Newspaper Lauds GP Readers For Their Smarts... We Always Knew It

May 16, 2007
Over at the San Jose Mercury-News, reporter Mike Antonucci - whose piece on game violence was cited by GP yesterday - writes:
A valuable site, GamePolitics.com (I must have mentioned it before!), has cited a story of mine about game violence that was in the Mercury News Saturday...

But it’s not my piece that spurred this post. Rather, I want to alert folks to how smart the GamePolitics readers are. The thread of comments about my article seem (to me) much more interesting than the article. Yikes!

On behalf of GP readers, Thanks, Nooch!
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Comments

I'm so proud. Thanks for allowing us to increase our ego sizes, Dennis :)

@the1jeffy
rules 1 and 2 pal

If by "this" you mean the average age of the posters here, then heck yes you do! :D

(Oh! Snap!)

I have to say, even with the flock of newer, more rabid anti-anti-gamers here, and even adding in the occasional b-chan BS, GP is easily one of the better examples of intelligent discourse on the net.

Obviously, I need to post more to keep this up.

I am glad that people in the media are taking notice that we are intelligent people. I am also glad that he recognized this site as the very informative site that it is.

Hopefully this will create a better view from the mainstream media about gamers and their passtime.

"rely on the fact that games can give you an adrenaline rush (eg like exercise) which in turn leads to more aggressive behaviour. "

When i get tattoos i get massive adrenaline rushes...which in turn does not lead me to more agrgressive behaviour...

@ Goldtree

"So far, the only reliable findings showing *any effect* rely on the fact that games can give you an adrenaline rush (eg like exercise) which in turn leads to more aggressive behaviour."

The same can be said for an intense scene in a movie or book, a heated debate, watching a sporting event, talking to a cute girl, the list goes on and on. Truth be told most anything can give an adrenaline rush, but it doesn't mean you are more violent. More aggressive and aware, but that doesn't necessarily translate to violence.

>>Labeling games ‘murder simulators’ or ‘columbine trainers’ or similar is stupid, it incites gamers to support the equally stupid position that games can’t possibly have a negative impact.

So far, the only reliable findings showing *any effect* rely on the fact that games can give you an adrenaline rush (eg like exercise) which in turn leads to more aggressive behaviour.

Ah ha ha!!!... One more journalist bought into our ever expanding army!




Seriously though, the unfair/ridiculous reporting that games usually gets is just polarizing opinion. Labeling games ‘murder simulators’ or ‘columbine trainers’ or similar is stupid, it incites gamers to support the equally stupid position that games can’t possibly have a negative impact.

I think if people really sat down and looked at the whole picture, it is clear that a rating system is need for games.

If there was more rational debate on violence in games (such as in Mikes article) the whole thing might have been sorted out by now… maybe!

I've got anecdotal evidence that games can have an effect, and there's literature out there that suggests that the brain is not good at differentiating between real and imagined experiences. (This is why, for instance, visualisation works.)

On the other hand, one would have to put considerable effort into training via a computer game, not the scattered play that most people get. I'd suggest as well that the brain reasserts reality, as it were, dismissing the game as being a non-real experience. (I have no evidence for this last claim, it's merely a hypothesis.)
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Andrew EisenThat article is over five years old, Uncharted. A fun blast from the past though.02/12/2012 - 10:47pm
Uncharted NESCritics: 'Left Behind' game glorifies violence- http://tinyurl.com/wu64s02/12/2012 - 4:34pm
ZenI felt Brutal Legends was a funny & beautiful look at the world of rock from Double Fines point of view. The only parts I wasn't hot for were the RTS bits as it felt forced. Otherwise fantastic.02/12/2012 - 1:34pm
DorthLousPassed 1.5M$. And I'd also say that Brutal Legend is far from being a bad game. I just think it was a few levels under what people expected from the people working on the project.02/11/2012 - 8:25am
TechnogeekBrutal Legend wasn't bad so much as "marketing had no idea how the game actually played", causing it to suffer accordingly.02/10/2012 - 10:38pm
RedMageIt looks the CIA's website has been DDOS'ed. Anon?02/10/2012 - 7:52pm
RedMageBrutal Legend.02/10/2012 - 7:52pm
ddrfr33kHas anything Tim Schafer ever made been of crap caliber? I'm struggling to think of one...02/10/2012 - 7:37pm
GuamishI think it is in good hands. Tim did a game for the GDC award show and that was fun for how short it was.02/10/2012 - 12:22pm
Andrew EisenIt'll be tragic if the game ultimately sucks.02/10/2012 - 12:17pm
james_fudge$1.3 million02/10/2012 - 11:32am
Uncharted NESGermany Says It Won't Sign ACTA [Update: ... Yet]- http://tinyurl.com/7r2twrg02/10/2012 - 11:21am
Andrew EisenDamn. Double Fine's Kickstarter fund has already passed a million dollars.02/09/2012 - 8:16pm
Andrew EisenAudrey didn't quote the sassy parts. Here's IGN's article: http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1218359p1.html And here's my original post: http://tinyurl.com/7y68a3902/09/2012 - 7:50pm
james_fudgeI hope you some said something sassy! Where's the link?02/09/2012 - 7:46pm
Andrew EisenHey, neat. IGN quoted a blog I had writen only two hours earlier. I certainly timed that one pretty well.02/09/2012 - 7:38pm
Andrew EisenToki Tori has been added to the Humble Bundle for Android.02/09/2012 - 5:11pm
james_fudgeThanks for the heads-up DorthLous02/09/2012 - 4:33pm
DorthLousWill do, my apologies.02/09/2012 - 4:14pm
Andrew EisenI appreciate the heads up but please keep typo alerts to the specific article's comments or PMs.02/09/2012 - 3:33pm

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