Why All The Hate?
 

What's wrong with video games? I mean... murder simulators? Pornography? What the hell is a "sex-box?" What's with all the hate?

I don't know where to start - or even if there is a starting point, but I think the problem is not in the games themselves, but rather, in the generation gap. I hate to sound... well, like an angsty teen, but I've got to say it: "Adults just don't understand us." It's true - they don't; but my grandparents didn't understand my parents when they were my age.

I'm going to sound like a broken record here and say that parenting is the problem. There is such a thing as being both too protective, but not perceptive to see all the dangers around your child. All a parent has to do is to look at the rating on a game before they buy it for their child, or (gasp!) pay attention to their child, and take an interest in what they play. The ratings aren't there for decoration - no, they're not part of the box art. That big "M?" THat's there for a reason. It means "mature," and it says right underneath it, "17+."

Many people are getting upset with the game companies, simply because they didn't read into something before they bought it. My parents love a deal, same with most other people, and they always try to get the best price they can for things; but sometimes it's the product, not the price that matters. If you're concerned with your children playing a game that you, as their parent, feel is too... risque for them, ask them what game they want before going to the store, and read up on it. Who knows? You might even become interested yourself.

In my opinion, gaming is not a murder simulator. It's not pornographic. THere are some games out there with more violence or exposed skin than other games, but that doesn't make me want to rush out and buy them. When I come home after a long day at work, or after a particularly stressful day, I don't want to turn on a snuff film - I want to play something that takes my mind off of a particularly difficult customer I've had, or let loose after paying bills. A game is like a book or a movie to me - it's an enjoyable way to spend ones time, and with a good plot and in-depth characters, allows me to relax.

The way that video games are portrayed in the media allow certain things to happen, though. Some people believe that since gamers are so detatched from the world after boning up on torture tactics in Grand Theft Auto, they become dangerous psychopaths, it allows gamers who instigate violent crimes to simply say "Video games made me do it." It's todays equivalent to your parents telling your grandparents "Evil Kineval did it, and everything came out okay!" It's using something as a scapegoat, and shifting the blame to someone else.

This is a highly opinionated piece, and it's open to criticism, but I think that there's some truth in it. I don't expect people to agree with everything I've said, but they're welcome to add their own views and opinions.

The thing is, video games are going through the same phase other entertainment went through. Namely comics. All the censorship thing and what not because it "corrupted youth".

Quite simply, and if I'm permitted to coin a new term here, we are experiencing a "Generation Shock". The older people are trying to resist the change that has come upon them, while us, the young ones that have grown with this advantages, accept them and see them as what they are: Technology as entertainment.

Eventually, the ways of old will be abandoned and our ways shall be dominant. Then, our descendants will grow with a different life style than ours, and we shall object; just as the people before us.

Thus, the circle of life shall be repeated infinitely.

This man speaks the truth. Novels themselves, one of the finest forms of art, were once considered stupid-making machinations of the devil (hyperbole intended) by the most revered universities all over the world. What happened wasn't that the people in those places changed their mind from one day to the other, but rather that these people died and were replaced by others with a different mentality.

I think that, in order for video games to become fully accepted in mainstream society, we will have to wait at least another twenty years.

Well.. you see... some people WILL buy X or Y games Because they are more violent or have more sex

a minority, yes, but we all know that minorities roar louder. Thus "TV Likeys" that, and the shit is news.

Personal opinion? I dont like the rugged "badass" hero-quasi-villain thing.
It's very easy to make a game about a gun who dosent give a shit and blow stuff up... it is VERY hard to make a "good boy" hero and make people care for him and adore him like Marcus Phoenix, Master Chief, Inspector Tequila and such others...

Games are more violent because it's cheaper to sell those games

Look at it this way:

Shoot 'Em Up, a title which featured an excuse for a plot, and focused instead on over-the-top action sequences and sexuality. This is a movie solely for the purpose of watching things go boom. I was very intent on seeing this flick, and thought it had more of a plot going in than I did coming out of the film, but I was entertained nonetheless. Does it mean I'm going to go out and senselessly shoot everything around me? No. I was entertained by a movie in which that style of action was portrayed, but that does not mean I will undertake the same set of actions, as I believe that what transpired in the movie could only happen in said movie, and the ramifications, both legal and otherwise, would land me in serious trouble, hurt countless people and would be a very bad idea.

Now Metal Gear Solid 4, a game which I am very much looking forward to, also has a variety of action sequences, though they, as well as certain other elements, are only there to expose more and more of the plot. The game is a story told to the player by the designers, but instead of turning the page and reading about it, the player must live out the story in a digital form.

But even with movies being made just for the purpose of seeing over-the-top action sequences, explosions and sex scenes, and games looking to have an in-depth plot or a unique experience, games are portrayed as being evil, and teaching our youth to be a mindless mass of cold, unfeeling drones dedicated to making the world a darker place.

That's because videogames started as a commodity marketed mainly to the kids. That stigma (videogames are toys and therefore marketed towards our children, even when they are not) is something that simply won't go away until the current youth generation takes the place of the old.

I sincerely believe that the controversy helps the medium grow. There are certain issues that must be tackled head on in order for them to be fully acknowledged. I'm actually sad that the companies prefer to deal more with gore and sex and less than with artistic value that may help the industry mature, but at least it is something.

The way I see it, is that the older generation (the ones who are more likely to criticize video games negatively) didn't see video games back then as they do now. I mean, when video games were first developed, their purpose was to just pass the time. No plot or anything was given. Why? At the time, developers didn't have the hardware to do so.

What some people did not forsee is how rapidly technology progressed. Now, video games can not only show character development and a plot, but so much more. It has even gotten to the point where the gamer can basically interact with their enviornment and be completely unpredictable as to what can happen.

What this can imply to people who are too ignorant to understand is that they see that video games are beocming a little bit "too" real. That it can distort one's own perceptions of reality and cause them to think that they will suffer little to no consequences despite their actions. This might seem to be a legitimate theory, but only to people who haven't experienced such games first hand. Based on my own experiences, I only play such violent games as a stress reliever, or whenever I'm very angry, or just in a negative mood in general.

Although there are certain exceptions.

There's always the case where someone who shouldn't be allowed to play these games due to the fact that they are rather easily influenced, or slightly "unstable", are given the opportunity to play these games. What is usually the case however, is that this usually the fault of another. Someone who allowed said person to play by being just plain careless, or never even bothered to notice (or even care) of just how they function and are capable of.

Or do unethical acts just to seek attention and "claim" that video games influenced them to do so...

I like to entertain the idea that society really is just perpetually becoming dumber and trashier, and a civilization of true intellectuals would only communicate artistically via epic poetry and stained-glass murals.

....Are you referring to this century, or the 1700's?

And with that we confirm that Fifth is a one-hundred and fifty-six years old woman whose menopause hasn't happened yet. Moving on!