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Turn in violent video games, get ice cream in California county
The District Attorney of Marin county, California, is hosting a buyback day for residents' toy guns and violent video games, in an effort to highlight issues of domestic violence during October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month. District Attorney Ed Berberian is working with the Center for Domestic Peace and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream for the event, to be held on October 4 at Novato police headquarters. Participants will receive ice cream, Marin IJ says. "As we know, domestic violence incidents almost always have children present and these children develop over time imprinted images of the family violence," Berberian said in a written message. "These children then carry those experiences into their adult lives and often repeat the pattern of violence in their own family units."
Study claims that virtual drug dealing cuts back on real violence
Few would say the FBI was doing something wrong by shutting down Silk Road's online black market, but new research suggests that there may have been a silver lining to the service's dark cloud. Researchers Judith Aldridge and David Decary-Hetu claim in a recent study that Silk Road was cutting back on violence. Since many of the sales were dealer-to-dealer rather than to customers, that supposedly reduced the chances for real-world confrontations -- you can't start a gun battle over prices when you're on the other side of the country.
The Elder Scrolls Online receives Mature rating
The Entertainment Software Rating Board has given Elder Scrolls Online a Mature rating for "Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, and Violence," ZeniMax posted on its Facebook page. The studio is none too happy about the decision, stating, "The ESRB advised us that it has given The Elder Scrolls Online a Mature rating. While we may disagree with the ESRB's determination, we do not plan to challenge the rating, and we are unwilling to change the game's content to achieve a different rating. The game we have created is the one we want our fans to be able to play." ZeniMax said that the ruling has forced the studio to put the Mature rating and age gates on the ESO site, trailers, and ads.
Activision Blizzard to take a stand on violent video game research
We may not know just what political stance Activision Blizzard has decided to take on the issue of S.134: The Violent Content Research Act of 2013, but we do know the company has hired lobbying firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to lobby the Senate over it. The bill calls for the National Academy of Sciences to study the correlation between children playing violent video games or watching violent video content and violent behavior -- and could be a stepping stone towards more legislation aimed at restricting game sales. There have already been studies on video games and violent behavior, but the results have been mixed: ask a dozen experts and you'll get a dozen different opinions on how violent content might affect violent behavior. To this end, the bill also calls for study to identify gaps in current research. However, it's questionable whether more research will give us a real answer or just more mixed signals. In the meanwhile, game-makers are definitely edgy about how this could impact their bottom line... which is probably why Activision Blizzard has jumped on the lobbying bandwagon.
PBS' Game/Show delves into video game violence
The latest episode of PBS' webseries, Game/Show, dives into the often-controversial topic of violence in video games. The episode briefly explores the history of violence within sports and other types of games, helping to explain why violent acts are depicted as often as they are in video games. Hosted by Kill Screen's Jamin Warren and produced by Kornhaber Brown, the series has just two other episodes. The first is devoted to analyzing the success of characters like Mario, Sonic and Link, while the other looks closer at the rise of "Let's Play" videos on YouTube.
Activision hires lobbyists to advocate on Senate bill researching violence
Activision has hired a prominent lobbying group, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, to advocate on a Senate bill aimed at researching the impact of "violent" video games and programming on children. The lobbying registration form doesn't indicate Activision's position on the bill. The bill, S. 134: Violent Content Research Act, aims to have the National Academy of Sciences "study the impact of violent video games and violent video programming on children." The study would investigate whether there is a link between violent video games or programming and aggressive behavior. Singular to video games, it would study "whether current or emerging characteristics of video games have a unique impact on children, considering in particular video games' interactive nature and the extraordinarily personal and vivid way violence might be portrayed in such video games." This is a separate effort from President Barack Obama's executive order that the CDC research the causes of gun violence, with a specific mandate to study video games. The Violent Content Research Act was sent to the full Senate on July 30 and has yet to be raised for vote.
The Soapbox: A new mode of interaction
Video games are, by definition, an interactive medium. The entire point of playing a video game is that you get to explore the world, talk to the characters, slay the monsters, and reap the rewards. And you do all this with a keyboard and mouse or controller or futuristic headset or whatever. Players are in charge; players create their own experience. Every video game ever released hinges on player interaction to tell its story. Without the player, a game's inhabitants are meaningless pixels guarding empty checkpoints, staggering through the woods with a groan, or walking in endless circles selling bread. In order for a game to function, players must be able to interact with it. The only question is how.
