The Targeting Of the Gaming Industry Is More Than What It Seems

reply to post by JBA2848


I'm sure there are many companies that cover a number of subject matters when it comes to Expos. It doesnt mean the two are intertwined.


In theory you could say that the gun movement plus the medical industry are in cahoots because there is a single company that handles medical conferences and gun expos, of that the US marines are directly linked to to university placements, because a single company handles the military expos and the university expos.

The reason i'm using Australia as the example is because the gun laws there are exceptionally strong, semi and automatic weapons are not allowed to a civilian (as far as I'm aware there are no exceptions to this), thus making the entire presumption that the gaming industry is hand in hand with the gun lobby.

Now with that in mind, you could stretch this to the point that some distribution houses are connected by umbrella companies (think Vivendi as an example of an example of the 'umbrella' company), to the gun industry.

The only way i personally would see this as fact is if someone like 2k Games, Activision-Blizzard, Bioware (EA) turn around and started manufacturing weapons directly would i consider the two directly linked.

tl;dr - Just because 2 companies share the same expo organization platform doesn't mean they are intertwined. Otherwise we could link all corporations/business together, because they all use computers, and all school kids are the same because they all use pens.

Again my personal opinion.

Originally posted by Panic2k11
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

if the industry is failing in providing a transparent and standard way to inform consumers. Sales of adult games to minors should also be sanctioned.

You mean like the ESRB? ESRB Website

You can search for games on the ESRB website and it will tell you the ratings and why the game was given that rating. Parents need to take some responsibility for what they give their children instead of looking for blame outside.

And before you try to say that it is so easy for kids to get rated M games, please see the following: FTC Secret Shopper Study. Why, what is this? Egads, the Video Game industry has the MOST SUCCESSFUL enforcement of their ratings of any form of entertainment media. Let me break it down for you. Explicit Content CDs: 64% of underage shoppers were able to purchase them. Rated R movie tickets? 1/3 of underage shoppers were able to purchase them. How about Rated R DVDs? 38 percent. So where does Video Game enforcement come in? Only 13% of teenage shoppers were able to purchase Rated M games.

So if a kid is playing a violent game then it is incredibly likely that he/she has this game because his/her parents bought it for him/her because they couldn't be bothered to do even a TINY bit of research. Really, go to the ESRB site. Type in a game name. Go to any store, look at a game box. ESRB rating is prominently displayed on front and back.

The game industry is doing everything they can to ensure parents have the tools they want.

Be responsible for your own kids and stop trying to shove the responsibility off on others.

Originally posted by QQXXw
Furthermore, video games tend to be an escapist reality for young people which is a problem that also needs addressing. Finally, violent video games do desensitize children and young people to violence of all kinds, it is not the immediate shock of violence, but the long hours they spend being exposed to violence which is the main culprit. Video games normalize violence so to speak.

Citation, please? Please show me on impartial research study that has stated the above.

Go on, I'll wait.

Originally posted by QQXXw

Furthermore, video games tend to be an escapist reality for young people which is a problem that also needs addressing. Finally, violent video games do desensitize children and young people to violence of all kinds, it is not the immediate shock of violence, but the long hours they spend being exposed to violence which is the main culprit. Video games normalize violence so to speak.

Actually simulated violence is far less impacting than realist violence found on TV and in movies. Please explain how TV and Movies aren't worse at desensitizing young ones to violence.

~Tenth

Video games are different from movies and TV. Video gamers spend hours concentrating on perfecting their ability to kill in a simulated environment through games like "Grand theft Auto" and "Call of Duty". There is full interaction with the video game medium. Video games replace the real reality with the virtual reality and demand the full attention of the player over long periods of time during which the player is engaged in acts of simulated violence. The whole experience is nothing short of stimuli-response conditioning. Can you imagine what happens to a child's brain when the spend many hours a day in a murder simulator?


Those games you named are rated M games. If kids are playing them it is because their parents likely bought the games for them. These are games made for adults to play, not children.

Once again, the parents need to accept personal responsibility for the content that they provide to their children.

reply to post by BriggsBU


Well I'm not a parent but I do not believe that the situation is optimal or that the Video Game industry should be let of the hook (I do agree that video games are not the worst problem in regards to problematic content).

The ESRB is specific for Canada and United States to put the 13% in context:

Canadians age 14 and under ~5,607,345 (2011 Statistics Canada).
US population aged 14 and under ~61,944,831 (2010 Wikipedia)

Taking those numbers as base line with all the considerations required 13% is not something to be happy about, now if we extrapolate to the rest of the world especially taking in consideration the US cultural influence as a major media producer the impact of the type of problematic content produced is even greater and the media industry rarely enforces any type of control with some exceptions here and there by state regulators, this makes the percentage and control you indicate really not significative at all in addressing the problem.

As an extreme example do some research on how US pornography is affecting cultures in Africa, especially in the field of AIDS prevention and look up how the industry responded to the pressure to start using condoms in their productions...

Originally posted by munkey66
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

I believe it is more of a red herring to keep people occupied, The military industrial complex play a huge role in the gaming industry, even Prince Harry in a recent interview made reference to his X-box control whilst being in his helecopter, the idea is to get younger and younger people better at the use of these peripherals and the games themselves are more violent that they do appear.
even a game such as lego lord of the rings has players deliberately destroying objects for rewards.

I would possibly agree with part, but it may have more to do with keeping the military more involved in games.

This guy has the right idea. Military shooters are controlled by the military industrial complex, the CIA and the mind control division of the entertainment industry. Why else would the CIA director appear as a special guest in a triple AAA title, such as Call of Duty Black Ops II.



Every year there is a new freshman class of boys who are introduced to the newest, greatest military shooters. And every year, like clock work, a new military shooter triple AAA title is released.....

reply to post by SayonaraJupiter


Patraeus was not paid or compensated in any way for him being in the game, he also had no part in the development process during the game. Also, it was not even his voice, it was a voice actor who did it because Patraeus had nothing to do with it. The reason he was put in the game is because Activision thought it would be cute and fun, then as luck would have it the whole scandal thing happened as the game came out.

The Call of Duty games come out each year like clockwork because they make money, Activision realizes they hit a gold mine for making the same base game each year with new story lines. It's all about business, not military mind programming. I believe the game had reached 1 billion in sales in just 15 days world wide, you're telling me you wouldn't come out with a new game each year with figures like that?

Last, as for games programming youth for the military I personally see the opposite. The military knows they young kids play a lot of it and decided to use it to their advantage. From what I know actual Playstation controllers are used in some applications because they know the newer generation is much more familiar with that. Why retrain soldiers on complex controllers when a simple Playstation one will do the job perfectly? Not to mention the military has gone a little softer in basic training because of games like Call of Duty, those kids who play those games all day long have rather thin skin. They think it will be just like the game where they can lone wolf it and do all this cool stuff when that is a far cry from how the military actually works. Video games are a poor choice for preparing youth for the army, it may make them want to sign up but most will fail basic training because its nothing like the game, they just can't sign up and magically appear in "cool" combat missions.