Industry group says games should not be a scapegoat for gun violence problem

[midian182]

Later today, President Trump will meet members of the video game industry to discuss violence in the medium and its possible link to real-life crimes such as the Florida shooting. After initially revealing it never received an invite, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) later said it would be attending. But there’s one large group that won’t be there, and it isn’t hiding its feelings on the issue.

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is the largest non-profit membership organization in the world serving all individuals who create games. The US-based organization aims to “advance the careers and enhance the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community.”

Over on Twitter, the IGDA launched into a tweetstorm that defended video games and warned not to use them, or any form of media, as a scapegoat.

1/ Let's be blunt on video games and gun violence-we will not be used as a scapegoat. The facts are very clear-no study has shown a causal relationship between playing video games and gun violence.

— International Game Developers Association (IGDA) (@IGDA) March 7, 2018

"The stereotype of gamers as disaffected teenage boys is simply untrue: 41% of the 150M+ gamers in the United States are women, and more women over 35 play videogames than boys under 18," the IGDA tweeted.

4/ The United States plays the same video games as the rest of the world, but we're unique in our problem with gun violence.

— International Game Developers Association (IGDA) (@IGDA) March 7, 2018

6/ Overwhelmingly, we're law-abiding citizens who agree with the majority of Americans who support reasonable gun control measures like stronger background checks, banning bump stocks and high-capacity magazines, and a minimum purchase age of 21 for all firearms.

— International Game Developers Association (IGDA) (@IGDA) March 7, 2018

The group finished with: "Making videogames—or any form of media—a scapegoat for consistently refusing to even CONSIDER the reasonable, rational firearm restrictions Americans want and deserve isn't fooling anyone."

Rhode Island State House member Robert Nardolillo and Kentucky governor Matt Bevin are just two of the names that have spoken out against video games and their supposed link to violent acts in the wake of the Florida attack.

Last month, it was reported that a 16-year-old Chicago boy had been banned from playing violent video games after he made a "joke" shooting threat on Snapchat.

While some studies have shown games can make kids more aggressive—a definition that covers actions such as making annoying noises at other players during online games—there’s no clear link between playing violent titles and behavior. It’ll certainly be interesting to see what, if anything, changes as a result of today’s meeting.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/73622-industry-group-games-not-scapegoat-gun-violence-problem.html

 

[Burty117]

Computer games kill people, not guns

BlameShift of the year, possibly the century

 

[gigantor21]

This is how every developer and industry group should handle this nonsensical argument.

I really don't get why the ESA is participating in this charade.

 

[GreyFoxx]

Computer games kill people, not guns

BlameShift of the year, possibly the century

Couldn't agree with this more! They are literally blaming anything and everything except guns lol!

I read that Wheetus - Teenage Dirtbag lyrics have been changed to remove the "takes a gun to school".

'Murica!

 

[Panda218]

I have family that complain about gun violence in video games all the time yet they love watching movies like "white house down" and "London has fallen". It's maddening I tell you.

 

[stewi0001]

I still say that the real problem is on the family level. Americans have developed more and more of a mentality of me, myself, and I and screw everyone else. This is not all Americans but it has become more prevalent IMO.

Thus you lose the support that a family would normally have and could possibly prevent or reduce the occurrences.

 

[Burty117]

Couldn't agree with this more! They are literally blaming anything and everything except guns lol!

I read that Wheetus - Teenage Dirtbag lyrics have been changed to remove the "takes a gun to school".

'Murica!

See, that's proper madness right there. We're prepared to censor a pretty iconic, well known music track but we're not prepared to do anything about guns?

Almost every other country in the world has violent video games, but no other country has the same frequency of mass shootings as the US. Blaming video games is (and always has been) a complete red herring.

 

[Cubi Dorf]

I blame the bad person. Why everyone want to redirect blame to something else?

