John Douglas, a former game industry worker who says he has played over 7,000 titles, has once again criticized violence in video games.
As reported by Christian news site OneNewsNow, Douglas has called upon Congress to create legislation regulating video games. From the report:
Douglas... contends that the recent release of Grand Theft Auto IV shows that the video game industry will not regulate itself. The former police officer points out that the game has received an "M" (Mature) rating, which means that anyone under the age of 17 years should not play the game...
Douglas is especially critical of the ESRB, and advised parents not to trust its ratingss:
Currently the people rating these games for the ESRB don't even play these games. There's needs to be some kind of common-sense application that's put forth as to how these games are rated... Why isn't there a law to prevent it? Because every time the state passes a law that says children cannot play these games, it's [labeled as] a crime. The media coalition and the industry itself, they hire attorneys, they file an appeal, they find a judge, and they have it overthrown saying it's a violation of the First Amendment.
Douglas, who now runs Grand Design Productions, a "family friendly" animations studio, refers to violent games as "spiritual cyanide" in a video interview.
Comments
7,000 Games in his lifetime?
7,000 games in his lifetime?
Now, that's not an impossible feat, but a person would need to play 1 new game everyday for 19 years in order toa acheive this.
Now, I consider myself a pretty heavy gamer. I wouldn't say "hardcore" but I do own a 360, Wii, PS3, and a DS, as well as my PC and Mac and I play games daily. I've been playing video games literaly since I was two years old and have been working in the industry for the past 5 years or so. I don't think that I've played anywhere even close to 7,000 games and I'm 29 years old. Heck, I would be shocked to find out that I've even watched 7,000 movies in my lifetime.
I guess my point is, this guy is so full of s**t it hurts. Seems like just another person trying to get free publicity for thier company by trashing on Rockstars flagship title which has set record breaking sales across the board.
Re: 7,000 Games in his lifetime?
"I wouldn't say "hardcore" but I do own a 360, Wii, PS3, and a DS, as well as my PC and Mac"
F*ck, whats your definition of hardcore?
-ConstantNeophyte: always the newb, ALWAYS.
Re: 7,000 Games in his lifetime?
"I wouldn't say "hardcore" but I do own a 360, Wii, PS3, and a DS, as well as my PC and Mac"
F*ck, whats your definition of hardcore?
-ConstantNeophyte: always the newb, ALWAYS.
<old man> Bah, kids
<old man>
Bah, kids entertainment wa better in my day! You whippersnappers have it too good. We had to make our own fun by manually tuning a VHF channel so we could watch giant robots shooting each other & having giant explosions.These days the kids can press a button & watch brain numbing rubbish. Humbug i say!
</old man>
Robotech & Transformers are the real way to raise children, especially Robotech. I mean it was all about bravery, sacrifice, duty, giant robots & explosions!
Grizzam I have to agree that
Grizzam I have to agree that the quality of "children's" entertainment has gone down over the year. It's not just all the cliche animated movies, it's EVERYTHING!. We are dumbing down our kids in the name of "protecting them". When I was a kid we had shows, like SWAT Kats, Beetlejuice, Dragonball Z, Reboot, Zoids, Captain Planet, Gundam Wing, Spiderman, X-Men, Power Rangers, VR Troopers, Big Bad Beetleborgs and others. Now whenever I turn on Cartoon Network or any other kids network I see crap like "My Gym Partner's a Monkey" or "Foster's Home for Imaginery Friends". Just compare that garbage to any of the shows I listed above. Those shows weren't gory but they were enjoyable and occasionally dealt with real issues in the world. I'm blaming people like Mr.Douglas for this. They've created such a sensitivity to violence that it's almost becoming impossible to produce good action cartoons and this generation is getting the wrong message that this world is a happy place where nobody dies and there is no evil or death ect. And that Sarah and the Starfish or whatever is a great example of what I'm talking about. And yeah I can agree I'm sick of all those crappy talking animals Disney films that are being released every single year. Whatever happen to the animated movies of the 90s? The only execptions would probably be the Shrek films and Finding Nemo which were somewhat creative and not dumbed down. Other then that I'm frankly tired of seeing that same cliche every single year with kids films. Why not do something creative again like Toy Story(Well that was 90s creativity and quality is gone now)
I'm not suggesting that a 6 year old should go play Manhunt or GTA but maybe introduce them to something less realistic like Halo and work thier way up once they understand. People like Mr.Douglas want to dumb down thier kids because then they are easier to brainwash into thier religious agenda. When this kook started talking about what "Jesus taught him" and how he can't support these games because of that, I wanted to be sick. This guy has a religious agenda behind this clearly. If I had kids I would rather them watch "Street Kings" then "Chicken Little". At least they would learn something about what goes on in the real world. And then we would talk about it afterwards. Also this clown suggested that parents simply avoid anything with an M-rating. Ok Mr.Douglas please tell me how slaying Demons out to destroy the world(Devil May Cry), Stopping terrorists from destroying a major City(Rainbow Six Vegas), or saving the world from aliens(Halo and Resistance) is going to warp a kid's mind? I think most kids can distingush good from evil. I guess though after JT disbarred this clown decided to take his place.
