[Tom4784]

Sony had a games conference on Tuesday in which they showed off a slate of upcoming games but two trailers in particular have caused a bit of a stir which are the two below.

Youtube video

Youtube video

Most of the controversy is centred around the second trailer and depiction of domestic violence with people saying that this kind of story doesn't have a place in gaming or that there should have been warnings ahead of the trailer being shown (There were no warnings that the show would contain content unsuitable for certain audiences).

Do you think the controversy is warranted? Are games too violent? Should games attempt to tackle difficult themes? Should there have been more warnings when it comes to conferences like this that are streamed to thousands of people?

[Marsh.]

Not a gamer, but I find the controversy silly.

Would these people make the same complaint about a film festival showing a movie/trailer depicting domestic violence or something similar?

It's not real. It's art. And art, like life, has ugly sides.

[Tom4784]

Firstly, I don't think game violence is an issue, if people don't have a problem with zombies ripping people apart in Walking Dead then I don't see why it would be an issue in a game, especially with the line between gaming and traditional media becoming more blurred by the day. The Last of Us trailer was harrowing but I don't think the violence was anymore noteworthy than anything you would see at the cinema.

When it comes to difficult themes, I'm very much on board with video games tackling them when it's done right. With narrative becoming more important in gaming, I think it's a good place to tackle themes that traditional media are hesistant to touch. There was a game released this year called Hellblade which was about a Celtic Warrior who suffered from Psychosis and the player was encouraged at the start of the game to wear earphones so that they can more accurately get a feel for the symptoms the main character was feeling and it was very effective. I think that game did something for mental awareness that a TV show or film could never do, it gave us a glimpse of what Psychosis was like for it's sufferers. I think the problem with this trailer of Detroit is that it is mostly out of context and out of context it becomes a bit crass. I don't think games should shy away from difficult themes though as they can highlight them in ways that other forms of media can't.

I do think the backlash against Sony for not airing warnings was warranted though especially when it comes to subjects such as Domestic abuse.

[Shaun]

I am generally wary of most forms of entertainment that show a lot of violence and gore so perhaps I'm a little bit biased but - I was looking forward to the TLOU2 trailer and the scene with the hammer did make me uncomfortable.

But I guess that's rather the point. Same goes for torture scenes in movies/TV, other violence action... if it's told in an artful way. Do think some games are gratuitous with it though.

[Toy Soldier]

If it's OK for other media there's no reason it shouldn't be for games, is my basic stance.

That said... With the latter one, even both perhaps, I'm not sure it necessarily had to be in a trailer for them. The first TLOU2 teaser trailer had no (active) violence and was a much more effective trailer than this one, so it's not really necessary.

[thesheriff443]

Have there not been links to people that play violent games being violent?
Don't all you gamers reach for your baseball bats.

[LeatherTrumpet]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Not a gamer, but I find the controversy silly.

Would these people make the same complaint about a film festival showing a movie/trailer depicting domestic violence or something similar?

It's not real. It's art. And art, like life, has ugly sides.

The difference is more kids play 18 games than go to 18 movies and, and its a big AND, you play a game

you watch a movie

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

The difference is more kids play 18 games than go to 18 movies and, and its a big AND, you play a game

you watch a movie

The difference being?

They're both forms of entertainment.

Unless you're telling me that within this game the player themselves as the character has a level where they beat up the Mrs for burning the dinner.

A ridiculous complaint.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

The difference is more kids play 18 games than go to 18 movies and, and its a big AND, you play a game

you watch a movie

There's no links between violence in real life and violence in games, there's been enough studies over the years trying to find a link and none have ever found definitive proof.

If someone has the capacity for violence then it's existed within them long before they watched a film or played a game. You can't play Call of Duty and suddenly decide out of nowhere to go on a shooting spree.

There's not much, if any, evidence that there's any difference between playing or watching violence as far as I know.

[Rob!]

I don't know about controversial but that game looks amazing.

