Game Violence: You already know this

Post by **Delphine** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 11:35 am

It's not dated so I don't know if this article is old or not, but <a href="http://gr.bolt.com/articles/violence/violence.htm">The Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games</a>.

Something must be missing. That first graph is the overall violent crime rate, and weÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re talking about youth violence here. So I found the data sorted by age, and it turns out that through 2002, youth homicide actually dropped across the board, the only increase being among adults. If I may quote directly from the D.O.J. report, Ã¢â‚¬Å“Recently, the offending rates for 14-17 year-olds reached the lowest levels ever recorded.Ã¢â‚¬ï¿¾

Yeah, no shit, I know, but it's nice to have someone put it together nice and neat.

chriscaffee · Post by **chriscaffee** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:14 pm

Wasn't this posted in the other topic? I'm pretty sure it was.

Owen Axel · Post by **Owen Axel** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:14 pm

The essence of it comes as no surprise to anyone with an ounce of common sense (read: a depressingly small number of individuals), but I was a bit surprised by them graphs. I certainly didn't believe there to be some horrible escalation in violence, but I didn't expect it to be that low either.

That Jack Thompson fellow is hilarious, though. The best parodies are the ones that aren't aware of being so.

Tsuyoshi-kun · Post by **Tsuyoshi-kun** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:49 pm

Perhaps Grand Theft Auto isn't as bad as I thought it was. Why go kill people in real life when you can kill them in video games, after all? You can do it over and over, and you'll never have to worry about the police.

Of course, that applies only to the teens. The real audience of GTA, in terms of crime and violence, is getting higher..

Post by **Delphine** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:04 pm

chriscaffee wrote:Wasn't this posted in the other topic? I'm pretty sure it was.

Probably, I don't really pay attention.

Gaz · Post by **Gaz** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:12 pm

Anyone heard the leatest regarding Jack Thompson?

Infamous videogame critic Jack Thompson - the man who thinks GTA is turning us all into murderers and once described The Sims as a "paedophile's paradise" - has come up with his very own idea for a game.

In an open letter to a load of US journalists, Thompson outlined the game concept and offered to donate $10,000 to the charity of Paul Eibeler's choice (Paul Eibeler being the chairman of Take Two) if someone actually goes ahead and develops it.

The game's main character is one Osaki Kim, the father of a high school student who was beaten to death by a 14 year old with a baseball bat. The murderer also happened to be into videogames, naturally, and had been obsessively playing one in which you kill people with - yep, a baseball bat.

The opening cut-scene takes place in the LA courtroom where the student awaits sentencing - and finds himself facing life in prison after psychology experts confirm the link between the game and the murder.

At this point, Thompson writes, "Osaki Kim (O.K.) exits the courtroom swearing revenge upon the videogame industry whom he is convinced contributed to his son's murder. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay" he says. And boy, is O.K. not kidding."

O.K. arms himself with a huge arsenal of weapons, which includes machetes, Uzis, revolvers, shotguns, sniper rifles, Molotov cocktails, "Even baseball bats. Especially baseball bats."

Then he hops on a plane and heads for "The Long Island home of the CEO of the company (Take This) that made the murder simulator on which his son's killer trained," Thompson goes on.

"O.K. gets "justice" by taking out this female CEO, whose name is Paula Eibel, along with her husband and kids. "An eye for an eye," says O.K., as he urinates onto the severed brain stems of the Eibel family victims, just as you do on the decapitated cops in the real video game Postal 2."

That job taken care of, O.K. moves on to Philadephia where he pops into a law firm and "Goes floor by floor to wipe out the lawyers who protect Take This in its wrongful death law suits. "So sue me" O.K. spits, with singer Jackson Brown's 1980's hit Lawyers in Love blaring."

You can tell Thompson's getting into his stride now and it doesn't end there, oh no. "With the FBI now after him, O.K. keeps moving westward, shooting up high-tech video arcades called GameWerks. "Game over," O.K. laughs." Genius!

"Of course, O.K. makes the obligatory runs to virtual versions of brick and mortar retailers Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and Wal-Mart to steal supplies and bludgeon store managers and cash register clerks. "You should have checked kids' IDs!""

Finally, for the game's climax, O.K. heads for Los Angeles - and he's in a race against time to get there for May 10, 2006, as Thompson explains.

"That is the beginning of "E3" - the Electronic Entertainment Expo - the Super Bowl of the video game industry. O.K. must get to E3 to massacre all the video game industry execs with one final, monstrously delicious rampage."

