Fox News making more stuff up

[spittledip]

The psychologist was right in that this type of thing will negatively effect children and teens as they are developing and that the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred. I would think that the experience of a game, b/c you are controlling it, is mreo potent in this way as well.

However, the issue does not lie there at all. There are all types of things out there that kids are not supposed to mess with, and this is just another one of them. It is up to parents to keep their kids safe. The problem is that lots of parents don't care about their kids that much and would rather let them have their way b/c it is "easier." This is not a reason for the govt be a parent figure though.

Seriously though, it is much easier for a kid to get tons of porn off the net then to get off from a game like this. This is just Fox trying to get ratings with "exciting" news. That game looks kinda lame though.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: spittledip
The psychologist was right in that this type of thing will negatively effect children and teens as they are developing and that the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred. I would think that the experience of a game, b/c you are controlling it, is mreo potent in this way as well.

It's a cut scene, you don't control squat. Like you, she never played the game.

 

[jonks]

Ha, I spoke too soon:

http://gamepolitics.com/2008/0...n-saw-films-announced/

From the press release:

SAW the videogame will give fans of Jigsaw and these films a reason to live. Collaborating closely with Lions Gate and Twisted pictures, the game will have its own unique storyline, while answering questions left unanswered by the SAW films.

In an effort to stay true to the movies, Brash is working closely with creators of the SAW franchise, Leigh Whannell and James Wan, ensuring the game pulls no punches, and delivers the horrifying suspense and disbelief that has floored fans worldwide.

 

[spittledip]

Originally posted by: sirjonk

Originally posted by: spittledip
The psychologist was right in that this type of thing will negatively effect children and teens as they are developing and that the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred. I would think that the experience of a game, b/c you are controlling it, is mreo potent in this way as well.

It's a cut scene, you don't control squat. Like you, she never played the game.

Calm yourself, child! I am speaking of video games in general. As short as my post was you obviously did not read it very carefully.. not that it took careful reading. Nice way to ignore the content of my post also...

 

[teclis1023]

Wowza. Let's get a bunch of ignorant, misinformed blowhards to talk publicly about the problems with a media form that they, admittedly, have ZERO experience with. Then, let's cut off the only guy who has played the game and seems to know what he's talking about.

RESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM.

This reminds me of the time that the sex scene in GTA came out, and it turned out that some grandma bought it for her 14 year old grandson and then complained that he was exposed to sex. Apparently she didn't care that he was playing a game where you steal cars, kill police officers and work for the mafia.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: spittledip

Originally posted by: sirjonk

Originally posted by: spittledip
The psychologist was right in that this type of thing will negatively effect children and teens as they are developing and that the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred. I would think that the experience of a game, b/c you are controlling it, is mreo potent in this way as well.

It's a cut scene, you don't control squat. Like you, she never played the game.

Calm yourself, child! I am speaking of video games in general. As short as my post was you obviously did not read it very carefully.. not that it took careful reading. Nice way to ignore the content of my post also...

Ok. I'm calm now. I reiterate, claims that videogames blur the lines between fantasy and reality for children are the same claims, nearly verbatim, that "experts" made 80 years ago when kids started reading comic books, and when mature television shows and movies started getting released. Fundies still want to ban books because they put "bad ideas" in children's minds. Somehow most kids grow up normally despite having experienced books, comics, tv and movies, often portraying downright disgusting material.

So while restricting your comments to 'videogames in general' may have been intended to allay my concerns, you have simply confirmed my suspicions of your ignorance. Don't feel bad, most people who don't play games like to demonize them because the stereotypical gamer is still perceived as a lonely nerd with glasses and no life sitting at home. Meanwhile, college kids through people in their 30s (ahem) regularly game, as a hobby and as a social activity, and with their families. There's a healthy adult market for mature games that, like rated R movies, underage kids will get their hands on. And the negative effects are comparable to them seeing an adult movie. That is to say, they'll think it's cool, and then move on.

No, pre-teens shouldn't be allowed to play GrandTheftAuto, but I have no doubt in my mind a 13 year old can handle it. I remember being 13 and what I was up to with my friends. Seeing a digitized breast would not have even startled me.

