Media Making Sure You Know That Montreal Shooter Played Violent Video Games
from the blame-the-video-games dept
Following yesterday’s story of the guy in Montreal, Canada, who went on a shooting rampage at a college before being killed by police, it’s no surprise that the press has done their typical (these days) delving into his online persona. They’ve found various things he’s written about online, pictures of himself with guns… and, of course, (as a few people have submitted), the fact that he liked to play certain violent video games, including the video game based on the Columbine shooting. Not surprisingly, everyone’s favorite anti-videogame lawyer, Jack Thompson, quickly sent out an announcement to the press announcing that he was “right again,” claiming that the shooter “trained” on these video games. Of course, a much more reasonable explanation was that this was a clearly troubled individual who had an awful lot of issues, that culminated in this horrific event. It’s not surprising that such a person would be attracted to such video games, but there’s no evidence that playing such games would drive him to act. The creator of the Columbine video game also felt compelled to post his thoughts, noting that an important part of the game was trying to help others, like himself, from heading down a similarly destructive path. Also, as the first link above notes, Thompson couldn’t resist using the announcement to warn about “the worst” video game that is about to come out: Bully. Of course, this is the same game that has won praise from anti-bullying advocates, and just today was given a “T for Teen” rating, which is even lower than many people expected.
Comments on “Media Making Sure You Know That Montreal Shooter Played Violent Video Games”
Here we go.
Jack Thompson is all over this like stink on Poo. With this and a few sensational science reports, the government will step in next.
Re: Here we go.
F that, think of the proportion of gamers that play it and DO NOT go on shooting rampages. I’m sure they could say he ate cheerios too….
Why do I get the impression...
that the Authors of TechDirt have a mental age of about 14 and a half years.
You remind me of the ciggarette company lawyers that for years stated there was no direct link to smoking and lung cancer. The man basically tells you what his motivations were and you choose to ignore them.
Certainly most balanced individuals can handle violent video games, at least to the extent that they aren’t gunning people down in the streets. But to imply that you and anyone else (especially those who start at a very young age) are not adversely impacted by simulated violence – then you’re deluding yourself.
Re: Why do I get the impression...
The man basically tells you what his motivations were and you choose to ignore them.
Basically told his motivations that we chose to ignore? You really think he made it clear that his *motivation* was a video game?
No, what’s clear is that this was a deeply disturbed individual — and there were a variety of factors that all pointed that way. His “motivations” had nothing to do with video games, and we did not ignore them.
The people who ignored them, were the people who knew him, and could see how troubled he had become.
Re: Why do I get the impression...
I play violent video games too. I have many friends who play grand theft auto, halo, and numerous other first person or 3rd person shooters. I also play realtime strategy games like warcraft3 and starcraft. Does all that mean I’m going to go out and start a war or shoot people because I did that in a game. Are my friends going to go jack some cars driving around shooting people becaue they did that in a game? No, it doesn’t not unless we were highly unstable. With millions of people playing violent video games each day by your theory and Jack Thompson’s theory of violent video games leads to violent crimes, then there should be MILLIONS of violent gun and auto related crimes. Games don’t make people violent or evil, thier whole life creates how they will act as an adult. Being someone who often play “destructive” games and have played games all my life. I can tell you that I am no more likely to go out and shoot someone than you are to walk on water.
sax and violins
I smoked pot once. It made me want to rape and kill.
Are you saying that if he didnt play the violent videogames then he wouldnt have come to school and shoot people?
Well I live in Montreal and my friend was shot 6 times. The guy walked up to him, dropped his bags down, smiled at him, and promptly shot both he and his girlfriend. (I would also like to point out that the gunman did in fact commit suicide unlike previously stated)
There is no doubt that violent videos might have an impact on a very small percentage of the population, but one has to realize that blaming the videogames is not the answer, that’s like blaming binocular companies for all the peeping toms. One has to go to to the source, which in this case was a very disturbed kid.
Re: Blaming binocular companies?
Since when did bonoculars have an interactive behavioral component. That is a terrible and worthless analogy. Face it – those who will not see the truth that violent video games do impact a certain % of the populations just want to justify their own need and enjoyment of the same games.