Jagex reports student to police following school shooting threat
For all the talk about video games causing crimes, we don't often hear about the times when they may well prevent them. Thomas Frongillo, age 18, has been arrested on charges of threatening to commit a crime after making statements about shooting up the college that he attended, but the threats were not made in person. They were made in an online game run by Jagex, most likely RuneScape, which is what led to his arrest. Frongillo allegedly said, "I'm going to shoot up my school tomorrow," and indicated a knowledge of firearms to other players in the game. He also made anti-Semitic comments and had indicated shooting at small wildlife in previous chat sessions. Jagex employees notified the police, and he is currently on bail pending his court date on April 19th. Frongillo's lawyers claim that the statements were made in jest and that the young man had no intention of carrying out any acts of violence.
Report: 58% of US adults blame violent games for violent behavior
Studies have shown that violent behavior is both linked and not linked to violent video games, but the majority of Americans have decided for themselves: A new poll says that 58 percent of adult Americans do believe that playing violent video games can contribute to violent behavior in teenagers. The independent survey studied 2,278 US adults, and found that nearly three out of five of them believed the link was there.However, those same adults aren't too bothered with keeping violent video games out of the hands of children. 38 percent of survey takers said they know nothing about the Entertainment Software Ratings Board's system for rating game content, and 33 percent of those surveyed say their kids can play whatever they want anyway. Only 32 percent of respondents say the ESRB can keep violent games out of the hands of children, which is less credit than those surveyed give the movies or music ratings systems.In reality, the FTC actually says the gaming ratings system is the best at keeping illicit content out of the hands of minors, though the media doesn't always report it that way. The full results of the report, from Harris Poll, are set to be released on Wednesday this week.
CT senator proposes bill to ban minors using fake guns in arcades
Connecticut State Senator Toni Harp proposed a bill in January that would ban anyone younger than 18 from playing "violent point-and-shoot" video games in arcades or other public establishments. The bill defined "violent point-and-shoot" games as any entertainment device that used the "facsimile of a firearm as an essential component of play," which would include games such as House of the Dead, Area 51 and Duck Hunt.The bill also called for research into the effects of violent video games on young minds, through a committee called the Violent Video Game Task Force within the Department of Children and Families. The task force would advise the Governor and General assembly on state programs that "may reduce the effects of violent video games on youth behavior," suggesting before the research was done that violent video games have an effect on children's actions.The bill's Statement of Purpose offered a clear position on violent video games' impact on young minds, again presented before any research began: "To prevent minors from using violent point-and-shoot video games in public arcades and to create a task force to study the effects of violent video games on youth behavior."This bill joined an influx of attention on video games in relation to real-world gun violence, following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. Senator Harp's suggestions mimicked and magnified President Obama's proposal to research violent video games and enact other forms of potential gun-violence prevention.[Thanks, Seth.]
Nancy Pelosi says violent media research should be 'comprehensive'
Democratic Minority Leader of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, spoke with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace about President Barack Obama's proposal to research the link between media and violent acts. Pelosi presented a comprehensive approach to research and reform, noting that current evidence didn't suggest violent video games equate violent people."I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother, but the evidence says that in Japan, for example, they have the most violent games than the rest and the lowest mortality from guns," Pelosi said. "I don't know what the explanation is for that except that they might have good gun laws."Wallace challenged Pelosi, suggesting that it was obvious violent video games had malicious consequences, behind a slide of Black Ops 2 and Grand Theft Auto footage."We don't need another study, respectfully," Wallace said. "We know that these video games where people have their heads splattered, these movies, these TV shows – why don't you go to your friends in Hollywood and challenge them, shame them, and say, 'knock it off.'"Pelosi stepped away from anecdotal evidence and said she wanted hard facts and evidence about violent media, as well as mental health care and assault weapons reform."I think we have to do it all, and that's why we included in there we have to take a look at what these games are," Pelosi said. "I don't think we should do anything anecdotally. We have a saying here, 'the plural of anecdote is not data.' So we want to know, what is the evidence, what will really make a difference here? And I think it has to be comprehensive."Wallace and Pelosi began discussing media and gun violence at the 9:55 mark in the linked Fox News video.
The Think Tank: Should the government regulate video game content?
