A vent on the local media's portrayal of video games.

[Huckleberry Pie]

Sorry for the vent, but I couldn't help but cringe about how TV networks here are crassly making a one-sided, author-tract "report" on the supposed dangers of video games, especially in light of recent incidents, like a case involving a teenager killing his own grandmother over his DOTA addiction.

They would cite "studies" linking games to real-world aggression, even though it is more or less clear that it isn't conclusive, and based on the local media (ABS-CBN/GMA/TV5)'s rap sheet and rep among pundits, it sounds more like a case of yellow journalism and fearmongering for profit.

Here's a link to the "report", btw: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=457580477705683

What do you guys think about this issue?

[Trevor_Philips]

Just media fear mongering, as usual. I've said this before (probably on this very site) and I'll say it again: the media and society always seek to blame everything "corrupting" the youth of the time on something or someone else instead of bad parenting or mental illness. First it was movies (Rebel Without a Cause, for example), then comics, then it was music. Today it's video games. And tomorrow it'll probably be something else. I'm 30 now (will be 31 this year) and I've watched violent movies like Predator and Commando since as long as I can remember, I went through the phase when I liked gangster rap and all that, I've played violent video games like GTA ever since I was ~14, loved firearms since around the same age, and yet the worst I've done is gotten a couple of red light tickets (first one was a technicality, second one I admit my attention was diverted and I zoned out which, yes, was incredibly irresponsible). I've never done drugs, never smoked or drank, never killed anyone, I don't yell out racial slurs, or any of the crap that all these things supposedly cause. The reason being that my parents were actually involved in my life instead of plopping me down in front of the TV and forgetting about me.

 

People have this idea that the world was "right" when they were young and that the new generation has strayed, but they refuse to acknowledge that their world was viewed the exact same way by the generation before them. It'll always be like that.

[Huckleberry Pie]

Just media fear mongering, as usual. I've said this before (probably on this very site) and I'll say it again: the media and society always seek to blame everything "corrupting" the youth of the time on something or someone else instead of bad parenting or mental illness. First it was movies (Rebel Without a Cause, for example), then comics, then it was music. Today it's video games. And tomorrow it'll probably be something else. I'm 30 now (will be 31 this year) and I've watched violent movies like Predator and Commando since as long as I can remember, I went through the phase when I liked gangster rap and all that, I've played violent video games like GTA ever since I was ~14, loved firearms since around the same age, and yet the worst I've done is gotten a couple of red light tickets (first one was a technicality, second one I admit my attention was diverted and I zoned out which, yes, was incredibly irresponsible). I've never done drugs, never smoked or drank, never killed anyone, I don't yell out racial slurs, or any of the crap that all these things supposedly cause. The reason being that my parents were actually involved in my life instead of plopping me down in front of the TV and forgetting about me.

 

People have this idea that the world was "right" when they were young and that the new generation has strayed, but they refuse to acknowledge that their world was viewed the exact same way by the generation before them. It'll always be like that.

Back when Harry Potter was all the rage conservative parents warned about its supposedly-pagan content, when it was no more than a case of fairy-tale magic that you can find in a Disney movie. Now look at what happened afterwards. Being that people usually doesn't take what the news media is churning out with a grain of salt, they'll buy and buy into such bigotry and therefore increase the news outlets' ratings.

 

It's like they're saying that the 50s or 60s was better, yet there are some shitty and/or edgy things that happened at the time.

[JustADummy]

Well, we all know that media, especially local media who aren't as bought as national media, all want to have the most shocking news and "studies" possible to impress people, when that's not always the reality. They just grab a load of "studies", put them together, and the conclusion always is - videogames are bad for people, videogames influence people, etc. when that's not really what is going on.

For example, someone who kills another person "because of a game", can't be blamed for doing so because of the game. If he even had to kill someone to see how it was like, he definitely had to have other mental issues. It aggrivates me when the media blames videogames for everything, not taking into account other aspects of sociology and psychology, just the games themselves hurting people's minds. It's ridiculous.

Even more annoying is when pseudo-psychologists come to TV shows and news programmes to talk about how bad videogames are for children, teenagers or the society in general, it's just fearmongering.

[BlackListedB]

Outside of that older GTA game title case, I've really heard next to nothing, zilch, nada about GTA V and any impact it's had on real world events. Considering it's massive sales figures, perhaps more people are aware of exactly what the game is about and no longer spin hyperbole that's simply unsupported. Cooler heads prevail. 

 

I haven't heard other games come under attack in relation to real world crimes either, but I always suspect someone to make a connection because of the original aim at youth demographic

[Huckleberry Pie]

Except for the Trevor torture scene, to which even some gamers objected to. Steven Ogg's character did however lamented on how the government used torture afaik.

[Trevor_Philips]

Specifically he discussed how it was useless as a method of extracting information and that, instead, we do it simply because we enjoy it. Honestly, that's arguably worse than any excuse the US government can come up with.

[BlackListedB]

Well, Trevor's actor Steven expressed in interview how kids, his own, should not be privy to such adult content. I was talking about and looking into the last movie I saw the other night for GTAForums Offtopic, that being the 1978 rape revenge film I Spit On Your Grave, originally titled, Day of the Woman. If you look into the details about it's origins, up to 1980, when the title was changed beyond the scope of the director and writer. Still a great title, but it brought to the table discussion about it's contents in a serious and thoughtful manner, rather then knee jerk reaction, and as Wikipedia points out, people who likely had never even seen it, they took up a vocal protest against it, advocating censorship.

 

Wikipedia again cements my belief that it maybe the best source for movie data, even more then IMDB at times, since it talks about response to such films, offers trivia and production data, all very interesting to research

Edited April 21, 2014 by BlackListedB