Video Game Burning Protest in CT Gaining Steam

Avatar image for starks94
Starks94

33

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#1  Edited By Starks94

I just came across this article in the New Republic and was pretty shocked to see Parents and organizers arrange such a demonstrative protest. It's kind of ironic that they are so violent about this, but what is worse is that protestors are being rewarded with $25 gift cards for destroying games. I think we might be at a cross roads with "violent" games and could very well see a dramatic shift in game development if things keep up at this pace

http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/111771/state-play#

On Saturday, in a twist on gun buyback programs, a Connecticut town will host a “Violent Video Games Return Program,” encouraging residents to turn in their used first-person-shooter games—to be later smashed and incinerated—in exchange for a $25 gift card from the local chamber of commerce. I sympathize with the initiative: The town in question, Southington, is a mere half-hour drive from Newtown, and the program’s founder is Max Goldstein, a 12-year-old who, while attending the funeral of a boy murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary, resolved that the violent games he loved were just too real to take after Adam Lanza’s shooting spree. But are we really hoping to purge our collective soul by demolishing copies of "Halo 4"? Americans have gone to the dumpster before, of course, burning gangsta-rap CDs for being too profane or comic books for being too subversive. But video games are different. They are not made to be watched or read or heard, but played. The digital violence we witness on-screen comes from our own hands, which makes video games both much easier and much harder to saddle with allegations of corrupting the culture.

Avatar image for ravenlight
Ravenlight

8057

Forum Posts

12306

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

#2  Edited By Ravenlight

From what I've read in the past, the sentiment behind the proceedings seems in the right place. The burning, however, seems a bit extreme.

Avatar image for starks94
Starks94

33

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#3  Edited By Starks94

Just imagine how many people will be there alone just to get the $25 gift card. It's extreme and misguided

Avatar image for me3639
me3639

2006

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 9

User Lists: 4

#4  Edited By me3639

I thought it was cancelled?

Avatar image for gonmog
Gonmog

671

Forum Posts

33

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 1

#5  Edited By Gonmog

No matter how anyone twists it with what words they use. It is the same thing Nazis did when they burned books. They called them evil and subversive.

Anyone that does this, or agrees with what they are doing, are almost or just as bad as Nazis.

Or just go buy a bunch of cheap games from gamestop and "trade" them up for more cash...and then buy newer games for way less money out of your own pocket! lol

Avatar image for toowalrus
toowalrus

13408

Forum Posts

29

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

#6  Edited By toowalrus

Heh, steam...

Avatar image for ravenlight
Ravenlight

8057

Forum Posts

12306

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

#7  Edited By Ravenlight

Godwin'd in four -_-

Avatar image for gaff
Gaff

2768

Forum Posts

120

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

#8  Edited By Gaff

@Ravenlight said:

Godwin'd in four -_-

Well, this was a fun thread.

Avatar image for shinboy630
shinboy630

1401

Forum Posts

108

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 10

#9  Edited By shinboy630

How can you burn digital Steam games?

Oh wait...

Avatar image for hunkulese
Hunkulese

4225

Forum Posts

310

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#10  Edited By Hunkulese

That 12 year old has shitty parents.

Avatar image for insouciant
insouciant

852

Forum Posts

88

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 2

#11  Edited By insouciant

What store is the $25 gift card for?

Avatar image for little_socrates
Little_Socrates

5847

Forum Posts

1570

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 16

User Lists: 23

#12  Edited By Little_Socrates

Right, this is the kid who started the idea the other people took and then cancelled.

Someone should send them this article.

Avatar image for deactivated-5afdd08777389
deactivated-5afdd08777389

1651

Forum Posts

37

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 2

@Little_Socrates said:

Right, this is the kid who started the idea the other people took and then cancelled.

Someone should send them this article.

I was about to post the same article. :-d

Avatar image for jesterpc238
JesterPC238

394

Forum Posts

25

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

#14  Edited By JesterPC238

What happened in Newtown was one of the worst tragedies I have been alive to witness, no doubt about that, but it isn't the fault of video games. Numerous psychologists have found that video games are not the cause of violent behavior. This 12 year old kid probably shouldn't be playing games like Call of Duty and Battlefield, but they also aren't intended for his age group. I know, I know, if I think that game publishers don't like it when parents buy their kids mature games I'm crazy, right? Still though, that's why games have ratings, and parents need to be responsible enough to gauge what their kids can handle.

Video games being demonized isn't really what bothers me about this though, that happens all the time. The thing that disturbs me is that the Southington Chamber of Commerce is backing this thing. It makes me a little sick to think that a government would support the destruction of entertainment products with actual money, gift card or not. Hopefully it does get cancelled.