 

[wiyosaya]

I still say that the real problem is on the family level. Americans have developed more and more of a mentality of me, myself, and I and screw everyone else. This is not all Americans but it has become more prevalent IMO.

Thus you lose the support that a family would normally have and could possibly prevent or reduce the occurrences.

To me, if you look at the me, myself, and I aspect, it is well promoted and hailed everywhere as the be-all and end-all to happiness. Become a gazillionaire, no matter how you get there, and you will be happy. Find the most physically attractive mate, and you will be happy. Become famous in any fashion, and you will be happy. Become a winner, and you will have it all. To me, it seems it is about promoting the self as superior to others. This is the conditioning that most societies accept as normal.

As I see it, though, it goes even beyond that. In order to survive, in most societies one has to win in some fashion. I honestly believe that though they may be a rarity, there are those to whom it would make little difference if they received significant ethical guidance from their parents. In addition, some parents have no clue about parenting and could not raise a child under any circumstances. In that case, it would fall to society in general to raise the child, but most societies value being king/queen of the hill over something like wisdom so that in the case where the child is parented by society, they may still end up with a distorted moral compass.

This king/queen of the hill crap can probably be traced back at least as far as feudal times and perhaps even further. As I see it, until society, in general, learns something more cooperative and finally gets over its feudal nature, these problems are going to continue to come back and haunt humanity.

 

[GreyFoxx]

See, that's proper madness right there. We're prepared to censor a pretty iconic, well known music track but we're not prepared to do anything about guns?

Almost every other country in the world has violent video games, but no other country has the same frequency of mass shootings as the US. Blaming video games is (and always has been) a complete red herring.

Exactly! Yeah "guns" don't kill people, people kill people. But they certainly enable mass killings to be much easier... Just like saying "oh a Tsar bomb doesn't kill people" but if a madman got his hands on one and set it off I'm pretty sure they would blame the WMD along with the madman.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Our desire to witness violence in our movies and games as a substitute for reality is a major concern. There is a thin (real thin) line between desire to witness violence and committing violence. If we want to solve this problem, we have to purge the very nature from all our minds. And no, movies and games are not the root of the issue. The root of the issue is what spawn the creation of these movies and games.

 

[GreyFoxx]

Our desire to witness violence in our movies and games as a substitute for reality is a major concern. There is a thin (real thin) line between desire to witness violence and committing violence. If we want to solve this problem, we have to purge the very nature from all our minds. And no, movies and games are not the root of the issue. The root of the issue is what spawn the creation of these movies and games.

*places tinfoil hat on head*

 

[Trillionsin]

Is this still going on!? I come home from work and shoot people in online games, almost on a daily basis. I'm 30 years old now, and have never considered doing this in real life. Hey well, maybe I'd like to. I own guns.... but no I would never. Murder and violence has been happening waaaaaay before the existence of video games.

I don't know how this is even considered anymore.

 

[Rick55]

I do online gaming also and never every think about going out and do harm to anyone. If you ask me where is the pressure on Hollywood and the gun violence they put out. You can hardly watch a movie or TV show where there is not some type of gun use. No one is calling out the movie and TV industry.

 

[Cubi Dorf]

If you don’t like being called out as gamer then why you want to call out someone else (hollywood) for doing same thing?

I do online gaming also and never every think about going out and do harm to anyone. If you ask me where is the pressure on Hollywood and the gun violence they put out. You can hardly watch a movie or TV show where there is not some type of gun use. No one is calling out the movie and TV industry.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

This is full of so much fail.

BTW the term "gun violence" is a misnomer. There is no such thing. There are violent people, they need to be dealt with. Oh sure sure you can say the gun is a excellent tool for mass killing. Yes, it is... so are bombs, many many types of weapons that are not guns, and vehicles. All of which can be quite effective for killing a large amount of people quickly. Yes guns are easy to use, but I guaran-damn-tee you if you banned guns, or hell even if guns didn't exist, another means of mass murder would be more frequently used.

