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"Well, the inevitable headlines are flooding in..."

Another year, another knee-jerk reaction from the media. "Evil Game", and "Murder By Playstation" are two of the headlines I've seen this morning, on TV and in a paper (can you guess which one?) - both have given inaccurate descriptions of the plot and manner of the game. For crying out loud, when are these people going to realise that violence in computer games is nothing in comparison to the realistic violence we see portrayed on TV? Whilst you're banning violent games, you'll have to ban films, books, the Internet, television, news, the Armed Forces, etc. The psychologist ITV interviewed even said it takes someone who is already mentally unstable to react to these images. In the same newspaper were images of a burnt-out car used to kill 70+ Iraqis - can I acuse the Daily Mail of inciting someone to use a car bomb the next time it happens?

Ironically, it sickens and outrages me that we have to defend the industry we love, and part our culture, for no reason other than there are a few parents ignorantly lashing out at something they don't understand, and allowing themselves to be stage-managed by elements of the media who can turn it into an attention-grabbing money-spinner. Maybe it's the parents that should be persecuted for allowing their child access to material unsuitable for his age range? I'm sure they wouldn't buy him hardcore Dutch porn, so how does that differ to a computer game? Of course he nearly 18, and may have looked old enough to buy the game from a shop, but stay up after 9 and you're exposed to the same level of violence and swearing on TV, so the rating system is practically useless in this case.

One of the examples of hypocrisy being touted around today is that New Zealand banned the game. The same New Zealand that happily promotes itself as a tourist destination on the back of the violent hack 'n' slash Lord of the Rings movies. Enjoyable films, no doubt, but the amount of gruesome death on screen was surprising and graphic for the ratings they received.

But the most worrying aspect of this whole debacle, is how much control the media do have over the public. Not once in the Daily Mail article were there any official Police statements - it was all quotes from the parents, who are understandably upset and feel the urge to find someone, or something to blame for the loss of their son. Now in the next few days we're going to experience the fallout from a lazy example of sensationalist journalism. The fact that it took two people to write an article that covered less than a page, once pieced together from an overlap and a huge picture, shows just how little effort went into it.

Expect to see more of the outraged parents, outraged Government representatives, and celebrity TV-psychcologists, giving a one-sided view of this isolated incident in the next few weeks, until David Beckham get a new haircut. Rockstar have already expressed sadness and offered their condolences to the family, but removal of the game (or games of this nature - there are far worse games out there) should never be considered. They say we live in a 'nanny state', but maybe it's just us being a 'pushover nation'?

I like the Daily Expressé's too.

'Asylum baby killer'

Hmm.
One of the things I wonder about is the attitude that sometimes it can be morally justifiable to kill people.
In the US there is the death penalty, the rights to use guns for lethal force against criminals, the pride in the military, strong christian values, armed cops (comparatively) quick to shoot. It all creates an atmosphere that gives the strong message 'it's okay to kill people for what you believe in'.
Then that's reinforced through the media, celebrating war and killing.

And naturally, when there's this grey area, people will take their perceived 'right' to different lengths.


I'd argue this also has a far greater desensitising effect than simply seeing violence, or using a control pad to cause simulated violence.

Shellshock 'Nam 67 shows troops torturing prisoners, executing civilians etc, plus the player can do likewise. BUT, the game is not even out until September.

When you think about it, 24 has more violence than most of Manhunt anyway - I mean in season 2 a hostage was gutted and sawn up, Jack used a knife to cut off a prisoner's head, Jack was tortured, along with numerous other characters etc To me, the new season of The Shield on C5 is more troubling than Manhunt, but hey I can tell the difference between pixels and people.

EDIT Uh oh, Sky News has some moron 'games' journalist on who is, well, making himself look a moron right now.

Your Honour wrote:
> This is ridiculous, taken from Sky News:
>
> High street store Dixons has withdrawn the video game Manhunt after a
> mother said the computer images drove a teenager to murder her son.

Bwahahaha, sorry I shouldn’t laugh but I found that comment hilarious. Tomorrow I think I’ll go to Dixon’s and tell them that the copy of Soldiers: Heroes of World War 2 I have was responsible for 60 million deaths, then I’ll sue codemasters for publishing a game that obviously incited Hitler to invade Poland.

The press will surely be on my side because as its been conclusively proven by the well informed tabloids, violence and war didn’t exist until TV, Movies and Computer Games came along.

Coincidentally, a comment was made not to long ago by a Gulf War vet who linked what happened in Abu Ghraib prison to war games. Apparently playing war games is desensitising the youth of today, which I find particularly amusing since I’ve yet to play a war game in which you are allowed to torture defenceless prisoners.

Azul wrote:
> I just love the fact that the game is being blamed rather than the
> fact he took drugs.
> Fecking lunacy.


Heh, that's how we can stop people irrationally blaming video games - come up with a new violent media to capture the tabloids' imagination.

Maybe we should make disembowling a sport - it'd probably attract all the mentalists who are going to go on a kill frenzy, then in the aftermath the media could pretend it was the cause.


Of course, it'd probably cost the violent games industry a fair ammount of revenue, from the loss of good bad publicity...

Snuggly hit the nail on the head; the outrage generated by the media is purely to sell papers. I understand the parents wanting to blame something for their sons death, however much I disagree with their target. But the Mail and the Sun quite literally couldn't give a nugget of 3 week old rabbit poo about the lad who died, his parents, or games in general. Outrage is good for Newspaper circulation.

I was just browsing Xbox games on eBay to see if I could get a bargain, and I saw manhunt, for 30 quid!

Dunno if the high price reflects what's going on in the news or not...

Truly is rediculous. Just bludgered to death a couple of 'baddies' on Bond E or N and don't feel the least bit hateful towards a single one of you. Nor do I have any fetishes to kill anyone.

monkey_man wrote:
> Is the News Monkey going to chuck poo in the Mail's eyes?

Yeah. Just read the article on Monkey News. Very good and insightful too. Did you write it Snuggly?

Humm. I feel like going to buy this game now. Only i have no money.

Maybe i'll go out and suffocate someone with a plastic bag and steal their wallet...