Anti-gaming Times columnist gets 'Coopered' on Amazon

lol, beat me to it.

Well, you may have a case with "mob scene" but "lambasted" has nothing to do with the amount of people doing it.

I'm also kind of assuming that (like Lawrence) Amazon deleted some. Also, it's not just this book: http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Continental-Blowing-Through-Central/dp/0575400072/ref=tag_dpp_lp_edpp_ttl_in

Hahaha I'm laughing way too hard at the reviews suggesting investing your money in more useful things, like video games, smack and teen pregnancies.

Good point Justin. I bet that guy is paying someone to monitor that page lol

Well I stand corrected, rather than one book they're attacking his whole catalog, lol. I've really enjoyed the rise of reader reviews and reader comments on books, articles and so on. Needless to say the reader comments posted on the local fishwrap's article entitled "When it comes to sex, length (of time) matters: Sex therapists say 3-13 minutes is best" were pretty priceless.

Keep in mind that Amazon may also be deleting these reviews. They did the same thing with Cooper's book as well.

It went up to 16!

Amazon comments proportionate good amounts of lulz thanks to their epic failure.

Lol @ the guy recommending kotaku as a traveling guide.

WTF was up with that WoW comment.

I had a real goofy grin on my face reading that.

Probably because it's also an English thing. Give it time to make it's way around the forums in Blighty and it'll be near enough the same. I heartily invite all those across the sea to come & review the book, as I will be doing once I get out of the work firewall!

lol u like that Nigeria? I just felt like pissin soem people off. However, I really WOULD play a Hello Kitty MMO before I play WoW.

But please, let's not forget that we can be, nay, should aspire to be preggo druggie teenage gamers.

You don't remember the Cooper Lawrence Incident. She badmouthed mass effect on Fox News, gamers rated her book into the ground using her exact words from the news story, and she later stated a retraction for what she said about the game.

Its the gamers form of protest.

I remember Cooper, and I didn't think one starring her book was appropriate then, either. In fact, I believe it might have given her even more publicity, aiding her quest to sell more books. Though, I don't believe the result will be the same in this case.

You are right: it is a form of protest. It's easy and relatively anonymous. But it's a little juvenile. Not that I disagree with juvenility: I'm just saying.

It doesn't even look like the book is still in print. I really don't think these bad reviews are going to effect him in any way.

Anyway I'm with Nigeria on this one. I'm not sure I see the point, really. Cooper's book was new and she in the midst of promoting it, so she really felt the sting. But I don't think it should be some universal form of protest, because at some point you just start doing a disservice to other people (those genuinely interested in buying the book) and then they just come away thinking "Yeah, these gamers really are a nuisance." and that kind of defeats the purpose.

Well Nigeria, I really do not have a Tiananmen square to go stand in front of Giles Whittel-esque tanks so i'm gonna 1 star the shit out of his books, if only we all could be good model citizens...

God dammit! Sorry, that was a reply to Nigeria.

I just made it up (clever, I know) I hope it blows up.

I knew I Facebooked you for a reason.

Is anyone else having trouble with subject/direct object relationships in this comment? I read through it three times and still have no fucking idea who "the idiots", "he", and "these retards" are.

born2kill,am I supposed to be in support of your tirade or offended by it? I just don't know...

You really must not understand language to understand that he was directly comparing gaming to teen pregnancy and heroin, without actually saying so.

The idiot here is you.

For example. He could have said "Being told to ... before passing judgement feels like being told to immerse myself in hunting and bowling."

If he had the meaning you say he had, a comment like this would have sufficed. But he chose "smack and teen pregnancy" because they are 2 undesirable aspects of society that he wanted his readers to equate to gaming in their minds.

He deserves to be roasted for his comments.

Thank you Crono, that clears things up. :)

Well I will agree with "comment on anything they are not immersed in (ie. the war in iraq) they get beaten to death with this guys books." but I dont think these people (ie. Giles Whittell bashers) are retarded.

stop reading, and attack!

@Farseer.. The idiots are the ones who are 'coopering' this guy without even knowing what he's said. They read blogs like this and assume hes another jack thompson whos saying games=drugs=teen pregnancy, which is not at all whats he's said.

@Crono.. #1 dont call me an idiot, you ignorant pussy. #2 He made a very specific point of saying his criticism were not that games were wrong or bad. READ THE DAM ARTICLE #3 He can use whatever analogy he wants to make his point that there are certain subjects that society comments on all the time, which they are not immersed in. #4 Its fine to defend gaming, but alot of mindless, asshole gamers are getting carried away and theyre getting very dogmatic over shit they have no clue about.

No, you're still an idiot.

Call me a pussy again. Well get this thread to stretch to page 2.

Oh, and you're being far to literal in your interpretation of his editorial. Read my first comment to you again, slowly. He chose to compare video games to smack and teen pregnancy to draw a direct correlation in the minds of his readers. He also left a lame disclaimer that ignorant folks like you are taking to be his true meanings, when his editorial clearly dictates differently.

Ooooh, buuuuuuuurn.

Epic contests of who gets the last word FTW!!!

5 pages I say!

yep Born2kill isn't getting it

smack is a definite known bad thing to do and so is teen preggers (usually) and so he's right to say that he doesn't need to immerse himself in those things to know that they are bad. but to lump all video games into the 'known bad' pile isn't the same thing. it's like saying he doesn't need to read a book to know that all books are bad. it's different, it's ignorant and it's wrong. however, it is his opinion which technically can't be wrong but he sure can get lambasted because of it.

