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Post by bigospedros on Mar 28, 2008 16:16:00 GMT
"Xboxes, Gamecubes, PS2s, these are Satan's Sudoku, crack cocaine of the brain. Even the crappiest cartoon or lamest soap teaches a child about character, plot, drama, humour, life. Playing videogames, children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators' brains." ^ written by Janice Turner in The Times only three months ago. I'm no gamer (not sure Football Manager and cricket games count ) but even I can tell that this quote is complete arse! As for games with guns ... I think it depends on what the game is. If it's a game with life like people being murdered ... then in my opinion, that's going too far.
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Post by Ben on Mar 28, 2008 20:53:44 GMT
*sigh*Didn't take em long did it? "The chilling verdict"... given by Anne Diamond?!
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Post by mw on Mar 28, 2008 21:16:12 GMT
Haha that is quality!
I especially love the "Harmful: A Government-commissioned report says that video games can desensitise children to violence" caption underneath a picture of a mother and son playing Mario Kart.
The ill-informed ignorance that oozes from the seams of these articles just gets worse and worse.
Hopefully now that this new age-rating system is sorted out, these bandwagon journalists will disappear back into the holes they crawled out of and go back to writing about other subjects they don’t understand.
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Post by Ath on Apr 3, 2008 11:48:15 GMT
Probably how we should have film style ratings on beer....cars....tin openers....
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Post by bigospedros on Apr 28, 2008 19:46:59 GMT
they're discussing games, specifically GTA IV, tonight, on Radio 5 Live (after the footy) ... might be an interesting, but more likely annoying discussion for the more keen gamers that post here.
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Post by Ben on Apr 28, 2008 20:45:19 GMT
Ta for the heads up Pete =) No doubt if there's some form of interaction I'll be reaching for my phone on more than one occasion
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Post by Ben on Apr 28, 2008 21:32:28 GMT
pop 5 live on people, I'll be on in a minute
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Post by bigospedros on Apr 28, 2008 22:13:27 GMT
what did you have to say for yourself ?
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Post by Ben on Apr 28, 2008 23:44:53 GMT
Some fine fella did a transcript on another forum...
RB: Ben, you're an avid gamer Ben: I am, yes RB: What's your view on this? I assume you're ringing to offer your support for this game that comes out tonight? Ben: Yeah I am, I'm 22 years old, I was 11 when the first iteration of the series came out, and I had a quick word with my mum and dad, played a demo that was censored, and they said "OK, we'll buy you it and see what it's like" RB: So you were playing... (pause for effect) illegally Ben: Well, yeah if you want to put it like that, yes I was, but... RB: Miranda, do you think Ben's parents were being irresponsible? Miranda nutjob: I wouldn't call any parents irresponsible unless I knew them extremely well and could have a chat to them. What I would say is that it is extremely difficult to protect children in this day and age from these influences (Ben tried to get a word in) Can I finish? Because if you don't let your child do what all the other children are doing and all the ads are encouraging him to do then you have a real battle on your hands, it's not easy. RB: OK, Ben Ben: Well yeah, ok, I was playing the game 'illegally', but my parents sat with me the whole time I was playing the game! They got the gist of what was going on, and with the first GTA it was top down, it was so stylised, it was so cartoony, it was beyond anything, it was so far detached from reality it was unbelievable. Now the problem with the current gen of games, and here's where I agree with some of the points being said, is that the power in the consoles on the market right now is so great that you have games that do look incredibly realistic. With the new GTA game, I wouldn't let an 11 year old play it. I was 11 myself when I played the first one, and it annoys me when people say they're being marketed to children and young people when they're clearly not. All the ads say they're for 18 year olds and over, there's a big "18" on the front of it from the BBFC, the same people who do films, now would you let an 11 year old watch Saw or Hostel? I don't think you would, so why would you let them play GTA? RB: That's good Ben, really good point there and it's something we'll be picking up on in a bit.
Basically wanted me to say "Lolz yur a fooool", but I didn't and said what I had to...
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Post by Kevio on Apr 29, 2008 8:27:04 GMT
I've already heard GTA4 being labelled 'the most violent game ever' on the radio this morning...
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Post by bigospedros on Apr 29, 2008 8:57:31 GMT
Sounds like you got your point across very well there Ben. kept your compusure and all that ... not something that I can usually do if I ever listen to Richard Bacon ... he's a knob on that show. He just sits on the fence and plays devils advocate, fitting neatly into each side of the argument whenever he feels the need to.
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Post by mw on Apr 29, 2008 14:33:41 GMT
Rockstar must be loving the attention GTA4 is getting.
It's great really - Richard & Judy or whoever it may be get to fill ten minutes of air-time with something 'controversial' to talk about, Rockstar get their free plug on every television, news story and radio broadcast in the land and the 'kids' think GTA4 is the coolest thing since sliced bread because anyone over the age of 45 hates it.
