Vice President Joe Biden Meets With Gaming Industry

@brownsfantb said:

The NRA is just PETA for gun nuts. It's best to just ignore anything they say or do.

It would be easy to ignore them if they weren't controlled by the gun companies them selves, the majority of NRA members want tougher gun regulations but the gun companies don't because that means less weapons and ammunition being sold, NRA is basically any other lobbyist in Washington, they really need to ban lobbyist's of every form in Washington, it is blatant bribery that is controlling the country, Tobacco, Alcohol and Gun problems are being washed aside because they give them 100's of millions of dollars to their "campaigns\pockets". Some are blatantly heavily invested in these companies like Dick Cheney was with Halliburton\GE and those companies made a truck load of money during the middle east wars of last decade and all that money spent on them was from borrowed money from China. Ugh I feel that Washington really needs to start from scratch, nothing gets done for the good of the people anymore, Democrats\Republicans are pretty much the same party, if Obama ran in any other country apart from America he would be a right wing conservative.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@Brodehouse said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@Brodehouse said:

@Bourbon_Warrior: Actually that mission is in there as part of the narrative. The emotional impact of it is a part of the narrative as well.

And regardless if you like it or not, it is art for one, and protected as free speech for two. I don't know if you just have never argued with an adult, but when discussing art "that's not art" is not an acceptable response. Pretending that art only exists in the things that please you is insane Stalinist diatribe.

Sometimes I think that people who are so ready to hand over their right to free speech so that they never get offended should live in a culture where free speech isn't allowed.

I am putting my opinion on the mission and why I thought it was fucked, like I said before if you read what I said "in my opinion a massacre simulator is not art", I will stand by that no COD game is art, it is a interactive toy. This is my opinion like any form of art I am the one that chooses what is art like you get to as well.

No, no, no. You're misunderstanding the difference between a qualitative statement and a qualifying statement. "Your opinion" extends to what is qualitative, not qualifying. "In my opinion, this piece of art is bad" is a subjective qualitative statement that makes sense. "This piece of art is not art" demands it to be an objective, qualifying statement, your opinion really has nothing to do with it, objective statements are either factual or not. And "this art is not art" is completely nonfactual and fallacious. Do you know what the definition of art is? A work of human creation designed to garner an emotional response from an audience. It doesn't matter in what form the work is or what specific response it generates. You sit there and tell me how any video game does not qualify.

And this might blow your mind; but toys are art, too. Joy is a human emotion. Creating something that creates joy in its use or observance is an artistic endeavor.

So you are saying I have no opinion of what has artistic merit, dude just stop your hipster 1st year art class bull shit.

No. He's saying that your opinion of what has artistic merit doesn't define what has artistic merit.

Just because you say it isn't art doesn't mean it isn't art. I don't give a damn about the collective opinion on its quality, that's subjective through and through. What matters is that the developers can express whatever they want to, however they want to. If we take that ability away from Call of Duty then you open the door for it to be taken away from Bioshock. Or Dragon Age. Or Mass Effect. Or Half-Life. Or Metroid. Or maybe someone will decide that jumping on the heads of Goombas makes people violent as well and we'll censor that right out of the market, leaving us with... well, not much in the way of video games.

That said, I don't think that video games are going anywhere. I don't think politicians will squash out hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of jobs in a bad economy because of something that doesn't have much supporting evidence. But then politicians have done dumb things before. so, God forbid, I might be wrong.

@leinad44 said:

@YOU_DIED said:

can we try to keep politics off of Giant Bomb? fucks sakes, the discussions always devolve into massive shitstorms made of generalizations and emotionally charged nonsense

It's Patrick's job to report the news in the industry. When you set up your own videogame website you can ignore all the politics you want or just not click on these stories, both are pretty effective.

