Conservatives hoping to attract younger supporters with video games

This just after watching 'Jesus Camp', it's too much to bare right now.

Yeesh, Tuxy I feel bad for you. That's a nasty friggin' combo.

I don't understand why everyone thinks republicans are the ones who hate video games. Sure, they complain about things in games like mature content, but there also the ones who say it's the parents responsibility to monitor this stuff. Democrats like hiliary clinton are the ones who want to completely ban them. So which is worse?

I'm pretty sure I dislike anyone who hates video games whether they are republican or democrat

@offday:

I think it has less to do with party affiliation and more to do where someone stands socially on the political spectrum. The movement against video games is typically thought of as led by "Social Conservatives", people who think government should enforce traditional behaviors and values. "Social Liberals" typically prefer a hands off approach, people can take care of themselves and what they do is none of my business.

Lots of Democrats and Republicans mix and match. There are Republicans are Social Liberals (Bob Barr), and Democrats that are Social Conservatives (Hillary).

So yes, not the Republicans fault, but typically a movement associated with Conservatism.

And it's not just that – I just don't think any of us wants to be preached to about a certain ideology while we're playing games.

Games that give you choices on how to proceed, like Black & White, Deus Ex, Mass Effect, etc. are more popular anyway. What fun would it be if you are only rewarded for taking the most conservative route possible?

As well, do gamers want to delve into issues like abortion and gay marriage while they're playing games?

Somehow, I doubt it.

Hypocrisy is the Conservative's creed. They will do anything, say anything to get their way. After their done with the 'under 30 crowd' they will write laws to give more freedom to corperations and then try to censor games even more.

Haha- that post is why no one takes Republicans seriously. There's just so much that fundamentally isn't true and is otherwise a complete fabrication in what you said, Zach that... I wouldn't know where do begin if I wanted.

But by all means... keep believing what you want to believe.

Well, it's pretty obvious that you don't want to start. Still, prove any of it wrong. Go on. This render for school has quite a bit of time left.

Never trust a rich man who says he's your friend.

I don't care what party he says he's from

Am I the only one that sees this in a possitive light. An administration that uses Video Games to gain political power can't take an extream stance against video games the media would crucify them. To some extent this is them giving up on any form of anti-videogame agenda because they realize how prevelent it is in our society...... Don't you guys get it...... WE WON!!!

Janeane Garofalo everybody! Give her a hand...

@Victoryismine

Why not? No one is held accountable for the platform they ran on, that's just a tool to get them into office at which point everyone magically forgets what they were told a few months ago and they end up doing whatever they feel like.

@Zack
I'm with you. I find it sad that you seem to have been downvoted simply due to political bias. If you forget your political bias most of the decissions that our governmnets made over the past few years concerning the economy have been pretty useless. The funny thing is that no body seems to be learning. Japan went thru a similar situation over 10 years ago and they took a similar "government Bailout" approach and it cripled their economy and they're really just now recovering.

Thanks for the advise on Mass Effect 2 I am in Costa Rica now on buisness and plan on picking it up when I return.... only had room for one console and with the release of heavy rain while I'm here I chose the PS3.

I personally don't have time to go through and actually prove how wrong EVERYTHING you said is, so I'll just pick one for now:

The unemployment rate.
It was not at 4% when Obama took office; it hasn't been at 4% since 2000, when CLINTON was President. It was 7.6% in January 2009, Bush's final month in office.
Furthermore, you comparing the U3 unemployment number for Bush and Republicans to the U6 unemployment number to Obama and the Democrats (which is where you're getting the 17%). The U3 number has ALWAYS been the official unemployment number. If you start going by the U6 number, it's been that high for a loooong time.
Intellectually dishonest of you, don't you think?

Oh wait. I can back up what I say:
http://www.davemanuel.com/2009/03/06/the-real-unemployment-rate-is-much-worse-than-81/
http://www.bls.gov/cps/
http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?series_id=LNS14000000


Also, if you believe this:
"spending more in one year that every single president ever in the United States COMBINED"

There really is no point in arguing with you. I've had too much experience discussing this kind of stuff with people who say ludicrous claims like this. It's always a waste of my time. You've made up your mind and no matter how many facts I show you, you'll refuse to believe me.
Good luck, though.

@Vcize
I'm not saying that they would promote Video games or Video game Violence. in fact they would probably take the approach of video games are fine but violence in video games is not. And while I don't agree with that it's still a step in the right direction for creating a more positive political view for the community of gamers as a whole. As much as people may think that video games are mainstream thanks to the wii, That only really applys to consumers and some of the media. Video Games haven't had much of an impact or possitive light in polotics. This is just a sign of it's acceptance on a much grander level. That's all I'm trying to get at.... I really don't think that we have "won" everyone just seemed to take to one extream view and it didn't really seem necessary.