While government regulation is welcomed in some corners of our lives, it's not always welcomed everywhere. After recent gun violence has been making headlines more than ever, U.S. President Barack Obama set out to "find the cause" through new funding for 23 executive orders that pertain to the origins of gun violence. Vice President Joe Biden then met with experts in the video game industry to discuss the possibility that video games themselves are the cause. And probably that rock 'n' roll music, too. Darn kids! Certainly we here at Massively have our own opinion on this matter, as video game violence legislation would affect us all. Read on past the cut to see what we have to say about government regulation for our favorite hobby.
Obama orders CDC to study violence in video games
While violence in video games and the effect upon its participants wasn't at the crux of today's gun control press conference, President Obama did mention that he is sending the Center for Disease Control after the industry to root out a possible cause of gun violence. One of Obama's 23 executive orders was to "Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence." Among these potential causes are movies, television, and video games. The President defended the order by saying, "We don't benefit from ignorance. We don't benefit from not knowing the science of this epidemic of violence. Congress should fund research into the effects violent video games have on young minds." Vice President Joe Biden previously met with several video game industry leaders as part of the task force to make recommendations on the issue.
Biden talks video game violence with industry representatives today
US vice-president Joe Biden is meeting with games industry representatives today to discuss the role of violent video games with regards to gun violence, as part of a response to last month's massacre at a Connecticut elementary school. As the Associated Press reports, today's meeting in Washington is the latest in a series of discussions Biden's task force is undertaking before presenting recommendations on how to suppress gun violence to President Barack Obama on Tuesday, January 15.Meetings with film industry representatives and the National Rifle Association took place yesterday, with the NRA emerging "disappointed" from what it felt was an attack on the Second Amendment, objecting to a number of proposals including limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines and bans on assault weapons.The Entertainment Software Association confirmed to Polygon that it's being represented at today's meeting by president Michael Gallagher. Sources involved with the meeting told Polygon other attendees include representatives for game publishers, research on the impact of video games on children, and the retail sector.Several industry organizations, such as the International Game Developers Association and the Electronic Consumer Association, issued open letters to the vice president ahead of today's meeting. The IGDA calls on the government to consider the "totality" of research into video game violence, and to avoid causing the games industry similar damage to that suffered by the comic book industry because of the censorship laws of the 1950s. Similarly, the ECA notes a negative correlation between the growth of the games industry and the decrease in violent crime across the last decade.As Polygon learned this week, there are plans to reintroduce a bill to Congress calling for a Federal Trade Commission study into connections between violent video games and harmful effects on children. The bill, originally brought to Congress last month following the Connecticut shooting, failed to make it through the 112th session on January 2. Its author, West Virginia senator Jay Rockefeller, is likely to reintroduce the bill before the end of the month. Previous FTC studies failed to establish any causal connections between violent video games and violent behavior.
Theory of cliodynamics uses science to predict history, sees violence erupt in cycles
Ever get the feeling that you've seen it all before? University of Connecticut researcher Peter Turchin has, and he (along with Russian partners Sergey Nefedov and Andrey Korotayev) has even crafted an entire scientific theory around the idea. Cliodynamics, as it's called, works on the view that broad trends of history occur in predictable patterns based on common factors like government strength, population size and social inequality. The surprise to Turchin is that violence outside of wars, at least in the US, triggers roughly every 50 years like clockwork: people rebel against a social crisis, but their children stay out of the fray and lead to the conditions that ultimately trigger another outbreak, like the 1970s civil rights and peace movements. Don't set your watch to cliodynamics just yet. Many historians are still skeptical, and even supporters note that one-off events or major wars fall through the cracks. If the theory pans out, however, science could be used to help governments do the right thing before they're made to do it at gunpoint. [Image credit: Steve Wilson, Flickr]
God of War: Ascension dev 'pulls back' from in-game violence against women
In an interview with IGN, Sony Santa Monica's David Hewitt admitted the team's scaled back on the violence towards women in God of War: Ascension. The team is of the mind that showing such a thing would make a statement and define the character in a way that doesn't befit Kratos. "There are some things we've pulled back from. I think where this has been an issue is with violence against women – the team's pulled back from some of that and assessed that a little more carefully," Hewitt admitted. "There are certain things that carry has a different kind of resonance that we don't want to get into. This isn't about statement-making in that regard. It's about fleshing out this character."The overall interview focuses not just on violence on women, but violence in general. As one of the most criticized games of E3 in this regard, Hewitt justifies God of War: Ascension's body count by saying Kratos doesn't languish in the slaughter, nor does he particularly enjoy it. Kratos is constantly pushing forward, moving toward his goal of revenge, so Hewitt doesn't feel the violence is particularly glorified.
