620°

Cushman School students throw out video games for campaign against virtual violence

MIAMI (WSVN) - Students at a South Florida school are giving up specific video games to show they’re against virtual violence in the wake of the recent Parkland school shooting.

Syriel2655d ago

Tthen just don't play those so called violent video games .. and while you're at it, stay off the internet, stop watching the news, and no longer go to the movies

Tetsujin2655d ago

Don't forget books, magazines, comics, listen to music, and life in general.

It reminds me of PETA wanting to ban Pokemon because it encourages Animal cruelty, and was laughed out of court. Uneducated people need to be reminded the media as a whole is not to blame at all, and 99% of these "school shootings" can easily be fixed by teachers and parents. It's bullying, teachers who are only out for a paycheck, and parents who do nothing are the ones to be erased. I don't hear about a lot of this in other countries, just the US. So what does that tell us about our system for the younger generation?

2655d ago
GamingSinceForever2655d ago

A lot of other countries don’t have violent video games and easy access to guns at the same time. You have to understand all of the facts.

I applaud their efforts to make a change, however as an adult I still prefer to play what I want.

We all have to agree that several things need to change. This generation has been desensitized to violence.

thorstein2655d ago

@GamingSinceForever.

Find a map. Find the USA. Look north (above on the map.) See Canada. Canada has the exact same games and movies, comic books, and violence on TV. They even allow nudity on TV after 10PM.

And guess what else they have plenty of: GUNS, GUNS, GUNS. And guess what they don't have, gun murders.

END OF RANT.

I digress, sorry, for Syriel and Tets,

Not sure if you are old enough to remember, but before video games and PG movies like Jaws and Ghostbusters, the real culprit to all the killing was Dungeons and Dragons and Rock and Roll.

Books too, but mostly Dungeons and Dragons and Rock and Roll. That is why idiotic statements by people who don't know what they are talking about don't further the discussion or the solutions.

SlashHabit2654d ago

Don't forget about the News, where they show dead people LIVE.

rainslacker2654d ago (Edited 2654d ago )

I do think the constant barrage of violent media we have nowadays does in some ways desensitize us to violent acts. But being desensitized means that one doesn't feel the horror as much as they would otherwise. Being desensitized doesn't tend to make someone psychopaths....although it can make them lose their better judgement on some things and try things. But more often than not, common sense prevails.

@GamingSinceForever

Yes. Things need to change. But what needs to change isn't the removal of violent media.

Aloren2654d ago

@thorstein Canada doesn't have anywhere near as many guns per capita as the US. It's on the same level as France or Germany, not the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

jznrpg2654d ago

GamingSinceForever I had an arsenal of weapons by the time I was 10 , I watched every war and ninja movie ever made , gangs were everywhere killing each other (Los Angeles) violence hasn’t changed . We are separated , taught to dislike each other early on . Neighbors don’t say hi as much as they used to, I knew everyone on my block and a few blocks over , now I know like 3 neighbors total . You never heard Libtards and Repugnicans, we have categorized ourselves so much instead of everyone just being Americans and hate those people because we can’t agree to be different . We used to respect others who we disagreed with now it’s like they aren’t even human . This hatred mixed with mental health issues who have access to guns is a bad combo. Most keep there hatred to words but the few who don’t cause a lot of damage

UnHoly_One2654d ago

The country's political climate is just completely off the rails.

Both sides hate everything about the other side, there is almost zero attempt to compromise on anything at this point.

Trump could do something that Democrats planned to do if they had been in power and they would hate it and vote against it.

Dems are so focused on Illegal immigrants it's complete insanity. California has become a cesspool of drugs and crime but they are just doubling down and they want more of that.

I'm afraid this is going to get far worse before it gets better. I'm not sure it ever will get better. I'm glad I don't have kids.

TacoTaru2654d ago

While I agree that this is pure idiocy, they did remove all cigarette advertising from most everywhere and people in movies or on TV can't be seen with a cigarette because it makes it socially acceptable and will cause young people to smoke.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 2654d ago
strayanalog2655d ago

I don't think they will be happy until it's full Fahrenheit 451 around here.

Cobra9512655d ago

Props for that reference. Yes, let's burn the books next, and see if gun violence stops.

