I do not believe that playing videogames turns you into a killer, as Jack Thompson seems to believe.
Some of these politicians have valid arguments, but I am constantly reminded that, in actuality, they are retards and liars. Basically, they make stuff up. For example, I read a quote in EGM from a politician who posted on his website how you could control breast size in Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball, and you could look at topless girls. That's a blatant lie. Apparently, after the Columbine shooting, there were reports of Eric Harris creating Doom levels to simulate the layout of Columbine, so he could practice killing his classmate. While he did, in fact, create levels, they were not simulations of Columbine. Another blatant lie. And my all-time favorite argument, that I believe completely relegates all politicians of this breed to sub-stupid levels, is the "argument" that when Kentucky teenager Michael Carneal killed three other students, his shooting was, "way above the military standard of expert marksmanship." And that he was, "a kid who never fired a pistol in his life, but because of his obsession with video games he turned himself into an expert marksman."
How dumb do you think I am? Yes, in general, the American public is so dumb that they would believe that clicking a mouse can make you good at firing a gun, but I am not. There's a reason that the military trains with real guns for hours and hours, instead of having all recruits play Doom. I'll let you try to figure out that reason.
And so I come to the point of this post. With the Nintendo Wii on the way with its motion-sensing controllers, Nintendo may inadvertantly make these ultimate morons' point more credible. In a game like Red Steel or Metroid Prime 3, you would aim by pointing the Wii controller at your target. Granted, it is still vastly different than firing a real gun, but to a public that believes that playing Doom makes you a good marksman, the Nintendo Wii will surely be a sign of the coming apocalypse.
It would be a shame for a family-friendly company like Nintendo to come under fire for a console that looks like it will expand and evolve the videogame industry. Here's hoping for a moratorium on stupidity.
-Joule
UPDATE: I just uncovered some rampant stupidity. I'm really worried because one of the authors on this paper was a doctor. This is a paltry attempt to bash videogames under the guise of science. As a holder of two science degrees, I must say this paper is very far from good science. It is riddled with inaccuracies as well as the bias of the authors. But they say it's science, so they must be right. Seriously, they should be ashamed of themselves for their abuse of science. I'm offended as a gamer, but much moreso as someone who loves and respects science. If you're not stupid and don't want to get pissed off, don't click on this link and scroll to the bottom and click on videogames.pdf.
UPDATE 2: So I was just thinking, and I arrived at what I think is a pretty good question. Do you think the Dylan Klebold's and Eric Harris's obsession with Doom cause them to commit murder, or do you think their obsession with Doom was a reflection of them being seriously disturbed? Hmmmmm. While I was pondering, I came across a quote from MIT professor Henry Jenkins, who is the man:
Far from being victims of video games, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had a complex relationship to many forms of popular culture. They consumed music, films, comics, video games, television programs. All of us move nomadically across the media landscape, cobbling together a personal mythology of symbols and stories taken from many different places. We invest those appropriated materials with various personal and subcultural meanings. Harris and Klebold were drawn toward dark and brutal images which they invested with their personal demons, their antisocial impulses, their maladjustment, their desires to hurt those who hurt them.
ANOTHER UPDATE!!! So it turns out, you don't actually point the WiiMote at your target. I can't say all of this for sure, but the way the technology apparently works is based on a sensor strip you put on your TV. It registers your movements rather than where the WiiMote is pointing. This will not, of course, stop morons from proclaiming that you do point the controller at your target and playing videogames turns you into a deranged expert marksman, but it's worth noting anyway.
For years the videogame industry has come under fire for violent and sexual content in videogames. Starting with Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl, and now with Hillary Clinton, Leland Yee, the ranks of "concerned" politicians have grown over the years. Throw in quack attorney and anti-videogame activist, Jack Thompson, and there's virtually a throng of videogame haters.
Now, don't get me wrong. I absolutely believe that some games are really violent for nothing more than shock value. They are gratuitous and usually not good games. Furthermore, they should be kept out of the hands of children. But I do not believe that playing videogames turns you into a killer, as Jack Thompson seems to believe.
Some of these politicians have valid arguments, but I am constantly reminded that, in actuality, they are retards and liars. Basically, they make stuff up. For example, I read a quote in EGM from a politician who posted on his website how you could control breast size in Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball, and you could look at topless girls. That's a blatant lie. Apparently, after the Columbine shooting, there were reports of Eric Harris creating Doom levels to simulate the layout of Columbine, so he could practice killing his classmate. While he did, in fact, create levels, they were not simulations of Columbine. Another blatant lie. And my all-time favorite argument, that I believe completely relegates all politicians of this breed to sub-stupid levels, is the "argument" that when Kentucky teenager Michael Carneal killed three other students, his shooting was, "way above the military standard of expert marksmanship." And that he was, "a kid who never fired a pistol in his life, but because of his obsession with video games he turned himself into an expert marksman."
How dumb do you think I am? Yes, in general, the American public is so dumb that they would believe that clicking a mouse can make you good at firing a gun, but I am not. There's a reason that the military trains with real guns for hours and hours, instead of having all recruits play Doom. I'll let you try to figure out that reason.
And so I come to the point of this post. With the Nintendo Wii on the way with its motion-sensing controllers, Nintendo may inadvertantly make these ultimate morons' point more credible. In a game like Red Steel or Metroid Prime 3, you would aim by pointing the Wii controller at your target. Granted, it is still vastly different than firing a real gun, but to a public that believes that playing Doom makes you a good marksman, the Nintendo Wii will surely be a sign of the coming apocalypse.
It would be a shame for a family-friendly company like Nintendo to come under fire for a console that looks like it will expand and evolve the videogame industry. Here's hoping for a moratorium on stupidity.
-Joule
UPDATE: I just uncovered some rampant stupidity. I'm really worried because one of the authors on this paper was a doctor. This is a paltry attempt to bash videogames under the guise of science. As a holder of two science degrees, I must say this paper is very far from good science. It is riddled with inaccuracies as well as the bias of the authors. But they say it's science, so they must be right. Seriously, they should be ashamed of themselves for their abuse of science. I'm offended as a gamer, but much moreso as someone who loves and respects science. If you're not stupid and don't want to get pissed off, don't click on this link and scroll to the bottom and click on videogames.pdf.
UPDATE 2: So I was just thinking, and I arrived at what I think is a pretty good question. Do you think the Dylan Klebold's and Eric Harris's obsession with Doom cause them to commit murder, or do you think their obsession with Doom was a reflection of them being seriously disturbed? Hmmmmm. While I was pondering, I came across a quote from MIT professor Henry Jenkins, who is the man:
Far from being victims of video games, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had a complex relationship to many forms of popular culture. They consumed music, films, comics, video games, television programs. All of us move nomadically across the media landscape, cobbling together a personal mythology of symbols and stories taken from many different places. We invest those appropriated materials with various personal and subcultural meanings. Harris and Klebold were drawn toward dark and brutal images which they invested with their personal demons, their antisocial impulses, their maladjustment, their desires to hurt those who hurt them.
ANOTHER UPDATE!!! So it turns out, you don't actually point the WiiMote at your target. I can't say all of this for sure, but the way the technology apparently works is based on a sensor strip you put on your TV. It registers your movements rather than where the WiiMote is pointing. This will not, of course, stop morons from proclaiming that you do point the controller at your target and playing videogames turns you into a deranged expert marksman, but it's worth noting anyway.
posted by Voomp at
7:40 AM
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