anti-gaming
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Avatar uses smoking as a metaphor for (online) gaming obsession
For all of you who saw Avatar (and we're pretty sure that's a lot of you) we imagine the analogy between James Cameron's sci-fi techno masterpiece and our beloved genre of gaming didn't fully escape many of you. So, when anti-smoking outfits began to boil over about Sigourney Weaver's character lighting up after "logging off" from her big blue cat woman for the evening, Cameron took to the defense. According to the mastermind behind Avatar, the character of Grace was never meant to be a role model. "We were showing that Grace doesn't care about her human body, only her avatar body." Cameron continued by saying her destructive behavior "is a negative comment about people in our real world living too much in their avatars, meaning online and in video games." The message is clear, although not too overbearing. We love our online games, there's no doubt about that, but getting the occasional exercise routine or two in doesn't hurt, either. It's all very interesting given the ending to Avatar, which we won't spoil for those of you who somehow haven't yet seen it. Still, regardless of whatever "anti" sentiment you think Cameron was sending, there's no doubt plenty more MMO metaphor to be found within Avatar -- a movie ostensibly about a real life fantasy world and avatars to play within it. [via Wired]
A new anti-gamer tactic?
Folks who don't like the concept of video games are frequently willing to go to lengths to get the medium silenced. They're willing to knowingly pass unconstitutional laws -- to the expense of taxpayers -- and frequently call upon studies that employed questionable methods. Now, we may be seeing a new tactic. Recently, hackers have attacked three online gaming sites that are geared toward casual gamers. The site pages were replaced with the FBI's Anti-Piracy Warning label, making people think that the sites had violated some law. The FBI stated their surprise about how authentic the whole setup looked. The specific targeting of gaming sites does raise a questionable eyebrow. People vehemently opposed to an idea/medium/etc. frequently go to great lengths to destroy it (think the anti-Rock and Roll movement). The Internet Crime Complaint Center thinks this trend will move to other sites, but we shouldn't be surprised if this turns out to be a group of angry anti-gaming activists willing to take the law into their own hands.