Yeah, I mean, it's not like every other video game site that covers news isn't covering this. Not like it's anything important or anything. Let's just ignore it because it involves politcs.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@Brodehouse said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@Brodehouse said:

@Bourbon_Warrior: Actually that mission is in there as part of the narrative. The emotional impact of it is a part of the narrative as well.

And regardless if you like it or not, it is art for one, and protected as free speech for two. I don't know if you just have never argued with an adult, but when discussing art "that's not art" is not an acceptable response. Pretending that art only exists in the things that please you is insane Stalinist diatribe.

Sometimes I think that people who are so ready to hand over their right to free speech so that they never get offended should live in a culture where free speech isn't allowed.

I am putting my opinion on the mission and why I thought it was fucked, like I said before if you read what I said "in my opinion a massacre simulator is not art", I will stand by that no COD game is art, it is a interactive toy. This is my opinion like any form of art I am the one that chooses what is art like you get to as well.

No, no, no. You're misunderstanding the difference between a qualitative statement and a qualifying statement. "Your opinion" extends to what is qualitative, not qualifying. "In my opinion, this piece of art is bad" is a subjective qualitative statement that makes sense. "This piece of art is not art" demands it to be an objective, qualifying statement, your opinion really has nothing to do with it, objective statements are either factual or not. And "this art is not art" is completely nonfactual and fallacious. Do you know what the definition of art is? A work of human creation designed to garner an emotional response from an audience. It doesn't matter in what form the work is or what specific response it generates. You sit there and tell me how any video game does not qualify.

And this might blow your mind; but toys are art, too. Joy is a human emotion. Creating something that creates joy in its use or observance is an artistic endeavor.

So you are saying I have no opinion of what has artistic merit, dude just stop your hipster 1st year art class bull shit.

Aha, attacking the person. Well done.

1st year art class, my God. I don't need to make an appeal to authority, I just need to make sense, you should try it. You'll get a lot farther than your attempts to jam your fingers in your ears and say "this isn't art because what defines art is up to my interpretation ah blah blah".

Here's what you're still not getting; a piece of art lacking quality does not preclude it from being art. A great game and a shitty game next to each other, one is not 'more art' than the other. Those are subjective differences, they are both objectively art.

@Brodehouse: your taking his quote out of context.

@Sherban: I was hoping to see an actual developer's opinion on here. I doubt anyone who makes violent games, or violent parts of a game, is saying "I hope this game gets into the hands of an impressionable mind" and it's nice to see someone state that more or less. You've made some valid points with the link you shared, thanks.

@triclops41 said:

@Sherban: FZ thinks only 3 variables matter? Sorry, but the notion that its gun laws (at least those commonly proffered) is easily disproven by history. Rebanning AW or limiting magazine sizes are feel good measures. WtFu indeed. Having the same laws doesn't bring the same results. There really aren't easy solutions unless you ignore secondary consequences.

You have to be kidding me. As was even mentioned by another commenter, violent video games are made in Japan as well, being the second largest producer of this form, with their gun violence rates being effectively zero. Why are guns the one thing that Americans can't get taken away from them? I swear people would give up food before they gave away their AKs.

The previous American assault weapon ban had about 600 loopholes (that's not a number I made up, did you read FZ's article?). I'm not advocating for another useless piece of legislation. I'm saying ban them altogether.

And yes, being safer would make me feel good.

@crow13: No, I'm not. "How can we stop these shootings, if entertainment is why, let's censor it." That's the end of free speech.

@Sherban: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Your entire post is kneejerk reactionary nonsense that doesn't actually reflect the way things work. In fact what you say is downright scary, and giving up your rights simply to feel safer is a really insane stance to take. How would you explain, for instance, the UK having the highest violent crime rate in all of Europe higher than even the US? Not just gun crime mind you, but all violent crime. Its currently increasing very rapidly as well. In the years following their gun ban they had a very statistically significant INCREASE in gun crime, one that if the pattern followed in the US would mean a ridiculous number more deaths a year after a similar ban.

