Christian Publication Goes Negative on Games

Activities like camping, playing catch with Dad, swimming, or just being a kid have vanished.

My dad sucks at catch, give me a nice guild Karazhan raid any day over that weak bitches catching skillz.
But seriously now...playing catch with dad? What is this, the 1940's?

And what the hell is the definition of being "just a kid"? No responsibility? Time for your hobbies? Homework?
Playing computer games does not preclude any of those activities, however it may very well be that your kid just doesn't care much for you or thinks computer games are more fun. You can't just expect a modern day kid to jump at activities that were fun what...40-50 years ago? Hell, even when I was a kid I did stuff that kids today propably wouldn't think was "teh awesome" as it was back then. Hell, skipping rocks was the most awesome thing since I got the old Macintosh and could play Gauntlet WHENEVER I WANTED! Awesome.

[Video game addiction is] a very big epidemic . Withdrawal is very similar to drug withdrawal.

Yeah tell me about it. When my computer is on the fritz or my MMO game time runs out I turn to crime and turning tricks at the bus station to get my fix. Not to mention the rehab that's needed.
More bullshit. Video game addiction may exist, like you can be addicted to dirty socks or the feeling of a bus drivers cap rubbing against your navel. But the effects of video game withdrawal are the same as the withdrawal from your favorite leisure past time. I feel the same way when I can't play a game I'm currently playing as when I can't paint when the urge strikes me. I love painting, I paint that shit like it aint no thang, as they'd say on the street (as I turn tricks for gamecards).
Don't try to equate games with drugs. There's no similarity other than both gamers and drug users have found something that seems to work for them. Sadly you can't quickload if you overdose (fail)
 

"There are virtual worlds for children, such as Club Penguin and subeta.org, that charge kids or their parents for virtual doodads with which they can decorate their virtual pads. In other words, they’re shelling out real cash for imaginary products."

I don't see the difference between pimping out your sim pad (i.e. paying real cash for imaginary products) as opposed to tossing money at the church (also paying real cash for an imaginary "product"). Atleast you see something if you pay for the simpad.

Games are a way of life, harnessing our children’s time, energy and brainpower... Parents should be aware of what their children are doing in the games and be on hand on clarify any questions or possible misconceptions about reality that may arise. And we should be ready to address common myths that are often portrayed in the media: such as the myths that to be worthwhile you have to be beautiful, that money buys happiness, that sex is merely recreation and has no consequences, and that violence solves problems. And it's good that modern games don't propagate any of those stereotypes, but again, be there for your child and the results will be obvious.

Fixed.

"While shopping for a new video game recently with my 13-year-old grandson, I previewed several of the latest releases. Most were filled with intense violence, involving killing and torture. Others involved witches and wizards."

Intense violence
Maybe, depends on your previous exposure to animated violence. I'd not rate new releases particularly high, though future releases promise plenty of gore. In other words a classic "Get offa my lawn 'ye darn kids!" comment.

Killing
From Space Invaders to GTA, killing is just a staple of gaming. Nothing new, if you're shocked about it then stay the hell away from Stratego, Risk, Chess and any other murder spree games.

Torture
A filthy lie. There's no popular released torture game on the market. Sure, there's the "Torture Game 2" and that Punisher game. But there's no game where I can gleefully slice digits off children after shaving their heads and doing amateur brain surgery. Basically this is just a lie or a gross exaggeration. "Tarnations! That there Spartan is TORTURING that cyclops! Pure gentle creature, this...this "God" of War is disgusting and blasphemous!"

Others involved witches and wizards
So what? Should we yield to bigotry and religious hatred because it's a christian doing the hating? I call bullshit on this grandmother. Either get with the times or just shut it, your words of wisdom ring hollow.

While I do disagree with many of the points raised in the quoted text I do think that there's room to start an actual dialogue here. What we, as gamers, need to remember is that not everyone thinks like us. There are a lot of people who don't understand us or our varied interests. Many of them are people who genuinely do want to what's right and just don't see why we enjoy video games, D&D, LARPing or what have you.