Kudos to Mike!
Thanks for yet another informative and amusing news story written from an objective viewpoint that (most of the time) sees things exactly as they are.
Keep on rackin’ up those brownie points!
also one report i read stated straight away that he was a heavy metal fan… *rolls eyes*
Media - Games - Causation
I gotta believe there is a link (really, really) between the playing of games in which the participant engages in pseudo-killing on a mass scale and that same person pulling a real trigger while aiiming at a real person.
I just can’t figure out why all gamers don’t do it. Uh, wait, could it be these are warped sub-humans who would also kill after eating a bowl of Wheaties?
Re: Media - Games - Causation
Because it is really, really hard to get someone to kill. Especially kill at random or someone who isn’t threatening you directly.
The US military has done a lot of research on this. Fascinating stuff.
Ehh... Just what you need... more Restrictions
Screw Jack Thompson,
Lets face it… Parents don’t want us to ever develope games ever again that have anything but Elmo in it!
If it wasn’t for the gaming market… Computers wouldn’t be where they are today, DVDs wouldn’t be at the level of quality unless we had Games that proved to be entertaining and increasing in cineamatic quality.
Frank Zappa said the best...
…when confronted by the moral police claiming that “filthy language” in songs led to “immoral behavoir”
*para-phrasing fz*
“based on that logic people should love each other more, since the vast majority of musical songs are about love, but they don’t”
Re: Frank Zappa said the best...
didn’t Frank Zappa also say that love songs are not about love. They are about getting in someones pants…
Any statistical data on gamers?
Given that this guy/shooter killed himself (just heard that on the news), is that also because he played violent video games? It seems that both this guy and the Columbine kids had a deathwish, so maybe there’s something that causes deathwishes and a desire to hurt other people?
As several people have already suggested, it may be the breakfast cereal of their choice. Oooh… maybe it’s the sugar!
I’ve already read “but so many video gamers DON’T shoot people” several times just in this post, but does anybody have statistics, say sales vs sucidal/homicidal teens?
Kids 'ese days...
Heh, if there is a correlation between either violent video games or metal/rap or violent TV/movies and violent action, I should have been thrown in jail a long time ago.
Put it this way… these things happened long before video games, long before “destructive” entertainment. These things have been occuring since the beginning of human existence (well, minus the guns, but that’s unimportant).
Why is it hard to believe that people are born violent? Hell, they have medications for this kind of stuff — for people who were born more apt to be depressed or hyperactive or [insert emotional imbalance here]. So why can’t we accept that some people are more apt to be violent due to chemical imbalances in the brain?
Don’t like that version? Then perhaps we can look at those who raised the violent person. Were they attentive enough? Were they not protective enough? Were they overly attentive or protective? Was the person exposed to violence in the household at a young age?
Nature vs nurture. Regardless of which you’re inclined to believe, the answer is NOT blaming x, y, or z media.
But, no, we must look for a scapegoat because people certainly cannot be held responsible for their actions.
“Help me – I’ve just been playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and I’m getting the strongest erges to go and steal cars, randomly gun down innocent civillians and burn houses for police!”
I have played a lot of computer games – some of the violent in the extreme (eg. Hitman, GTA:SA, Battlefield Vietnam), but that has not given me the desire to go killing anyone. If it did, however, would that mean that if I were to play something along the lines of Thomas the Tank Engine, would I want to turn into a train?
I think the reason people like the Montreal shooter play games portraying violence such as that is because they find expression they desire in that game, not the game finds expression in them! The readyness of poeple to blame others is appauling!
I can just see it – people will be sueing car manufacturers because if they didn’t make the car in the first place, they wouldn’t have been able to drive it!
Gee whiz.
