[Jamie89]

Originally Posted by Christmas treeza

You're passing judgement on this '77yr old woman' ... Why are you presuming she has no experience, you're coming across as both ageist and sexist, why shouldn't she or myself have a say on this topic?

What a strange controlling thing to state, you are effectively standing atop your soapbox and denying her an opinion.

There are several things I don't have direct experience of, mass murder, fondue, being a boxing champion... it doesn't stop me having an opinion on them.
To be fair to Esther she has worked with childline for decades I don't know how you can say isn't qualified to comment on this distasteful virtual voyerism dressed up as 'entertainment' ... It's very odd.

It's not just commenting on what's in the games though, it's commenting on the effect the games have on people playing them, isn't it? If you haven't played them how can you know what effect they have?
And if the issue isn't that it might have an effect on people and just that it's distasteful, then could the same not be said about a lot of films and TV shows and that they also shouldn't show topics like child abuse or any kind of violence at all in the name of entertainment?
Does entertainment have to be PG? Can it not provoke thought about issues and contain adult themes? And why is it one rule for one form of entertainment and another for something else?

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Jamie89

It's not just commenting on what's in the games though, it's commenting on the effect the games have on people playing them, isn't it? If you haven't played them how can you know what effect they have?
And if the issue isn't that it might have an effect on people and just that it's distasteful, then could the same not be said about a lot of films and TV shows and that they also shouldn't show topics like child abuse or any kind of violence at all in the name of entertainment?
Does entertainment have to be PG? Can it not provoke thought about issues and contain adult themes? And why is it one rule for one form of entertainment and another for something else?

The rule of thumb is "if it didn't exist when I was a young'un, it is strange and corrupting our youth!"

See... 70 years ago, the older generations DID believe this sort of rabid, reactionary nonsense about cinema. 50 years ago, they believed it about television. Today, it's video games and / or sometimes "The Internet" that is the "terrible demon amongst us". I wasn't being flippant when I said this older generation will die off soon enough and people will forget that gaming was ever demonized as being any different to television or movies... that is exactly what will happen.

[Jamie89]

Originally Posted by Toy Santa

The rule of thumb is "if it didn't exist when I was a young'un, it is strange and corrupting our youth!"

See... 70 years ago, the older generations DID believe this sort of rabid, reactionary nonsense about cinema. 50 years ago, they believed it about television. Today, it's video games and / or sometimes "The Internet" that is the "terrible demon amongst us". I wasn't being flippant when I said this older generation will die off soon enough and people will forget that gaming was ever demonized as being any different to television or movies... that is exactly what will happen.

Yeah I think there's a lot of truth in that. Even saying that though video game violence isn't even that much of a new thing anyway (maybe new in the sense that much older people might not be too aware of it, but not so new that we can't tell whether or not there is an impact). I was playing games as a kid on the N64 where I'd shoot and stab people and I'm not a violent person in the slightest. And however more realistic games are these days to say 20 years ago, they're still not as realistic as TV and film.

[Withano]

Originally Posted by Jamie89

It's not just commenting on what's in the games though, it's commenting on the effect the games have on people playing them, isn't it? If you haven't played them how can you know what effect they have?
And if the issue isn't that it might have an effect on people and just that it's distasteful, then could the same not be said about a lot of films and TV shows and that they also shouldn't show topics like child abuse or any kind of violence at all in the name of entertainment?
Does entertainment have to be PG? Can it not provoke thought about issues and contain adult themes? And why is it one rule for one form of entertainment and another for something else?.

But the abuser is being portrayed as a villain, who will inevitably lose, so I don't really see the argument there? Like nobodys gonna play that game and be like "woah, Todd seemed to have a right laugh, I wish I was more like him". After spending hours of gameplay destroying and defeating him.

[Jamie89]

Originally Posted by Withano

But the abuser is being portrayed as a villain, who will inevitably lose, so I don't really see the argument there? Like nobodys gonna play that game and be like "woah, Todd seemed to have a right laugh, I wish I was more like him". After spending hours of gameplay destroying and defeating him.

(are you still quoting the wrong post I'm confused)

[Withano]

Originally Posted by Jamie89

(are you still quoting the wrong post I'm confused)

Idk i think i read it wrong anyway lol

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Jamie89

It's not just commenting on what's in the games though, it's commenting on the effect the games have on people playing them, isn't it? If you haven't played them how can you know what effect they have?
And if the issue isn't that it might have an effect on people and just that it's distasteful, then could the same not be said about a lot of films and TV shows and that they also shouldn't show topics like child abuse or any kind of violence at all in the name of entertainment?
Does entertainment have to be PG? Can it not provoke thought about issues and contain adult themes? And why is it one rule for one form of entertainment and another for something else?

It is yes, and I would feel exactly the same way about films that have this type of content.

My feeling is what mindset calls watching 'playing' something like this 'entertainment'? You have touched upon you it repulses me there, the sight sound and overall control of what happens to a virtual child is 'enjoyable' it's entertaining' you might think I'm oversensitive... think that this appeals to the undersensitive.. it's my opinion, there's no way I'll apologise for my reactions.

[Jamie89]

Originally Posted by Christmas treeza

It is yes, and I would feel exactly the same way about films that have this type of content.

My feeling is what mindset calls watching 'playing' something like this 'entertainment'? You have touched upon you it repulses me there, the sight sound and overall control of what happens to a virtual child is 'enjoyable' it's entertaining' you might think I'm oversensitive... think that this appeals to the undersensitive.. it's my opinion, there's no way I'll apologise for my reactions.

I suppose it's just general escapism into a story. Different games have different purposes, as do different film and tv genres, but this one seems to be about a broader sense of story and how small decisions can have a big impact, and so serious scenarios were used. There's lots of different scenarios within the game (I think from what I've heard which is only a little), it's not all focused on this particular example of child abuse, and basically in each scenario you make choices to try and achieve the best outcome for the characters involved and that's what it's really about. It's not about child abuse and it doesn't seem to be glorifying child abuse. It's using it as a plot device yes, and fair enough if that's distasteful to some, but if we're talking about the mindset of the people playing it, it's not geared around wanting to see or 'play' with child abuse at all, it's merely a plot point and the actual motives in playing the game are something else entirely.