Exactly...
It's this kind of thing that has been bothering me. In the attempt to shield people from what really does and can happen, we make kids completely unprepared to deal with these issues when they are an adult. I get frustrated with the Elementary school systems as I listen to teachers' various things, and schools "Zero Tolerance" policy for voilence.
I always had to wonder in terms of violence in schools what the problem is of ever defending yourself from an attacker. The world isn't a bright an happy place. It never was. Real things happen, and the children deserve to know about it just as much as we do now.
(By the way.. You earn a +1 for mentioning ReBoot. It was my number one favorite of all time. In fact I still catch myself watching it once in awhile.)
Spritiual?
refers to violent games as "spiritual cyanide" in a video interview.
Can you do me a favor and keep your spiritual religious **** out of my face!? I am (at least I hope I am) a relatively nice guy who'll do things like hold a door open for people behind me, pull things out of the street if they stay there, and help people if I notice they need it.
I play video games, violent and non-violent, and I still get tired of this "Spiritual" stuff various religious zealots try and force down my throat. Let me do what I want, provided I don't break the law, and don't become a general ***hat. I don't need a reason to be good-willed, I just do it because it is something that I've come to expect from others.
Self-Rightious Prick
He's nothing more but another holier then you, self-rightious, out of touch religious kook. Hey Douglas the video game industry didn't listen to you because you were an out of touch kook who doesn't deserve to be working in that area. I hope his company goes bankrupt. We don't need more "family friendly" entertainment. We have enough as it is. This assclown actually believes you can become better at killing by playing video games. Okay lets assume that's true, who is actually going to use those skills to hurt others. Maybe knowing how to kill might be a GOOD thing if you ever find yourself in a dangerous situation. I'm also still trying to figure how being desensitized to violence is a bad thing. Does this idiot assume that kids don't have any morals and act upon everything they see. Well maybe that's true if they have crappy parents who don't teach them morals. This clown seriously has his head up his ass if he thinks a video game can influence a kid more then thier parents.
Dude. You just summed it up
Dude. You just summed it up right there, especially the part about family entertainment. I also believe there's too much "family friendly" entertainment...and it's not even good enough for little kids to like. I'm talking about those shitty summer CG films with talking animals doing people stuff and making cultutral references to movies that the target audience wouldn't even get( Kill Bill for example. If the kid's parents let 'em watch Kill Bill, why would they wanna watch this shit?). Shrek was the only one that pulled off the movie reference jokes, and even it got old after the second one, especially after it got copied to bejeezus and back. Honestly I wonder why there aren't more studies into the harmful effects of MEDIOCRE entertainment. I would honestly rather my kid(I don't have kids, but when I do) watch HOSTEL than "Kung-Fu Panda"...ugh...
-GRIZZAM PRIME(c)is property of the U.S. Marine Corp. Wetworks Dept., and also The Incredible Hulk-GRIZZAM PRIME is not to be associated with GRIZZAM 512 or any other GRIZZAM entity under penalty of law, so sayith ZARATHOS.