Thompson's letter ends: "How about it, videogame industry? I've got the check and you've got the tech. It's all a fantasy, right? No harm can come from such a game, right? Go ahead, videogame moguls. Target yourselves as you target others. I dare you."

Who knows, perhaps this could be the start of a glittering new career in game development for Thompson. He didn't mention anything about an online mode or a levelling up system or rag doll physics or bloom effects, sadly, but it's early days. The question is, will he find a publisher? Nintendo was unavailable for comment.

Is he taking the piss?

Owen Axel · Post by **Owen Axel** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:45 pm

Huh. Now it's like he WANTS people to deem him an ignorant hypocrite. I mean, usually he manages to achieve that effect without anywhere near that amount of effort.

chriscaffee · Post by **chriscaffee** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:08 pm

Because nobody was beaten to death with a bat before the 80s.

Cub · Post by **Cub** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:00 pm

I'd like to blow Jack Thompson's children's brains out with my Light Zapper and then feel his wife up with the Power Glove. Then I'll make sure that a R.O.B. defiles both him and his dog.

Post by **G.Silver** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:19 pm

Delphine wrote:
chriscaffee wrote:Wasn't this posted in the other topic? I'm pretty sure it was.
Probably, I don't really pay attention.

<a href="http://ghzforum.nathantsui.com/viewtopi ... 48">Here's the other topic</a>. You posted in it four times.

chriscaffee · Post by **chriscaffee** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:27 pm

Ha! Not only was it posted in the last topic but it was the topic post itself. Delphine loses three internets for a repost.

Double-S- · Post by **Double-S-** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:44 pm

I love the term "murder simulators" for video games. It makes me laugh.

Post by **Delphine** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 8:08 pm

G.Silver wrote:<a href="http://ghzforum.nathantsui.com/viewtopi ... 48">Here's the other topic</a>. You posted in it four times.

See, you're assuming I actually clicked the link.

Senbei · Post by **Senbei** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 9:35 pm

The game's main character is one Osaki Kim, the father of a high school student who was beaten to death by a 14 year old with a baseball bat. The murderer also happened to be into videogames, naturally, and had been obsessively playing one in which you kill people with - yep, a baseball bat.

Sounds like someone's being watching a bit too much Paranioa Agent.

Thanks, Duke Ferris. It's nice to know that SOMEONE is giving The Man the finger these days. It's too bad articles like these probably won't reach the anti-games people of the world.

PSMad · Post by **PSMad** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 6:41 am

Looks like Jack Thompson's rants have lost him some friends

Owen Axel · Post by **Owen Axel** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 7:16 am

PSMad wrote:Looks like Jack Thompson's rants have lost him some friends

Now that's worth a hearty chuckle. Even the people who are supposed to be agreeing with him think he's a loud buffoon.

Neo Yi · Post by **Neo Yi** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 10:22 am

So far, Thompson has yet to respond to Walsh's statement, but given the attorney's propensity for quick-fire rebuttals (our previous story alone resulted in four rapid-succession emails which appear to come from Thompson, the first of which included the subject header "You chaps have no earthly idea what we're accomplishing over here. Get your heads out of your pc's, why don't you?"), we can't imagine we'll have too long to wait before round two of the bickering begins.

Meanwhile we're off to remove our heads from our hard drives, as it makes typing a hell of a chore.

This part of the article made me chuckle.
~Neo

Opa-Opa · Post by **Opa-Opa** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:36 am

Hahahahahahah!

Baba O'Reily · Post by **Baba O'Reily** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:04 am

STOP POSTING WEBCOMICS 80% OF THEM ARE STUPID AND PENNY ARCADE IS OVERRATED RARGH

j-man · Post by **j-man** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:33 am

Penny Arcade for the win. Baba's opinion doesn't count.

Post by **G.Silver** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:48 am

Only 80%?

Locit · Post by **Locit** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 11:35 am

j-man wrote:Penny Arcade for the win. Baba's opinion doesn't count.

Second'd.

Dash · Post by **Dash** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 11:46 am

Third'd

And I've decided I officially hate the word "overrated". It's used in like, every other forum topic I've ever read.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 11:52 am

I hate the word "officially."

Owen Axel · Post by **Owen Axel** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 1:39 pm

Fourthed'd doesn't pass the grammar, does it?

I lose.