Despite the outcry, the majority of July's best-selling games weren't violent

[midian182]

In brief: With politicians once again blaming violent video games for the recent mass shootings, and Walmart removing signs for these titles from its stores, some might believe that the best-selling games right now consist mostly of mature-rated titles, but that isn’t the case.

Following the El Paso and Dayton shootings on August 3 and August 4, certain politicians pointed the finger of blame at violent video games. Their demonization continued when it was revealed Walmart would be removing “signing and displays referencing violence,” which includes demos and ads promoting violent games.

Thinknum decided to take a look at the best-selling games from Walmart, GameStop, and Amazon in the weeks leading up to the shootings to see if there were an abundance of violent titles. It found that out of the 30 top games from all three retailers, just seven had ESRB ‘Mature’ ratings.

Walmart had four Mature games in its July top 10. These included the older Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Battlefield 1, which climbed into the charts because of their discounts. GameStop only had one—Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which hasn’t yet been released—while Amazon’s only ‘violent’ games were Fallout 76 and The Last of Us Remastered.

Much of the charts were made up of sports games, family-friendly Nintendo offerings, and other titles with ‘Everyone’ ESRB ratings.

As noted by Digital Trends, while NPD's top-selling video games of the year to date do contain the likes of Mortal Kombat 11, Resident Evil 2, and CoD: Black Ops III, many softer titles including Kingdom Hearts III and MLB 19: The Show make the list. Additionally, its June chart is weighted more heavily toward non-violent titles.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/81436-despite-outcry-majority-july-best-selling-games-werent.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Hey, I'm all for the "hello kitty" software for the kids but I think the adult version still needs to have a few AK-47's and grenades ......

 

[Jeff Re]

There wasn't an outcry about non-violent games.

 

[Hexic]

Hey, I'm all for the "hello kitty" software for the kids but I think the adult version still needs to have a few AK-47's and grenades ......

Hello Kitty Island Adventure: Reloaded

 

[QuantumPhysics]

In order to prove that violent video games don't cause violence, we point to July's sales of Hello Kitty!

Gun ACCESS is the real issue. Not games. Not movies. Not music.

In places with no guns there is no gun violence. Fact.

I lived in China. Having an illegal gun was virtually a death sentence.

And before someone screams "oh yeah well that was a police state with no rights", I'll have you look at the Clinton Crime Bill and "omnipresence" of the police - along side the assault weapons ban which dramatically decreased crime when they were fully enforced.

And before someone screams "Oh but semi-auto rifles aren't assault rifles" I will reply, the sale of semi automatic rifles increased during this time period and now there are more than 5 million of them floating around waiting to be used in a mass murder.

And before someone says: "Oh well gun control doesn't work in Chicago"...I'll say that gun control only effects law abiding citizens and the unlawful will get guns - even if they steal them - illegally - and use them against unarmed citizens. Minority areas were purposefully disarmed to leave them at the mercy of the police and that is the reason minority homeowners are so at risk of minority criminals whom they live among.

And please don't say: " I need my gun to protect me from tyrannical government".

The US Government has the technology and the training to blow even the most well trained militia men in the country to Mars. Show me the militia man who's ready for an air strike or "Seal Team 6" when they pull up and demand you hand over your guns.

They'll ask just once.

After that you'll end up on Youtube memorials.

 

[lipe123]

Why does it even need defending?

People in the rest of the world play violent games just as much as americans, the weird thing is that they don't go out and shoot everything they feel like.

Must be region locked DLC content that violent games make americans violent? ********ing stupid politicians, I mean NRA employees.

 

[m4a4]

In places with no guns there is no gun violence. Fact.

And I stopped reading here. Technically right, but you conveniently don't bother bringing up what other violence has gone up. Which means that point (like always) means nothing when looking at the whole picture.

You people always use that logical fallacy and pretend that because there's no gun violence, those violent people just stop being violent...

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Technically right, .

And I stopped reading here.


Violence always exists. The WIND is violent - Wind kills people annually - thousands of them.

WATER kills hundreds of thousands of them.

 

[m4a4]

Technically right, .

And I stopped reading here.


Violence always exists. The WIND is violent - Wind kills people annually - thousands of them.