I disagree with your intuition that the interactive nature of a game has more of an impact than say, reading a violent passage in a book and being required to use one's imagination to visualize the scene and the individuals involved. That requires more mental effort than pressing button A. And seeing it in movie form, like in Saw or Hostel, with real people scream and writhe as they are being realistically tortured, should to my mind have a deeper effect than a computer game character that no one identifies with as human.

The ultimate affront is when "experts" who have never so much as picked up a game make generalizations of the harmful effects games supposedly have. It empowers legislators to attempt free speech restrictions, though they lose again and again in the courts.

We do agree this is a parental duty and the government should kindly stick to doing what they do best, screwing us out of our money and starting wars.

 

[spittledip]

Man, you are good at making assumptions. By good I mean you like to make them, not that your assumptions are accurate. I have played video games for years and am in a clan and a server admin. 😛 Also in my 30s and married and work and all that. From what I understand, until very recently our age bracket has been the most involved with video games.

And whether or not you agree with it, it doesn't really matter b/c it is very basic psychology that exposure to whatever it may happen to be - "good" or "bad" - during the formative years of personality and identity development has an impact.

And also, what you consider "normal" is indeed a very very subjective thing, and does not call into account for the unconscious aspects of humans, which arguably, are equally if not more important than the conscious as the unconscious is who people truly are. If I were convinced that you were a self-aware indivdual with much of his unconscious conscious, then I could take what you are saying mroe seriously. but, i don't know, and your use of the word "normal" suggests that you are not very aware of these concepts within others or yourself. That is for you to figure out, so I won't make ASSumptions 😛

At any rate, the problem with even considering these arguments is that it is all theory, so to say one way or the other definitely is difficult, if not impossible. Although, unconscious aside, it has been demonstrated that exposure to any type of stimulus has an effect on all brains, be they juvenile or not. How you want to program a child's brain via exposure is not really a difficult question to answer. That is why caring parents try to get their kids to read quality literature and play an instrument and study and listen to classical or jazz or something that has a positive effect on the brain development. Why "negative" stimulus should be thought to have no impact is a mystery to me, and does not connect the dots.

I think you are being reactionary in regard to this matter for whatever reason, and so your judgment is clouded.

As far as if exposure to mature video games or mature movies/TV is worse for a child, I think it probably depends on the child. The impact of such things in general also depends on the child as well, but that does not mean we should take the risk and expose them to stuff. These thigns should probably be handled on a child by child basis- the parent should be aware of what a child can handle, not that they should push the limit obviously. I know that I was a very sensitive child, and i internalized alot of what I experienced, be it relationships or TV or whatever. So for the type of child I was, I should not have been exposed to certain things.

Of course this brings up another valid concept. All people are different and to suggest that all people be treated the same in regard to psychological and emotional development is evidence of gross misunderstanding of human beings in general. This is why there should be no "cookie cutter" psychological treatments among other things. All people are different and so, things must be tailored to individuals. Forchildren, experiences should be tailored somewhat. Please do not go overboard on that statement and try to suggest that I am saying that a parent should control the lives of their children.. that is not what I am saying as it is equally important for a child to have experience making decisions and experiencing autonomy and independence- very very critical for individuation.

Anyway I went off on a tangent.

I am off to play some games 😛

 

[UberNeuman]

I played Donkey Kong as a child and years later, I harbor an urge to kidnap chicks and toss barrels at Italian plumbers....

/it's the videogames that made me this way, can i sue Nintendo now?

 

[spittledip]

Originally posted by: UberNeuman
I played Donkey Kong as a child and years later, I harbor an urge to kidnap chicks and toss barrels at Italian plumbers....

/it's the videogames that made me this way, can i sue Nintendo now?

Dumb post... content is relevant obviously

 

[UberNeuman]

Originally posted by: spittledip

Originally posted by: UberNeuman
I played Donkey Kong as a child and years later, I harbor an urge to kidnap chicks and toss barrels at Italian plumbers....

/it's the videogames that made me this way, can i sue Nintendo now?

Dumb post... content is relevant obviously

Humour lacking is also quite clear as well, dear.....

/don't make me go all Robotron on your ass...

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: sirjonk

Originally posted by: Rainsford
Ah conservatives, where would you be without manufactured outrage?