@Samfish:

I believe this chart clearly illustrates your point about the deficit:

http://www.cbpp.org/images/cms//12-16-09bud-f1.jpg

I find it hilarious that Republicans are complaining about a deficit when Bush inherited a surplus and created most of the debt we have today, not to even mention Reagan's deficit spending.

Zach, apparently you are having a fundamental problem with how logic works. You don't make any claims you want and then make other people prove them wrong. That's not logical. You need to prove your claims outright. If I said "There are giraffes in space, prove me wrong" you would not be able to. It's nearly impossible to prove even the most outrageous of claims absolutely false. On the other hand, it's perfectly plausible to prove those claims right IF they are true. So, have at it!

Of course, I can prove you wrong on numerous issues anyway:

The tax cut in the stimulus bill, which amounted to the single largest one-year tax cut in American history, benefited 93% of Americans:

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/background/stimulus/ARRA_individual.cfm

You say they ignored Republicans, except that the stimulus bill was 30% tax cuts, and it grew to that percentage in an effort to bring Republicans over. The healthcare bill includes every single thing Republicans asked for, including breaking down state barriers for buying insurance, tort reform, allowing small groups of individuals to pool together the way large groups can, giving the states more control over healthcare, and doesn't include a public plan. They just keep saying those things aren't in there, but they are. I can post the pages if you want.

Every single industrialized, first-world nation on the planet has universal health care. If our system was proven to be so successful, there would be large movements to get our healthcare system in those countries. There isn't. We have the highest infant mortality, the lowest average age of death, the highest cost per capita, and the highest rates of almost every major disease amongst those countries. We have the highest cost per capita even though we leave tens of millions of people OUT. We are the ONLY first-world industrialized nation that accepts the idea that children should die if their parents don't have health insurance. Is it a surprise nobody else wants this? No.

Let's be clear, in 2001 the CBO was estimating budget surpluses of $850B in 2009. Before Obama took office, that had changed that estimate to over $1.5 deficits, so it's really rich of people like you to start whining about spending now. If Bush had done things correctly, Obama would have walked into a massive surplus. Oh wait, I'm sorry, we can't blame anything on Dear Leader Bush or you guys get upset and take your toys home. God forbid your Dear Leader actually has to take responsibility for his actions!

When Obama took office, the Federal Budget was around 2.8T. The Federal budget for 2010 is around $3.5T.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0873746.html

Well, that's a pretty big leap, but it's nowhere near Obama spending more in a year than everyone else combined. In fact, the 2010 budget is only about 25% higher than the 2008 budget. Again, big leap, but if you add any two years of Bush together, they come in well over the 2010 budget, so you are either ignorant or a liar.

But wait, that's not the whole story! Those numbers all include entitlement spending, which the President has very little control over, so let's cut that out. If we do that, the 2010 Federal Discretionary Budget is left, which is $1.4T. In 2008, this was $1.1T and in 2009 this was $1.2T.

But wait, that's not the whole story! 2010 is the first year we are counting the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as part of the budget. Bush didn't like to do that. I'm sure he had a good reason. If we add in war spending, the 2008 budget comes in around $1.3T and the 2009 budget comes in around $1.4T.

Oh no, Obama raised by budget by 7%... the sky is falling... everyone run... it's the end of the world... the economy is going to collapse... the end is nigh! the end is nigh! Reagan raised the budget by more. Give me a break.

Almost all of that information can be found on Death and Taxes' graphics of the Federal Budget. They are very useful.

Your numbers for unemployment are fake. You are using the standard unemployment to get your 4% number and the U-6 unemployment to get 17%. U-6 is a very unreliable number because it includes everyone unemployed and NOT looking for work.

The Republicans had the power to do whatever they wanted with Fannie and Freddie while they were in total control for six years. Nothing was stopping them. Fannie and Freddie is a failure of the entire government, but let's be realistic: It is not and never was that important. Neither bank ever gave out a single subprime loan.

The subprime loan business was in full swing loooooong before 2007, so that's just random drivel. The banking catastrophe is, again, a failure of both parties.

Pretty much everything else you said was broad, random, conspiracy theorist allegations, so there isn't much i can do to prove it wrong. It's inanity and ignorance speaks for itself.

In conclusion, read a book.

Err, Samfish? Not gonna lie, man, but it looks like you're actually backing up my unemployment claims rather than discounting them.

Hell, the chart in the third link says as much. Maybe I exaggerated a bit when I said 4%, but the true numbers were still microscopic compared to what they are today.