How do you explain the highest murder rates per capita in places around the US with increasingly draconian gun laws, Chicago for instance? there's far more culturally here going on than just a ban all the guns could fix, and assault weapons (PS pop quiz, what IS an assault weapon under US law, I bet you wont even be able to answer that) cause FAR less deaths every year than hand guns. Deaths from all rifles, which encompasses assault weapons, are very low compared to handguns.

lol republicans and their liberal propaganda...

@believer258: Whatever dude I'm not here to debate that a hipster thinks a used tampon on the ground is art or not, I am not calling for censorship I am calling out Activison for using that stage for their ticket to free advertising on mainstream networks because controversy sells. They are allowed to put it out and I am allowed to say it was a deplorable form of video games.

In the end, I don't think banning guns, or violence in games, or violence in the media is going to solve this issue, but maybe making the american people more aware of all of these things and better educating them on each subject as a collective whole could give some merit. I don't think that is the solution that the government will reach though. Too many angry voices demanding a quick resolution when there isn't one.

How about we blame the asshole who shot the kids, leaving gamers and legal responsible gun owners the fuck alone...

@Brodehouse: He said that isn't the answer.

@l4wd0g said:

@jsnyder82 said:

Also, fuck the hypocritical NRA. With an old, rough wooden spoon.

Got tolerance?

I have tolerance for plenty of things. The NRA isn't one of them.

@zodstein said:

How about we blame the asshole who shot the kids, leaving gamers and legal responsible gun owners the fuck alone...

Because that would make too much sense.

@Renahzor said:

@Sherban: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Your entire post is kneejerk reactionary nonsense that doesn't actually reflect the way things work. In fact what you say is downright scary, and giving up your rights simply to feel safer is a really insane stance to take. How would you explain, for instance, the UK having the highest violent crime rate in all of Europe higher than even the US? Not just gun crime mind you, but all violent crime. Its currently increasing very rapidly as well. In the years following their gun ban they had a very statistically significant INCREASE in gun crime, one that if the pattern followed in the US would mean a ridiculous number more deaths a year after a similar ban.

How do you explain the highest murder rates per capita in places around the US with increasingly draconian gun laws, Chicago for instance? there's far more culturally here going on than just a ban all the guns could fix, and assault weapons (PS pop quiz, what IS an assault weapon under US law, I bet you wont even be able to answer that) cause FAR less deaths every year than hand guns. Deaths from all rifles, which encompasses assault weapons, are very low compared to handguns.

What "essential liberty" are you talking about here? Is owning any weapon an essential liberty? So why aren't you mad you can't own a rocket launcher? Or a tank?

I'm not sure where you get your UK statistics. Here's a Guardian article detailing the most recent crime data for England and Wales, with all numbers trending down for the last ten years.

Maybe you're right: maybe we should look at many types of weapons, including handguns, and make them harder to purchase. But you cannot possibly look at gun laws in the US and not correlate them to gun crimes in the US when comparing the same numbers throughout developed countries.

@zodstein said:

How about we blame the asshole who shot the kids, leaving gamers and legal responsible gun owners the fuck alone...

Because people are trying to prevent it from happening again and they will look/blame anything they think is related to the shooting.

Regardless of the comments on the article, why is Patrick, the most politically biased person on-staff, writing the article that covers politics?

I don't have a problem with the story, but Patrick clearly carries a heavy bias and I don't think it's right for him to write this if they want articles to be "objective," or at least try to be.

@packs217: is he trying to be objective? not sure that was the point of him posting this.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@believer258: Whatever dude I'm not here to debate that a hipster thinks a used tampon on the ground is art or not, I am not calling for censorship I am calling out Activison for using that stage for their ticket to free advertising on mainstream networks because controversy sells. They are allowed to put it out and I am allowed to say it was a deplorable form of video games.

And that's fine. You're allowed to criticize. You're still missing what I said.

