The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Barack Obama and Video Games (Warning, Politics)
warriorpoet
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm not usually one to go around self-promoting, but as a longtime Penny Arcade reader and fan, I wanted to share my latest column which happens to concern presidential politics and video games. I used the opportunity to hold up Child's Play as an example of the maturity and generous nature of the gamer community:
The column is here:
http://www.examiner.com/x-268-Right-Side-Politics-Examiner~y2008m5d22-Barack-Obama-vs-Video-Games
The mention is here:
Anyway, you might find it interesting. Regardless of how you vote, I think we can all agree that whoever the next president is, they have much bigger problems to tackle than children playing too many video games.
BD
The column is here:
http://www.examiner.com/x-268-Right-Side-Politics-Examiner~y2008m5d22-Barack-Obama-vs-Video-Games
The mention is here:
Obama’s tired anti-gamer rhetoric about slacking and laziness starts to sound particularly silly when you consider the creativity, ingenuity, and strong social conscience at the heart of the grown-up gamer community. For an example, one need look no further than Child’s Play, a charity founded in 2003 by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins of the webcomic Penny Arcade, which has given over two million dollars in donations from video gamers of toys, games, books and money delivered to more than 40 children’s hospitals worldwide. Not bad work for a bunch of underachievers.
If Barack Obama wants to take on video games as his latest straw man for America’s manifold problems, that’s his business. But he should be smart enough to recognize that gamers can’t be caricatured anymore: too many people have played these games without being inspired to do violence and mayhem. Gamers look increasingly like America as a whole, and they want to take responsibility for the upbringing of their own children. The same Hart study found that 85 percent of voting parents say that they – not government, retailers or game creators – are responsible for monitoring their children’s exposure to games. Sorry, Clinton and Obama – that’s one less area where voters want the government to play daddy.
Anyway, you might find it interesting. Regardless of how you vote, I think we can all agree that whoever the next president is, they have much bigger problems to tackle than children playing too many video games.
BD
warriorpoet on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
And frankly I hate all politicians, they're all the same cookie cutter baby kissing liars. The only interesting thing that i've heard about Obama (from the UK here, so I don't care) is that he wants to pretty much take the entirety of NASA's budget away.
That is so damn monumentally stupid, the budget for NASA is what? $18 Billion a year? That's minuscule compared to all the other USA government agencies.
NASA does so much towards scientific research and yet he wants to annihilate its budget.
EDIT: Just looked on Wikipedia. NASA budget for 2007 = $16.8 billion, US DOD for 2007 = $439.3 billion.
---
I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
Child's Play is a great charity, its a shame you're using it in a completely biased piece.
But if that's the case - if all it is is wanting parents to be responsible - why return a donation from the ESA, as if they were tobacco lobbyists or something?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051002449_pf.html
Well, it's no surprise that the writer comes from REDSTATE dot com. Yeah, I think you can see why the article is so slanted against Clinton and Obama.
In any case, the main points have already been discussed in D&D if you want to take a look:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?p=5356793#post5356793
And I agree with Obama. Parents should take an active stance in raising their kids, instead of letting TV and games babysit them. Kids should spend more time studying as well.
I don't think he's trying to shut down the industry either. I just think he's engaging in the same old blame game that so many people do. I for one am tired of people pointing fingers at video games for all of society's ills. It's just not true.
http://gamepolitics.livejournal.com/268653.html
Anyway, this article is just wilful misreading of Obama's points. Not unpredictable, coming from a biased source.
This is something any intelligent person should agree with.
You're just trying to make something out of nothing to get more clicks you dickhead.
All politicians are like this, we're the easy target. They view it thus: younger people are either unable to vote because of age and the ones who can vote they determine us as not voting anyway. Games companies don't brib^H^H^H^H donate cash toward them so they view it as a win-win for them.
It's the easy excuse that resonates with the stupid middle and older aged demographic.
---
I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I'm not saying "shut down nasa" because I really believe in the program, but it does seem that in a time of economic crisis, in which energy producing resources are short in supply and high in demand that it would make sense to reduce funding to something such as space exploration. I could see an argument made either way.
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
Do you realize how huge a demographic the youth vote is for Obama, and how he's been turning out the youth vote in droves?
Ignore what warriorpoet is trying to do. He's either a sensationalistic type of poster to get more views, or he's just trolling.
But that's not true - he takes from a lot of other lobbyists, just not the ESA. And this is from CommonDreams, a progressive news source, so no anti-Obama bias here:
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/22/681/
When asked about GTAIV he basically said, "I hear it's going to sell like crazy. I hope parents pay attention and don't let minors play it."
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Until then, he's really just being sensible. Don't waste your life in front of the boob tube and all that.
Even worse. He's a Republican plant.
Look, I'm not a troll: I donated to Child's Play, I'm not trying to be sensationalistic, I just thought it was worth pointing out that this is not cool.
Trust me, if McCain was bashing video games, I'd be saying the exact same thing. And he's an angry old man, so I'd expect him to be saying it!
It's an opinion piece, it's supposed to be biased. It's supposed to show the writters opinion on the topic.
Now if that opinion is correct or not is another story.
Biased in the sense of misrepresenting the facts.
Yeah, I haven't heard that NASA thing either...news to me.
Or yeah, he hates gamers and wants to take everyone's real-life guns and virtual life guns too! OMG RUN FOR THE HILLS!
News flash: most politicians are douchebags regardless of whether there's an R or D next to their sleazy mug.
Seriously, this isn't even a discussion thread. It's an attempted smear piece against Obama.
It's the weak arse easy target, a lot of the NASA budget doesn't just go into space exploration. A lot of it is given toward general scientific advancement.
From US history cutting NASA's budget has been the easy target, just look at how tiny its budget is in comparison to all other government institutions. Frankly Obama should be damn ashamed for the cheap trick of "hey lets cut NASA's budget! ... again!". And just how much will they get out of it?
A billion, maybe a couple?
The GDP of the USA is over $13 Trillion, think about that for a second.
In a country of 300 million people a billion dollars isn't going to go far, Obama chose NASA because it's an easy target and people perceive it as having a high budget because of its high profile.
---
I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
Some recent research showed that video games have become a big part of childrens' social lives. The biggest warning signs for parents are when a child does nothing but play games, or doesn't play any games at all.
The message here is simple and far from new: all things in moderation.
Thank you. That first graf is all I really wanted to point out.
The real point is this: anyone of either party who bashes video games is not going to be able to get away with it in the long term now that these games have become so popular.
Just like that idiot Ted Stevens (a Republican) who showed how out of touch he was when he was talking about the Internet as a bunch of tubes, people who make it out as if all games are social ills just show that they're out of touch.
It's not like it's Mario Kart that made your kid fat.
$9,382,079,426,342.84
That's our national debt. Think about that for a second.
Which are two different things, chief. If you think he is mesrepresenting the facts, then that is fine.
I just think it is damn silly to say an opinion piece is biased, when is someone's opinion not biased? The writer does the research, then comes up with what his opinion is, which will be biased based on what the writter thinks about the topic.
That doesn't sound like someone who wants the vidja game industry dead. That sounds like someone who's saying "Hey, why not try turning off the TV once in a while and read a book?".
I just wish they would spin off at least portions of NASA to private industry. Let some crazy rich guy who wants to be an astronaut do the riskier, costlier stuff.
There's different types of biases, however.
This type of bias isn't the one that thinks apples are better than oranges. This is the type of bias that twists and spins facts for the sole purpose of misrepresentation and smear.
That's what is meant by "biased".
Oh, Barack. What will you hate next?