Maybe it's just my non-intellectual conservative mind hamster running at half speed, but it looks like you just proved me right.


I still stand by the national debt claim too. And no, I'm not gonna post links to back it up. It's far too amusing to watch knee-jerk liberals jump through hoops when poked in the eye. I've dealt with plenty of insane (from my point of view, naturally) liberal claims peppered with insults on messageboards over the years, so today I'm playing the same game.

OMG Zach, its almost like you didn't read anyone elses comments. What a surpise.

I proved your point? Riiiight.

Let's recap:
• You said unemployment was at 4% before Obama took office/Democrats t ook over the government.
• You said unemployment was at 17% currently.

I, as well as n1nesp1ne, proved to you that not only was unemployment not at 4% (it was at 5%-6% for most of Bush's term in office and started climbing in '07), but ALSO that you were using a seperate metric unrelated to the mystic 4% number to calculate that 17%.

No. I did not prove your point. I showed you how you were completely and utterly incorrect. How you took being proven 100% wrong to mean, "I'm right!" is beyond me, but then again, that strain of thinking seems to be dominant in Republican/teabagger circles. I never said the country does not have high unemployment. It's high, but that isn't the Democrat's fault...and it damn sure isn't 17%.

Oh, and one more thing...

"I still stand by the national debt claim too. And no, I'm not gonna post links to back it up. It's far too amusing to watch knee-jerk liberals jump through hoops when poked in the eye. I've dealt with plenty of insane (from my point of view, naturally) liberal claims peppered with insults on messageboards over the years, so today I'm playing the same game."

We've been fairly respectful to you. The fact that we've tried to engage with you on a substantive, informational and intellectual level – only to have to openly refuse to do the same (because you damn sure KNOW you can't refute what you've been told) – speaks volumes about you and, quite honestly, the overwhelming majority of people who consider themselves 'conservative' these days.

Hey, hey! There *are* some smart conservatives too! There are ones like me who are actually able to tell the difference between facts and chain-email-bullshit. But just like pretty much every group of any kind out there, we have our idiots who stand out from the rest of us, just 'cause they're idiots. Please don't think that this dumbshit represents the majority of conservatives.

1st reaction - Kudos for the most uncomfortable forum to play games in. Only the Repubs. Honestly, I'd rather play Dante's Inferno in the Vatican than suffer this.

Actually that would prolly be pretty sweet. I wonder if I would be inclined to redeem more than punish with the Pope watching.

2nd reaction - I am now currently waiting for their panel of models and porn starlets and beer sponsorships to make their debut in less than 15 months MARK MY WORDS

LOVE DA POLICE, DONT CHALLENGE AUTHORITY, JOIN THE ARMY - YO!

Hahahahahahaha, I was coming just to post the same thing! I bet it's censored.

They're the only consoles that came in white...

Ugh, and I promised I'd avoid political Joystiq posts. Sorry =(

Award for best comment.

hahahahaha best comment ever

Granger

+1

BAHAHAHAHA. Granger, I promised I'd never comment period. Best. Comment. Ever. See? I even did the dramatic period-after-every-word technique, so you KNOW it's real.

@Granger

+infinite

Best comment ever on a gaming blog.

Granger, it really can't be said enough: masterful. Fantastic. Hats off. Go buy yourself a delicious, delicious cookie. You've earned it.

Attention granger's genitial massagers of both sex(mostly males), no one cares about your posted comment. DWilli, stop trying to insert your "laughs" into the internet. It's bad enough when internet-noobs attempts to do it by spamming "LOL" and emoticon. Saying +number has lost its potential due to many losers that spams all the frickin time. Why should we care about numbers, and who started it? Probably the same idiot that started the "you get a cookie" thing. Seriously, what the hell... Not only it lost its potential, but it's just plain stupid. Wow, he gets a focking cookie, that's special... childrens see cookie as LSD. Whatever happened to pie? Pie > cookie. Hell, why not Pizza? This isn't funny, reading text on the internet isn't an acid trip, dang it.

Also, when will you people are going to say "flamers", instead of "trolls"? "troll" has already lost it's potential.

X-PAC!

Think you can tell us what to do?






God, I hate myself for remembering that...

memories.

::bass synth::

::Rage Against The Machine wannabe singer:: "XXXXXXXXXXXXX-PAWWWWWWWWWWWWK!!!"

::black guy:: "X-PAC!"

SUCK IT.

Meant should be, stupid tiny iPod keyboard.

What's extra hilarious to me is that your tiny iPod and all of video gaming as a whole wouldn't exist without conservatism and capitalism. I'm sure you have no idea why they wouldn't, though.