WATER kills hundreds of thousands of them.

That's what I thought. You people never want to be honest against the point I made because it doesn't fit your narrative.

 

[ShagnWagn]

In order to prove that violent video games don't cause violence, we point to July's sales of Hello Kitty!

Gun ACCESS is the real issue. Not games. Not movies. Not music.

In places with no guns there is no gun violence. Fact.

I lived in China. Having an illegal gun was virtually a death sentence.

And before someone screams "oh yeah well that was a police state with no rights", I'll have you look at the Clinton Crime Bill and "omnipresence" of the police - along side the assault weapons ban which dramatically decreased crime when they were fully enforced.

And before someone screams "Oh but semi-auto rifles aren't assault rifles" I will reply, the sale of semi automatic rifles increased during this time period and now there are more than 5 million of them floating around waiting to be used in a mass murder.

And before someone says: "Oh well gun control doesn't work in Chicago"...I'll say that gun control only effects law abiding citizens and the unlawful will get guns - even if they steal them - illegally - and use them against unarmed citizens. Minority areas were purposefully disarmed to leave them at the mercy of the police and that is the reason minority homeowners are so at risk of minority criminals whom they live among.

And please don't say: " I need my gun to protect me from tyrannical government".

The US Government has the technology and the training to blow even the most well trained militia men in the country to Mars. Show me the militia man who's ready for an air strike or "Seal Team 6" when they pull up and demand you hand over your guns.

They'll ask just once.

After that you'll end up on Youtube memorials.

Ah, another liberal who wants to force us into their control. Nope. So, we should put stickers up where you don't want guns? Because ya know, people that break the law will follow [your] law? /facepalm. Take your forced ideas to some other solar system.

"now there are more than 5 million of them floating around waiting to be used in a mass murder." lmao. Because ya know, there aren't billions of guns already. /facepalm

I could go on and on, but you are hard-headed and don't care about anyone else's opinion but your own. A waste of our time to point you to common sense.

Why don't you start with banning violence/guns from Hollywood and music first? See how far you get.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Why does it even need defending?

People in the rest of the world play violent games just as much as americans, the weird thing is that they don't go out and shoot everything they feel like.

Must be region locked DLC content that violent games make americans violent? ********ing stupid politicians, I mean NRA employees.

#1 Many of them would but CAN'T - because they lack the access to guns.

#2 Many of them could but wouldn't - because their lives are not so "angry" or "hateful" that they'd feel the need to.

The issue of gun violence in America can not be deaggregated from racism in America.

Racism in America created those minority ghettos through segregation enforced by law.

Racism in America began gun control itself to keep guns out of the hands of freed slaves in order to ensure they'd be at the mercy of racist police and hate groups.

Racism in America masquerading as "nationalism" has been cited numerous times from the Oklahoma city bombing till recent mass murders targeting specific groups: ie Mexicans.

Meanwhile, you don't see this level or trend of violence in many homogeneous countries where the people actually have their basic needs met and care about each other.

Jails in other countries that rehabilitate rather than persecute.

America is an armed populace now of sociopaths who have murder fantasies.

"If someone breaks in my house, I've got my .45 and AR ready for them".

Ask Byron Smith.

 

[ckm88]

Don't forget, that the games have "fantasy violence"!

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Ah, another liberal who wants to force us into their control. Nope. So, we should put stickers up where you don't want guns? Because ya know, people that break the law will follow [your] law? /facepalm. Take your forced ideas to some other solar system.

"now there are more than 5 million of them floating around waiting to be used in a mass murder." lmao. Because ya know, there aren't billions of guns already. /facepalm

I could go on and on, but you are hard-headed and don't care about anyone else's opinion but your own. A waste of our time to point you to common sense.

Why don't you start with banning violence/guns from Hollywood and music first? See how far you get.

Your meme is ridiculous.

Cops are out there enforcing DWI and DUI.

Either will get you arrested, a huge penalty/ license revoked.

 

[Hexic]

#1 Many of them would but CAN'T - because they lack the access to guns.

#2 Many of them could but wouldn't - because their lives are not so "angry" or "hateful" that they'd feel the need to.

The issue of gun violence in America can not be deaggregated from racism in America.

Racism in America created those minority ghettos through segregation enforced by law.

