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The Guardian to the anti-games lobby: 'We've already won'

2:05 PM on 04.28.2008, Jim Sterling 47 comments

The Guardian to the anti-games lobby: 'We've already won' photo
     Fap-happy

The ever-lovely .tiff sent me a link to this amazing Guardian article addressing the politicians and writers who have spent a great deal of time enjoying their sneering and condescending attacks on the games industry. Columnist Richard Bartle doesn't mince his words, telling the anti-games set that we have won and they have lost, and it's high time they learned to accept that. I think this guy and I might be related:

According to the UK Statistics Authority, the median age of the UK population is 39. Half the people who live here were born in 1969 or later. The BBC microcomputer was released in 1981, when those 1969ers were 12. It was ubiquitous in schools; it introduced a generation to computers. It introduced a generation to computer games.

Half the UK population has grown up playing computer games. They aren't addicted, they aren't psychopathic killers, and they resent those boneheads – that's you – who imply that they are addicted and are psychopathic killers.

Next year, that 1969 will be 1970; the year after, it'll be 1971.

Dwell on this, you smug, out-of-touch, proud-to-be-innumerate fossils: half the UK population thinks games are fun and cool, and you don't. Those born in 1990 get the vote this year.

Bartle's article is as brutal as it is beautiful, and is the second feature to be published by The Guardian that presents the pro side of the games debate. I have been really impressed with The Guardian's approach to covering this ridiculous faux-controversy, as it has really shown that not every mainstream paper has to be part what Bartle calls "the ever-more-distant past." Clearly the paper recognizes which way the balance of power is shifting, and realizes that clinging onto the ever-decaying relics that are terrified of change is a surefire way to turn off new readers.

I urge you to read this article, because it's ostensibly all true. We HAVE won. No matter how much Jack Thompson screams his head off, no matter how many posters FOX News manages to have torn down, and no matter how much The Daily Mail urges government to "BAN THIS SICK FILTH," the games industry will continue to grow, and the so-called "murder simulators" will continue to succeed, doing only what they were intended to do ...

Entertain the millions that buy them, and will buy them for many years to come.


Next page: More United Kingdom stories




Sky-Face's Avatar
Sky-Face at 04/28/2008 14:10
And that...is how the faux-war of the new media was won
MechaMonkey's Avatar
MechaMonkey at 04/28/2008 14:11
I saw a GTA4 ad on a NYC bus yesterday and laughed.

FLAWLESS VICTORY!
Macarello's Avatar
Macarello at 04/28/2008 14:12
This is glorious.
The Young Scot's Avatar
The Young Scot at 04/28/2008 14:12
I can't wait for history to repeat itself when the next new craze hits the scene.

Holographic Porn perhaps?
Twosixteen's Avatar
Twosixteen at 04/28/2008 14:15
@ Parabe11um-swe-
We game, we saw, we conquered...
AgentMOO's Avatar
AgentMOO at 04/28/2008 14:29
Sweet



By the way did the Destructoid editors have a meeting and decide as lime green as standard for the snarky captions?
The-Excel's Avatar
The-Excel at 04/28/2008 14:29
@Twosixteen:
We game, we chainsaw, we commanded and conquered.
Sam Spectre's Avatar
Sam Spectre at 04/28/2008 14:31
How does it feel to loose Jack Thompson!?

@ MechaMonkey:
I saw a ton of GTA IV ads in NYC while I was visiting a friend. One of them took up the side of a whole building. Victory indeed!
Aerox's Avatar
Aerox at 04/28/2008 14:33
I love Richard Bartle. The man invented MUDs, and for that I thank him.
Tiff's Avatar
Tiff at 04/28/2008 14:37
Yeah seriously. The man who invented MUDs deserves mad props, yo.
MaxVest's Avatar
MaxVest at 04/28/2008 14:38
Now that we've won, we all have to ask ourselves: what will we unjustly oppose when we are older, primarily out of fear, ignorance, and unwillingness to learn?

We'd better decide now or we're just going to default to the next form of media to emerge. If it suck, we're stuck with a crappy cause.
Rifter01's Avatar
Rifter01 at 04/28/2008 14:40
Hay, but iz like sick filth! It is a dark day indeed if a man can't have his filth!
bleep's Avatar
bleep at 04/28/2008 14:41
Whoa this guy's got some sledge hammer size nuts and he doesn't mind slamming them down on people.

At moo: Yes, Yes they did....


PS: MUD's are EVIL
Cataract's Avatar
Cataract at 04/28/2008 14:41
What makes this so much better is that right before I went to Destructoid and saw this at the top, the orchestrated Overture theme to Dragon Quest started playing.


How very fitting.
brainderailment's Avatar
brainderailment at 04/28/2008 14:46
cue: hallelujah chorus
Azereki's Avatar
Azereki at 04/28/2008 14:47
Beautiful article.
Spartacus's Avatar
Spartacus at 04/28/2008 14:55
The words on my screen, and I'm not kidding, just jumped out, started glowing gold, proclaimed themselves to be the messiah, and then rode off on a pterodactyl to do good and kick the asses of the stupid.
Y0j1mb0's Avatar
Y0j1mb0 at 04/28/2008 14:59
A newspaper with a sensible view of gaming in general?

Wow.
KyleGamgee's Avatar
KyleGamgee at 04/28/2008 15:10
Using keen logic in a newspaper article?

Why, THAT'S SENSASIONALISM!
Kaspar's Avatar
Kaspar at 04/28/2008 15:10
Godly.

*Love*
naia-the-gamer's Avatar
naia-the-gamer at 04/28/2008 15:33
That was actually intelligent and reasonable. I think my head is going to asplode.

