I thought that we video gamers could relax now that Jack Thompson was disbarred. Apparently not because it looks as if Glenn Beck is going to step into that anti-video-gaming vacuum. Watch the entire video to see what I’m talking about:
I don’t know how many times I have to say this before someone finally listens. At how many sites do I have to say this before it finally sinks in that video games do not cause someone to pick up a loaded weapon and go out and kill someone else? People do not emulate the behavior that goes on in video games in their real lives. If anything a game like Grand Theft Autois a reflection of what happens in a segment of our society, and Rockstar Games is only holding up a mirror for us to see. For Beck to attempt to blame video games for the someone becoming a cop killer after he used the television medium to state that people should “rise up and take back their country before the government takes their guns” is diengenuous at the very least.
I have been having to defend video games and the people who play them for going on six years now. I started by speaking my piece about Washington Bill 1099, not once but twice. When a school district in Washington State put a stop to a video game tournament intended to raise money for victims of the Indonesian Tsunami because the students choice of game was Halo 2, I vented my spleen. When the “Hot Coffee” mod was revealed for Grand Theft Auto: San AndreasI too was criticizing Rockstar and asking people not to juge gamers harshly. Now Glenn Beck is going to rear his ugly grille and step into that ring with someone like me?
Glenn let me just save you some embarrassment by giving you some advice: quit now my friend. Seriously, don’t start on this road because it will only lead you do ruin. Don’t believe me? Ask Jack Thompson. He tried to bring down the video gaming industry and portray all gamers as nothing but a bunch of thugs who engage in “mental Masturbation” when we sit down at our computer or our XBox. Look what it got him Glenn – Thompson was disbarred for professional misconduct and now he can no longer practice law. He lied about so many people and spread so many falsehoods about the video gaming industry and the people who support it that he can no longer make a living at his chosen profession. Glenn, I’m telling you, this will not end well for you – stop now before it is too late. I’m only telling you this for your own good, Glenn. If you keep this up then you will be reduced to reading the weather report for the local radio station in Roswell, N.M.
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with Rosewell myself, but I think it would be purgatory to someone like Beck who is used to the attention he gets on a national stage.
Now I will say this for what I hope will be the last time: performing a task in a video game does not mean that you are then capable of flawlessly performing that task in the real world. If that were true, then I should be able to fly out to North Carolina, knock on Dale Earnhardt Jr’s door, and tell him that I am his new Champion Sprint Cup driver and I will meet him down in Talledega.
Yeah, I know it’s ridiculous, that’s my point!
Using a keyboard and mouse or a gamepad does not translate well into real-world activities. You can’t learn how to shoot a gun by using a gamepad and playing Halo, Doom or Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Those games teach you nothing about the actual noise and how loud a gun is, or about recoil, or gunshot residue, or even re-loading quickly. Saying that video games are “murder simulators” that will teach children how to kill without remorse is an outright lie. Parents, for the most part, are able to teach their children better than that.
Now having said that, there are cases out there where video games can actually do some good. There are documented cases of video games being used for therapeutic purposes to help people get over their fears. In one instance, researchers at the University of Ontario had people who suffered from arachnophobia play the game Half-Lifewhere humans are battling invading alien crabs. Except that in this case the researchers were able to substitute spiders for the crabs. Using 3d technology the researchers reported that by the second day, the fear level among the participants was significantly reduced. Our military has used games like Full Spectrum Warrior and America’s Armyto train our troops in different battlefield scenarios. Using games in this way has saved our military millions of taxpayer dollars by not staging expensive war games as a method of training. In this economy I see this as an advantage that our troops can utilize on-site, in their encampments, without putting themselves in undue risk until they can apply what they have learned on the battlefield.
But video games can also do something else – they give you a sense of community. Games like The Sims and World of Warcraft have spawned several online communities in the past few years. Some who engage in this kind of play might not have ever had an opportunity to form relationships in any other way. There is a video over at MSNBC where a disabled person is giving an interview about how video games have helped her to form relationships that she might never have had otherwise. In these instances video games have done some good and can continue to do so.
Me? What do I play? Well currently I play all of my games on an Alienware Area-51 computer and the titles I have are: Madden NFL 08, MVP Baseball 2005, NHL 2004, FIFA 2004, The Political Machine, Bowl Bound: College Football and NASCAR SimRacing.
So, Glenn, think I could play QB better than Eli because I play Madden? Think I can play 1B and bat clean-up for the Yankees because I play a baseball video game?
Then next time, know what you’re talking about pal!