I'm...speechless. Completely
I'm...speechless. Completely *&%!ing speechless at the idiocy and hypocrisy of someone who claims to be Christian and American and yet decided to try (Yet again!) to tell everyone that they should think like they do because they know whats best for the entire world.
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
The word traitor comes to
The word traitor comes to mind...
Like that guy from 300 who betrayed Sparta only to be killed by Leonidas's wife...and have the entire council call him a traitor...
Honestly this guy should get a life...so Atari didnt pay his janitorial bills...big deal..
spiritual cyanide?
What the hell is that? This guy is wacko.
I wonder what he calls games
I wonder what he calls games with nudity...Spiritual AIDS?
-GRIZZAM PRIME(c)is property of the U.S. Marine Corp. Wetworks Dept., and also The Incredible Hulk-GRIZZAM PRIME is not to be associated with GRIZZAM 512 or any other GRIZZAM entity under penalty of law, so sayith ZARATHOS.
This Dude
I'm sure his words will mean a lot to the four people who know who he is and they will take this quite seriously.
-GRIZZAM PRIME(c)is property of the U.S. Marine Corp. Wetworks Dept., and also The Incredible Hulk-GRIZZAM PRIME is not to be associated with GRIZZAM 512 or any other GRIZZAM entity under penalty of law, so sayith ZARATHOS.
I love spiritual cyanide. It
I love spiritual cyanide. It makes me happy.
No matter how shitty things are in the world,
I can always rely on spiritual cyaninde for a
pick-me-up, a way of escaping to a happy place, until things
cool down a bit. If you take it away from me, I'll
enter into a deep depression, and seek help
from an institution of sorts, perferably from one
that is funded with tax payer dollars. I'm sure some
of my buddies with follow my lead, wasting even more
tax payer dollars. Or, you could keep your bloody hands
off of my grub, for you see, if I were to be able to buy my
spiritual cyanide, I'd be able to pay taxes on it, and those would
go to pay for things that need the money, such as education.
In conclusion: don't you dare touch my grub!
I'm really sick of these dip shits messing with stuff that
they don't have a fucking clue about, something that they
don't understand, and will never understand.
Huh
I just got rid of the italics by highlighting the whole site and hitting the italics button ???
Edit: But now I post, and its back...
-ConstantNeophyte: always the newb, ALWAYS.
Yeah, when I tried bold and
Yeah, when I tried bold and ittalic it did that to me too. I had to double click the icon and the click the actual typing field for each word.
-GRIZZAM PRIME(c)is property of the U.S. Marine Corp. Wetworks Dept., and also The Incredible Hulk-GRIZZAM PRIME is not to be associated with GRIZZAM 512 or any other GRIZZAM entity under penalty of law, so sayith ZARATHOS.
Well it seems someone has
Well it seems someone has fixed it anyway. And I have just figured out the whole "every second word is bold issue"; when you click the bold button it stays highlighted, so everytime you do a space it flicks bold on/off.
I am a genious.
-ConstantNeophyte: always the newb, ALWAYS.
genious
Or
They've just been reading way to much 8Bit Theatre at work
-ConstantNeophyte: always the newb, ALWAYS.
Unclosed tags
Hey Dennis, you might you might want to put tag checking at the end of the posts otherwise portions of pages will be left in the format of the unclosed tag. I think the regex for it (this is thinking with the PHP regex engine by the way) would be something along the lines of preg_match("/<(b|i|u)>![</]*[</(b|i|u)>]{0}$/i",$post) to check if there are unclosed tags. Mind you that's off the top of my head on lunch break but still - otherwise we'll end up with lots of things like this page being italics.
Hey Dennis, you might you
Hey Dennis, you might you might want to put tag checking at the end of the posts otherwise portions of pages will be left in the format of the unclosed tag. I think the regex for it (this is thinking with the PHP regex engine by the way) would be something along the lines of preg_match("/<(b|i|u)>![</]*[</(b|i|u)>]{0}$/i",$post) to check if there are unclosed tags. Mind you that's off the top of my head on lunch break but still - otherwise we'll end up with lots of things like this page being italics.