The very minute that you claim that a video game, no matter which one, is "not art", then you also proclaim that all games are "not art". Do you get that? Do you understand that the moment that you exclude some part of a medium from "freedom of speech", then you exclude all of it? That's what I was trying to get through to you. Yes, I understand that the level was most likely created to generate controversy and thus publicity (and is deplorable), but you still can't squash it out of existence. It still falls under "freedom of speech" because the motivation behind it doesn't change the fact that it is a video game.

@crow13: Then why not state an objective if it's an opinion piece?

Well Joe Biden was more respectful in that video than I expected of a politician regarding this subject, so that's pretty cool.

@packs217: I was under the impression that all of giant bomb was an opinion piece. lol

@crow13: It absolutely can be, and I guess I'm not going to disagree with you on that-- but when Patrick is sitting there citing Reuters, quotes, etc. it's safe to assume he's acting as a journalist and not as a duder.

That, and you can reference just about every Bombcast where Patrick is talking for 90% of the news segment and pulling economic theory out of his ass. If it was some ultra-sarcastic piece by Jeff, I wouldn't have a problem with anything in the article. But like I said, with him citing other articles, and quoting people who were a part of the matter, it's a little annoying that I'd have to click over to some other shitty site (Joystiq, whatever it be) to be confident I've found some objectivity on the matter there.

I should also say I have no one to blame but myself. I knew clicking on this that Patrick was the author, what the article was and what I'd be commenting. So I apologize for being the internet incarnate.

@Sherban said:

@Renahzor said:

@Sherban: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Your entire post is kneejerk reactionary nonsense that doesn't actually reflect the way things work. In fact what you say is downright scary, and giving up your rights simply to feel safer is a really insane stance to take. How would you explain, for instance, the UK having the highest violent crime rate in all of Europe higher than even the US? Not just gun crime mind you, but all violent crime. Its currently increasing very rapidly as well. In the years following their gun ban they had a very statistically significant INCREASE in gun crime, one that if the pattern followed in the US would mean a ridiculous number more deaths a year after a similar ban.

How do you explain the highest murder rates per capita in places around the US with increasingly draconian gun laws, Chicago for instance? there's far more culturally here going on than just a ban all the guns could fix, and assault weapons (PS pop quiz, what IS an assault weapon under US law, I bet you wont even be able to answer that) cause FAR less deaths every year than hand guns. Deaths from all rifles, which encompasses assault weapons, are very low compared to handguns.

What "essential liberty" are you talking about here? Is owning any weapon an essential liberty? So why aren't you mad you can't own a rocket launcher? Or a tank?

I'm not sure where you get your UK statistics. Here's a Guardian article detailing the most recent crime data for England and Wales, with all numbers trending down for the last ten years.

Maybe you're right: maybe we should look at many types of weapons, including handguns, and make them harder to purchase. But you cannot possibly look at gun laws in the US and not correlate them to gun crimes in the US when comparing the same numbers throughout developed countries.

Heres an actual stat that matters, the intentional homocide rate in the UK is 1.2 per 100,000 people, in USA it's 4.8. So almost 80% more people are being killed per 100,000 people. While there may be more violent crime, which is also depends on how much faith you have in your police force to report it in the first place, less people are being killed.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

...and that's all we needed. Thanks, duder.

@packs217: I understand you point, but I don't think Patrick ever stated he was being unbiased or not sharing his opinion. In fact the GB crew have stated several times in there articles and reviews that what they post is mostly just that, their opinion, I think assuming just because he is citing other articles and the like that he is not sharing an opinion on them might be a mistake. But he could edit the article and apologize and I could be dead wrong so... whatever.

Joe Biden is a joke. He's a character from a Mel Brooks film except in real life. Even sounds like one. Anyone who thinks this guy is a decent politician or has any charisma is somewhere between partisan hack and political tool.

All reps from the NRA and game industry need to do is walk in the room and say, "First and Second Amendments, ever heard of them?"

