Remember six months ago, when Rockstar released Bully, its comedic and mildly violent horrors-of-high-school simulator? Remember how some people were upset, believing the game would somehow glorify or promote bullying in school? You know, as if playing a video game could completely change a person’s personality?
Yeah, neither do I.
But the Canadian Teachers Federation, which bizarrely includes teachers in the United States, Britain, South Korea, Australia and the Caribbean, wants you to remember. They’re calling for retailers to refuse to sell the Bully: Scholarship Edition, a rerelease of the game with additional content. Continued…
Videogames and films, violent or otherwise, are helping decrease violent crime rates, according to two economists.
Their logic is simple; violent films and videogames appeal to young men with violent propensities. And during the time these violence-prone people spend in the theater or in front of the TV, they are not out committing violent acts.
And this logic is supported by the data, according to Gordon Dahl of UC San Diego and Stefano DellaVigna of UC Berkeley. Continued…
This is a column I originally published on GGL.com last July. In response to the recent nonsense about videogames being almost as dangerous as smoking, I decided to edit, update, and republish it.
I am a pedant. I care about language and words, and how they are used. Use language with exactitude and precision, and one can convey deeper meaning with fewer words. In other words, eschew obfuscation.
What do the following six situations have in common?
1.) You are playing Grand Theft Auto 3. After enjoying the off-screen services of a prostitute, you beat her up and steal her money.
2.) In Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, your 1st level female Halfling rogue smashes open a wooden crate with her +1 morningstar, and steals a stack of gold coins.
3.) In Halo 2 multiplayer, you frag an opponent from a hidden position with a sniper rifle, putting a round into his head.
4.) Down on Hollywood Boulevard, you avail yourself of the services of a prostitute. Afterward, you beat her up and steal her money.
5.) In Beverly Hills, you smash open a store window with a crowbar, and steal some gold jewelry.
6.) At the urging of your adult male friend, you hide along Interstate 95 with a Bushmaster XM-15 semiautomatic .223 caliber rifle, and kill an innocent stranger by shooting her in the head.
Any sane person will recognize that the first three scenarios are markedly different from the second three. Yet in standard American English, each scenario is described as “violent.” Continued…
Ostensibly, our troops are in Iraq to promote Democracy, stabilize the region, and depending on to whom you listen, lower the price of crude oil. But they’re not there to kill Muslims just because they’re Muslim.
Yet the Pentagon is allowing a right-wing Christian evangelical “entertainment troupe” to distribute copies of Left Behind: Eternal Forces to U.S. troops in Iraq. Continued…
THQ released new screenshots for the upcoming PC & 360 MMORPG Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Clearly, there’s going to be some adult content.
Visitors to the official web site must give their age before entering. Developer Funcom has stated they expect the game, which launches October 30th, to receive an “M” rating from the ESRB.
The game is based on Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian stories from the 1930s. From the screenshots, it seems clear the game will keep the violence and sex from the original writing.
The art design seems directly influenced by fantasy artist Frank Frazetta’s well known Conan illustrations. Continued…
The state of California’s latest attempt to block sales of videogames to minors was ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court judge yesterday. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger immediately vowed to appeal the decision to a higher court.
Judge Ronald Whyte struck down the law on the grounds it unfairly targets one medium for censorship. This same rationale has overturned a previous legislative attempt in California, as well as in other states. Do date, no anti-games law passed in the United States has passed constitutional muster in the courts. Continued…