Worrying
The fact that they missed something as trivial as close tags from the post, what else did they miss? There's an XSS attack just waiting to happen there.
What a crybaby Douglas is
For somebody who claims to have tested 7,000 games, you would think he would name at least one that he has tested.
The video game industry failing to police itself? I call bulls*** considering the recent FTC report that game retailers blocked minors from purchasing M-rated games 80% of the time(more than double the rates of the movie and music industries, exposing an amazing double standard).
Also take into account last year's best seller list:
01. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) - 4,820,000
02. Wii Play with Remote (Wii) - 4,120,000
03. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) - 3,040,000
04. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2) - 2,720,000
05. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) - 2,520,000
06. Pokemon Diamond (DS) - 2,480,000
07. Madden NFL 08 (PS2) - 1,900,000
08. Guitar Hero II (PS2) - 1,890,000
09. Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360) - 1,870,000
10. Mario Party 8 (Wii) - 1,820,000
Half the top 10 were rated E, while 3(Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Assassin's Creed) were rated M.
Let's also take into account the 20 all-time best-sellers:
1. Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green (Game Boy – 20.08 million approximately, 10.23 million in Japan, 9.85 million in US)
2. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES – 18 million)
3. Nintendogs (DS – 15.77 million)
4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2 – 15 million, may include PC and Xbox versions)
5. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PS2 – 14.87 million)
6. Pokémon Gold and Silver (Game Boy – 14.51 million approximately, 7.6 million in US, 6.91 million in Japan)
7. Super Mario Land (Game Boy – 14 million)
8. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (GBA – 13 million)
9. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (DS – 12.17 million)
10. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2 – 12 million)
Grand Theft Auto III (PS2 – 12 million, may include PC and Xbox versions)
12. New Super Mario Bros. (DS – 11.5 million)
13. Super Mario 64 (N64 – 11 million)
14. Gran Turismo (PS1 – 10.85 million)
15. Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (GBA – 10.66 million)
16. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES – 10 million)
17. Final Fantasy VII (PS1 – 9.8 million, includes Final Fantasy VII International)
18. Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (DS – 9.66 million)
19. Gran Turismo 4 (PS2 – 9.52 million)
20. Gran Turismo 2 (PS1 – 9.37 million)
The only M-rated games in the top 20 all-time best seller list are the GTA games(the only currently unrated game in the list is Super Mario Land, which came out at least 5 years before the ESRB was even started).
John Douglas is an idiot. Case closed.
Pokemon overdose
The ammount of Pokemon in that top 20 list is far more concerning than the M games.
PS. Why is everything in italics?
Edit: Well that below explains it. Now the question is who was using tags when there is a (semi) functional button?
-ConstantNeophyte: always the newb, ALWAYS.
I just love this guy! He
he is a liar
he pulled that number out of his ass, also shows that he is bad at math, or lazy if he though about it he would have realized that that number was impossible.
but then again fundies don't think.
Here we go again. Right now
Here we go again. Right now in this country congress has far better things to do then dealing with the ESRB. They can go fix the economy, finding a way to lower gas pridces, impeach the dumbass in Oval Office, etc.
Also lets look at it like this if, IF, he can get congress to hold a hearing about game ratings then the same must be done to the movie ratings and the rating board or the MPAA must explain thier own fracture rating system.
Wouldn't that count as
Double Jeopardy...
Oh, I wanted to say...stop
*Falls asleep*
This guy is an idiot. Does
This guy is an idiot. Does he realize that less than 9% of games rated last year were rated M. Does he realize that when a child is given money and a ride and the task of purchasing an M rated game without an adult resent, they are only successful 20% of the time.
If he is really claiming that the industry is failing, I really want to know where he is getting his information.
