Anti-science, anti-empiricism, anti-democracy. The bane of human existence.
Norwegian Retailer Indefinitely Bans 'Violent Video Games,' Even Though No One Asked
Guys am currently using Cheese to train for my violent anarchist revolution, so once they capture me don't be surprised if they ban all Cheese Worldwide.
I don't think this will be an indefinite blocking of the titles, it seems more of a reactionary term to try and get as many people to let go and stop thinkign about what happens - the fact they are willing to take that into consideration first whether there is scientific fact on studies with violent games or if it affects their profit seems quite commendable. I would probably guess they want to ake there stores a place where people can go and get away from the story for a bit while there and the titles will probably return by the Autumn (at least in their stores that aren't in the area of where it happened which they may leave the games off for longer). Although I have never been to Norwya or heard of this store but it seems like the most logical reason they did this.
@Claude said:
@Disease said:
Whatever.. nobody buys their games at a Coop store here in NorwayAre they pretty big or something or are they trying to get their name in the media?
At least in Sweden Coop owns one of the biggest chains of grocery stores, they also have some electronics stores, but nothing that's really focused on games or other entertainment, mostly the hardware stuff. They do usually carry a small selection of cheap games though, mainly the biggest titles and a selection of budget/platinum/classics titles.
That's actually not that bad. Seems almost like they're doing it out of respect for the victims now. The games'll come back eventually - they even said so themselves. In the meantime, maybe some customers to that store will check out some non-shooters? Hopefully. There are a TON of great games out there; some of which aren't even violent. I always hate it when people think games are exclusively violent - it's just that these people are informed by their boyfriends of whatnot, and their bf's are idiots who ONLY play shooters.
And ignore much better games like Ico, Enslaved, Zelda, Mario, or even Mirror's Edge, which was more about running away from people with guns than actually shooting back at them. That's a problem for the entire mainstream perception of video games, unfortunately. Shooters rule the day, in more ways than one. And that's a shame. Because they're seldom the most memorable titles out there.
@Swervinmonkeyz said:
Anyone gonna mention the guy was a right-wing, Christian fanatic? No? WELL HE WAS.
There's also the fact that you don't have to play MW2's No Russian scenario to get inspired either, similar attacks (in method, not targets or scope) are an every day occurance in parts of the world. You don't have to go further than to watch a news broadcast to learn that terrorists often use police uniforms to get the confidence of their victims before carrying out an attack. Or for that matter, there are several classic movies with somewhat detailed depictions of the planning and execution of terrorist attacks - Pontecorvo's 1966 "Battle of Algiers" comes to mind, with it's objective, almost documentary, depiction of the preparations for bombings of cafes, night clubs and an airport.
There's also the more recent Der Baader Meinhof Komplex and Battle for Haditha, and well, of course, the Bible itself features quite a few graphical depictions of what you're allowed to do to heathens in God's name.
I think more to the point, other game stores are going to have a field day taking the profits that the controversy will bring.PR moves. Don't be surprised if you find these games again on the shelves in a few weeks.
Anyone who believes gaming had anything to do with video games has their heads up their asses and is unwilling to see the truth - the world's populaces are embracing extremist ideologies, and it's only going to get more and more violent as time goes on.
It never ceases to amaze me how stupid people are... A stage production at my school replaced a fake gun with a banana because of the Dawson College Shooting... These trite gestures don't actually accomplish anything and they just feed the fear driven herd mentality (notice how no one apologized to the Dixie Chicks after it became fashionable to hate Bush again...?)
What do video games even have to do with that incident anyway?! Did he even mention video games? No, he wrote a 1500 page manifesto about Islam and multiculturalism; no mention of video games. That guy had served in the army; maybe instead of banning the virtual people and their pretend world of video games, they should ban actual violent real people who kill others in the real world...
Here's an idea: when a real person kills another real person we could ban them and take them out of circulation so the general public doesn't come into connect with them; in other words: put them in prison... By removing violent video games, certain people are implying that video games are responsible for these kinds of incidents, or else, why remove them...?
Sucks.
@Max_Hydrogen said:
It never ceases to amaze me how stupid people are... A stage production at my school replaced a fake gun with a banana because of the Dawson College Shooting... These trite gestures don't actually accomplish anything and they just feed the fear driven herd mentality (notice how no one apologized to the Dixie Chicks after it became fashionable to hate Bush again...?)
What do video games even have to do with that incident anyway?! Did he even mention video games? No, he wrote a 1500 page manifesto about Islam and multiculturalism; no mention of video games. That guy had served in the army; maybe instead of banning the virtual people and their pretend world of video games, they should ban actual violent real people who kill others in the real world...
Here's an idea: when a real person kills another real person we could ban them and take them out of circulation so the general public doesn't come into connect with them; in other words: put them in prison... By removing violent video games, certain people are implying that video games are responsible for these kinds of incidents, or else, why remove them...?
Sucks.
He did explicitly mention World of Warcraft and Modern Warfare 2 in the diary part of his manifesto. He claimed he used them as training, though I don't think he said in what way they helped him with any part of the attack. Maybe the player base of the two made his hate of humanity grow stronger, though by some reports by people who claim to have played with him, he was one of the people screaming "fag" in the voice chat. I have a hard time seeing how MW2 could in any way help you get better in handling weapons, as the guns reload and aim themselves at the push of a button and requires no maintenance, and I'd think there would be a difference between shooting at the same repeated faceless character model and 500 kids running for their lives.
Man, I hope one day one of these psycho killers will be all like "Man, I killed all these people cause of this Jack Thompson dude, he pissed me off so much, it's his fault." I'd love to see him pulled indefinitely from shelves.
I was not aware they sold games in Coop stores, I work at one part time and we don't sell any games.
Not a big deal.
Coop sell food and have a bunch of insurance options in the UK.
There's one near my house. They're overpriced.
You all shouldn't really worry, most people in Norway never go to a Coop-store in order to buy games. I'll assume families go there and pick up games for their kids, in which case they wouldn't get these games anyway. Our actual game stores said they didn't really see the connection between the killer and games.
Edit: I forgot about "Platekompaniet", which is actually a games retailer. So I guess you all should probably worry a little bit!
I liked the response of one of our grocery store-chains better, where they turned our biggest news papers front to back because they keep putting the killer's picture on the front page. We've seen enough of that guy by now, thank you very much, I'm pretty sure we'll remember his face if he ever gets out.
http://img.ly/6KVp
The economy involved is the only reason they are doing this. It's free publicity. They are just going for the holier-than-thou image in the hopes that it will draw in more customers.
Self-righteous hypocrites assemble! Milk that attack for all it's worth boy.
@CosmicQueso: This has nothing to do with Norway as a whole. This is one stupid retailer who still is run by people who have no idea what video games are. The Norwegian government has stated nothing but more openness in the society after these attacks as being the solution needed. I suggest you have a look at the rose-marches that happened around Norway for the real response that was uttered.
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