Knowing that we have to be patient and refrain from just lobbing insults back at them because all it does is, in their minds, prove to them that they're right. That gamers are just immature jerks who only care about games and nothing else. We have to be the bigger people and make the steps necessary to change how they think about us and the things we like and that will only happen if both sides stop with the insults.

I'm a Christian, and it really makes me cringe when I see stuff like this.  While I play a variety of different genres, my favorite games are usually ones I play primarily because of character development and storyline.  GTA IV is extremely fun, but my main enjoyment is seeing out Niko's story unfolds in the game.  Same with games like Bioshock, Mass Effect, ect.    Therefore, I don't see how these games are any worse than stories that Christians have read for centuries.  Whether it be parabels in the Bible or Judeo-Christian mythology.   I hardly see how anything I've played is worse than reading about a guy who cuts up his concubine and sends it to all the tribes of Israel (Judges, Chapter 19).
 

They also seem to completely overlook certain things in these games - the fact that a woman questions Niko about the fate of his soul in one cut scene in GTA IV, noting that God works in mysterious ways.  The fact that Ashley asks Shepherd whether or not he/she believes in God in one scene in Mass Effect.  These games aren't completely void of religion and it can really give one something to ponder on if they choose to.

The basic problem here is that the people who write about videogames, do not play them. they're pretty much assuming something and make that their judgment call.

These people think that kids who play videogames are zoned out into some godless reality. When in reality, one might be trying to figure out a mind numbing puzle, planing a strategic ball play, or figuring out an opponent's fighting style..

These people don't understand that games have context. They just assume that its a mindless repeating thing like pong or pacman. The same way someone, Christian or not, likes to pick up a thick book to read over the summer to pass time, we're doing the same, except in our book, words are replaced with eye candy, surround sound, and excitement.

Sure we might join in a match of halo 3 and kill the heck out of everyone, but in the end we go "Good Game Guys!" And that's the thing these writers are missing about games... INTERACTION.

Games are a way of life, devouring our children’s time, energy and brainpower... Parents should place limits on children’s media use, including when, where, and how much they can participate. And we should be ready to address common myths that are often portrayed in the media: such as the myths that to be worthwhile you have to be beautiful, that money buys happiness, that sex is merely recreation and has no consequences, and that violence solves problems.

IMAO Christians have tried to solve problems through violence, witchburning, book burning, throwing rocks and jihads all around them. IMAO Christianity is a way of life, devouring more than just small children's time, energy and brainpower... Yet i have not said we should place time limits on prayers, never have i tried to tell them how to pray or were they can pray. People like him make me want to believe that hell is a real place but not for the right reasons.

The ignorance about activites one does in games is also very misleading, as any player of MMO's knows....  those games are ALL about "Camping".  And his emphasis about, "playing catch with Dad, swimming, or just being a kid have vanished.", just show he's gotten old enough to be looking back in a nostalgic manner about his youth.  No matter how little it matched up to his memories.   His knowledge about God, family and friends not existing in games is way off too.  I've followed many dieties in my years of playing,  have played with family across country, and have meet more friends than i would have in any other situation.   His problem with people who play games and enjoy it is that he personally has little empathy for people who do things that he just can't or won't bring himself to understand.  A failing of many who are set in their narrow ways about life, people and the world around them.

I may b christian, but i don't look at any issues from a christian perspective becuz that view is narroe minded if u ask me. This report was very biased as well becuz it seemed to focus mainly on negative stuff

I'm not Christian, but even I think you misrepresented what the guy was saying.  You simply picked out the negative bits.  They may not have even been the guy's opinion (journalism is a bitch like that). 

You left out nice little bits like this one: 

Some researchers are convinced that repetitive play of violent games instructs kids in violence, making violent acts more likely. But others argue that video violence is a cathartic replacement for real violent crime, which has gone down since the advent of video games.

After the 1999 killings at Colorado’s Columbine High School, some parents sued the makers of “Doom,” a violent game that was one of the killers’ favorites. But such lawsuits have been no more successful than earlier efforts to link teen violence to heavy metal music. There may be a link, but the social science research remains ambiguous.

If anything, he is just quoting different people on their opinions on gaming, and telling parents to start paying attention to where the 18 billion dollar a year industry is going.  It has become much bigger than it was 20-30 years ago.  He is simply reporting.