Video Game Analysts and Their Look On Violence.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/16/the-politics-of-violence

So earlier today this article was posted up on IGN. Now before you go freak out because it is IGN and shit, actually look at it. Hell Jeff is in there taking his stake (albeit not as gun ho as some others) on the whole violent media in relation to actual violence debate. Either way I was reading through and I agreed with some and not so much with others. I found Jim Sterling's idea about it interesting if not necessarily right (you can watch his video on it "http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/6692-Desensitized-to-Violence" here.)But since it is from IGN you get a crappy community around it so I wanted to throw it at you guys and see what you think about different writers and about the issue as a whole.

Keep it classy.

Unfortunately, after the last few days of comments, we don't particularly have much grounds for saying we're any better than IGN's community. I'd say we still are, but it's harder to tell sometimes.

I think that IGN article was nice. Bringing together some decent perceptions on it. I generally agree with Jeff's take on this that more dialogue can help government officials better understand videogames and not just see them as something alien to take action against.

@TruthTellah: I am glad that Jeff took more of a chill view on the whole thing instead of freaking out over the fact that a meeting even took place.

Also as far as the GB versus the IGN community, most of the influx of poor "members" are because of the DMC review and hopefully will find their way out in the next few days. Also on here you can actually conduct a discussion where on IGN it usually goes to "MW3 < everything else" faster than you can post a thread.

@BillyTheKid: haha. Yeah, you can certainly have more of a discussion here. Though, my general feeling that Giant Bomb has better users and a better format for discussion makes the instances when things devolve that much more disappointing. I could hardly handle the Dead Island torso arguments; the DmC ones were at least more cut and dry.

From an outsider looking in. It all seems a bit silly to me.

Well I don't know about how much more games affect people to do things. But I do think that video games could potentially make people into more efficient killers. I mean it might seem silly but I bet gamers would reload a gun faster than a normal person.

@mwng: An outsider to what side? What part of it seems silly?

Some would say that these talks are unnecessary, but honestly, the people running the country need these talks.

Here's Jeff's opinion from the IGN article:

I think that asking video game industry heads to come to a conference about gun violence shows just how out of touch politicians and other leaders really are when it comes to the video game business.

But if the industry doesn't step up to the table and explain that, then no one's going to ever think otherwise. The game industry was right to attend the meeting and it sounds like the discussion was more about getting to know each other. No harm done.

The game industry needs to continue speaking whenever it can, if only to continue educating these people so that we eventually get out of this mentality of "video games = 2 Live Crew = Elvis on Ed Sullivan.

@mwng: I guess that I did fail to think of international users. (Sorry for being so American centralized/stereotypical. Though it seems as if more and more games are made in America and if these teams are told that they can not make the game for certain reasons as to the game's content then it could turn the industry upside-down. (Exaggeration aside it could change things.)

Common points that are agreed upon by most of the people there

1.) Meeting there as a formality to show the public that they are trying to hold accountable, anyone who can be held accountable.

2.) Industry needs to be less defensive

3.) Industry needs to work internally to build a better public image

That's what I got anyway. I agree with a lot of what was being said there with Jeff keeping it short and simple and managing to fit 2 Live Crew into it. On the talks themselves, I felt as though it was a victory considering they are now willing to do an actual study on Video Games and violence without just blaming them without any reason. That seems like a step forward, a short one but still.

That is one long article

the argument that video games may help someone become a more efficient killer.... When i was a boy scout in the late 80s, i learned to shoot a rifle accurately at a distant target. We all did, it was a group activity. Then we made candles out of coffee cans and decorated them. No one is talking about the issue of teaching children how to hit a silhoutte target in the head, but call of duty is somehow a problem. Im just saying.

@mwng: I completely agree. Although making anything illegal does not stop people it just deters them. But gun control and things of that nature are a completely separate topic under the same general umbrella for this situation.

@phrali: I agree. The fact that many children are taught ACTUAL gun handling before they even have an idea of right and wrong could have an effect. Though I have also heard people saying that they use it to teach that guns are big and scary and kill things and not to mess with them. That was how I was taught but by my grandfather.