[Scarlett.]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

The difference is more kids play 18 games than go to 18 movies and, and its a big AND, you play a game

you watch a movie

Maybe, just maybe, parents should pay attention to the age rating before buy little Timmy a copy of Grand Theft Auto V, you know, just maybe.

[LeatherTrumpet]

Originally Posted by Chewy

Maybe, just maybe, parents should pay attention to the age rating before buy little Timmy a copy of Grand Theft Auto V, you know, just maybe.

yeah, have a kid and see how you go there barney...

[Scarlett.]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

yeah, have a kid and see how you go there barney...

I'm not saying a kid cant play any game above their age rating, but there are ones that are inappropriate, especially GTA V which has a torture scene that even I thought went a little too far

[LeatherTrumpet]

Originally Posted by Chewy

I'm not saying a kid cant play any game above their age rating, but there are ones that are inappropriate, especially GTA V which has a torture scene that even I thought went a little too far

every kid has a big brother or a pal that does

ratings are meaningless

[Scarlett.]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

every kid has a big brother or a pal that does

ratings are meaningless

They're there for a reason, if parents ignore them, thats on them.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

every kid has a big brother or a pal that does

ratings are meaningless

Silly Chewy, expecting parents to do some actual parenting.

[Brother Leon]

What a load of tosh. Forms of entertainment are going to be violent or gory. It's not like either trailer was just senseless violence for the sake of it either.

[Amy Jade]

Originally Posted by Chewy

They're there for a reason, if parents ignore them, thats on them.

I agree with this. I admit my mum let me watch horror movies before I was 18 and I played horror games with my step brother from pretty early too, there have always been violent games around - it is so so easy these days to look up a game and decide if a child should play it, you can pretty much type any recent game into youtube and watch soneone play it.

If a parent is too lazy to check then it's their fault, not the developers or studio who make it.

A good example is the recent Friday the 13th game, I play it quite a lot and encounter kids of about 10 playing it, nobody can tell me that their parents have never heard of those movies and know it's about a serial killer stalking teenagers in the woods and killing them off in increasing gory ways and even if they aren't aware of it the date in question is synonymous with horror.

[Toy Soldier]

I'm not a huge believer in "age ratings" for the mostpart; parents should know their own kids and know what is too much for them. It's far more complicated than age ratings. But even where age ratings are concerned... I would say they're more relevant for the general wellbeing of the child watching, not because of any risk of "emulating behaviour". In other words, I wouldn't let my daughter watch most adult rated stuff simply because she'd probably end up scared, or simply not understand what's going on.

Basically... Kids from loving, well adjusted homes don't turn violent because of games, or movies, or any other scapegoat... Violent kids pretty much always simply have violent lives. They either get it directly from a caregiver's behaviour, or if not, they have a life that is otherwise frustrating / in turmoil a lot and they get wound up and lash out because of that.

One of the huge differences still between games and movies though, is that gaming is still a (relatively) new form of entertainment for many adults... They don't do it themselves, they don't really understand it, so they just let kids get on with it without really having any grasp of what modern games are like. They picture Crash Bandicoot, not The Last Of Us.

That's changing over time though, as I'd say the vast majority of under-30's do at least a bit of gaming to some extent now... It becomes a more mainstream form of entertainment year on year.

[RileyH]

Originally Posted by Rob!

I don't know about controversial but that game looks amazing.

2

[thesheriff443]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

Silly Chewy, expecting parents to do some actual parenting.

Did you wait until you were 18 to play an 18 rated game?

Us parents are doing a great job but kids will be kids.

What we have to be on the look out for is men playing games pretending to be kids asking for naked photos.

[Cherie]

[QUOTE=thesheriff443;9679353]Just sit on your bean bag dezzy in your room playing online against a twelve year old and getting beat.

Did you wait until you were 18 to play an 18 rated game?

Us parents are doing a great job but kids will be kids.