@Crono... So youre not happy because you think he's comparing games to heroin and teen pregnancy, which obviously you feel are not very positive. How do you know that heroin and teen pregnancy are not the greatest, most awesome things ever??? Have you been a heroin junkie yourself? Have you been a pregnant teen? If either of those answers are no, and you still have a negative view of heroin/teen pregnancy then you know exactly what hes saying. You dont need live something in order to comment on it. And if you actually read the whole article, you would clearly see that he was not saying anything bad about gaming, beyond the fact that it consumes alot of time (which it f'n does).

If you want argue that games don't necessarily take as much time away from real life as he's claiming, thats fine; but youre not going to say that hes saying that games are harmful/dangerous as drugs, because he specifically says that is not true...period

@born2kill

i read the article and I still think you're off base.

'waste of time' is a completely subjective thing to say - one person's waste of time is another's nectar of life. I don't want to read the Harry Potter books but I would never say that people who do are wasting their time.

you really think he arbitrarily chose smack and teen preggers? and you think he's right to imply that the entire realm of video games go in the 'known bad' pile like these 2 specific activities? it's a horrible analogy he's made because it exposes his enormous ignorance on the subject. sure, he doesn't need to immerse himself in smack to know it's bad, but he needs to at least know what smack is.

If you can't understand that he's utilizing a psychological technique to lead his readers to equate smack and teen pregnancy with games, then there's really nothing more to be said. Its irrelevant that he's put a disclaimer in there to save face when he's proven wrong, the tag line people are going to remember and be impacted by is the teen pregnancy one.

#1 Its meant to be subjective, its his editorial. If he were a scientist claiming that his objective research shows games are a waste of time, then you could call him out on it. #2 Its a fair analogy if you read the sentence which follows it, where he says games are not themselves the problem; just that the time spent on games is being misused. If you substitue games with reading harry potter books, going to church (IMO), replying to blogs, etc. etc. the point remains that it diverts time away from the real world, which he loves and wants his children to get the most out of. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with those sentiments. #3 My cousin, who is a HUGE gamer and is anything but ignorant has told long ago, then when he has kids, hes not getting them into games either because they have taken tons of time away from his childhood. He goes snowboarding, scubadiving, parachuting frequently now, which he never did when he was obsessed with goldeneye back in the days. So its a very fair opinion, which this columnist is getting harrased for holding.

ok, so some people consider snowboarding a waste of time. would you say that snowboarding is a waste of time just like doing heroin without ever having tried snowboarding? and if you did, you wouldn't expect that snowboarders might take offense at such foolishness?

the analogy is made worse by the next sentence. He's making a comparison of a generalization to a specific activity - ALL video games are a waste of time like doing smack. let's say I play a video game version of chess where it's proven to improve certain brain functions... hmmm, the analogy breaks down pretty quickly once you find a positive use for video games - there was a study a while back that showed surgeons become better at their job after playing video games. to say that no good use can come from video games is as ignorant as it gets.

wait, oh now i get it, you're just arguing for the sake of argument. moving along, nothing to see here.

This is truly retarded.

Let me say this again, the man likes the 'real' world and taking part in activities therein. He doesnt think games are bad/wrong, just that they consume a hell of alot of time (3 hours/day on avg.) from kids that could be spent in the non-virtual world. Therefore its perfectly understandable that he takes the position that activites like games, drugs, etc. are a waste, because they can really distract kids from real life. He doesnt need to be immersed in gaming to know that, anymore than you need to watch paint dry for 3 hours a day to know its boring. And besides that, I know people (like my cousin) who hold the same position and have been immersed in gaming. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with what hes said, nor his creditials to say it. Being offended by it is extremely ignorant, immature, and overly defensive.

Now: 'move along, nothing to see here'

>> This is truly retarded.

right, because to disagree with you is completely out of the question.

>> He doesnt think games are bad/wrong, just that they consume a hell of alot of time (3 hours/day on avg.) from kids that could be spent in the non-virtual world.

ok first of all he says it's a 'waste' of time, not just 'comsume' a lot of time - all the 'real world' activities he likes also consume a lot of time. if something is a waste of time, it means that there is nothing positive to be gained. this point he makes exposes his ignorance to the fact that a video game (or an activity derived from the technology) can actually have positive effects on you which makes those activities not a waste of time regardless of how much time they take.

secondly, he's talking about ALL video games and ALL video game players (hint: he's stereotyping). this also points to his ignorance because not all video games take a long time or are distracting to 'real world' activities. I know lots of people who play video games AND go snowboarding - wow, how can you possibly do both? forget the fact that if I sit down and play tetris for 10mins, I've somehow consumed and wasted a colossal amount time. the picture he paints is of the extreme game addict - yes those people have a problem but they are the fringe, not the norm which shows his ignorance of gamers.

thirdly, he's comparing a generalization to specific activities so the analogy doesn't have legs. also, it doesn't matter that he says 'games aren't bad' or even that 'smack isn't bad', that's a deflection. for his broken analogy to work, he had to pick truly awful activities to illustrate his point that he doesn't need to learn about those things to know they have a bad affect (yes, he really does mean that a waste of time is a bad thing).

fourth, "immersed for decades at a time"? do y ou know anyone who has been immersed for decades at a time? this means that for 10+ years, someone has done nothing but games. There have been a couple of people who sort of tried this and they died after about 100 hours.

the guy is a toolbag and clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. Why would you defend his ignorance? I understand defending his right to his opinion, but is ignorance is harmful, deliberately closed-minded and misleading to others who are as ignorant as he is (hint: there's a lot of them).

>> Being offended by it is extremely ignorant, immature, and overly defensive.

i'm not offended by his opinion, I'm offended by his ignorance on the subject - a subject I know a lot more about than he does. He put his statements out in the wild for everyone to see and comment on, tell me again why we shouldn't comment on it?