British Cabinet Minister: Games Are Good For Kids
British Cabinet Minister: Games Are Good For Kids
December 15, 2008
While the UK has been Ground Zero for much of the current societal debate over video games, a cabinet minister has unabashedly come out in support of the medium.
As reported by the Mirror, Minister for Transformational Government Tom Watson (left) encourages young people to play games, even the violent ones. Watson, whose job is to encourage the use of new tech in government bureaucracy, told the newspaper:
Basically, I think playing games is a good thing. I'd rather my boy be playing on his Wii than passively watching telly. Most games are educational. They make you think, focus, challenge and change - 500 years ago a medium that did this would be called art.
Via: Kotaku
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Posted 11/08/09 at 09:02am
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
Posted 11/08/09 at 09:01am
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:53am
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:46am
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:31am
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
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Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
There has to be a catch here. Otherwise I have to get my eyes checked. Did I just see a politician speak favorably of kids playing videogames? It is such a rare thing these days I have a hard time accepting when my eyes just told me.
Actually, its more likely increased sympathy due to being someone who (At least looks as though) hes grown up with this relatively new form of entertainment, rather than the vast majority who didn't and are therefor more likely to be afraid of something they don't quite understand. Fear of the unknown is powerful thing indeed.
His job is to help intorduce new tech into the governement structure, so he'd have to be sort of person who both understands and embraces new technology. His comment about it being art is right on the money.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
And art it is... A truly great game is art on so many levels, it can only be qualified as a masterpiece. Between the 3d models, the music, the sound effects, the story, the animation, some amazing programming features and more, the truly great games are something of it's own, but the elderly folk are lost and can't understand that. I am sorry, but Final Fantasy 7 was absolutely amazing for it's time. Hell, the original Final Fantasy is still amazing when you take into consideration that it is 8-bit.
Maybe that is the angle we really need to be attacking these guys with, and show to them where the art in these games are, then where the educational value is, then the rest of it. Wait, I forgot, these guys don't even know how to work email...
Nido Web Flash Tutorials AS2 and AS3 Tutorials for anyone interested.
How to set Xbox 360 Parental Controls
This may be the first time I heard of a politician saying all games are good, play them...
The good ones usually stop at supporting age rating systems or standing up against censorship... can't seem to remember anyone just saying something like this...
Sadly, if you read the full article, it ends with the common wisdom - some stupid old tart (Heather Welford, the Mirror's Childcare & Parenting Author) ridicules the idea behind the first two thirds of the article and basically says that gaming is turning young children into un-teachable morons.
The problem is, gaming does lower kids' attention spans - but that's not a bad thing. A lowered attention span used to be called 'getting bored'. The problem is not that games make children bored in school - the problem is that kids are getting bored because lessons are intensely boring. Kids are still being taught using methods that are 50 years old, and modern kids, used to videogames which teach using methods developed in the last decade, are bored to tears by lesson programs that teach at a rate that basically feels like driving at 10mph down the freeway.
By the way, Tom Watson has a blog at http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/ . I've been reading some of his stuff there and it seems he's truly one of the good guys.
Yes yes it is Art beit though in a abstract sense mind you I am talking about the skills of art gaming is akin to reading the classics more than gaining a skill and creating something...altho some of us get inspired and think we can create :P
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Pirates,Shearers,Lenders and downloaders are not a market that can be taped by the mainstream.
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I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
Tom, mah boi, you must strive for this peace, like the other warriors.
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