Originally Posted by
bluefinger
I feel the same way. It's just hypocrisy, no matter how you look at it... people with double standards. If people truly want to tackle violence in society, they must focus on all aspects of the media, and not just one part of it. As a kid, I watched so many violent movies by staying up late without my parents knowing, so if anything, it's movies that should be in the spotlight and not games. The BBFC did a very good study on violence in video games and concluded that "though the violence in video games does disturb the younger gamers, all the violence is put into the perspective of survival, since the gamer has to keep his character alive in order to progress in the game, rather than solely concentrate on thinking of ways to kill the characters in the game". Quite different to what the media want to portray. I actually think movies have more of an effect on people purely because they don't have the interaction, and movies can recreate a much more real sense of reality. Without the interaction, if one sees something 'cool' on the screen, one would feel compelled to imitate what goes on the screen, whereas with video games, since you are interacting with the game, you can already do the things being shown on the screen, except in a virtual sense.
If anything, video games is just a new scapegoat used by people to white-wash the realities of bad parenting, indifferent gun laws and regulations, and also the harshness of society. It used to be rap music, and before that, rock music and even comic books, so it will blow over in its due course. Besides, the gaming industry is now bigger than hollywood, so its here to stay.[/b]