The arguments and counterarguments are all old. There were probably more violent crimes commited before the advent of violent video games, than after. Nothing like a holy war to bring out the best in humankind. Did playing cops and robbers inspire Jesse James? Maybe. Did playing Pin the tail on the Donkey/Pinata make kids stab each other and beat each other’s brains out with bats? Probably. Did playing Heracles and Zeus make ancient Greek kids hurl lightning bolts at each other? Probably not, really. But it probably inspired some kids to decorate their spears like lightning bolts and kill each other with them. Did watching a couple prehistoric moose ram their heads together, and the winner getting to rut, make cavemen smash each other over the head with rock and rape the other’s woman? In all likelihood. Get this: Humans are born into a violent, ever-changing world, the natural world. Nature. Human nature. We try to domesticate ourselves and call ourselves enlightened. But like the occasional dog or cat who snaps and attacks it’s owner or children, and has to be put down, humans sometimes snap, too. And… get this… completely without playing violent videogames! Some of them go to a conservative religious institution regularly, don’t own a TV, and could care less about GTA. If the people who do these things didn’t do it because they played the game, they’d do it because they saw the show, watched the movie, read the holy book, heard the voice in their head, had an attunement with nature, ate bad tuna, got the impression that life is unfair… in a way, I hope these tardholes get their wish and all violent videogames are banished. Then their delicate sensibilities can suffer the consequences of taking away a venting outlet for the disturbed who don’t have pixels to take their angst out on. Where is the correlation between the popularization of violent videogames, and violent crimes? Haven’t they been generally on the decline lately?
Putting the Blame one someone else
This looks like a job for…..Somebody Else. Seems that everyone is so quick to blame someone else for the problems of one person. Its so much easier to blame an industry than it is an individual with a face. People make their own choices and when they are disturned like this person its often the wrong choice. No one from the video game industry put a gun in this man’s hands and told him to kill those people. But hey, what do I know? I’m just a guy who plays violent video games, hmmm maybe i’ll go shoot up a school now
Violent video games...
Maybe he played violent video games because he liked violence? Maybe the violent games served as an outlet for his violent temper and actually postponed his murderous rampage, and since he sat around playing video games, getting fat and lazy, he ended up being less dangerous than if he never played violent video games at all.
I like puzzles, so I play some puzzle video games, it didn’t happen the other way around.
Playing Sim City 2000 didn’t make me want to be a mayor or city planner.
correlation does not mean cause.
People like Jack Thompson make it worse because it is obvious they are just in it for the personal publicity. He is a damned attention whore.
On subjects like this I’m reminded of a quote from a novel by Frank Herbert in the Dune series. The old saying goes absolute power corrupts absolutely. The quote in Frank Herbert’s book states that. “Absolute attracts the corruptible.”? It’s not that violent video games are what causes violent behavior it’s that maybe people with violent behavior are attracted to violent video games. Just my two cents worth.
Re: Re:
Well put, and love the Herbert reference, Mantus.
You know what?...
I am truly sorry about the people affected by this disturbed person’s actions. My heart goes out to the loved ones who have lost someone in any of the violent killings of recent (or ever for that matter). I’m also sorry Mr and Mrs Thompson ever procreated. I also love videogames, violent ones even. I feel the GTA’s were sometimes an outlet for my frustrations. However, mainly because I could get away with anything and it was so open-ended. Violence was one of the outlets in this open-endedness. However, as I often do, I usually ended up just driving crazy for the virtual miles before crashing in a flaming glory. I like shooters, fighters, as well as “Marios”. I’ve never gotten in a fight, and only been involved in 2 minor car accidents (hehe), one with a curb, one where I was rearended and then found at fault (I didn’t end up killing anyone then either…even though, it was unfair).
Thompson’s a feckin tard. If requested, I could provide him a pubic hairball for him to choke on, he’ll have to take a number for my left nut.
Other cuases
Hmm i bet he also ate apples, watched TV news and travelled in cars. If we are picking arbitrary activities that he engaged in and claiming a cuasal link why not pick those instead.
The next time that a teen commits mass murder and we find out that he/she travelled in cars, watched TV news and ate apples well, don’t say i didn’t warn you.
DUCK! Video Games May Save Lives
Well if some of your theories are true then what if he killing all those FAKE people in the game saved 50 lives?
I want to play a game where you can have all the sex you want till your duck was COOKED!
Video game title:
DUCKS GONE WILD
Starring in the game is real Hard Core Porn Chicks 🙂 JUST HATCHED….& LEGAL TO HUNT….
