ARTE is the best! Very few TV stations come close. Direct to the point: check next friday's documentary on video games' violence.
Quake 3 Grunt - if you ever played this killer, you probably are a danger to other people... bha! What a bull!
He is not dead... you just scored. I am not being ironic; that is really the spirit on any 1st person shooter!
"fault-il avoir peur des jeux vidéo?" is the thema that the french-german TV ARTE will broadcast next friday, 19 May 2000. The thema highlights will be a german documentary (by Rainer Fromm and Peter Schran) and a LIVE discussion on the subject of video games and violence.
The documentary ("jeux vidéo: du joystick a la gachette") has some flaws, starting on its name, which certainly leads to the belief that its 60 minutes are all about video games... Well, they are not: in fact, most of the second half is a "case study" about the influence that "gang movies" have had on some "real gangs".
Most of the game footage the documentary uses, is taken from a LAN party, where players entertained themselves with Quake 3 Arena, Unreal Tournament, Delta Force, Tiberian Sun and "related" software, including the top gore Soldier of Fortune.
Quake 3 clips show the carnage that results from firing a close range missile at a friend; Unreal is often shown illustrating the devastating effects that a flak cannon can have on "your" health; Delta Force goes sniper, and (imagine!) the selected sequence for Command & Conquer like games, is a single soldier being pursuited by dozens of tanks and enemy troops - how perfect...
The documentary is kind of boring, but has plenty of formal quality, trying to listen everyone on the scene, except for the developers... cough cough... Unfortunately, you can feel that every single minute of video, and every single interview, tries to convince the viewers that there is a direct relation of any software (from TV episodes to games) with people's acts.
The gangs' episode is the most obvious effort of directly relating reality to fiction: the director presents you some bimbos who are a gang that goes hunting for violence, every night! This gang is a ~30 years fat black woman, a ~25 years old caucasian with a turkish mustache, and a bunch of they-almost-look-normal persons, male and female. They must be retards, as they spend an entire night provoking innocent dudes, though one of these dudes kicked the gang's leader to a bloody state :)
IMHO, there is no direct relation of any software / media with anyone's behavior. We are very complex individuals, mostly cultural, a bit genetic, but always a product of many years of (lack of) education on a particular context, meaning that everything we are / we do, comes from many (in)directions, thus can't be easily connoted with single episodes.
According to the documentary, because I play A LOT of "violent" games, I am more prone to be a real life killer than someone who never played PC. Yeah! Be afraid, be very afraid...
Please note that I LOVE (these kind of) documentaries, no matter if I agree with the message, or not! I think everything deserves a discussion and that it is great when the discussion is well directed - as it is the case - and broadcasted from a TOP QUALITY station, such as the ARTE / 5e (Cinquéme) network!
ARTE runs a superb website, that you should visit to keep yourself informed about their scheduled documentaries, movies, etc... ARTE is a rare example of high quality (free) television! In general, France has the best TV on europe, closely followed by the british; Italy, Spain and Germany have the very worst public / free television you can imagine.
Here is what ARTE writes about the upcoming documentary:
"Les ancêtres des jeux vidéo de combat s'appellent Doom ou Quake (actualisé dans sa version Quake 3) ; les plus récents ont pour nom Soldier's Fortune ou Kingpin. Tous fonctionnent sur le même schéma : il s'agit de tuer le plus grand nombre d'adversaires... avant qu'ils ne vous tuent. Certains de ces jeux violents sont classés dans la liste des publications dangereuses pour la jeunesse, ce qui n'empêche évidemment pas qu'ils soient les plus recherchés par les jeunes consommateurs. Et à nouveau se pose la question déjà soulevée par les films et la télévision : y a-t-il un lien direct entre la consommation de ces produits audiovisuels et l'augmentation de la violence réelle ?"
Two sentences I will not forget after the documentary:
#1) a young boy explains the world that, in some contexts, words don't mean what they regularly do: for example, when he says "I killed you", on any deathmatch, that just means "I am winning you" - it does not mean "I did you harm".
#2) a psychologist from some university argues about the "cyber" word; he says things are not that "cyber" any more... games are more real, every day. He is right.
Discuss video games and real life violence @ the forum. Check below for more discussions.
Current (11) subjects open for discussion are:
Video games and real life violence ; read more on 130500
Religion / Religião ; read more on 110500
Endangered Species / Espécies Ameaçadas ; read more on 070500
Digital Photos ; read more on 010500
The AOL + Time Warner merger ; read more on 280400
Internet Wars ; read more on 280400
25 April 1974 @ Portugal ; read more on 250400
Rally Masters ; read more on 240400
Kinsey + Pedophilia ; read more on 210400
Theme Park World ; read more on 190400
General Discussion ; post non specific stuff here
ARTE installations @ Strasbourg - the heart for many of Europe's finest television software!
Some even argue that playing Quake and its clones, can teach children how to handle real weapons! Gosh!, they must have a single cell brain!
When words are not enough some iconic expressions are welcome :)