Lighter92655d ago

They can be addictive, especially if you've been playing them for most of your life. It's not so easy.
Like telling an alcoholic to put down the bottle. Easier said than done.

kneon2654d ago

Sure if you have an addictive personality. I can play a game every day for weeks and then just stop cold turkey.

Gunstar752655d ago

I've been playing violent videogames for over 30 years and I've hardly killed anyone on real life

Goldby2655d ago

only issue i have with that statement is the misspelling of in with on.

nitus102654d ago

Yes, it is extremely hard to kill a real person with a game controller. 😎

SierraGuy2655d ago

Movies are the worst. Horror especially. It's ok to let kids watch people being tortured and mutilated. Maybe we could look at that first.

thorstein2655d ago Show
SierraGuy2654d ago Show
thorstein2654d ago (Edited 2654d ago )

Can you edit that so I can understand what you are trying to say?

The only thing I got was that you think that I'm everything wrong with society. How? By analyzing the BS fed to us by corporate media and rejecting it as another means to divide the people? By knowing based on my studies, scientific peer reviewed data, and common sense that media does not make violent people.

Canada doesn't censor music. Yet, their society is far less violent than American society. That said, American society isn't actually all that violent. I refer you to Steven Pinker's Better Angels of Ourselves or Barry Glassner's Culture of Fear.

Heck, even check out FBI.gov to see that the USA has become so incredibly less violent in the last 20 years that we have hit historic lows on: murder, rape, robbery, assault, grand theft, abortions, teenage abortions, teenage pregnancy... the list goes on and on.

And censorship has not one reason for existing in a society, let alone a society that has freedom of speech. Censorship is pure evil. And don't go slippery sloping down your well to hide behind children again. Maybe educate yourself.

SierraGuy2654d ago (Edited 2654d ago )

So your telling me you would let your 4 year old watch porn? Because that's what I'm getting here. That should be ok in your world. I agree with you for the most part Canada isn't bad for violence...but it's getting bad...fast. like the south. I should know I'm here.

Violence in America might be at it's worst right now how do we really know? I'm not from Atlanta or Dallas. Stop telling me to stop hiding behind children. Their defenseless. I don't have kids. Censorship that is in place is adequate. So yeah the fatal violence is higher because it's not normal to see a gun in a Canadian home. I mean I guess it's protection from an invasion? Maybe the American government knows something we don't? The amount of deaths a day in America is a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the world I believe...that's why they won't do a thing about guns but blame videogames. We're oversensitized because they plaster it all over the TV when something does happen.

thorstein2653d ago (Edited 2653d ago )

That's a Red Herring. Stop with the logical fallacies.

As for the facts, I provided you with three separate sources. It's up to you to educate yourself about it. It is now your choice to either learn that the USA is far safer than it has been in the past 40 years or you can choose to ignore those things. "How do we know?" Because crime is a matter of public record. We can know things and look at them and compare them to the 60s 70s 80s 90s etc.

As for censorship, it is very simple: As violence in media has increased, become more prolific and lifelike, violence in society has decreased.

Here is a bonus source: https://www.nytimes.com/201...

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 2653d ago
letsa_go2655d ago

Jack Thompson would love these kids! He was 20 years too early.

rainslacker2654d ago (Edited 2654d ago )

Its a shame that middle school kids, who grow up with games, buy into this crap. It's obvious they aren't researching the data, and as such, they're actually coming across as worse because it shows they can't even think critically about the subject.

While I know that school will always have a small group of people who will go after any cause or do any kind of protest in an attempt to appear progressive, this kind of thing just comes across as ineffectual, and ultimately, does nothing to solve the issue. I'd imagine most of the kids in the school probably laughed this kind of protest off, because I'm sure a lot of them have played a violent game or two, and I'd imagine that most, if not all of them, wouldn't resort to some terrible homicidal rampage.

Quote from one of the kids

"“I think it’s important because if you play violent video games, you’re gonna have a really bad mindset, and you won’t be able to focus on your schoolwork"

Is that so? What evidence is there to suggest that? Is this based on anecdotal or empirical evidence, or is just just assumption. Since it's most likely the very latter, where did you hear that you'd have a really bad mindset if you play violent games. Where, in your statement, did you lose focus on becoming informed? For one that seems so keen on becoming knowledgeable by focusing on school work, it seems rather ironic they wouldn't take a few moments to do a bit of research.

