In gun debate, video game industry defends itself

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JULIE PACE and ERICA WERNER

WASHINGTON (AP) - The video game industry, blamed by some for fostering a culture of violence, defended its practices Friday at a White House meeting exploring how to prevent horrific shootings like the recent Connecticut elementary school massacre.

Vice President Joe Biden, wrapping up three days of wide-ranging talks on gun violence prevention, said the meeting was an effort to understand whether the U.S. was undergoing a "coarsening of our culture."

"I come to this meeting with no judgment. You all know the judgments other people have made," Biden said at the opening of a two-hour discussion. "We're looking for help."

The gaming industry says that violent crime, particularly among the young, has fallen since the early 1990s while video games have increased in popularity.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130111/DA3OA01G0.html

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Vice President Joe Biden, second from left, with Attorney General Eric Holder, second from right, speaks during a meeting with representatives from the video game industry in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. Biden is holding a series of meetings this week as part of the effort he is leading to develop policy proposals in response to the Newtown, Conn., school shooting. Entertainment Software Association President Mike Gallagher sits between Biden and Holder. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

[Posteritatis]

1. "the gaming industry says that violent crime, particularly among the young, has fallen"

Leaving aside the fact that the gaming industry is hardly monolithic as of the last several years, that's an interesting way of the article to avoid saying that reality itself has also said that violent crime has been falling.

[fascisthunter]

2. nobody wants to take any responsibility

and one really should ask one's self if, their form of entertainment is desensitizing some enough to go "postal". I play games... violent ones, but I still think of this.... dynamite games, that will never ever make me want to harm somebody, but for those who are mixed up... I wonder if it does further push them over that "edge".

[Laurian]

3. Money. The NRA, Gun Manufacturers, Entertainment Industry (games, films) all

value money over all else. Mental Health doesn't make money, it costs money. Worship of the almighty dollar and rampant greed are the source of most of our society's ills. None of these people want any reforms that might take a bite out of their profits. Sad.

[fascisthunter]

4. That's how I see it too...

... and it makes me feel like shit, because I've been partially sucked into it.

[Bjorn Against]

5. I think it is ridiculous to single out games

I would be much more accepting of the argument if people were willing to focus on all forms of violent media, There are many movies and books out there that have far worse violence than Grand Theft Auto (which many of its critics don't realize is actually a political satire mocking the violence in America rather than promoting it).

It feels like games are being singled out because the people in political power don't play them, they do watch violent movies however so they leave those alone.

I avoid games like Call of Duty because they seem to be promoting militarism, I love Grand Theft Auto because it is a brilliant series filled with great writing and social commentary.

I am not going to pretend games are all good with no negative consequences whatsoever, but I certainly don't think they are any worse than any other form of media and they often actually encourage people to think through things and use their brains rather than mindlessly zoning out like most television shows do.

[Posteritatis]

6. I'd be more accepting of it if the effects happened outside of the United States

Canada's at least as gamer-y as the US, and generally the same media (a lot of it's actually produced up here), and yet Canada's annual nationwide homicide rate is usually matched by Chicago alone. Ditto for pretty much any other developed country where gaming is popular.

You do have a point that they're being singled out because of who people assume plays the things, though. Everyone still frames the discussion as though it's the same elementary-school target audience for everything that it was back in the 1980s, as well. It's something easy to panic about, and most of the people doing the panicking are far enough removed from the whole industry that they can, say, blame Sandy Hook on Starcraft or talk about the original Doom these days without feeling embarrassed about how clueless that makes them sound.

[Bjorn Against]

7. I agree with pretty much everything you say.

[SansACause]

8. guns don't kill people, games do...

...wait, that is absurd. 31,000 Americans shot to death every year. Not one of those was due to a computer-generated gun.

[TruthBeTold65]

9. ignorance and fear...

The main drivers for people to vilify things they don't understand. I have played first-person shooters for 10 or more years...never once thought of shooting someone...ever. The people that do these mass killings have two things in common...ready access to guns and a mental screw loose. Perhaps we should be looking at the facts that access to mental healthcare requires an insurance plan and a job...things people with mental problems rarely have and education on recognizing and getting someone help.

[BigD_95]

10. I dont blame the video game Ind.

at all either. Maybe the parents who let their kids play some of those games but not the games or the Industry.