I can read the headlines now.
SUSPECT is a White Male DUCK:
Description
An mutated extra large orange bill, waterproof web feet also a flight risk, known to fly to mexico during the winter time, has left hundreds of Fertilized Eggs all across North America. Could be a Bird Flu Virus Carrier
WARNING IS UNCLIPPED AND DANGEROUS
Known to play porn sex video games.
AKA “Dirty” Duck.
Reported to be an evil hatchling of fame movie star.
WANTED BY THE DNR.
DNR rep said at the press hearing.
“All bad ducks fly back to the scene of the crime”.
Let’s say the Duck was caught… In his defense he said that the “SEX VIDEO GAMES MADE ME DO IT”
Those people want to take away our Xbox’s and Play Stations and computers. What are we going to have to do to live in a FREE COUNTRY?
Make an Technology ARM of the NRA. We’ll be called the VRA Videogamers Rights Association.
We’ll FIGHT for our First Admendments Rights! To own video game controllers and software.
The only way they’ll get my controller is to puck my cold broken off feathers from the controller.
Let’s not get “GOOFY” these are games. The school in Montreal should have had some type of system to detect GUNS? That wasn’t hard.
Did the school people up there play a video game that you LET FRUIT CAKES WALK IN AND SHOT PEOPLE?
Go to an airport today with a bottle of water, they would take that from you. Lord any moron can do what that idiot did in Montreal FOR WHAT EVER REASON because there is no security. If there was it wasn’t good enough and I would SUE THE SCHOOL SYSTEM UP THERE for F’in up security.
Not going to like this.....
In Australia our kids play the same games.
Our do kids do not go on rampages like this.
Why???
Because we heavily restrict access to guns.
Take the gun away and this guy would still be just an angry young man.
Re: Not going to like this.....
___________________________________________
Not going to like this….. by TechNoFear on Sep 15th, 2006 @ 1:57am
In Australia our kids play the same games.
Our do kids do not go on rampages like this.
Why???
Because we heavily restrict access to guns.
Take the gun away and this guy would still be just an angry young man.
—————————————————————————-
What does anyone expect from a country that was essentially a prison? Of course you’re going to have strict gun control laws, they were there when your ancestors were sent to Australia as prisoners!
Besides, more people kill each other every year around the world using motorized vehicles than any other weapon created. Yet why aren’t those outlawed?
As for the Montreal Shooter, my money is on the fact he ate Cookie Crisp Cereal, and that’s what made it go wacko!!!
Violent Video Games
I bet he’d been playing that 100% violent game, CATERPILLAR
take the gun away..
#24
In Australia our kids play the same games.
Our do kids do not go on rampages like this.
Why???
Because we heavily restrict access to guns.
Take the gun away and this guy would still be just an angry young man.
***************************
people who are driven to kill, will kill. its unfortunate that this man was able to access a dangerous weapon, but its not the time to proclaim your supposed superiority.
if he had bludgeoned someone to death with a length of timber before turning the board on himself, would we hear about australian lumber control laws?
and, forgive me if im wrong, canadian gun control laws are very stringent, are they not? lots of registrations and liscenses.. many are banned, others heavily restricted? no handguns except police and gun club members? though australians Must do it better, correct? zero gun crime?
Media
Wait. You guys are all wrong. If the TV says that violent video games are responsible then they’re right.
THE TV IS NEVER WRONG.
/end sarcasm
Ok seriously, it’s sad to see so many “adults” actually believe this nonsense.
Unfortunately age has nothing to do with intelligence or self-thinking. Jack Thompson and anyone with similar erroneous beleifs is proof of this.
Re: Media
[quote]
THE TV IS NEVER WRONG.
/end sarcasm
Ok seriously, it’s sad to see so many “adults” actually believe this nonsense.
Unfortunately age has nothing to do with intelligence or self-thinking. Jack Thompson and anyone with similar erroneous beleifs is proof of this.
[/quote]
I’m currently taking a highschool course in media, where they basically teach you not to believe everything you hear. All media including this website is just trying to get people to view them because it makes them money.