And I fully realize that many of the conservative posters here think this is just as stupid as I do...but I think you guys are glossing over the key point here. THIS is what your ideology is really about. Not small government or strong national defense or self defense or strong families...it's this, idiots pretending to be outraged about a barely PG-13 "sex scene" in a game rated for adults that they've never played. I know you think it's about those other things, but I've got news for you...your ideological peers would disagree with you.

You'd think so, but it's Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman who proudly sponsor anti-videogame legislation. I agree with your larger point however, that in general, it wasn't liberals phoning the FCC to rant about superbowl nipplegate.

I was talking about this particular situation, but you're right, there is definitely an odd attraction of this kind of bullshit among liberals as well. But I don't think it's a left/right split so much as it's a conservative/liberal split as to how people view social issues. Hillary might be a liberal overall, but she's an extreme social conservative...just like Lieberman.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: spittledip
The psychologist was right in that this type of thing will negatively effect children and teens as they are developing and that the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred. I would think that the experience of a game, b/c you are controlling it, is mreo potent in this way as well.

However, the issue does not lie there at all. There are all types of things out there that kids are not supposed to mess with, and this is just another one of them. It is up to parents to keep their kids safe. The problem is that lots of parents don't care about their kids that much and would rather let them have their way b/c it is "easier." This is not a reason for the govt be a parent figure though.

Seriously though, it is much easier for a kid to get tons of porn off the net then to get off from a game like this. This is just Fox trying to get ratings with "exciting" news. That game looks kinda lame though.

Wow, it's almost like there should be a system...perhaps a "rating" system, where games receive age appropriate scores based on content in any number of categories. And perhaps those scores can be prominently displayed on the game box so parents have an easy and quick way to verify if the game in question is appropriate for their child. And stores could not sell games to children who weren't old enough to meet the rating requirements, requiring a parent to make a decision on whether or not their child should be allowed to play the game. Like in the case of Mass Effect, the game could have a rating that says it's for "mature" players only...perhaps the rating could be helpfully abbreviated as "M". That way "children and teens would not be exposed to the "objectionable" content unless their parents decided it was OK. I'm a genius!

Oh, there's already a system like that? Well then what in the hell is everyone whining about?

 

[spittledip]

Originally posted by: Rainsford

Originally posted by: spittledip
The psychologist was right in that this type of thing will negatively effect children and teens as they are developing and that the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred. I would think that the experience of a game, b/c you are controlling it, is mreo potent in this way as well.

However, the issue does not lie there at all. There are all types of things out there that kids are not supposed to mess with, and this is just another one of them. It is up to parents to keep their kids safe. The problem is that lots of parents don't care about their kids that much and would rather let them have their way b/c it is "easier." This is not a reason for the govt be a parent figure though.

Seriously though, it is much easier for a kid to get tons of porn off the net then to get off from a game like this. This is just Fox trying to get ratings with "exciting" news. That game looks kinda lame though.

Wow, it's almost like there should be a system...perhaps a "rating" system, where games receive age appropriate scores based on content in any number of categories. And perhaps those scores can be prominently displayed on the game box so parents have an easy and quick way to verify if the game in question is appropriate for their child. And stores could not sell games to children who weren't old enough to meet the rating requirements, requiring a parent to make a decision on whether or not their child should be allowed to play the game. Like in the case of Mass Effect, the game could have a rating that says it's for "mature" players only...perhaps the rating could be helpfully abbreviated as "M". That way "children and teens would not be exposed to the "objectionable" content unless their parents decided it was OK. I'm a genius!

Oh, there's already a system like that? Well then what in the hell is everyone whining about?

I am not sure what people are whining about.. I agree- the system is already set up, parents just need to learn to give a damn about their kids and use the system- then we would have no whining at all.

 

[spittledip]

Originally posted by: UberNeuman

Originally posted by: spittledip

Originally posted by: UberNeuman
I played Donkey Kong as a child and years later, I harbor an urge to kidnap chicks and toss barrels at Italian plumbers....

/it's the videogames that made me this way, can i sue Nintendo now?

Dumb post... content is relevant obviously

Humour lacking is also quite clear as well, dear.....

/don't make me go all Robotron on your ass...

Sorry, thought you were making a weak argument 😛