Racism in America began gun control itself to keep guns out of the hands of freed slaves in order to ensure they'd be at the mercy of racist police and hate groups.

Racism in America masquerading as "nationalism" has been cited numerous times from the Oklahoma city bombing till recent mass murders targeting specific groups: ie Mexicans.

Meanwhile, you don't see this level or trend of violence in many homogeneous countries where the people actually have their basic needs met and care about each other.

Jails in other countries that rehabilitate rather than persecute.

America is an armed populace now of sociopaths who have murder fantasies.

"If someone breaks in my house, I've got my .45 and AR ready for them".

Ask Byron Smith.

This entire response was full of subjective, cherry-picked narratives that don’t look at the actual issue, instead it focuses on an elementary method of problem solving.

Just because the populace of other countries don’t have access to guns doesn’t mean they can’t go out and stab/run over/physically assault others in its place when considering video game links to violence. Cherry picking.

The “they don’t need to because they aren’t as angry and hateful” as Americans are isn’t even a response.. that’s so opinionated it can’t be taken seriously. Subjective.

Racism is significantly deeper-seeded than you are alluding to, and gun control isn’t the foci in any way, shape, or form. Not where where you get your information, but it’s wrong.

“Nationalism via hate groups” being perpetuated by criminals (I.e. OKC bombings) and therefore insinuating nationalism is the cause is judging an entire population by a very tiny amount of outliers, who don’t represent the general populace at all - is once more, subjective and strawman.

Our jails also rehabilitate, another incorrect statement.

America being full of armed sociopaths... can’t be used in any serious debate. It’s a childish statement that’s lashing out instead of making a case.

And if someone breaks into your house, they have ill intentions, and (based on state law) the home owner has the right to defend their house. You don’t have to agree with it, but that’s the way it is.

I heavily encourage you to watch the new Netflix documentary named Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom. The audience really gets a personal, gritty picture of what happens to an unarmed society when government corruption spawns and begins imposing martial laws. And this happened in the last 7 years. Governments are very, very hesitant to get anywhere near authoritarian with an armed population that threatens their existence. The excuse that the military can beat everyone in the US back in an armed revolution is blatantly false.

There is no simple solution, imposing EU policies won’t work for a myriad of reasons, and this issue isn’t as simple as you think it is.

 

[gusticles41]

In places with no guns there is no gun violence. Fact.

You people always use that logical fallacy and pretend that because there's no gun violence, those violent people just stop being violent...

If I go crazy and want to kill as many people as possible, I'm going to the gun counter and walking out with an assault rifle. Not the knife section for a machete. Dude in Dayton killed 9 and wounded 27 in 30 seconds. Aside from a homemade bomb in a crowd, name another legal weapon/device that could do that?

"Liberal agenda" mostly consists of REASONABLE and LOGICAL checks and balances to restrict access to high powered weapons. No one's going to knock on your door demanding you throw your guns in a shredder. Preach about the 2nd amendment all you want, but I want you to have to prove you're worthy of owning that deadly weapon.

 

[gusticles41]

Ah, another liberal who wants to force us into their control. Nope. So, we should put stickers up where you don't want guns? Because ya know, people that break the law will follow [your] law? /facepalm. Take your forced ideas to some other solar system.

"now there are more than 5 million of them floating around waiting to be used in a mass murder." lmao. Because ya know, there aren't billions of guns already. /facepalm

I could go on and on, but you are hard-headed and don't care about anyone else's opinion but your own. A waste of our time to point you to common sense.

Why don't you start with banning violence/guns from Hollywood and music first? See how far you get.

This is the dumbest, most narrow-sighted meme you could pick. A gun has one sole purpose - to kill. Cars are tools of transportation which can have undesired side effects of killing.

 

[wiyosaya]

Meanwhile, you don't see this level or trend of violence in many homogeneous countries where the people actually have their basic needs met and care about each other.