It’s a simple concept that everyone should be aware of when they watch or read the news. And that’s why it bothers me to think that the government is being affected by this.
The Onion
Maybe he was motivated by an old article in ‘The Onion’ a satirical newspaper, with the head-line ‘Boy Shoots Class Mates-Pleased He Solved His Problems’ that’s paraphrasing but I don’t have the article to hand. I blame The Onion. I also blame food, yep food, without the motivation and sustenance of food he never would have done it, would he?
GTA San Ann
Did anyone else notice that the only people you are supposed to kill on missions in GTA:SA are bad people. I found it to be more of a vigilante game than a nasty one.
All we need...
… is an example of someone who’s gone postal, who hates video games.
Also
He breathed, which indicates that breathing leads to violence and explicit acts. BREATHING IS RUINING OUR CHILDREN! QUICK, LET’S OUTLAW BREATHING!
/sarcasm
yes there is a correlation betwean violent individuals and violent video games…. however a correlation can go either way such as violent idividuals perfering to play violent video games over say a puzzle game.
which makes more sense then being exposed to fiction for 2-6 hours a day, then say living in a very depress area/house hold.
also jack thompson just needs to bury himself or something.
VRA Videogamers Rights Association.
Not only Thompson is missing the point, but those
I live in Quebec, so it affect me more because it’s next door. I followed the local news and the police interview as well. Sure, there was a videogame, but there was much Much more. And seeing how biaised was the information, I thought that I would leave some information.
First, the Colombine simulator was a game made in RPG Maker, an authority program that create games at the level of the SNES. I seriously doubt that such a game would “train” someone to kill (I did not played the game, but I used RPG Maker a lot so I know it’s limitations).
Second, what your’s media’s missing is that the shooting spree was not from the videogame, but from (from the biography he published on the net) a hatred againts sportsmans and general society. He described himself as a lone wolf who don’t go well with his parents. He also wrote that he wanted to die as Romeo and Juliet (double suicide) or under a shower of bullets. He said he wanted to die and the crime he wanted to commit the most (according to his profile on his gothic style website) is a murder. He wrote «Work sucks, school sucks, life sucks… What else can I say?». Two hours before the crime, he wrote on his blog «Whiskey in the morning… mmmm… mmmm… good!» which means that he was severely despressed and I don’t think that videogames had much of an impact.
Third, for the last 17 years, none of the shooting spree made in Montreal were inspired by videogames (or when ever commited by minors). The 1989 drama at the Polythechnie commited by Marc Lépine was inspired by a hartred for feminism (not sure of the english word), and he shot 14 female students (in a letter he wrote before his death, he said he despited womans (who supposely ruined his life) and said he was fighting feminism). The 1996 crime, (which I don’t remember the name of the shooter or the school) was commited by a teacher who shot three of his partners and wounded another one who died shortly afterward. He said that his was totally rejected and this was a vengence.
Fourth, I become more and more angered and offended at Jack Thompson bogus comments. There is one in particular (I saw it in wikipedia in his biography) that a few weeks ago, after another crime comitted by a minor, he said “nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you’re a hit man (don’t know what a hit man is) or a video gamer.” That sound to me that he thinks that video gamers are immorals sadists with no life. Oh and, even if Thompson consider himself as “the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida”, take note of this. Sane don’t mean smart.
I absolutely have no respect for murderers (even less minor murderers) but I have even less respect for lawyers who bash medias as “the root of all evil”.
P.S. I am not english native so forgive my bad english.
I played alot of need for speed and regularly find myself running from the police in my minivan. Is this E.A.’s fault?
I also used to play alot of donkey kong and enjoy jumping over barrels. The difference between people and animals is people use their brains ( some ) instead of their instincts. It is just too bad that these shooters that do this go after other kids (young adults ) and do not direct their anger or rage at the idiots who blame video games on shooting sprees.
What really kill people is guns - not a game
C’mon,
If games are bad, what to say about 95% of the Holiwood production. Guns, yes guns on 95% of all movies scenes.
More dangerous is Geoge Bush and the frenetic way of american life, where for to become a “winner” you must to have a biggest SUV car, a bigger house in town, with a garage full of all sort of things you used one time. Lot of gadgets.
