February 15, 2008 -
This just in from Entertainment Consumers Association president Hal Halpin:We'd like to extend our condolences to the families, friends and classmates of those who were affected in the school shooting at Northern Illinois University.
Separately, we are disgusted, but no longer shocked, to find that anti-game activists are again rushing to conclusions about what drove Stephen Kazmierczak, the clearly disturbed 27-year-old who police say was responsible for this tragedy, to commit such an act.
Blaming video games for the behavior of the mentally-challenged is vile on many levels. And, as Generations X and Y mature, it is extremely likely that just about all of us have played at least one video game at some point in our lives.
Drawing a parallel between games and violence without any substantive proof is sensationalism for its own sake. This is a sad event, made worse by the irresponsible actions of attention-seekers and the media that has given them a platform for their reckless venom.
Full Disclosure Dept: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics.
Comments
Andrew Eisen
Hopefully, but not bloody likely.
RIP to all lives taken during this disgusting and insane act.
"Violent video games, which many studies show correlate with later aggressive behavior, are easily available and are fertile training grounds for mass destruction."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23183879/
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
On a related note, the debate I mentioned in the last article started up again. This was the older mother talking to me. She was asking me what made a movie director put a sex scene in the middle of a kids movie, what had changed with society to make that acceptable. I told her I didn't understand, please give an example. She gave her experience with Ace Ventura, saying out of no where, there is a sex scene, and she had 7 and 8 year olds all asking what was going on, what were they doing. I asked what the movie was rated, PG-13. I indicated that that meant the movie was for 13 years and up, to which she replied that it had Jim Carry rescuing puppies and wearing a tutu, as if that trumpts the rating. She asked why they would put that in a children's movie. I asked if there were teenagers, say 13, there, would they be confused or asking questions. She replied, no, they probably had already seen worse. I indicated again that was why it was rated PG-13. She then went off on how the movie makers were putting anything in the movies with no limitations at all. Again, I pointed out that by definition, PG-13 WAS a limitation.
At that point she said I just was side stepping the question and could see I wasn't going to be discussing this correctly.
Personally, I've never seen the enemy this close before.
I talk about it a lot more on my blog for game politics
gamespeech.blogspot.com
GOD THIS MAN NEEDS TO STOP
Sadly, the attention are al lthat will be seen and this press release will be seldom if ever mentioned.
I don't think I have ever seen anything with Jim Carrey that could be a kids movie. By kid I mean under 10. The closest thing I can think of would be Batman forever and that just plain sucked.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Anyway, it's about time the ECA got off it's hands and actually said something. Even Hal himself said that they're previous policies was to ignore J.B. in the hopes that he'd just go away.
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Papa Midnight
You say True, I say Thank Ya.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
It makes me feel warm inside.
@Halo3Guy
Presuming what you say is true, you are a fool. Such actions do not do us any good at all, and in fact only provide extra fuel to those trying to prove that gamers are dangerous, anti social or lacking in morals. If you want to combat this stuff, do so by behaving in a mature and intelligent manner, not prank calls and cursing.
Ironically, said Florida Bar website does not have a history for John Bruce in terms of disciplinary actions for the past 10 years... Additionally, they have him as "In Good Standing" and "Eligible to practice in Florida"... I see a severe problem with that.
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Papa Midnight
It's really good to see the ECA defend the Gaming industry and exposing Jack and friends as the attention seekers they are, but unfortunately this probably will fall on deaf ears and never actually be brought to attention in the public eye. But it's a good step nonetheless, it shows that they mean business.
That sounds like some of my in-laws. I'm that close to the enemy every holiday.
Now everytime a madman (or a stupid kid) shots on a school, first we got a Jack Thompson accusation and then the ECA response?
Unfortunately I doubt my money will be being converted into dollars across the pond any time soon.
Fast forward the clock some 10+ years from now, and things might start to change.
No, I think they were right on this one, the problem they have had in the past is IGNORING such people jumping for joy about such terrible events.
But I also don't think this is going to do much to the fact that the media is willing to accept any UN-informed, no way qualified, opinionated people giving their flawed and biased take on something when not even the cops know or give out anything about the person(s) committing such an act.
The way the ECA handled it was the best for now, they didn't act like a vulture, they didn't jump onto TV the minute such events occurred and make assumptions, and they waited for some info to get out on the individual who caused this and what their motivation might have been. It is best for them not to be so defensive in matters that are VERY likely to blow up in the opposition's face(again).
My suggestion for ECA supporters is that you take such individuals to task. While such stations probably won't listen to you or let you speak live, do call them up and question the validity/integrity of those they have featured. Bring up things like "where are you getting this info? The police have said nothing...," "Isn't this the same person who turned out to be completely wrong about another such incident?," "What makes someone a 'qualified' 'School Shooting Expert'? I haven't see such degrees offered at college...," "If you keep predicting these things, why haven't you done anything --realistically-- to stop them?," etc.
Questions like those do get to such individuals, and knocks their creditability down a notch. Another benefit of this is it will get others to question the things they hear/read from such people.
Now to see if anyone actually notices that statement. I'd like to see it shown on the news. ANY news channel!
~Otaku-Man
GP
Also, ban-evader spotted in the next story down. (I assume it hasn't been lifted, though since when did that stop him?)
My name is James Collette. I live in DeKalb, Illinois right off campus. And my brother and my mother both go to Northern Illinois University. My brother goes as a student. My mother as a chef in Stevenson Dormitory. This hits very close to home for me because my brother took classes at the same building at roughly the same time the shooting occurred.
Thankfully, my mother and my brother were not harmed by the incident, but this circus that has occurred because of the incident is a travesty to myself as a gamer, an NIU graduate, and as a member of this community.
Everybody is on the bandwagon trying to say their piece of god only knows what, but the fact still remains: 15 people were shot in my town on a campus my brother and mother go to. To the media, they are a statistic. To me, they are my family. To turn this into a fiasco is an absolute injustice. This is a time to pick up the pieces and try to get some semblance of a normal life, not drag it out and put it on display for the world.
To put it in layman's terms for Jack Thomson: Have a nice cup of STFU!
I know this is a scary word for people like Jack Thompson, but did you know that people are responsible for their own actions? ~gasp~
Glad to see the ECA standing up for gamers on this issue.