 

[davislane1]

This is full of so much fail.

BTW the term "gun violence" is a misnomer. There is no such thing. There are violent people, they need to be dealt with. Oh sure sure you can say the gun is a excellent tool for mass killing. Yes, it is... so are bombs, many many types of weapons that are not guns, and vehicles. All of which can be quite effective for killing a large amount of people quickly. Yes guns are easy to use, but I guaran-damn-tee you if you banned guns, or hell even if guns didn't exist, another means of mass murder would be more frequently used.

Reported widely: Kid with sport rifle in gun free zone.

Not reported widely: Another kid with banned weapons who was nabbed before visiting school.

Never discussed: 2A has nothing to do with “hunting.”

Never reported: Number of mass shootings in police stations, gun ranges, military bases*, and gun shows.

How many people have to die before you (me) support gun control: All of them.

What is “common sense” gun control? It’s soy.

*Except the one that was carried out in a gun free zone.

 

[alabama man]

They need to start lobbying more. American politics is purely about money, they pay less than NRA and gun manufacturers so they get the blame. Also they use their lobbying funds to hush conversation about lootboxes instead of sifting the blame from gun violence, probably because games like call of duty is all about marketing the military so they probably have some connections between them and they might be actually paid/made to take the blame.

 

[psycros]

"The stereotype of gamers as disaffected teenage boys is simply untrue: 41% of the 150M+ gamers in the United States are women, and more women over 35 play videogames than boys under 18," the IGDA tweeted.

Yes, tons of 15 year old girls playing CoD, I'm sure. This is called a false analogy. Meanwhile in reality, EVERY school shooter in the past 20 years was a frequent player of FPS games and consumer of other violent media. Most of them had a history of mental illness or anti-social behavior as well. The fact that 40% of our kids are on psych meds is also conviently ignored. I'm not much of a gun fan myself and it wouldn't break my heart if the largest capacity magazines available were 9 rounds. But you can always carry more magazines or multiple guns and be just as dangerous as some nut with a 30 round mag. As long as your targets are not allowed to be armed you're virtually invincible. Enabling certain school employees to carry firearms is a common-sense deterrent to these atrocities. Its not about having a gun - its about having the right to have a gun, which always curtails instances of violent crime. Of course, what would be even better is if we stopped making excuses for the obvious troublemakers in our classrooms and got them the help they need, or failing that, the isolation from society they deserve.

 

[Danny101]

Yes, blame the gun, blame the games, because blaming it on mental heath is just mean. Somebody who can't differentiate the difference between killing animated bits vs. human beings belongs in a cage anyway.

 

[Burty117]

As long as your targets are not allowed to be armed you're virtually invincible. Enabling certain school employees to carry firearms is a common-sense deterrent to these atrocities.

I guess if the Attacker didn't have the gun in the first place, he wouldn't be as you so put it, "virtually invincible."

Enabling certain school employees to carry firearms is a common-sense deterrent to these atrocities.

When a child at school hits another kid with a stick, I always find arming the kid with a stick to hit back with is the answer, you know? Instead of taking the stick off the offending child and putting him in time out. That would be too sensible...

Its not about having a gun - its about having the right to have a gun, which always curtails instances of violent crime.

Have you looked at statistics from other countries that do not have guns?

Of course, what would be even better is if we stopped making excuses for the obvious troublemakers in our classrooms and got them the help they need, or failing that, the isolation from society they deserve.

Now this is pretty accurate, Here in the UK at least, when I went through school (early 2000's) Bullies and people who clearly didn't have a particularly decent up-bringing or flat out had mental issues so they got violent whenever they felt like it, Just don't get dealt with properly. Just sort of shrugged off instead...

Just quickly googled for one of the bullies from back when I went to school. He went to jail for trying to rob a bank.