Ok, if you don’t have all of these… You are a “loser”. So lets begin a see all junk violent movies, buy a gun, you can is very cheaper, play some “nice” and “innofensive” videogames… repeate for your self “I’m a loser” “i have no salvation”… and…
C’mon, Let look it for a new and fresh perspective:
What you do and thinks is what really matters, not the brand of your jeans or how big are the tires of your SUV.
And, frankly, as much as you play and see that junk games and movies, more you’ll melt your brain. Robotized
Congratulations is all of the industry hopes from you!
Just an opinion.
Peace and have a nice weekend.
Before i begin, i am deeply saddened by the events that have taken place in cannada. i wish that all parties involved can come to an understanding of what and why it happend and step forward to continue with their lives, just they way those who have died would have wanted.
now with that being said…
remember last year when a guy tried to rundown several students at a North carolina college (but he wasn’t associated with the gta games)
on discovery channel last night was a show about Death Metal music and the correlation to violence. it falls on simmilar lines. Yes, DM music is evil, satanic, violent and what not, but howmany DM listeners have actually gone out? a few handfull maybe? the point of the show was digging into the “bad” of dm, where several people were murdered/suicided and had listened to DM. however they also were involved in the occult/satanism. it isn’t that these games/music/movies/tv/whatever inspire people to do bad things. it’s just that some people who do bad things are assocated with games/movies/music and whatnot.
i think the real question is is the violence the “straw that broke the cammel’s back”? and that’s more difficult to answer. we must recoginize that yes, violent video games cause people to feel good and what not when they play. it’s completly chemical/neurological. EVERYONE who does that has the same response. what is different is how it fits in with the rest of the individual’s body/chemistry.
so, yeah, i believe that thes so called “bad media” should be restricted….oh wait they are. video game ratings, parental cd warnings, the v-chip, movie ratings. now, how did these individuals get these items. should we blame the ebay’s, walmarts, and gamestops for selling this stuff to people w/o conducting a thorough background check? if they sell to minors it’s illegal. plain and simple (in the usa that is) but all you do is get your older friend to buy it. i’ve seen someone ask total strangers to buy minor-illegal stuff. and there isn’t really a nything a cashier can do.
but moreover, this just isn’t a case of is videogame violence bad, it’s more of what is going wrong with society. why is this hapening? if only a small portion actually suffer from this, there is a larger question to be asked as why society is turning out these people? what can we do to fix ALL aspects of societ? and the real answer is nothing. we just cant. we can try and cope and reduce, but it will allways happen.
history repeats itself.
Cereal
You all got the killer’s cereal of choice wrong, don’t you know that people go cookoo for cocoa puffs!?… that cereal is obviously the culprit here in turning this man into a murderous lunatic.
Guns kills that's fact
Regarding the post 39.
I’m deeply saddened by the events that have taken place in cannada too, as in Columbine, or eslewhere.
I do think the “bad” games, movies, tv, whatever the duty ofr the violence we are seeing nowadays. But, the violent behaviour walk side-by-side with a “a life style”.
I do not agree too with restrictitions, video game ratings, parental cd warnings, the v-chip, movie ratings. These are absolutely non eficiency.
What I do believe is in EDUCATION – CULTURE. On the slow down of the culture of “fanatic consumation”, where lots of poeple just become happy when can buy all newest and biggest and stilysh sort of things.
We have lots of good movies, where you’ll not see any guns or bloody. TV, well Tv is another history, they suks! But, at least, good soap operas, ducomentaries and Public chanels. A BOOK, yes read a good book, turn of the tv.
Ok, ok it’ s not easy I know. But is really exist a wide and wonderfull world outside these monochomic, monotonic, pasteurazed, restricted, awful little worof the Holiwood/TV/videogames.
Just try! You never wiil can go back
Peace and culture for allones!
Guns kills that's fact
Regarding the post 39.
I’m deeply saddened by the events that have taken place in cannada too, as in Columbine, or eslewhere.
