I remember one researcher here, who agreed that video games were different because of their interactive nature, but argued this made them LESS immersive than a movie.

The argument is pretty simple.  When watching a really good movie, you're not thinking about anything except the characters and plots on the screen.  If a movie really does its job, while your watching it, it's real to you, if only for a moment.

Video games, however, cannot achieve this.  No matter how compelling and interesting the events unfolding on the screen are, part of your brain will be thinking "Press A, duck behind the barrels.  Damn, out of sniper ammunition."  Even if you could get rid of the controller (a tactile reminder that nothing is real), the fact that its a game is everpresent, because you have to make decisions that don't correlate to real life.  Saving the game, restoring health, etc. is a complete divorce between the fantasy of the game, and the reality that you're playing a game.

Doesn't matter, 6 months and he loses his seat. =D

He and Michael Atkinson are so stupid as politicians talking about Videogames, that people need to realize how wrong they are in order for them to lose their seats.

But with negative information from the Daily Mail and other newspapers from both England and Australia, well, it is just that more of the people who don't know what is going on will continue to vote for them while the rest of us who do know what is going on will remain in the minority.

But in the end, like with all great empires of their day, time will eventually catch up with them and they get so old that they can't continue politics anymore.

And THAT will be the day where we will finally be able to live without those people rediculing us all because of their ignorance.

Vaz is a minority of pretty much one when it comes to computer games and their approach in the UK to be honest. Most people just consider this his 'bee in the bonnet', we still remember Mary Whitehouse and the old story of the censorships of Rock n Roll or Salsa dancing etc (And, let's face it, you don't get much more interactive in a social sense than dancing with someone - they used the same excuse to censor and control dancing as Vaz is trying to do for playing video games), so when someone, in the middle of two increasingly unpopular and dividing wars, when stories of IED's, Snipers and Suicide bombers are commonplace, starts off on 'blame it on the Videogames' rhetoric, you will notice a certain 'nod, smile' reaction from other politicians.

This from a guy (Vaz) who holds a profession that promites lying and disinformation as the primary methodology of getting things done?

Yeah good luck with your crusade Vaz. I think you need a bigger soapbox. Can't you at least TRY to hide your bias?

At least we know that pretty much every other member of parliament seems to pretty much ignore him, and he has a couple of vocal opponents in Parliament.

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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.