May 1, 2007
While it usually plays out on the T.V. news, the ongoing controversy over video game violence has found a new venue - the stage.As reported by the San Diego Examiner, First Person Shooter, a work by playwright Aaron Loeb, opens this week at the San Francisco Playhouse. A description from the theatre's website says:
First Person Shooter takes us inside ‘JetPack Games’, a start-up video game company, where the hottest, most violent game on the market has brought instant success to its twenty-something tech geniuses. Their celebration fizzles when their game is blamed for a schoolyard shooting. As the young CEO of Jet Pack deals with an impending lawsuit and the father of one of the victims, he must confront whether he has any responsibilities in the world beyond his computer screen.
Loeb, who at one point was a games journalist, told the Examiner how he was affected by the widespread criticism of video games in the wake of the Columbine shootings:
It was a surreal time, an awful time. We went from this very insular, geeky setting to being thrust into the national spotlight.
Loeb, who now works for game developer Planet Moon, added:
It would have been easy for me to write a screed defending video games. That would have been a very dull play. Instead, I tried to chronicle what I’d seen, heard and experienced — and imagine how a conflict like this would play out.
Comments
The columbine incident was a tragedy, but to try and martyr yourself like you put the guns in their hands because you reported on games is just.. well.. stupid. Was it horrendous? Yes. Does that mean the entire world should be informed of your feelings in theatre form? Hell no.
The funny thing is.. right now this tory sounds like something out of Jack Thompson's game proposal. I wonder if this play involves any pissing on faces while spewing poorly written one-liners? (Is there any other kind?)
Loeb doesn't sound like he's trying to "martyr" himself, and there's nothing to suggest "he thought the post columbine criticisms were aimed at game journalists". The only reference he makes in that area is how gaming as a whole "went from this very insular, geeky setting to being thrust into the national spotlight".
I mean it seems that everytime thier's a gun shootout You all just have to blame it on a video game
"There's been a murder" Great Lets Sue Rockstar!
"There's been a Shoot Out" Blame it on The Video Games.
I mean can't you just Tell the parents It's their Responsibilty For us All?
This View Was Taken by a 12 Year olds Point of View In This Issue.
Even with a mountain of evidence saying there's no link, with screaming mothers, accusatory lawyers, and an enraged public, you'd probably still have to deal with the niggling thought of "what if it did?"
@owensworth
"Because the child being mentally unstable has NOTHING to do with it. "
Where did that come from? Are you refering to the kid in the play?
@Rusty100
"That’s fucking retarded, some people are just plain stupid. "
Sounds like a standard JT comment to me. Why is it retarded? Is it aimed against gamers? looks to me like someone is putting both sides of the story on the table. Better than we get with mass media.
@Massaki
All your comments are broken record repeats that don't really apply to this article. If I am wrong, please explain how.
I only ask a little patients and respect. Your as bad as JT if you havn't seen the play and already blaming it on the VG industries competition.
...I'm not making any friends today. Bad horeskope I guess.
So the play basically mocks the JT types as the ignorant farmer and a corporate exec as the video game industry? Sounds pretty accurate to me.
j/k...
But I totally agree that this seems a little iffy in the literary part. I would like to see it before I make any solid judgement tho. It sounds mildly interesting which is all it takes for me to give it a chance. Besides, I played clock tower 3 after reading reviews...kinda enjoyed it. All 6 hours of it.
maybe you could write plays but get a proofreader
Or write speeches for JT
I can't believe you guys let yourselves get sucked into these comments. you can't fight idiocy with reason. you must use the black arts of total irrationality. what I think you should let these inane comments go on during the production as part of the performance. use the natural gas power of these simpering internet armchair critics like the natural resource it is. remember barter town? remember the pig feces that's converted into methane? well, that's what you are looking at, only no one has learned how to tap its power yet. the power of pathos. its like a tower of Babel that has diluted the English language into a meaningless cacophony of insults and snipery traded back and forth by useless chubby impotent losers. if you attempt meaningful discussion they will result to petty insult. if you insult them they will cry mock foul. its a mental kung-fu of who can out stupidity the other in the most frustrating manner possible.
b.t.w. none of these loafs of shit commenter's thoughts matter about anything. just throw some Jell-O pudding cups on the floor in front of them and they'll waddle back to the nocturnal glow of they're monitors like the lawnmower man Pepsi sucking scum that they are. I mean, do you think one of them will actually get out of his chair to actually leave their house to see a play? of course not. they could get hurt. you see, plays are performed in major metropolitan areas that have minorities in them. they would chew your average game site posters front butt manpussy up to shreds like a puppy with a chew toy. please, flame away you pathetic clowns. maybe you can apply some of your energies into doing something besides working your IT help center jobs and posting endless shit talk on website comment areas. mmmm. oh, and if you don't work an IT job just I don't know, insult yourself for me please I can't think of what else to call you.
hey dumbass. you know that game companies own copyrights of thier controllers right ? no you don't. becasue your an idiot. also i looked at your website and its gay.
I wasn't saying anything as such against their characters and I will not presume to know their jobs. I was merely commenting on the lack of explainations that I wish some people would add with their comment. No need to flame us on it tho I do appreciate where you are coming from.
@cullarn
So that explains the medicinal aftertaste...what did you put in the gatorade?
AJ. what? sorry. i thought you were someone else.
thats it ? i spent like 15 mins. writing that rant. *sigh*. i havn't flamed up a board for years. I'm going to move to newer articles and attack people there.
XXOO.