posh

why have people who played videogames put this barrier around themselves and started defining themselves as "gamers"? I see a lot of "we" in this article, is this "we" in the industry or "we" as gamers? can't you just play videogames and not alienate yourself about it? think about how annoying the terms "wine buff" and "film buff" are. when you start identifying yourself as someone who has a particular affinity with one thing it makes you seem weird. and it brings up this whole "us v them" notion where gamers are in a constant battle with everyone else to keep their beloved videogames from being less violent and having less cleavage in it

yeah i posted a thread about that eurogamer article and the giant bomb nazi squad did not like it one bit

nice post! I only knew dolphin and revolution of the ones that weren't recent

congrats dave :-D

@Branthog said:

Read that earlier. It's ridiculous logic to back a sensationalist grab for hits by exploiting an already hyperbolic cable-news-fueled non-issue, right now.

Using the same logic, racing games are even worse. Racing games use licensed brands at least as often as games with guns do. Deals are struck wherein the use and depiction of said vehicles are controlled. Some franchises are able to push this, but more often than not, the brands do not want their vehicles to be capable of taking damage. This chummy promotion of automobiles, to adults and children alike, is grotesque. Automobiles almost exclusively require petroleum, which direction or indirectly funds terrorism and terrorist countries based on where most of that fuel is currently derived.

alright, bit of a stretch perhaps to say "driving funds terrorism" and that advertising cars is on par with advertising weapons designed to kill

It also negates the point that boys never needed a video game to be infatuated with guns and knowing everything about them by checking out books and magazines at the library.

you know full well that learning about guns by going to the library and reading up on them would require a previous knowledge and interest of guns to look them up in the first place. call of duty is a huge game that everybody at school plays, learning about guns in call of duty is a byproduct of having fun with friends. gun books aren't heavily marketed

It also, you know, negates the whole point that the same age group such games are marketed to is also the age group legally allowed to own guns in the states, so I don't even see what valid issue there is here at all.

I personally don't think video game developers should turn a blind eye to the fact that their games are going to be played by people of all ages, though I can understand your point here and my point of view is probably a little idealistic. although it is very easy for a 13 year old to be able to play call of duty

Oh, and there's also a significant difference between the results of marketing smokes versus firearms. One requires significantly more effort to acquire and get involved with. The other is sold in vending machines and at the corner store and every gas station.

the article isn't making a direct comparison between smoking and gun ownership, it's making a comparison between their marketing schemes. not the results. it explicitly says that they haven't quantified the effects of the gun marketing, just people involved in it believe there's positive correlation between gun sales and gun marketing in video games

Anyway, it's a lot of sensationalist hypocritical bullshit. This is a Fox News level of complaint, wherein they typically ignore important issues like the age rating of such games and the fact that many of these other weapons in games (for example, BF3) are either not something you can acquire outside of the military or come with a lot of regulations. They may as well be making an issue out of the fact that tanks have real names, because that's probably going to lead every eighteen year old to rush out and acquire an Abrams tank.

it's not the model of gun that they're buying that matters, it's the fact they're buying these guns at all, based off a game where the objective is to kill people

The only explanation for making this a big deal, that I can see, is that the author is from the UK. So . . . whatever. I guess maybe this is an interesting topic of discussion overseas, where they already tend to have rather inaccurate perception of gun-laws and ownership in the US (I've actually had friends from Europe visit the states before and make a point of saying they expected to see guns everywhere and were surprised that most people not only didn't walk around waving guns around but didn't even own them).

seriously? I don't think I know anybody who thinks that way about the US at all. our perception of the US comes from the high crime figures and frequent news stories about gun sprees

The American confectionery company Victoria Sweets claims to have invented the candy cigarette. A thin stick of chocolate, wrapped in edible paper and designed to impersonate a roll-up, it debuted in 1915 and soon became the accessory of choice for children keen to play grown-up. Hollywood star, GI Joe, team captain: the sweet gave kids the chance try out one of the vogue props of adulthood.

Within 20 years it was so popular that cigarette companies began to take notice. Leading brands such as Marlboro, Winston and Salem authorised their packaging designs for use on millions of candy cigarette boxes. One confectioner of the period touted the sweet’s “tremendous advertising factor to coming-up cigaret smokers.”

The marketing of imitation adult products to children in the hope they will blossom into customers of the genuine article is widespread. The video game presents further opportunities for manufacturers to target young people. Toyota and Nissan work with racing game developers to show off their vehicles as pristinely desirable. Nike and Adidas position their logo on virtual boots. Gibson licenses plastic versions of its guitars in the hope players will progress from the coloured buttons of the peripheral to the nickel-wound strings of a Les Paul.

And Barrett, creator of the M82, a shoulder-fired, .50-caliber semi-automatic sniper rifle, hopes that the appearance of its weapon in a video game will, in time, turn young players into gun owners.

Link to the article

thoughts?

good lord I am BORED of all first person shooters ever, let's just not make anymore of those

I loved hotel dusk for its story alone, i just really got into that game like I have many of the zelda games or even an actual book and I'd love to see more visual novels in the future, I think that's a genre perfect for handhelds and a great argument for the handheld console existing besides puzzle games

@LooseChange said:

@posh said:

@Demoskinos said:

@LooseChange

Am I the only who feels like the industry just discovered the word "misogyny" like two years ago and are just throwing out FOR EVERYTHING?

Yep. Its past the point of ridiculous. Its the new hip issue! Seriously at the drop of a hat the sexism and misogyny words get thrown around anymore.

you ever think the way to approach it is that the media is finally waking up to these issues?

too many 4chan users on this site throwing around words like "white knight". try growing out of it like most people did at 15

So the new Dante in the DmC game hates women?

I was only addressing your post, I haven't played DmC, so I wouldn't know. but misogyny doesn't always necessitate overt hatred of women, that's naive to think. it implies it in the way women are treated

@Demoskinos said:

@LooseChange

Am I the only who feels like the industry just discovered the word "misogyny" like two years ago and are just throwing out FOR EVERYTHING?

Yep. Its past the point of ridiculous. Its the new hip issue! Seriously at the drop of a hat the sexism and misogyny words get thrown around anymore.

you ever think the way to approach it is that the media is finally waking up to these issues?

too many 4chan users on this site throwing around words like "white knight". try growing out of it like most people did at 15