Everybody wins! Especially Toys'R'Us who are charging £49.99 for it.
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Post by bigospedros on Apr 29, 2008 15:16:51 GMT
It's times like this when I wish I had shares in Rockstar Games!!
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Post by Ben on Apr 29, 2008 19:27:32 GMT
You'd be better off with shares in Take 2 (publishers)... They're currently selling for more than EA shares!!
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Post by bigospedros on Apr 29, 2008 22:31:32 GMT
oh dearwho's to say that the person doing the stabbing was really in the queue? And if he was, was he there to buy the game or was he there just to cause trouble regardless of the game? Would he have stabbed someone if the queue was for another, less violent game ? needless to say, the events will be linked because it makes a story ... *sigh*
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Post by Ben on Apr 29, 2008 23:11:24 GMT
I saw that too The daily Mail will have a field day tomorrow One thing I forgot to say about the whole Bacon thing... I was about <.> that close to saying "Well, I played the game illegally... But was that cocaine you took legal?" But I held back 'cos I actually wanted to make a valid point...
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Post by bigospedros on Apr 29, 2008 23:16:19 GMT
*lol* somehow I think you might've been cut off ... Woulda made a good YouTube clip though ...
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Post by Chloe on May 15, 2008 15:54:51 GMT
latest british psychological society research digest email contained following study - interesting stuff. though obviously need to point out that higher levels of arousal and aggression don't necessarily mean you'll act on them, nor is there any indication of how long the increases in arousal etc lasts. --- It matters how much blood video games have in them Hype surrounding the global release of the gangster-themed video game GrandTheft Auto IV has renewed the long-standing debate over whether violent games make players more aggressive. Now Christopher Barlett and colleagues have provided a fresh angle on the issue by specifically testing whether the amount of blood in a game makes any difference to its effects on aggression. The researchers took advantage of the fact that the game Mortal Combat:Deadly Alliance allows players to select one of four blood levels, from none to maximum (in which copious amounts of blood spurts everywhere and gets trodden by characters around the playing area). Of 74 students who played the Mortal Combat game for 15 minutes, those who played on the maximum blood level experienced larger increases in hostility after playing (as judged by their agreement with statements like "I feel furious") and larger increases in arousal as measured by their heart rate, than did the players on the lower or zero blood levels. Those students who played the game with blood also showed higher levels of aggression, compared with those who played without blood, as indicated by their greater use of their character's weapon in the game, which they'd been told would inflict more damage on their opponents. A second experiment with 31 students showed that playing Mortal Combat on the maximum blood level, as compared with the no blood level, activated more aggression related thoughts, as measured by participants' choice of how to complete ambiguous word stems like KI-- (e.g. KILL vs. KISS). "...[T]he violence, plus the high amount of blood, primes more aggressive thoughts in memory compared with just playing the violent game without theblood," the researchers said. The full article is here (subscription required for full access). there's more comment and links to related studies on the BPS blog spot here
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Post by homeforsummer on May 15, 2008 19:46:42 GMT
Sounds like an interesting article. I suppose though as with all pyschological studies the influences and tests vary significantly from person to person.
I only have two games for the PS3 at the moment, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (a driving sim) and Grand Theft Auto 4 (which we all know about).
I'm not the sort to get worked up over videogames unless I feel the difficulty level of a game is unfairly high (which does happen on occasion on GTA - it can take a number of attempts to pass a mission sometimes if the controls are being difficult, which GTA isn't unknown for), but as a general rule,I take a fairly relaxed view of them.
Out of those two games, you'd think it'd be Grand Theft Auto that would make me more agressive yes? I mean, GTA has loads of blood. I rolled my virtual car yesterday and landed on a pedestrian, and the roof was covered in blood when I rolled back onto my wheels. Yet, I found this funny. In real life it would be horrifying sure, but it's a game and despite the increased realism in this installment it's still very obviously a game.
GT5 is a game too but I get more frustrated in this even though it's just an innocent racing game. When some idiot punts you off the road online, it's really bloody annoying. When someone crashes into you in GTA and you go spinning through the air, crash through a bus stop, catch fire and explode, it's hilarious. GTA is more likely to relax me than increase my aggression levels...
Oh and Ben, nice one on the phone in, sounds like you made some great points! I would have asked Richard Bacon whether he'd played GTA and taken drugs in the game which had influenced his real crime...
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Post by Ben on May 16, 2008 10:02:38 GMT
I was gonna say the level of blood in GTA isn't really that bad compared to other games... In particular Mortal Kombat (They should really spell the titles correctly ) and loads of beat-em-ups... I'd be interested in reading that report, might have a gander at the weekend... Seems like it could be more balanced than a lot of the *ahem* 'impartial' stuff that's out there with regards to GTA etc...
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