So what are the odds that the general public will ignore it?
Technophile's Avatar
Technophile at 04/28/2008 15:35
People fear what they don't understand but the ones that fear are getting very old.

It's all a matter of time as she said. Just like radio, TV, Elvis and comic books before it.
solarmystic's Avatar
solarmystic at 04/28/2008 15:37
@MaxVest

Props to your comment; I fear that when we become old farts ourselves we'll start to lose that sense and become bitter old husks like the many JTs of the world, blaming this or that for some crimewave etc etc without sensible RnD...

We need to break this vicious cycle of blaming the unknown fad of the future on the bad things that're happening.. The current older farts in charge don't GET gaming; it confuses and confounds them, thus making for a viable target of opportunity, will we become that way too?
OrangeGoblin's Avatar
OrangeGoblin at 04/28/2008 15:43
I was really impressed with the article (which I half-arsedly cblogged earlier today) and with The Grauniad for publishing it. More please!
mix's Avatar
mix at 04/28/2008 15:50
It took the microwave like 20 years to catch one as no one would buy them, now they are afraid of video games....wha?

@MaxVest
Great question.
I hope I don't follow the path that is suggested with aging but I guess I will never truly know until I get there.
Ferros's Avatar
Ferros at 04/28/2008 16:00
I think generation Y and younger have a much better chance than any generation before us of adapting to new trends, and not freaking out when the next big thing comes along. We've grown up with massive leaps and bounds in technology and lets be honest, the internet has made us a jaded, cynical, practically shock proof generation.
BluFire's Avatar
BluFire at 04/28/2008 16:18
So true. Too many people play video games now... it's an unstoppable juggernaut.
Maserati's Avatar
Maserati at 04/28/2008 16:27
Speaking of Jack Thompson...

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080428-jack-thompson-targets-gta-iv-with-an-unlikely-ally-ign.html
Twosixteen's Avatar
Twosixteen at 04/28/2008 16:35
@ The-Excel
Bricfa's Avatar
Bricfa at 04/28/2008 16:36
Good read, but doesn't seem very professional. It should have just stated the facts and drawn logical conclusions, but without the insults. (however deserved they were.)
Harkonnen's Avatar
Harkonnen at 04/28/2008 17:09
Games and gamers won before the battle even started. These pathetic rants don't come from "moral" issues, as they'd make you believe. That's a masquerade, a façade, for their true fear. Videogames are on their way to render TV as we know it largely obsolete, and Hollywood with a minor share of the entertainment pie. If I am not wrong, the videogames industry is now bigger than the film industry. I, for one, would rather surf the internet for hours at a time than watch the stupid reality shows they play on TV. And I know for a fact that I am not the only one.

Each time something threatens the "stablishment", people benefitting the most from it disguise themselves as moral champions and begin their fear-based campaigning. Sadly for them -- luckily for us -- they are the only ones oblivious to their utter stupidity.

Which brings me to my starting point. This battle was won before it even started, because the "stablishment" started battling when they felt threatened. And they were just so high on their own thing that they neglected the threat until it was simply too late.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar
Samit Sarkar at 04/28/2008 17:48
I want to have that man’s babies.

Also, MaxVest brings up a very interesting point. I’m only 21, but already, I find myself confused by what the kids are up to nowadays (I sure didn’t have a cell phone when I was in middle school). Young people always like to think they’ll never be like the older generations, that they’ll always be accepting of new media and new things in general, but they’re deluding themselves. Inevitably, we’ll one day find something to hate on.
Blackhat's Avatar
Blackhat at 04/28/2008 19:01
Didn't we 'win' this argument back with Jazz music? Seriously, doesn't this same thing repeat itself every few years? Jazz, blues, rock, metal, rap, fucking books, all of it targeted at one point.
njsykora's Avatar
njsykora at 04/28/2008 19:44
Ladies and gentlemen I give you The Guardian. The last bastion of fair and balanced reporting and the only actual physical newspaper I'm willing to chuck down 70p on everyday.
Crackpot360's Avatar
Crackpot360 at 04/28/2008 19:54
Newspaper's name reminds me of that "killed by the Guardians" Halo glitch. Prophecy or coincidence? lol
Boolean's Avatar
Boolean at 04/28/2008 19:59
Take it, take it right in the face!

This artice makes me happy.
PrinceofCannedPeaches's Avatar
PrinceofCannedPeaches at 04/28/2008 21:29
Falconnnnn WIIIIIN!
niacin's Avatar
niacin at 04/28/2008 22:19
I remember back in the late eighties/ early ninties when they were blaming everything on VHS but now no one would ever dream of blaming a murder on chuckie. It will be the same for games in a few years... well as long as they find something else to blame.

Oh god I hope they decide to blame celebrity culture
JustLikeBuck's Avatar
JustLikeBuck at 04/29/2008 03:14
Richard Bartle :| It takes a legend of old school computer games to hand the old school of television, their asses.
Seth338's Avatar
Seth338 at 04/29/2008 05:05
*tear*
Not everyone in england sucks after all.
catsithx's Avatar
catsithx at 04/29/2008 08:48
well like they said people are old enough to vote now who grew up in the video game age. It's our time to shine and control who is in and who is out
infinity's Avatar
infinity at 04/29/2008 09:53
So we've won: accept it. Huff and puff if you must, but your audience grows smaller by the day. Your views are mortally wounded, and soon they will be dead...and so will you.

fixed.

seriously though, this article wins.
mistic's Avatar
mistic at 04/29/2008 11:43
great article :-)
Optional's Avatar
Optional at 04/29/2008 11:46
@Samit Sarkar

Yes, but it's how we choose to express that dislike that's important; if, by the time we reach old age, we face the future with the intelligence, humour and wit we exhibit now, society as a whole would benefit greatly.
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