What we have to be on the look out for is men playing games pretending to be kids asking for naked photos.[/QUOTE]




its no different to kids accessing nudey magazines back in the day, did their parents sanction them accessing them or encourage it...no, you can do your best to prevent your child from accessing content inappropriate for their age but if they really want to they will find a way, whether it be at school or their friends house, made even easier now they all have smart phones etc, and LT's point of older siblings is a very valid point also. As usual it's mostly non parents up in arms at the perceived lack of parenting in these situations, come back in 5 or 10 years time and let us know how your little angel is doing and how you monitored it, particularly when they weren't in your care

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

Did you wait until you were 18 to play an 18 rated game?

Us parents are doing a great job but kids will be kids.

What we have to be on the look out for is men playing games pretending to be kids asking for naked photos.

It's up to parents to decide whether their kids are mature enough to handle mature content. It's easy enough to monitor what kids are doing and playing so if their parents have a problem with violent video games, it's up to them to moderate what they play.

You can't be all like 'Violent video games are bad for children but I can't be bothered to keep an eye on what they're playing!'

It's a parent's responsibility to know what their children are doing.

Originally Posted by Cherie

What we have to be on the look out for is men playing games pretending to be kids asking for naked photos.[/QUOTE[/B]]




its no different to kids accessing nudey magazines back in the day, did their parents sanction them accessing them or encourage it...no, you can do your best to prevent your child from accessing content inappropriate for their age but if they really want to they will find a way, whether it be at school or their friends house, made even easier now they all have smart phones etc, and LT's point of older siblings is a very valid point also. As usual it's mostly non parents up in arms at the perceived lack of parenting in these situations, come back in 5 or 10 years time and let us know how your little angel is doing and how you monitored it, particularly when they weren't in your care

It's incredibly easy to monitor and limit what your kids are doing online. There's settings on consoles that can prevent them from talking to strangers online or receiving messages and i'm sure there's passcode options so that kids can't simply switch off safety measures unless they know the code. Hell I'm fairly certain you can limit games with older age certificates so that child accounts can't access them.

There are plenty of options out there for parents that don't want their kids playing violent games or interacting with people online.

The advent of Smartphones haven't made monitoring children harder, it's easier than it used to be since there's **** tons of apps for monitoring children with technology that didn't exist before smartphones were a thing.

Finally, the act of pushing out a baby does not make a person superior to people who don't have kids nor does it give you a wealth of information that would otherwise be inaccessible to people without kids.

If parents are that concerned about what their kids are doing then there's plenty of options available to them as long as they can...you know... be bothered to do more than just complain.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

It's up to parents to decide whether their kids are mature enough to handle mature content. It's easy enough to monitor what kids are doing and playing so if their parents have a problem with violent video games, it's up to them to moderate what they play.

You can't be all like 'Violent video games are bad for children but I can't be bothered to keep an eye on what they're playing!'

It's a parent's responsibility to know what their children are doing.



It's incredibly easy to monitor and limit what your kids are doing online. There's settings on consoles that can prevent them from talking to strangers online or receiving messages and i'm sure there's passcode options so that kids can't simply switch off safety measures unless they know the code. Hell I'm fairly certain you can limit games with older age certificates so that child accounts can't access them.

There are plenty of options out there for parents that don't want their kids playing violent games or interacting with people online.

The advent of Smartphones haven't made monitoring children harder, it's easier than it used to be since there's **** tons of apps for monitoring children with technology that didn't exist before smartphones were a thing.

Finally, the act of pushing out a baby does not make a person superior to people who don't have kids nor does it give you a wealth of information that would otherwise be inaccessible to people without kids.

If parents are that concerned about what their kids are doing then there's plenty of options available to them as long as they can...you know... be bothered to do more than just complain.

Jeez we all know about parental settings Dezzy read what I actually posted why don't you

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Jeez we all know about parental settings Dezzy read what I actually posted why don't you

I did read and respond to your points, but you haven't really responded to what I said, instead you decided to respond with an baiting comment.