Video game violence documentary trailer

Paraphrased, "People sat down and played a flight simulator...and learned enough to fly jets in to the World Trade Center. What do you think happens when a boy sits down and is rewarded for killing cops?"

I just thought I'd point out the flaw in this 'comparison'. While the boy plays the game with the intent of passing time, the terrorist is playing with the intent of accumulating information in order to cause mass destruction.

The terrorist was already a killer in mind, if not body, long before he ever encountered a flight simulator. Similarly, the boy is not a killer in mind, and playing a game will not force him to become one.

If anything, what we can take away from this example is the following; games offer a great potential for learning and expansion of the mind, and as with many other forms of media (books, television, movies) it is up to the viewer to show constraint and exercise common sense.

There's a quick shot in there at around 0:56-- it's the tram ride, from the beginning of Myst IV. That's right... MYST. And they've ADDED buillet holes being shot into the windshield. Yyyyyeah... couldn't they have found a different clip of an actual violent game?

The use of Myst implies that these people haven't actually played any of the games being featured. Something tells me this won't be "unbiased."

so what are they trying to suggest? (worst case implications)

is this the crux of what seems to be suggested--
1) that violent video games CAUSE similarly violent behavior?
2) video games CAUSE terrorism?

well...
1) people enjoy the violence in video games precisely because we DO NOT want to perform similar acts of violence in real life.
2) terrorists USE video games (flight sim *rolls eyes*) as a tool.

QED.

I'm glad they're atleast discussing this topic, but I don't like the anti-gaming conclusions reached in the trailer.

This better be free when it comes out on DVD. I'm not paying a damn cent for it. I think that if these people want to get their message out there then they should make the movie freely available at the register on game retailers (much like those AOL CDs/coasters)

Joe Lieberman has no say as to weather or not the government regulates video games. He must be talking about a different government, because the AMERICAN government obeys the constitution!

ESRB has been doing a fine job. Games with blood, gore, and excessive violence consistently get M ratings. By the time you're 17 you SHOULD know the difference between reality and fantasy and what is and is not appropriate.

This is silly. Has anyone watched MTV!?!? By these rules TV and movies need to be banned. Man when will people realize that its the crazy people that go crazy. Not the media that makes them crazy. If that were the case millions of Ex soldiers would be killing the crap out of us. They are the best trained to kill. No one "deprograms" them yet they are just fine. Hell I know tons of people including myself that grew up on video games and are just fine. Its just another big reaction to new technology. People freaked out about movies. They freaked out about TV, cars etc. Whatever is sucessful and becomeing main stream place your blame on it. God forbid you look at yourself and how you raised your children.

Anyone knocking on that line "We are what we pretend to be..." hasn't read or watched the movie Mother Night. That line was taken directly from Vonnegut's mouth!

However, they took that really out of context. The protagonist's pretending all had real life consequences (he was an american spy in nazi germany, playing the role of a propagandist) so it's an unfair comparison since, last time I checked, merely the act of playing video games doesn't harm anyone.

I think it would be a better idea to censor our politicians. They are the ones molesting underage interns and having homosexual extra marital affairs. Its just a matter of time 'tim Jack Thompsons boyfriend comes out.

The trailer feels like it's announcing yet another idiotic hollywood blockbuster.

When it comes out, it'll die out after a week. Everyone is getting sick of this. And why do you even bother with commenting on this? It's a movie, they want to make cash, quick and easy, insert videogame + violence, bingo! Nothing to it.

Just ignore it.

I am what I pretend to be. Does that mean if I pretend to be a tree, that I am a tree? Does that mean if I pretend to be a turtle, that I am a turtle?

It's called imagination. Yea, I bet guys have fought in Halo over who the girl belongs to.

Usually people only become aggressive when they lose a video game, and that really depends on the person. Players don't really exercise their hatred when playing a game, they exercise problem solving. I have to do this, how do I do it?

Problems can arise, I must admit. Guns are cool, stuff like that. All of a sudden you have a kid that wants to know everything about guns. The pique of the interest is aroused, and then when that person has OTHER issues, they could look for access to a gun. This pique of interest can also be caused by movies, parents, police officers, and ESPECIALLY if all of your relatives are members of the NRA. Or, imagine if your country's at war? Your cousin's in the army?

i would also like to add that that no amount of time at your computer with keyboard and mouse or even a joystick would prepare you to fly a real airplane

By giving lunitics a platform, you feed them - period. Lieberman, Thompson, Clinton and the rest are illogical fools grasping at straws - they claim ridiculous things to be facts, and instead of responding with pure logic, gamers scream about the first amendment, or plea to have their games left alone.

They have no right to condemn videogames, just as they have no right to condemn violent books, movies, or television. They simply have no right. So take the offensive. Fight them head on - make them look like fools.

