I'm sure that everyone on this site is concerned about the whole issue of using video games as a scapegoat for pretty much everything that goes wrong in America. Kids shooting up schools? Must be Doom's fault. A couple of block-headed jackasses randomly firing Dad's shotgun and hitting the driver of a car? GTA. A horrible massacre at a southern college? That's all down to Counter-Strike, even though the shooter never played it, CT is still to blame since it's a video game and therefore a horrid pit of depravity and violence. Increases in spousal abuse and other forms of domestic violence? Must be Cooking Mama's fault. We've all seen more people railing about the evils of video games than I'm sure we'd care to count. From Jack Thompson on down to that crazy woman that lives on your block who tells you every time you play Postal, God kills a baby seal with a pipe wrench. The sad part of it is that almost this exact thing has happened before, and if human nature is any indication, it will happen again.

I'm getting close to the end of the book The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America by David Hajdu. It's an interesting read, but time and time again while reading about something in history I didn't know much about, but am interested in as a geek, I was struck by the parallels to the current flap over games. They had everything then that we have now; hysterical parents and parents' groups, politicians going on a blizzard of law-passing sprees, some of which were later struck down as unconstitutional, constant claims that comics are a leading cause of juvenile delinquency, and the labeling of those that enjoy the medium as either children or idiots. Hell, they even had a media-whoring "expert" that was taken far too seriously by many people who made outrageous arguments that he backed up with pseudo-science, half-truths and scare tactics. Does all this sound familiar? Yeah, I thought so too. Let's just hope that this time, the whole debate doesn't end with the industry backing down and imposing crippling and puritanical self-censorship on its own product, leading to hundreds of people losing their jobs and never being able to work in their chosen field again . I'd like to think that won't happen, but there are times when I have my doubts.

It's been said again and again that those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Well, reading The Ten Cent Plague, it's obvious that we haven't learned a goddamn thing. Like I said in the title of this post, it's the same story, it's just a different cast. Movies, Pulp Novels, Comics, Rock and Roll, and now Video Games. How many times are we going to have to through the same bullshit before reality sinks through peoples' terminally thick skulls and we can break the cycle? I don't know, but I'm guessing how ever many more times they can squeeze it in before the end of time itself.

Do I have some amazing secret method to break the cycle? No, I don't. If I did, I'd be out using it, if for nothing else than to try and raise the collective intelligence level of the human race at least a little bit. What I guess I'm saying here is this. Someday, gamers will be parents, executives, perhaps even politicians. When some new form of entertainment comes around that people start claiming is destroying America's youth, don't just go blindly along with the herd. Try and remember the frustration that you're feeling now about how a lot of people didn't give the hobby that you love its fair shake, and didn't bother to learn about it before condemning it. Basically, try and learn from all this. When this cycle starts again, which let's face it, it most likely will, before you attack something your children are doing, educate yourselves about it. Then if you still don't agree with it, then fine. Don't let your kids do it. But at the same time try to remember that there are other parents out there that won't share your opinions on 7D Holographic BlitzRollerBrainBall, or whatever that new hobby is. I doubt it would stop the cycle, but maybe it would lead to it slowing down just a little bit, leaving the way open for future generations to actually do something about the Infinite Loop of idiocy that the human race seems to be caught in. Not likely perhaps but hey, a man can dream, can't he?

Besides, when I take my grandkids to the store in 30 or so years, I'd rather not see the book Digital Depravity: The Great Video Game Debate and How it Changed America One More Time, With Feeling.

Something I wrote a few years ago, but is sadly just as, if not even more relevant these days.

I've been noticing a disturbing trend among gamers these days: the trend of acting like complete and total jackasses. I'll grant that for the most part this is simply human behavior. People seem to create new and better ways of being assholes to each other every day. However, I'm noticing it a lot more these days among the gaming community, especially the younger gamers. I'm not saying that the problem is just confined to younger gamers, it's not. Gamers of all ages are unfortunately just as prone to this. My point is that it's making all of us look extremely bad, and we should try to knock it off.

A perfect example of what I'm talking about can be found when I was at the game store today. I was browsing around, and someone that was obviously not that experienced came in with a couple of questions. The questions aren't important. The thing that's important is the conduct of the employees. While they were answering the guy's questions - albeit somewhat brusquely - I glanced at them a couple of times and there was a definite expression of contempt on a couple of the employees' faces. As if the questions this guy was asking were a waste of their time. Now, don't get me wrong, most of the time, my tolerance for stupidity can fit into a match box without removing the matches first, but the problem is that the questions that the guy was asking weren't stupid. They were simply the questions of a guy that knew he didn't know the answer and went to the people that he thought could answer them. People that are, oh me, oh my, paid to answer those questions. That's why they call them customer service reps at GameStop. Not L33ts Whose Time We're Totally Wasting, But Who We Have to Make Do Something to Justify a Paycheck. Plus, Customer Service Rep fits better on a name tag. Anyway, the point that I'm making here is that we were ALL noobs once. No one was born with the innate knowledge of how to PWNZ. If you were, then you're obviously some science experiment gone horribly awry. You probably started out life as an attempt to create the perfect soldier, and then one night, one of the lab assistants hacked their XBox into the mainframe to be able to play Halo on the really big screen, and that was all she wrote.