And then walk out.

I love Biden. He's like the wild uncle you go on a road-trip with and end up in Mexican prison because his "totally cool" friend Esteban turned an undercover DEA officer. And he uses the word "snatch" liberally.

Anyway, I can't see this meeting being anything other than placation for those who would accuse Biden of letting media creators off the hook. The games industry isn't going to be able to impact premeditated massacres like this one way or the other (violently insane people have a potentially infinite number of triggers), and can have a minimal effect at best on random small-scale killings.

@Bourbon_Warrior: you forgot to say "in my opinion"

At least he went out of his way to list all of the others that were talked to so it doesn't look like the video game industry was singled out but this one part seems to have gained a lot more attention than most of the others.

Man, Biden goes on and on in that video.

I realize that it's mostly for the cameras, and they may have had a very fruitful conversation afterwards, but it's kind of infuriating to see what is basically the preamble to what could be a very interesting debate.

@zoozilla: Yeah i'm with you. I wish the media would have been permitted to record the entire meeting.

It's pretty rude of those people to be firing off tiny guns in the background while the VP is trying to hold a meeting.

I just want people to know, I'v seen the NRA be a great thing on a local scale, that's why I pay my dues. I'v seen the NRA promote sport shooting in ways that helped kids stay out of trouble, helped kids understand responsibility and respect the power a firearm has. I think they fuck up their whole shit when they talk about shooting out side of a sport setting. The NRA started as a sport shooting and gun safety promoting organisation and it should stay that way. In my opinion anyway.

@zoozilla said:

Man, Biden goes on and on in that video.

I realize that it's mostly for the cameras, and they may have had a very fruitful conversation afterwards, but it's kind of infuriating to see what is basically the preamble to what could be a very interesting debate.

He had to make it very clear that the people at the table were not singled out as a cause.

@Bizen247 said:

Joe Biden is a joke. He's a character from a Mel Brooks film except in real life. Even sounds like one. Anyone who thinks this guy is a decent politician or has any charisma is somewhere between partisan hack and political tool.

All reps from the NRA and game industry need to do is walk in the room and say, "First and Second Amendments, ever heard of them?"

And then walk out.

Ever heard of the 18th amendment? Oh wait that was repealed by the 21st amendment.

@packs217 said:

Regardless of the comments on the article, why is Patrick, the most politically biased person on-staff, writing the article that covers politics?

I don't have a problem with the story, but Patrick clearly carries a heavy bias and I don't think it's right for him to write this if they want articles to be "objective," or at least try to be.

That is a valid point, but I don't see any bias represented here. Even if there was, this is a video game website compiled of video game journalists reporting on video game news. They're not political journalists. But again, I don't see where any opinion based reporting in this article. Also, Patrick is a professional, and based on the transparency the guys on this site give, I don't think a difference in opinion would effect the story that's being reported.

On a side note, I had to try very hard to restrain from making any NBC/FOX news jokes.

@Walreese55: His gaffes are the best.

Additionally, the National Rifle Association, which partially blamed video games for the incident at Sandy Hook, released an app set in the first-person for iOS platforms today called NRA: Practice Range. It's available to download for free for anyone ages four and up. Weird? Weird.

Incredible.

I think what is it Jesse Cox summed it up quite well. They cant blame the person that did the shooting because that will be blaming the government's serious lack of mental health awareness They cant blame guns as its a first amendment right, they cant blame movies and TV they have a lot of clout. so the only scapegoat that is left is gaming.

Not a direct quote just paraphrasing

13 minutes and nothing said.

@Bizen247 said:

Joe Biden is a joke. He's a character from a Mel Brooks film except in real life. Even sounds like one. Anyone who thinks this guy is a decent politician or has any charisma is somewhere between partisan hack and political tool.

All reps from the NRA and game industry need to do is walk in the room and say, "First and Second Amendments, ever heard of them?"