Millions upon millions of people play violent video games daily. They don't have a bad mindset. Whether or not one can focus on their school work has nothing to do with one's psychological tendencies towards violence.....and realistically, any game, violent or otherwise, can cause one to lose focus on their school work.

While it's nice the kids want to do something productive, i'd suggest that they focus their ideas on something that will actually be effective, and not add to the problems by distracting from the issue. While I try not to be overly hard on kids in these kinds of cases, these kids are the same idiots that we will have to argue with in the future when no one actually calls them out on their misconceptions. I believe more now than ever, a kid should learn to think critically. Maybe in 20 years or so, we can move past this knee jerk, misinformed activism that is so rampant with the advent of social media.

fathertime44642654d ago

Well now that that's done let's go skip the rest of class and smoke some meth

ZeroX98762654d ago

did anyone realized that any violent video games in the hand of those childrens shouldn't be in their possession in the first place?
Parents are the one who allowed those games to their kids. Kids are king and can make parents do whatever they want. It's a parent duty to restrict those violent video game.
They could also enforce an ID check when buying a video game for games 16 years old and over.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 2653d ago
strayanalog2655d ago

In the words of John Lennon: "in order to burn them they have to buy them."

XiNatsuDragnel2655d ago

These students have low IQ than Patrick star

PhantomS422655d ago

Happens when they find bad ways to protests good causes. "Let's all walk out of school to protest mass shootings and form a crowd outside of the school in public where it would be 100X easier to gun us down"

Mr Marvel2655d ago Show
Araragifeels 2655d ago

Florida is a well known State in United States for having low education and high crime, weird people.

Goldby2655d ago Show
_-EDMIX-_2654d ago

I'm from Florida and I'm definitely going to have to agree with you on that but I would argue that's most of the United States....

FancyMudkip2654d ago

I'd say the most across the USA instead of just pointing at one State.

saint_seya2655d ago

I would like to be able to follow them after a while, to see if those "students" are found playing violent games, it would be so funny.

Goldby2655d ago

yeah i wonder if any super mario games were thrown out as well,

he stomps on turtles, throws fireballs at turtles

plus i don't even think hes certified to do the pipe cleaning he does in the games

rainslacker2654d ago (Edited 2654d ago )

I think they mean well. But in the end, they're just being influenced by a greater power. Nothing in the given quote, or stated actions, seems to point at them coming to this conclusion through thought or research.

It's more excusable in children than it is in adults, but adults do the same thing nowadays.

I'd challenge any of these kids to actually research the issue. Not just violent games, but the bigger topic in questions. Then form a conclusion which can maybe let them find a more productive way to address the issue at hand. If they want to raise awareness, that's great, but they should learn early that if you're going to do so, do it right. Otherwise, they won't be taken seriously, and they'll just become another notch on the social media idiots list, who only do things to make themselves feel good, rather than doing something to influence productive change.

It's nice to give a statement that makes people have feels. But productive change won't come from feels when placed up against hard evidence....or in some cases the lack thereof. People don't need more feels, they need facts. It's emotional to see a child fight for a cause, it's shameful when that cause isn't fought with knowledge. The given quote only reaffirms people who already believe what these kids believe. It does nothing to change the mind of those who feel otherwise. To effect change, you have to make those people who disagree with you see it from your point of view....and you do that through facts.

_-EDMIX-_2654d ago

I mean I commend them for supporting their rights to protest but this just sounds like a dumb NRA PR stunt to try to make it seem as if videogames are the main culprit of this.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 2654d ago
OB1Biker2655d ago (Edited 2655d ago )

'are being encouraged'
Classic.
'if you play violent video games, you’re gonna have a really bad mindset, and you won’t be able to focus on your schoolwork," one student said. "

OB1Biker2655d ago (Edited 2655d ago )

Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose.
But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big BrotherTrump.

PhoenixUp2655d ago

Why stop at videogames? If you’re against violence that much you might as well throw out every form of media that depicts violence, whether fictional or real.

Hell don’t even teach anything that has anything violent associated with it in school.

Doing this half measure and play pointless veto on videogames is in extremely bad taste.

Scar-2654d ago (Edited 2654d ago )

Exactly If this is the case then they shouldn't teach about ANY war in American history they should be burning there history books and videos also because that's REAL life documentation of gun violence.