IMO, this is what it comes down to. Lack of guns alone will not quell violence, but people having their needs met and caring about each other, will, IMO, go a long, long way towards the end of violence.

http://sacred-economics.com/

 

[QuantumPhysics]

IMO, this is what it comes down to. Lack of guns alone will not quell violence, but people having their needs met and caring about each other, will, IMO, go a long, long way towards the end of violence.

http://sacred-economics.com/

THANK YOU

And thanks to everyone else who sees the reality of this gun violence.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

This is the dumbest, most narrow-sighted meme you could pick. A gun has one sole purpose - to kill. Cars are tools of transportation which can have undesired side effects of killing.

THANK YOU.

 

[ShagnWagn]

This is the dumbest, most narrow-sighted meme you could pick. A gun has one sole purpose - to kill. Cars are tools of transportation which can have undesired side effects of killing.

This is the most narrow-sighted false claim you could pick. For you, a gun has one sole purpose - for you personally to kill someone. I use them for target practice and recreation. Care to try again?

lol@QuantumPhysic's "thank you"

 

[gollum21]

I've been playing mainstream violent video games since I was 12 (not that I think 12 year olds should be playing them). But I've never felt inspired by them to go shoot or harm people in real life. I've always been able to tell the difference between the two. Games are no different than any other form of media in this regard. If someone is already mentally prone to do a mass shooting than it can be anything that feeds their own sick mentallity. I remember listening to the news when the Columbine shooting happened, it was reported the shooters were inspired by the first Matrix movie that came out the same year (before video games were so popular btw). It's just people blaming what they don't understand.

What I think we should be doing, especially since we are so divided when it comes to firearms, is to focus on things we can agree on. Like targeting mental health. Raise awareness for mental health, so many people suffer from some from it. Plenty of shooters have had warning signs. Make treatment for mental health more accessible, ask anyone who has tried to get treatment. It's expensive. Maybe someone in a mental health profession can weigh in on this question: If more people got treatment, giving you more clients, could costs for treatment be lowered overall?

 

[gusticles41]

This is the most narrow-sighted false claim you could pick. For you, a gun has one sole purpose - for you personally to kill someone. I use them for target practice and recreation. Care to try again?

lol@QuantumPhysic's "thank you"

They're a killing device often used for recreation, yeah. Target "practice" is practicing on inanimate objects.

And no, for me a gun also serves recreational purposes, as I frequent the shooting range. It's for fun, yes. But the reason firearms trainers and other responsible gun owners religiously preach proper handling and safety is because GUNS ARE DESIGNED TO KILL.

 

[wiyosaya]

I've been playing mainstream violent video games since I was 12 (not that I think 12 year olds should be playing them). But I've never felt inspired by them to go shoot or harm people in real life. I've always been able to tell the difference between the two. Games are no different than any other form of media in this regard. If someone is already mentally prone to do a mass shooting than it can be anything that feeds their own sick mentallity. I remember listening to the news when the Columbine shooting happened, it was reported the shooters were inspired by the first Matrix movie that came out the same year (before video games were so popular btw). It's just people blaming what they don't understand.

What I think we should be doing, especially since we are so divided when it comes to firearms, is to focus on things we can agree on. Like targeting mental health. Raise awareness for mental health, so many people suffer from some from it. Plenty of shooters have had warning signs. Make treatment for mental health more accessible, ask anyone who has tried to get treatment. It's expensive. Maybe someone in a mental health profession can weigh in on this question: If more people got treatment, giving you more clients, could costs for treatment be lowered overall?

I'm not in the mental health profession, and while I think that having access to mental health treatment may help some and maybe most individuals, my opinion is that that would be treating a symptom rather than the cause.

I've been down that road with respect to addiction. From my experience, there are those that fail to respond to help/treatment. Unfortunately, they have to find their own way.

 

[wiyosaya]

IMO, anyone who wants some insight into this, even if it is partially fictionalized, I suggest watching Mind Hunter on Netflix - season 2 is set to drop this Friday, August 16, 2019. No, I do not work for Netflix in any fashion. Personally, I found watching that series to be rather difficult.

To follow on a bit from my reply to @QuantumPhysics The other aspect that I think would go a long way to the end of violence is for it to be far easier for people to be able to explore their individual talents and contribute the results of those efforts toward the betterment of society.

With the current state of things in society, ending violence is a difficult problem. However, to quote Rumi - The wound is where the light enters.

 

[wiyosaya]

https://phys.org/news/2019-08-inequality-impedes-goods.html