A Blow to Gaming Critics

[Dragoon Knight]

Just came across this article via a Gaming website.  It's one of the best responses to the uninformed and archaic views of a lot of gaming critics, that I have ever seen.  The tone is one that is rarely used by professionals who support gaming - they usually tend to reply in sensibly structured responses to the ramblings of people like Jack Thompson.  But to be honest, I think that these critics needed a good shouting-at (or a bollocking, as we Brits like to call it).

My favourite paragraph:

Gamers vote. Gamers buy newspapers. They won't vote for you, or buy your newspapers, if you trash their entertainment with your ignorant ravings. Call them social inadequates if you like, but when they have more friends in World of Warcraft than you have in your entire sad little booze-oriented culture of a real life, the most you'll get from them is pity.

Have a read of the entire article - it's not very long, but what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in righteous indignation.  Richard Bartle has made a lot of Gamers very proud. :)

[Acriku]

Hurrah! It's so true. The politicians of yesterday are still here today, and hope to be here tomorrow. Unfortunately for them, the voting population is being filtered into the people of today, who will not vote for yesterday's politician. This is especially the case in our US Congress, where old men who have no idea about the technology prevalent in the society they legislate muck about the terrors of the "tubes" (i.e. the internet).

[veK]

I wish this generation was already gone. Those endless debates about videogames are so ridculous. But hey UK, we got it even worse, because so many games are cut, censored or won't even be published in Germany. Or the publisher cuts it himself, puts it into the market and it still gets on a black list, even though it's an 18+ title. And just because politicians fail to do their job right and keep solve social problems instead of blaming videogames, violent movies and music.

Fortunately I don't care that much about it anymore. I'm still pissed off by many decisions but regarding games I don't care about the decisions because I just order UK or US versions of the games without paying postal fees. Besides... German versions often are translated and dubbed so I'd have to get an English Version anyway.

[Edric O]

Well, the truth is that there is no such thing as the "gamers' vote" because we, unlike idiots in the vein of Jack Thompson, understand that gaming is not the most important thing in life. I wouldn't vote for a politician just because he supports gaming, and neither would I vote against an otherwise good politician just because he opposes gaming.

But in 10-20 years we'll get politicians who grew up with the internet, so all of this will be history.

This is especially the case in our US Congress, where old men who have no idea about the technology prevalent in the society they legislate muck about the terrors of the "tubes" (i.e. the internet).

I once read a story about a US Senator who was over 100 years old in the year 2000 and listened to a speech by the Hungarian ambassador. After the speech, he took the ambassador aside and asked him, "when I was a child you and Austria were one country. When did you split up?"

[Khan]

Well, the truth is that there is no such thing as the "gamers' vote" because we, unlike idiots in the vein of Jack Thompson, understand that gaming is not the most important thing in life. I wouldn't vote for a politician just because he supports gaming, and neither would I vote against an otherwise good politician just because he opposes gaming.

Although as online communities grow and strengthen the people in them will become more similar to real communities, influencing others political thinking.

[Kokiri-Mentat]

Well, the truth is that there is no such thing as the "gamers' vote" because we, unlike idiots in the vein of Jack Thompson, understand that gaming is not the most important thing in life. I wouldn't vote for a politician just because he supports gaming, and neither would I vote against an otherwise good politician just because he opposes gaming.

I was thinking the same thing when reading that article.  But what happens when they start legislating the internet more and more?  I think internet users and gamers alike will be highly interested on a politicians views of both topics if and when the internet becomes a more highly legislated area.  DMR, intellectual property rights, copywrite laws, the patenting process (which needs a lot of help right now in the US), taxing internet currency (wow, second life, etc....), net-neutrality, etc....

Maybe not a gamers vote, but an internet user's vote could become a realistic thing in a decade or so...

I once read a story about a US Senator who was over 100 years old in the year 2000 and listened to a speech by the Hungarian ambassador. After the speech, he took the ambassador aside and asked him, "when I was a child you and Austria were one country. When did you split up?"

*jaw drops*

[Edric O]

Although as online communities grow and strengthen the people in them will become more similar to real communities, influencing others political thinking.

Yes, but I expect them to have the same range of opinion and disagreement as real communities. Not all the people in a real-life community or neighborhood vote the same way, so not all people in an online community should be expected to vote the same way either.

I was thinking the same thing when reading that article.  But what happens when they start legislating the internet more and more?  I think internet users and gamers alike will be highly interested on a politicians views of both topics if and when the internet becomes a more highly legislated area. DMR, intellectual property rights, copywrite laws, the patenting process (which needs a lot of help right now in the US), taxing internet currency (wow, second life, etc....), net-neutrality, etc....

Maybe not a gamers vote, but an internet user's vote could become a realistic thing in a decade or so...

Yes, I can see internet users taking on the extremely powerful corporate copyright lobby if things get too bad...