Warren Spector: 'Ultraviolence' in games going too far
Epic Mickey producer Warren Spector had only a limited view of E3 from within meeting rooms, but he still saw plenty of gruesome violence. "The ultraviolence has to stop," Spector told GI.biz. "We have to stop loving it. I just don't believe in the effects argument at all, but I do believe that we are fetishizing violence, and now in some cases actually combining it with an adolescent approach to sexuality. I just think it's in bad taste. Ultimately I think it will cause us trouble."Spector said he left Eidos in 2004 because of the over-the-top violence he saw overwhelming that company's lineup. "We've gone too far," he said. "The slow-motion blood spurts, the impalement by deadly assassins, the knives, shoulders, elbows to the throat. You know, Deus Ex had its moments of violence, but they were designed - whether they succeeded or not I can't say - but they were designed to make you uncomfortable, and I don't see that happening now." To call Spector's newer efforts "Mickey Mouse games" would be taken as a compliment in multiple ways, we expect.The other troubling trend Spector saw is an increased emphasis on non-game apps at E3, including services like Netflix. "When the games are the least interesting part, there's a problem."
Blood, guild emblems and more returning to EU TERA next week
European TERA players, it's time to get your violence on. Frogster has announced that a patch coming to the game next week will herald the return of the blood detail slider, so you sadistic freaks can finally revel in the spilled blood of your enemies. In addition, the patch is bringing back the guild emblem feature, which will allow players to once again upload their own unique icons to represent their guilds. The game's chat filter is also going to see some changes, which will hopefully stop the unnecessary censorship of certain words and phrases (and in some cases, linked item names) while ensuring that inappropriate language is properly censored. Eurogamer has further information, including a few words with Frogster's community manager Lucile Le Merle, so click on through to the full story for the full details.
Frogster responds to community uproar over European TERA changes
European TERA fans have been up in arms lately due to decisions on behalf of the game's European publisher, Frogster, to remove a notable amount of the game's mature content in hopes of receiving a PEGI 12 rating. Today, the game's lead community manager, Raven, took to the forums to explain the logic behind some of these decisions and to elaborate on what players can expect moving forward. The post begins with an apology for the lack of transparency in the matter of removing the blood effect slider from the game without mention; it goes on to promise that "the gore slider will be back with the original three different graduations and blood will still be spread on the ground during combat," though it's important to note that the feature will be patched back in shortly after launch. Raven also clarifies the reasons behind some of the changes made to the childlike Elin, stating that the changes were made "not to comply with a demand from any official board, but because those characters in particular could have attracted to the game a population of unsavoury users, and it is part of [Frogster's] responsibility to protect [TERA's] younger audiences from them." As far as the changes made to other character models (such as the reduction of female breast size and some changes that made certain pieces of armor less revealing) are concerned, Raven points out that those changes are present in all versions of the game, including the Korean version, so it's not a case of the game's being censored purely for Western audiences. To get the full details and put forth your tuppence on the matter, just head on over to the official TERA EU forums.
Hayashi: Team Ninja taming its 'sex and violence' image in DoA 5
Team Ninja boss Yosuke Hayashi says the studio's perspective has changed since Tomonobu Itagaki left in a huff in 2008, and even though most of its 200 staff are original team members, Hayashi is calling them his "new team." The most obvious shift is the new team's focus on creating an emotional experience, rather than eye candy, Hayashi tells Gamasutra."The old team was known for making games that just had two primary elements: Sex and violence," Hayashi says. "It was very obvious. The new team, we want to take it to a new level -- to a direction that contains emotional experiences that can move players."That's right -- Team Ninja wasn't emotionally invested in all the sexy gameplay you had together, and now it's looking for something more meaningful. Hayashi may find his new, more mature gaming experience in a Dead or Alive crossover with Virtua Fighter, a la Street Fighter X Tekken, Edge reports."In terms of collaboration titles, there are staff on our team who just love fighting games and if there was any chance to do that we'd actively, possibly do that," Hayashi says."The first 3D game I played was Virtua Fighter; that's the IP I respect most. Virtua Fighter was the father of 3D gaming, so it's very well respected."For now, one thing's certain: The women in Dead or Alive 5 will be more respectable, well-rounded (emotionally) than in previous titles. "We've always had the sex factor in the game; in the past, the female characters had to have big breasts, they had to have scanty dress," Hayashi says. "In DoA 5 especially, we're trying to focus on the real women that surround us: the voice of a female, the mannerisms. We are being realistic about it."