E. Zachary Knight
www.editorialgames.comE. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
I'll take a wild guess and
I'll take a wild guess and say his "facts" are pulled from the same source JT uses... Thin air.
huh
This guy is a wanna-be
OneNewsNow is a propaganda
OneNewsNow is a propaganda site run by and intended for Christian social conservatives. I've monitored their style of "reporting" for a while (pretty much for my own amusement). Every article introduces some far-right spin doctor like Mr. Douglas here and then elaborates at length about What They Think (and, by extension, What You Should Think) About This Issue. The comments section is usually even more entertaining, with all the illiteracy and "I can't wait for the Rapture!" bizarreness you might expect, but today the comments are down for some reason. (Maybe they discovered that when you create a web site for extremist politics and then allow just anyone to comment, you get some messages that run contrary to your intended propaganda! Even more fun is when they theorize that these comments must have been planted by evil ACLU and gay rights operatives.)
It's useful for keeping tabs on what the fundie coalition is thinking, though. For instance, apparently they despise John McCain almost as much as any Democratic candidate. With any luck they'll start advocating defection to the Constitution Party.Well someone is upset that
Well someone is upset that their company makes crappy games that no one wants to play ... I love how all these people want a government agency to run the rating system because we know how well those work, lets see IRS yeah that one sucks, FEMA wooo great group, FDA, etc ... ah yes lets let the government in.
Also what ever happen to Parents doing their damn jobs and parenting?
-
I hope he doesn't have kids that he makes play his shitty games...Poor things.
He is Lying
Grand Theft Auto IV shows that the video game industry will not regulate itself
Except that I bought and played the game last night (I'm 42). Every descriptor on the ESRB rating was absolutely accurate. And the rating was MA, for 17+ year-olds. You can see an R-rated movie at 17, and this game doesn't even come close to the movies I've seen. So now that I'm an actual player of the game (not that my opinion changed), I can only interpret John Douglas' quote as a lie.
(Great new look, GP!)
This guy
Sounds to me, like this guy
Sounds to me, like this guy wants Congressional pressure on other companies, while his, is allowed to grow unpeeded. As GP reports, Mr. Douglas has a company that's product would be in direct competetion with those 'violent video games'.
Does that sound like Pot calling the Kettle 'Black'?
Questions:
Why is he a former police officer? Did he abuse his status alittle to often? Or was it legimamite, like 'he wasn't qualified enough to bear a gun'?
I find the ESRB is pretty good at labeling games for the approrate titles. Something like GTA4 should have a 'M' rating. The obvious question is...who is mature? Since I've seen guys who are 65 years old, and have a maturity of like 12. Likewise, kids, who have been through alot of stressful events (war, poverty, being orphan'd, etc) have a very mature attitude, even though they are just 15 years of age. Does Mr. Douglas take that in to account?
Self-righteous prick. I
Self-righteous prick. I notice there's no way to comment on his article page, boy that's surprising. I think I'll be keeping a close eye on his company. I want to be there to laugh when it goes under in about two years.
This is my favorite line: "According to Douglas, the reason why the gaming industry will fight such laws is because violent video games are marketed to children and teenagers."
Uhhh...actually the reason why is so holier-than-thou assholes like you can't arbitrarily decide what's tasteful for the rest of us.
Eh
Umm this catchpha thing is annoying nya. Did GP really have an issue with not having it before?
Anyways I see worse stuff in Stephen King Novels and there is NO regulation for books. No one would stop a kid from going and bying a Stephen king book I would know I was buying them at 8, whereas everyone had a problem wtih me buying Goosebumps. So why should Video games not be self regulated, just because they don't go with this guys religion?
7000 cyonide drinks.
-
It is a takeover
lol... hope that was a
Does that mean that
Does that mean that Stormwind is the new holy land?
"The ESRB for three! Yes!"
When I first saw the photo, I thought, "How in the world can they call Marv Albert a game-biz veteran? I know he's done some voice-over work, but still..."
Claiming to be a video-games insider just because you've played 7,000 games as a tester is like me claiming to be a porn star because of my stack of Playboys. What 7,000 games as a tester tells me is that he wasn't good enough to actually advance to a level that actually would confer some sort of "insider" status.