What I'm trying to say is this, I had run-ins with this guy at school and you know what? I would place a sizable amount of money if we had guns in the UK as easily as you do in America, this guy definitely would have gone on a killing rampage. He was a lunatic.
Instead, he did this which meant no one died (except nearly himself). Just using him as an example, nothing more, But take away the guns or make them much harder for people to access, a lot less innocent, law abiding people die. It's in the stats, there is evidence all over the globe of this.

 

[GreyFoxx]

I guess if the Attacker didn't have the gun in the first place, he wouldn't be as you so put it, "virtually invincible."

When a child at school hits another kid with a stick, I always find arming the kid with a stick to hit back with is the answer, you know? Instead of taking the stick off the offending child and putting him in time out. That would be too sensible...

Have you looked at statistics from other countries that do not have guns?

Now this is pretty accurate, Here in the UK at least, when I went through school (early 2000's) Bullies and people who clearly didn't have a particularly decent up-bringing or flat out had mental issues so they got violent whenever they felt like it, Just don't get dealt with properly. Just sort of shrugged off instead...

Just quickly googled for one of the bullies from back when I went to school. He went to jail for trying to rob a bank.

What I'm trying to say is this, I had run-ins with this guy at school and you know what? I would place a sizable amount of money if we had guns in the UK as easily as you do in America, this guy definitely would have gone on a killing rampage. He was a lunatic.
Instead, he did this which meant no one died (except nearly himself). Just using him as an example, nothing more, But take away the guns or make them much harder for people to access, a lot less innocent, law abiding people die. It's in the stats, there is evidence all over the globe of this.

100%

 

[Bubbajim]

Is this still going on!? I come home from work and shoot people in online games, almost on a daily basis. I'm 30 years old now, and have never considered doing this in real life. Hey well, maybe I'd like to. I own guns.... but no I would never. Murder and violence has been happening waaaaaay before the existence of video games.

I don't know how this is even considered anymore.

Nah that can't be true. I'm pretty sure human existence was all peace and cuddles until that dastardly Pong arrive on the scene and people cracked out the AK47s.

 

[cliffordcooley]

When a child at school hits another kid with a stick, I always find arming the kid with a stick to hit back with is the answer, you know? Instead of taking the stick off the offending child and putting him in time out. That would be too sensible...

That's not what is happening here. What is happening is they are wanting to taking the stick away from everyone not just the offending child. And creating laws to take the stick away from anyone, who doesn't conform to all the regulations not just the stick regulations. To put this into perspective the non-offending child may have lost his stick privilege last week for chewing gum in the hallway. This made the offending child brave enough to confront the one that lost his stick privilege.

I'll add a video that sums up my thoughts.

 

[Burty117]

That's not what is happening here. What is happening is they are wanting to taking the stick away from everyone not just the offending child. And creating laws to take the stick away from anyone, who doesn't conform to all the regulations not just the stick regulations. To put this into perspective the non-offending child may have lost his stick privilege last week for chewing gum in the hallway. This made the offending child brave enough to confront the one that lost his stick privilege.

So you're saying it's impossible to have laws that say something like:
If you are 21 years or under of age, it is illegal to buy, own, rent or use a gun.
If you have any type of violent criminal record, you cannot possess a gun for 10 years.
If you are on any watch list (pedo's, rapists, diagnosed mental illnesses) you cannot possess a gun indefinitely.
If you purchase a gun, you must have a license, to gain access to the license you must have gone through some basic gun training and have a clean background and the license should be a decent amount of cash to ward off people like my old school Bully (for example).
Just something you know? I'm not saying those are the answers but something is better than absolutely nothing and letting gun crime continue at it's current rate.

To put this into perspective the non-offending child may have lost his stick privilege last week for chewing gum in the hallway. This made the offending child brave enough to confront the one that lost his stick privilege.

You make Americans sound like terrible people "Ah, he doesn't have a stick! get him boys!". Why must everyone in America be so violent towards each other?

Edit: I was responding before you put the video in so it's gone weird, I'll watch the video when I get home this evening.