Show all comments (154)
290°

The Real Enemy of Gaming Isn’t DEI. It’s the CEO

From Horse Armor to Mass Layoffs: The Price of Greed in Gaming. Inside the decades-long war on game workers and the players who defend them.

Read Full Story >>
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jambola4d ago

maybe a real enemy is people who use terms like "the real enemy"
there can be more than 1 bad thing, t's not like a kids show with 1 big bad

senorfartcushion3d ago

This is very much a “dummy who volunteers themselves to the middle” comment.

The real enemy is a common phrase, people use it all the time.

Calm down.

jambola2d ago

i'm very calm
you seem very upset however

Notellin2d ago

You don't seem calm at all. Don't take this so seriously, you seem desperate responding to others defending your opinion that lacks any value or critical thought.

jambola2d ago

stop projecting
i'm not desperately dong anything, i'm tapping at keys on my keyboard bud

PapaBop2d ago

It's not like kids show with one bad guy? I present to you.. Bobby Kotick

ABizzel12d ago (Edited 2d ago )

DEI was never the problem and it was an ignorant take to begin with.

DEI is why games like Kena Bridge of Spirits, South of Midnight, and Ghost of Tsushima exist.

DEI is why we have a huge resurgence in Japanese, Chineses, and Korean developers producing games like Stellar Blade, Black Myth, and why Nintendo & Sony exist.

DEI is why more and more games have HUGE accessibility options with both Sony and MS fully behind this.

DEI was never a bad thing, the entire purpose of DEI is representation of all people, genders, disabilities, etc…

The problem was people used DEI as a default derogatory term to describe what they believed was forced representation, which allowed colorist, racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, and xenophobic fools to run away with the negative DEI narrative.

jambola1d 21h ago

you don't get to decide other people's motivations
sorry to break it to you

ABizzel11d ago (Edited 1d ago )

To each their own, however, nothing you said invalidates why some people take offense to DEI incorrectly.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1d ago
Sciurus_vulgaris4d ago

Executives seem to often have an obsession with perpetual revenue growth. There is always a finite amount of consumers for a product regardless of growth. Additionally, over investment is another serious issue in gaming.

Killer2020UK3d ago

The fact that they also rarely have any real expertise in game development compounds things. They'll look at what's been successful elsewhere, lack the knowledge to properly understand why they have been successful and then force a team to 'reproduce' their badly interpreted idea of that success.

We see it so often with sequels to games that were successful too. The team are left well alone, they have a break through hit and all of sudden the money men descend on the IP and completely railroad the dev team's ideas. Usually winds up being 'make the same game but MORE'

LoveSpuds2d ago

This is true throughout all of the corporate and public sector organisations to be honest. CEO's generally move amongst the corporate world without any need to have experience of a particular industry, they simply need to rely on their senior leadership credentials. A CEO of a retail giant will just as easily transition to a CEO role in the energy sector for example.

Not defending CEOs here to be clear, I think it's a huge part of the reason the western world is so fucked up. CEOs don't need to care about the sector they work in, in fact it's better if they don't care if they want to screw everyone to make profits.

GhostScholar2d ago

Companies don’t hire executives to break even. If the goal is breaking even then why start the company in the first place.

Soy2d ago

That's understood; it's getting record profits and expecting to always beat those record profits, and seeing anything less as a total failure. Then they lay people off and raise prices to reach those record profit levels again, just to sate shareholders. It's setting expectations way too high just to spike share prices, then inevitably falling short. It's feeling entitled to being more successful than everyone else. It's the CEOs doing all this to boost their own bonuses.

ABizzel12d ago

Growth benefits the company’s profits and therefore the company’s stock if publicly traded, which pleases the shareholders making them more and more rich, which is why Growth is always at the forefront of the vast majority of any publicly traded company.

More growth = More Money and the people at the top want all the money they can get. I can’t really blame them anyone would love to see their profits go from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, to multi-millions it’s almost like a gambling addiction.