When Jack Thompson says that the kids at columbine learned how to properly shoot guns thanks to doom - we know that's ridiculous. But just think and research. The truth is that Doom and Duke Nukem gave them unrealistic belief in the accuracy of their Tech-9 - they even wrote about how easy it is to fire the gun and mow down group of people. In duke and Doom, sure. In real life, not so much. Or ask them how, if games teach us such realistic weapons use, how come real-life marksmen can't just pick up and play the latest grand theft auto.

The answer is because the game has nothing to do with real life guns. So fight them on that point with logic. Show how they're idiots by their own words. Sure, you might end up on national television about it, and they might edit your words out just so the points don't get made (Donnie Deautsch sucks for doing that), but you ahve to fight them on their terms instead of staying above it arguing the constitution.

These guys lose on pure logic. fight them with it.

I think a lot of people are misinterpreting the statement at the end, saying that legislating video games is "win/win". First of all, the speaker uses the word "politically", which in my mind automatically means all thought associated must held in a certain light. Personally, I thought the speaker was saying that a lot of the political and legislative attacks made against video games appear to candidates to be "win/win", very sturdy, culture war issues that can be made by any candidate with any platform which will appeal to the demographic most likely to vote. Though the trailer itself seems biased, based on who it's coming from and the list of people interviewed, it's probably best judged as a whole. My guess is to generate excitement about the movie itself, they picked the most sensationalist quotes and clips to generate buzz. Various other articles say this film had a close to 1 million dollar budget; if you want to see the bias, look to where that money came from.

Looking at the list of commentators, I'm not sure I'm ready to assume this to an unbalanced, biased documentary. Henry Jenkins is in there, along with Takahashi, Vivendi head Phil O'Neil, counselor Marie Sylla of the IESM, Ed Williams from BMO Capital Markets, Richard Ow of NPD group and Greg Fiscbach of Acclaim.

Sure, there are anti-game advocates in there, including Jack Thompson and Mr. 'Murder Simulator' himself, Grossman...it wouldn't be balanced without talking to them.

The trailer is designed to get you to watch the movie...and it's clearly interested/pissed off plenty of people, with nearly 21,000 views in a little over a week. Which is what it was meant to do.

Agreeing with comment #50 about the non-violent game Myst, they also show a brief clip from the game City of Heroes!! In that game you fight crime and villains and help the police!!

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be."

What an ignorant comment!!!!! Since I would love to pretend to be Superman right now, does that mean I can fly?!?!?! YESSS!!! Thank you!!! Look guys, i'm flying!!!

The video said that people used a flight simulator program to practice flying planes into the WTC and compared it to a 9 year old boy playing a violent videogame. They are not the same, the terrorist had the actual intent to fly those planes into the WTCs, but a 9 year old boy doesn't truely want to kill a police officer

Ciaran, it's about personal responsibility. Banning guns for the reason they can be used to kill people when in the hands of a lunatic is as retarded a stance as banning video games because they can reinforce violent behavior without proper adult supervision. Not only that, what you said could very well be used by the people you just condemned. I don't know anyone who plays games for the sake of violence, and I don't know anyone who uses violence (simulated or otherwise) as a true stress reliever. The kind of statement you made is probably one Thompson would jump on in a heartbeat to help prove his side.

Getting back on topic, though. It's all about personal responsibility and moderation. If people today had that, this wouldn't be an issue because parents would follow ratings, politicians/lawyers such as Thompson and Lieberman would look at the topic fairly, and we could all live happily ever after with our games that are fun because of gameplay, not violence.

I'm all for banning video games. Hell, while we're at it, lets shut down the internet, turn cable TV into religous channels and lets burn all the books!

Reminds me a little to much of what happened 60 years ago. Banning video games is not the answer. Making it illegal will only increase the allure of playing such game, a sort of forbidden fruit. And when the games leave the public domain and hit the dark back alleys, it's harder for parents to regulate what their kids play.

It just amkes me sick seeing people trying to 'save'(read: limit their freedom) people just to get his ugly face in the media. As I see it, these guys are the real problem. That and the idiots who go psycho. Only in America!

It IS propaganda, and it's meant for people who don't think very deeply and are already easily swayed to take a "moral" stand against anything and everything.

My position on this stuff has always been, "let's make a deal... If you stop the real wars, I'll stop playing the fake ones. If you stop allowing Hollywood to portray ultra graphic violence in movies, I'll stop playing games that portray it.”

You know THAT would never happen.

To insist that video games have created the violent American society is a ridiculous position.

This is stupid. Censoring/banning video games?? Please. Just because kids play violent video games doesn't mean that they are terrorists. Does it ever occur to some of you that agressive/violent kids play violent games?? Not that violent games cause kids to be violent?? It's called a positive CORRELATION, not CAUSATION. I play some of the most violent video games and am in no way violent. Parents who fail to teach their kids the difference between reality and what is unreal are to blame. Not the creators of the games. It's called freedom of speech. You can't censor what already has a warning label on it [aka rating systems].