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Whoa! A gun violence talk that does NOT blame games!
It might be easy to label all major news pundits as being dangerously ignorant of videogames, especially when it concerns sexual or violent content. However, we ought to know better than to paint everyone with the same broad brush strokes. Believe it or not, there are in fact media personalities who don't immediately jump on the "games are evil" narrative. Earlier today, Jim discussed CNN's Erin Burnett and her obvious agenda. But on the very same channel, we have Anderson Cooper, a man far more sensible and open-minded than his peers. Last night, I tuned in to Cooper's Town Hall: Guns Under Fire special, where a guest panel discussed possible ways to address gun violence in America in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting and related events. While videogames weren't the primary focus of the discussion, the topic undoubtedly came up, and I'm pleased that they were able to address it in a cool, level-headed manner. You ought to check out the entire thing, but if you just want to watch the videogames segment, it's this clip labeled "The mental health stigma and violence." Cheryl Olson, co-author of the games violence research book Grand Theft Childhood, was on hand to once again point out there is little evidence to support any link between violent games and real-world violence. From her studies, she learned, "[T]he typical 13-year-old boy is playing at least one mature-rated violent game on a regular basis. And when you are looking at something very rare like a school shooting, and something that's statistically normal like playing violent videogames, it's kind of hard to make that link." Cooper agrees, "I looked at the study in ten different countries between gun violence and videogame sales, and it doesn't seem like there's a link in all these different countries." The discussion then shifts towards children suffering from mental health issues, and from there the panelists begin talking about the difficulties parents face in getting even so much as a proper diagnosis and treatment for their mentally ill kids. Audience member Liza Long is invited to stand up and share the story of her 13-year-old son, who exhibits great mental instability and a proclivity towards violence. Long fears that her son has the potential to be a school shooter one day, but her efforts to seek proper treatment are hindered by doctors who would rather throw more medicine at him and authorities who would rather throw the boy in prison. As it turns out, Long's son does not play first-person shooters and its ilk, instead preferring Minecraft and Dungeons & Dragons. His issues clearly do not stem from the media he consumes, yet because current laws and medical policies are reactive rather than proactive, there's very little Long can do to prevent a potential incident down the road. Granted, videogames are but a small portion of the entire Town Hall, but when it is touched upon, it's done with serious class. This may not seem like the most mind-blowing discourse to you -- these are the kinds of conclusions game bloggers and other pro-game outlets draw on a regular basis -- but considering it's a public forum held in front of possibly millions of viewers, it's very refreshing to hear. So yeah, more of that on TV, please. Did you know? You can now get daily or weekly email notifications when humans reply to your comments.
8:00 AM on 05.14.2013 Biden: No legal reason why 'violent' games can't be taxedVice President Joe Biden recently had a meeting with religious leaders to discuss gun control, and violent media was discussed. God forbid we don't obfuscate the gun discussion with more demented strawmen. Reverend Fran...
6:00 PM on 05.13.2013 Nintendo removing same-sex relationships from 3DS gameNintendo is patching a "bug" in Tomodachi Collection: New Life that allows male characters to date, marry, and even raise children with one another. The company has announced an update will fix "human relationships that ...
3:00 PM on 05.13.2013 Jimquisition: Objectification And ... Men?A common argument in the ongoing debate over gender and videogames is that women and men both are equally objectified. Is that really true? As always, Emperor God King Jim Sterling puts His holy foot down and delivers wisdom true to the masses. He totally isn't smug about it, either!
2:00 AM on 05.07.2013 Will Wright: SimCity's server issues were 'inexcusable'Game Industry International caught up with legendary designer Will Wright who shared his thoughts on the train wreck of a launch SimCity suffered with all of the server issues players experienced when trying to play the game....
12:30 PM on 05.04.2013 Boy tries to rape mom, kills her, over Call of Duty banA 14-year-old boy from rural Iowa has been charged with first degree murder after shooting his mother with a .22 caliber rifle he received as a present. Noah Crooks, who was 13 at the time, attempted to rape his mother i...
10:00 AM on 05.01.2013 Gearbox artist slams Dragon's Crown character designThe Dragon's Crown "thing" shows no sign of stopping, with vehement and sometimes venomous opinions flying this way and that. To bring you up to speed, Vanillaware's upcoming brawler features a big-boobed Sorceress, the desig...
9:00 AM on 04.09.2013 The Last of Us focus test had to be made to include womenNaughty Dog has revealed it had to force the hand of its focus testers in order to get them to acknowledge a female perspective. Originally, The Last of Us was exclusively using male gamers to gauge audience interest, until t...
3:00 PM on 04.08.2013 Jimquisition: Why An Always-On DRM Console Is DumbJust talking about an "always-on" Xbox is a really dumb idea. Hopefully not even Microsoft would be so stupid, but just in case any of the platform holders are seriously considering this awful, nasty little idea, let Jimquisition lay out the many good reasons as to why an always-on console would be utterly ludicrous. Seriously, it's ... it's terrible. Deal with it!
6:15 PM on 04.05.2013 Microsoft apologizes for 'Deal With It' statementsFollowing an earlier controversy of stunning proportions, Microsoft has issued an official statement concerning employee Adam Orth's public sentiment that always-on DRM haters need to just "Deal with it." The company apologiz...
3:15 PM on 04.05.2013 EA will 'do better' to not be the worst company everFeline Electronic Arts COO Peter Moore has spoken about that time EA got voted the worst company in America. Vowing to "do better" in gaining positive sentiment, the grinning executive acknowledged there's work to be done, bu...
| Controversy
A common argument in the ongoing debate over gender and videogames is that women and men both are equally objectified. Is that really true? As always, Emperor God King Jim Sterling puts His holy foot down and delivers wisdom true to the masses. He totally isn't smug about it, either!more
Game Industry International caught up with legendary designer Will Wright who shared his thoughts on the train wreck of a launch SimCity suffered with all of the server issues players experienced when trying to play the game....more
A 14-year-old boy from rural Iowa has been charged with first degree murder after shooting his mother with a .22 caliber rifle he received as a present. Noah Crooks, who was 13 at the time, attempted to rape his mother i...more View all Controversy |


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