And then walk out.

I don't want to seem like an ignorant Canadian, but... Why do people in your country continue to blindly cling to a bunch of stuff written down 200 years ago by a bunch of sexist, slave-owning bigots whenever someone challenges your pathetic lack of any gun control, or anything else for that matter?

@ZGoon said:

@Bizen247 said:

Joe Biden is a joke. He's a character from a Mel Brooks film except in real life. Even sounds like one. Anyone who thinks this guy is a decent politician or has any charisma is somewhere between partisan hack and political tool.

All reps from the NRA and game industry need to do is walk in the room and say, "First and Second Amendments, ever heard of them?"

And then walk out.

I don't want to seem like an ignorant Canadian, but... Why do people in your country continue to blindly cling to a bunch of stuff written down 200 years ago by a bunch of sexist, slave-owning bigots whenever someone challenges your pathetic lack of any gun control, or anything else for that matter?

Cuz it's the only defense they have and never mind the fact that the thing has been amended numerous times and in the case of the cough (18th) cough repealed. They're too busy being paranoid about a big brother takeover and irrationally think that stockpiling will save them. (Generalization sure, but that way of thinking is seriously out there. You're lying to yourself if you think that's not true)

It's like people are incapable of separating the concept of gun control from no guns.

@Terrorbite said:

I just want people to know, I'v seen the NRA be a great thing on a local scale, that's why I pay my dues. I'v seen the NRA promote sport shooting in ways that helped kids stay out of trouble, helped kids understand responsibility and respect the power a firearm has. I think they fuck up their whole shit when they talk about shooting out side of a sport setting. The NRA started as a sport shooting and gun safety promoting organisation and it should stay that way. In my opinion anyway.

Exactly dude, but it was taking over by the Gun Companies, to push their own agenda in Washington. The majority of NRA wants tougher regulations on guns, because they just want to go hunting, they don't want a 50 round semi-auto assault weapon to go hunt deer with, but the people that sadly control the NRA now just want to sell and make as much money as possible...

I'm hesitant to even comment because I might potentially be part of the problem by doing so. Reading this I can't help but ask a couple of questions.

How is this minimalist "news" article related to a random application? Yes, the NRA's lazy reaction to the shooting is disgusting but this transparent retort is no better than that.

How has the video or the application you link to any place on a website that allegedly covers videogames for enthusiasts in an in-depth fashion? The app seems like barely competent edutainment fare and the video hardly ever even touches the videogame topic (even though the meeting in question might have).

Has the click-bait strategy of wasting readers time by indicating sensational (or for that matter interesting) news and offering barely fucking anything been so successful on GB that I can expect garbage like this to come up regularly now?

Fucking bullshit like this is what I get up in arms about when lazy morons use it against media I enjoy or opinions I hold. It's incredibly sad to see a website I quite enjoy immediately abusing the same strategy to further its own agenda. Gun owners/ users/ advocates are hypocrites and weirdos, videogamers are murderers and rapists in the making, horror movies are for psychopaths, rap music is for misogynists and heavy metal is satanism in musical form. Fuck this cycle of morons trying present their opinion as fact. Fuck this whole manipulative freak show. If you're going to chime in do the work and come up with something meaningful.

I welcome any tools that can teach children proper weapon safety. Although that's a skill a father should always teach, I like the idea of those basic life skills being reinforced in a (I'm assuming) simple game. I checked this game out, Patrick. I don't know where you're getting this information that it's free for ages 4 and up. There's no text in the game's description that mentioned ages it's intended for, nor does that actual game say anything upfront about who it's marketed for in terms of age.

@Jdiggity88 said:

@packs217 said:

Regardless of the comments on the article, why is Patrick, the most politically biased person on-staff, writing the article that covers politics?

I don't have a problem with the story, but Patrick clearly carries a heavy bias and I don't think it's right for him to write this if they want articles to be "objective," or at least try to be.