But it also goes to show someone how morals can go out the window for a lot of these people, and how amazing some CEOs are when they catch this early and provide a balance solution that takes complete care of their employees across the board while keeping the business sustainable IE: Insomniac Games ALWAYS on the best places to work list. The rest of the industry could learn.

jambola4d ago

honestly, the "real" enemy of gaming, is ourselves
if nobody bought horse armor, shitty dlc would have died almost overnight
if we stood firm and nobody bought games from companies that were bad with layoffs, it would be solved
we're the idiots supporting awful business practices, we are the ones enouraging it

TiredGamer3d ago

I think the reality that we don't want to convince ourselves of is that without the rise of "horse armor" and DLC, game budgets would have essentially stagnated (smaller teams/smaller games), or game prices would have risen much more dramatically than they have. There was an incessant drive for bigger worlds, infinite detail, and hundreds of hours of "gameplay" over the last two decades, that while perhaps a natural evolution of things, needed a suitable funding stream to accomplish.

HyperMoused2d ago

What...CEOs make tens of millions and that doesnt include SLT etc etc...we now have multiple editions of games, in game currency, MT's, battle passes.....and what do we get..worse game than what was coming out 20 years ago....dont drink the cool aid, its this nickel and dime crap that is absolutely leading us to gaming destruction.

senorfartcushion3d ago

This is the worst possible answer to this conundrum. Blaming the masses is blaming the only people who are constantly “told” to buy.

Consumers are the only ones not to blame here. People make their own choices all the time. Disney movies are bombing and DEInis being blamed. Has that been enough to put Disney out of business? No and it never will.

Christopher3d ago

Disagree. Businesses are able to do what they do because people are bad consumers and don't think critically about purchases. Disney got away with doing shit stuff for years and it's just the last year where people got tired of it. It's not like it didn't work for 5 years or so for Disney to do the things they've done. They'll just move onto another way to get people to see movies and it will be just as bad but more profitable until people wake up and realize it.

TiredGamer3d ago

Consumerism drives business behavior. It's not so much "blaming" as it is observing behavior. The point I'm making is that the direction that games have gone are driven by the spending. Consumers are spending on DLC and they are driving the expectation of more glitz and padded out (lengthier) games. If they continue to pay, they will continue to drive that direction until a threshold is reached that forces a change in behavior.

senorfartcushion3d ago

Corporate advertising is the most powerful force on the planet.

This is N4G for god sake, every day there are arguments between people who are Team Xbox and Team PlayStation because they’ve been convinced that having an identity built on paying money to Sony and Microsoft matters more than having one as individual gamers who can play whatever they want.

And THEN we get to the corporate advertising part: to play whatever you want is to sink MORE into the advertising pits, making it so that you can more than one specific product.

jambola2d ago

ah you're right
they were told to buy it, it's clearly impossible to avoid that
if enough people stopped supporting, it would stop
disney not stopping would only be because enough people didn't stop

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2d ago
victorMaje3d ago

Agreed. I’ve been saying for years, announce you won’t be buying the upcoming game because of the practices of the previous game, then you only have to stick to your guns once, see how quickly things change for the better.

We have to unite in what we shouldn’t purchase.

jambola2d ago

just imagine a world, fifa came out worse, nobody buys the next one until they see proof it's better and stick to it
or games being forced online for single player and nobody buys it
things would change so fast

HyperMoused2d ago

Just like scooby doo, you have shown us the real monsters are us

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2d ago
Inverno3d ago

Greed and greedy people have and always will be the main issue for everything wrong in the world. Everything is a product to be exploited for monetary gain. Even when there are things that could help progress us along for the sake of making our lives easier that thing must be exploited for monetary gains. Anything that tells you otherwise is propaganda to make you complicit.

coolfool3d ago

I've never thought "DEI" (although the way most people use it doesn't match it's real definition) is the problem with games. Good games have continued to be good when they have a diverse cast, and likewise, bad games have continued to be bad. There isn't a credible example I've seen where a diverse cast has been the direct cause of a game being bad.

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70°

Why We Partnered With St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Matt Miller: "Every subscription to Game Informer now raises funds for St. Jude. We want you to know what that means."

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thorstein7d ago

I subscribed to this not knowing about how some of the proceeds go to St. Judes.

Really cool that some of the money goes there.

Even if people don't subscribe to the mag, it might bring people to the charity.

jznrpg6d ago

One of the main charities my wife and I donate to. They help a lot of children and being a parent of 5 children I can’t imagine what those parents go through. I’ll probably get a sub to GI because of St Jude and of course because I love video games.

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