Every single employee in that store was pretty much your stereotypical gamer, I probably don't have to describe them. We all have picture of that guy who's WAY too into his gaming; and that's another problem right there. Yes, stereotypes suck hardcore, but unfortunately that's the way of the world my friends. Yeah, it's fun being a geek and a gamer - hell, I enjoy it on a daily basis - but I do try to rein it in a bit at the appropriate times. Not many of them, but such times do exist, shocking as it may seem. Just think about that concept for a couple of seconds. Go ahead, I'll wait. Imagine that, roll it around in your head a little bit, and really get used to the taste of that bad boy. Okay, you done? Good, I'll continue.

Another big problem I've noticed is the way that people act when they're playing online. I saw the same kind of scenario the other night when I was playing Enemy Territory; someone logged on who'd obviously never played the game before, and he had some questions. I tried to answer what I could, but was hoping that someone else in the game would answer the questions I couldn't. In some respects, this did happen. In other respects, the guy was subjected to profanity that, in real life, would quickly earn you a broken jaw or nose. Also, since he'd now been IDed as a n00b, it was open season. Even some of his supposed teammates started hunting him, killing him no less than seven times before he logged off in frustration, probably never to play the game again. Or maybe he will, only he'll act just like that once he actually gets some skill at the game. I tell you folks, we're screwing ourselves with behavior like this, and it will only end up hurting us in the long run.

As gamers, we've got enough problems with other people without acting like complete jackasses to each other. As bad as stereotypes are, they are sadly rooted in the truth. The point I'm trying to make here is that with most people in general turning up their collective noses in contempt at gamers as a whole, why in the hell are we making it worse by screwing with each other? What's the matter, did the football player in your homeroom make fun of your Linux t-shirt, so now you're taking it out by continually TK-ing the newbie that doesn't know an RPG from a shotgun? If we continue to act this way, we're just going to lend validity to the claims that we're all socially maladjusted freaks who couldn't hold a conversation with a "real" person if our lives depended on it. Yes, not all of us are like that, but it only takes a few cases to prop up the stereotype. If we continue to TK, and treat newbies as second-class citizens then in the end there may not be any more newbies. No, that's not a good thing. Follow the chain of logic here. If there are no more newbies, then eventually, less people will be buying games, what with that pesky aging and death thing. If less people are buying games, software developers will stop making profits. If software developers stop making profits, then they'll start by producing lower-budget, low-quality games, and when those stop selling, they'll stop making games all together and focus their efforts on making some new form of web-browser or spreadsheet program. Yes, I know that I'm exaggerating a bit here, but I'm doing it to try and get you to think a little bit. Even the greenest newbie has something in common with an uber-gamer: he loves to game. However, if he gets insulted, ridiculed and messed with constantly, then he's either going to stop loving it and find a new hobby, or he's going to turn into an asshole himself out of revenge.

So my suggestion is this. The next time that you're playing, and someone that's never played before shows up and asks for help, don't follow the herd and be an asshole. Help him out. Take a few minutes and answer his questions, and maybe even hang out with him and try to keep him from getting killed every 3 seconds. It may be a little frustrating, and it won't get your name up at the top of the kill board, but by doing this, you'll be cool to at least one person, and you may help someone else enjoy himself a little bit more.

Remember folks, we're all gamers, and we all need to stick together. Tearing each other down doesn't do anyone a single speck of good.

Carry on Smartly

There, now there actually is something in the profile space over there -------->

Next, I'll actually make a post that has something to do with gaming. For serious. But that will have to wait until after I spend some time playing WoW with my fiance'. See?! That's game related!

Maybe some think this stuff belongs in a forum, but you know what, it's my damn blog, and I'll put what I want in here. I may even post all the sheet music to for every Castlevania game ever made if the mood strikes.

Actually...*MAKES MENTAL NOTE*

Carry on smartly.

Just what I need, another thing to eat up internet time. Actually, it's not a bad thing considering the fact that I work in an excruciatingly dull job with a lot of down time. But hey, at least I have NET ACCESS!!

I'll put up a profile with all that "Getting to Know You" gibberish in a bit, but for now, this is just so that there's actually something here. Heh.

Carry on Smartly.