That is a valid point, but I don't see any bias represented here. Even if there was, this is a video game website compiled of video game journalists reporting on video game news. They're not political journalists. But again, I don't see where any opinion based reporting in this article. Also, Patrick is a professional, and based on the transparency the guys on this site give, I don't think a difference in opinion would effect the story that's being reported.

On a side note, I had to try very hard to restrain from making any NBC/FOX news jokes.

Also, if you're looking for unbiased political reporting a) good luck, EVERYONE's biased some way, and b) why are you coming to a games site to get it?

Are you upset because he's politically biased, or that he's biased in a way that you disagree with?

@Colourful_Hippie said:

@ZGoon said:

@Bizen247 said:

Joe Biden is a joke. He's a character from a Mel Brooks film except in real life. Even sounds like one. Anyone who thinks this guy is a decent politician or has any charisma is somewhere between partisan hack and political tool.

All reps from the NRA and game industry need to do is walk in the room and say, "First and Second Amendments, ever heard of them?"

And then walk out.

I don't want to seem like an ignorant Canadian, but... Why do people in your country continue to blindly cling to a bunch of stuff written down 200 years ago by a bunch of sexist, slave-owning bigots whenever someone challenges your pathetic lack of any gun control, or anything else for that matter?

Cuz it's the only defense they have and never mind the fact that the thing has been amended numerous times and in the case of the cough (18th) cough repealed. They're too busy being paranoid about a big brother takeover and irrationally think that stockpiling will save them. (Generalization sure, but that way of thinking is seriously out there. You're lying to yourself if you think that's not true)

It's like people are incapable of separating the concept of gun control from no guns.

I think the problem is that the most vocal people for gun-control don't just want to strengthen laws, they want to outlaw them completely. People like Diane Fienstien and Michael Bloomberg have said as much. I have don't really have a problem with sensible laws that actually work, the problem is that the laws people like that are trying to pass aren't sensible, and have been proven (remember the 1994 crime bill?) not to work. Stopping criminals from getting guns is a great thing, but stopping law-abiding people isn't going to do a damn thing. We already have some 2,700 gun laws on the books as it is. Let's try enforcing those rather than cooking up new ones to make ourselves feel good.

@MrMazz said:

Gotta admit when I saw the headline thought this was a Alex article, not that I'm complaining the headline just seemed very alex-y (that's a word right? No. OK).

Thanks for providing the video was wondering what that meeting sounded like.

Alexandrian is the closest to the word you're looking for.

@leinad44 said:

@YOU_DIED said:

can we try to keep politics off of Giant Bomb? fucks sakes, the discussions always devolve into massive shitstorms made of generalizations and emotionally charged nonsense

It's Patrick's job to report the news in the industry. When you set up your own videogame website you can ignore all the politics you want or just not click on these stories, both are pretty effective.

... then again here is Patrick on the 2012 elections

https://twitter.com/patrickklepek/status/265676589998673922

I really appreciate that the Giant Bomb staff (for the most part) don't get into politics.

When I read some of the tweets from the staff at Polygon talking about how "being a white straight male is playing life on easy" tells me that they don't have any clue about what happens in the world around them. I'm referencing the anti-Irish campaigns in both the US and abroad. Did you see the Transformers movies? Remember the racist transformer? No, not the two stereotype black transformers (Skids and Mudflap) in Transformers 2 (which was also racist), but the green transformer in 3 who spoke in an Irish accent. Funny how no one called that out for being racist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination_in_Europe

Patrick should understand that Giant Bomb is a diverse group of viewers who come from many religions, political views, races, gender, nationalities, and sexual orientations. Just because you have an audience doesn't mean you should use it as your political soap box.

http://massavepr.com/social-media-separate-your-personal-opinions-professional-brand/

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/Brands_and_politics_Does_joining_the_fray_hurt_or_13281.aspx#