Video Game Violence, Inpsired by P&T Bullshit
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary, Games
I recently just finished watching the episode of Penn and Teller’s Bullshit exploring the topic of video game violence. I was quite apprehensive at first, because anyone treading on this issues risks doing it the wrong way (especially mainstream media, which is not exactly what Penn and Teller are – but they are closer than many outlets in the video game industry). I was very impressed at the entire affair.
I have to say video game violence does not equal real world violence to me. There is no proven link. There were many examples quoted by the anti-game experts on the show, but in recent months there has been quite a stir over so called “scientific” research. There was research on video game addiction in children, claiming that 1 in 12 children are addicted. The study was later critised for using testing methods that were designed for adults, and were adapted from gambling addiction.
I cannot remember who, but someone on the show made the comment that you should put violent video games into the hands of a sociopath. My first thought is that we shouldn’t be worrying about the fact that the sociopath is playing a violent video game, we should be worrying about the fact that he is a sociopath! Of course there are people who cannot tell the difference between reality and fiction. There are people who shouldn’t play violent video games, just like there are people who shouldn’t be allowed to own guns. The biggest thing is not the generalization of an entire subset of the population, but rather focusing on the individual. When you are not allowed to own a gun, its usually because of a specific set of reasons (ie. prior history of violence, criminal record/behaviour, etc). If people should play violent video games, then people should also not be allowed to play football, hockey, wrestling, boxing, martial arts, and many more because these field include, if not explicitly encourage real violence against another person. Boxing is allow about beating up the other person to the point where they cannot continue! Martial arts is about teaching a fighting style, be it to defend yourself or for competition. I don’t see people demanding a law banning all children from participating in Martial Arts. Why? Because it is the parent’s job to determine what is and isn’t appropriate for their children.
While many people would like to deny it, the entire social interaction between people is rapidly changing with the face of the internet. Social interaction has been radically changed by MSN Messenger, AIM, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and many more sites. The fact is that an increasing amount of social interaction is becoming digital and has been changes by the internet. Social interaction surrounding video games is a new form of social interaction for this digital age. Games like WoW have a huge component of social interaction with other players, just not physically. I think that the social interaction between players within the digital space of online worlds or games is great. It presents a very real opportunity for people to interact with people from all over the country, continent, and the world that they might not necessarily have the opportunity to do so. Yes, social interactions have changed between children since I was a child. Is all the change necessarily bad? Absolutely not.
There seems to be a new type of pseudo-science about the exploration of video game violence. There hasn’t really been that much credible research into the topic, and most of it is agenda based. Maybe it is time for the commission of true objective research in face of finding the answers to the questions that so many people seem concerned with. The fact that video games are often blamed for school shootings is absurd in many cases. Just because someone happens to own GTA4 it doesn’t mean that is the reason they killed people. There was a comment on how school violence existed long before video games. I think the biggest problem is the popularization of school shootings and school violence since the 1999 Columbine School Shooting. The sad fact of the matter is that violence seems to drive up viewership on news programming, and thus inviting more and more news articles having more and more information about school violence. I cannot remember where, but I recall a comment made that in general violence has gone down while the media coverage of school violence has actually increased. I also recall a discussion regarding the decline of teen pregnancies co-inciding with the launch of the original Playstation. It seems to me that video games have a rather positive effect on the social dynamics of teenagers (at least in the eyes of parents). I mean think about it, with all the video games available today and all the teenage boys playing them usually makes them an undesirable sexual partner, in some cases, for teenage girls. The less teenage boys (with all their hormones and such) available to seduce their female counterparts means the odds have lowered for teen pregnancies due to video games! Well this amazing reasoning is bulletproof, it seems that “scientific” research into video game violence is done the same way.
The government should not have any responsibility in governing who can and cannot buy video games. There should be absolutely no laws, here in Canada or the US, that prevents a minor from purchasing a game rated Mature or Adults Only (which is rare to see). Why? Because it is the parent’s responbility to teach their children what is and isn’t acceptable, and it is their decision on what their child is allowed to play. When Manhunt was released, in Ontario there was an uproar and it because one of the only (if not the only) games to be restricted (by law) to be sold only to adults. Now, having been a teenage once upon a time ago, II understand that if a teenager wants something that was disallowed to them by a store – they will still get it some other way, but it will most likely be a back alley kind of thing done in secret (and away from parent’s eyes). It is important for parents to know what their children are doing and be able to address concerns (such as the violence in Manhunt) in what their children interact with.
What it comes down to, is that parent’s need to have the responsibility to ensure what their children have as entertainment is appropriate according to their values. This means that it is no the place of the government to say what can and can not be sold to a minor – parents should be aware and talk to their children about video game violence, and violence in general.
Tags: penn and teller, video game violence
Ubisoft Toronto
Posted by Mike | Filed under Games
Today, with the Premier of Ontario, Ubisoft announced the formation of a new AAA development studio in Toronto, Ontario. For those of you who do not know much about Ubisoft, they currently have several development studios in Canada РMontreal, Qu̩bec City, and Vancouver.
Ontario is the second province in Canada (after Québec) to provide incentives to Ubisoft to open up a new studio in Canada. While the video game industry is not 100% recession proof, the industry as a whole has done quite well during the recession. Making a move to stimulate industry growth in Ontario is such a great move, bringing more video game development jobs to Canada, and adding to Ubisoft’s size is awesome and will just mean more great games.
Recently there has been some backlash in editorials and I think these people are uninformed. Twelve years ago, the government of Québec provided incentives for Ubisoft to open up a video game studio there, and it has now grown to 1800 people. There aren’t many large development studios in Toronto, which means that many aspiring game development professionals cannot find work in Toronto, and thus have to move to Montreal or out to Vancouver. In Toronto, there are three schools with Video Game studies (IADT, George Brown, and Humber). With all of the students attending these schools, it is not always easy to find work because of the locations of the video game studios. Because of the current economic times, it was an especially intelligent move on the government’s part because the video game industry whethered the recession well. While there were layoffs throughout the industry, Ubisoft is one of the companies that did not lay people off – but rather has been expanding its operations. Yes, Ubisoft is a profitable organization. But this move will profit Ontario and the some 800 new employees as well.
Tags: subsidies, subsidy, toronto, ubisoft, video game development
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