I do think the “bad” games, movies, tv, whatever the duty ofr the violence we are seeing nowadays. But, the violent behaviour walk side-by-side with a “a life style”.
I do not agree too with restrictitions, video game ratings, parental cd warnings, the v-chip, movie ratings. These are absolutely non eficiency.
What I do believe is in EDUCATION – CULTURE. On the slow down of the culture of “fanatic consumation”, where lots of poeple just become happy when can buy all newest and biggest and stilysh sort of things.
We have lots of good movies, where you’ll not see any guns or bloody. TV, well Tv is another history, they suks! But, at least, good soap operas, ducomentaries and Public chanels. A BOOK, yes read a good book, turn of the tv.
Ok, ok it’ s not easy I know. But is really exist a wide and wonderfull world outside these monochomic, monotonic, pasteurazed, restricted, awful little world that Holiwood/TV/videogames is.
Just try! You never wiil can go back
Peace and culture for allones!
Gun Control
I hope the media also makes sure that everyone knows that Canada has incredibly strict Gun Control laws where citizens are not allowed to be armed.
re: Ed
well, it took me a while to write #39. busy with other stuff, so my ideas and thoughts weren’t as cohesive as i’d like.
but i must argue with you on some points. don’t jump at me to read a book or whatever. there are some “bad books” out there. mein kamph, a few satanism books…witchcraft and whatnot? in all forms of media there is content that is “bad” but as you said, there are “good” choices. however, the issue methinks, is the willingness to engage in those activites. if someone only wants evil bad stuff, that’s what they’ll get.
and i don’t mind the parental advisory stuff. as long as i’m able to view what i want as an adult, it’s fine by me. if my kids want “bad” stuff, ok. we’ll have a discussion about what it means and all, and overall have good parenting.
(well, if i had kids)
Playing Angel's Advocate
Well. Here’s a funny thing to point out. Whether violent games are good or bad is simply opinion, no matter how you look at it. We’re just talking about deviant fantasy full-fillment in the way of shooting cops, beating people up and/or killing them, and stealing cars. We’d all agree its wrong, but the contention seems to be that HEY, it may really be illegal and “bad behavior”, but its only a game! What if people create “games” about simply anything. How about a “rape” game where you play a repressed office worker that has to target your female co-works and avoid the police and “self-defense” tactics? Or a “pedaphile” game where you find new ways to lure children into your basement photography studio? –Think these are just over the top, and facetious? Stop and realize how little you regard “killing” people in video games and object to “censorship” because a “video game” that indulges deviant fantasy shouldn’t be seen in and of itself as “bad”. Sometimes… far from “most”, “freedom” of speech does need input from the community as to what end result is being sought.
“Though I may disagree with what you say I will duel to the death to defend your right to say it.” – Voltaire
Freedom to oppose and disagree to what affects the national community is also a part of freedom of speech.
Re: Violent Video Games Good
You know I am 16 I play many off the games that are said to be bad wel I’m a good kid with a C average school have many friends and not to kill anyone. I play the video games because they are fun not so I can learn how to shoot a rocket launcher at 12 cops and how to throw pipes bombs into cars. Me and all my friends get together and play these games most of our parents buy these for us they don’t think we are gonna turn evil. I have to agree it is down to the parents about the kids everyone just wants to blame a home problem on video games. So to all those people who play violent video games don’t listen play your games in you house a little thing called Freedom. Play away.
BTW Mike the guy was not killed by police. It was in Canada and they are not trained to kill people. They shot him in the arm and he finished the job
MEDIA INFLUENCE
BTW… do you people realize that we are all influenced by the media that surrounds us on a daily basis, that you or I may not even be aware of. TV commercials, News, billboards, smells in stores to make you buy, just to name a few….yes I agree it is partly the individual, who may not be mentally ballanced to begin with, but not to blame violent video games at all, is like not blaming the commecial for making you buy that shampoo, or car…in which case would also makes you mentally unballanced because you did? Kids have died watching Batman, Superman movies trying to fly!!…can you tell me that they didn’t influence the child ?
MEDIA is big business, they don’t care what damage they my cause, they just watch their money. “few must pay for the many”
The above poster is a ‘moran’