Why is the media so hard on gaming?

It's just riddicules, they blame the violence and stuff when tv and movies are worse, they say kids get their hands on M rated games when fewer kids manage to get it from retailers then get in movies and dvds, they are blowing the Sony thing way out of preportion even more so then they did when actual credit card companies lost over a 100 million credit card numbers and took a month to let people know and didn't even know when exactly it happened, Sony's responce was actually unusually fast in those cases and the most sensitive information lost was your address but that doesn't stop the media from calling it the worst breach of personal information in history when it clearly isn't, I'm just sick of the media bashing on gaming, and Sony particialarly, MS managed to downplay the 360s failrate quite well though that is probably because they are an american company and have experiance in back handed deals and media control

There are a few reasons:

1. It's an easy target. Games have been under attack for a while, and it's still a fairly new mass market medium (Compared to books, cinema, TV or radio).

2. Target audience. Games are mainly played by the under 30s, with the majority well below that - those are the people with the weakest voice in society. Many of those well above 30 don't play games, so are more willing to believe media bias. And while many other mediums are considered to have quite a broad audience, gaming is seen as very male.

3. Choice. In a film, you're a passive viewer - If James Bond kills someone, it's a character following the script. In a game, you're an active participant trying to shoot someone (Not that you get many pacifist FPSs, though!).

Over time, reasons 1 and 2 will be eroded...

because parents are failing hard on their kids ad need something to blame on.

when it come's to the gaming it will always be blamed, some people don't like it as the are blaming that if you game you get very "dull" to much voilent, sex, drugs etc etc etc..

But funny enough, its easier so see adult films, war, action, horror etc by just downloading, but that you never hear on the news...

Plus it dident help that Sony now did that big misteak of getting hacked so gaming will be even more blames now...

They have questionable studies about how video games alone make people viloent and they hold the studies as true.

wall of text rolls for critical hit

entire party rolls to save vs /facepalm!

Its fairly easy to answer that.

Society always needs an escapegoat for all the bad things that happen.

Before Gaming, it was movies, and before that (was before I was born) but rock music.

Partly due to a lack of understanding about said media.

Basicly it is easier to point out an easy target and blame that target for all the problems society has, then to look reality in the eyes, and place the blame at poor paranting, and aweful and run down institutions, left with teaching the kids Morals and ethics, because the old folks are out "realising thier dreams".

It will pass, when the older generations pass on and our generation are the old timers, Gaming will not be viewed as such, however at that time something else has come out, and we blame that new thing for allour lack of competence aswell :P

Essentially because the media loves sensationalism, and a topic that many people over a certain age are unfamilar with is the perfect one to breed fear and in turn viewers. I agree though, calling Sony's outage as the worst secrurity breach ever is ludicrous.

when it come's to the gaming it will always be blamed, some people don't like it as the are blaming that if you game you get very "dull" to much voilent, sex, drugs etc etc etc..

But funny enough, its easier so see adult films, war, action, horror etc by just downloading, but that you never hear on the news...

Plus it dident help that Sony now did that big misteak of getting hacked so gaming will be even more blames now...

theswede88

The other odd thing is how the content in all video games doesn't even come close to matching the content in some movies in regards to sex or violence. I'm not saying video games do need more sex and violence, but the fact is there is no video game that match the actions seen in certain very adult films, and I'm not talking about pornographic films.

The media is so hard on Gaming because the media is mainly made up of people that were too old for games when they got popular or they were raised when gaming wasn't popular before Playstation.

All forms of entertainment was criticised we just have to wait until the people that hate on it die and are replaced by people that grew up gaming.

All I'm gonna say is that parents need to do a better job at their parenting skills. Otherwise, some of these atrocities would have not happened.

I dont watch the media, except for world news, which hardly ever talks about video games.

The media is so hard on gaming because they believe that gaming is full of violence, it is a waste of time, and is not an artform or anything positive comes from gaming/that gamers are bad people etc... So sometimes the mainstream media is right. The videogame industry and its fanbase does at times lend creedance to the mainstream medias stance on gaming.

But in the end it is if you as an individual actually buy into the negative things. That the mainstream media says about gaming, I for one do not.

The media is hard on gaming because it is new to them and they truly don't understand it. They see violence in video games and think that's what it is all about. I just ignore their comments and remind myself they have no idea what they are talking about and laugh.

The media is so hard on gaming because they believe that gaming is full of violence, it is a waste of time, and is not an artform or anything positive comes from gaming/that gamers are bad people etc... So sometimes the mainstream media is right. The videogame industry and its fanbase does at times lend creedance to the mainstream medias stance on gaming.

But in the end it is if you as an individual actually buy into the negative things. That the mainstream media says about gaming, I for one do not.

Megavideogamer

First of all, full stop. Use them.

Second, convenient scapegoat is indeed quite convenient. You may remember before video games became a big deal, parent's watchdog groups were blaming Judas Priest and Dungeons and Dragons for the corruption of the youth. Anything to remove the blame from where it truly belongs (that is to say, lazy and half-assed parenting.)

The media is so hard on Gaming because the media is mainly made up of people that were too old for games when they got popular or they were raised when gaming wasn't popular before Playstation.

All forms of entertainment was criticised we just have to wait until the people that hate on it die and are replaced by people that grew up gaming.

Nintendo_Ownes7

This is something i could use for a paper im writing for class

well anyway, news casters just look at screen shots of the game and say it bad, byt never do a full reasearch on the game. i think that the media should just pay attention on whats going on in the world then pay attention to what a 10 year old is playing.

[QUOTE="Nintendo_Ownes7"]

The media is so hard on Gaming because the media is mainly made up of people that were too old for games when they got popular or they were raised when gaming wasn't popular before Playstation.

All forms of entertainment was criticised we just have to wait until the people that hate on it die and are replaced by people that grew up gaming.

Azohar3307

Movies were criticised for a while, TV was criticised, and certain genres of music were criticised.

But Movies and TV aren't that criticised anymore and some genres of Music are still criticised but Video Games are still criticised.

Because gaming supports abortion, terrorism, adultery, being rude to the elderly amongst many other things. Seeing the 'love' scene in Mass Effect caused many to murder en masse, the blood is on your hands, Bioware.

[QUOTE="Azohar3307"][QUOTE="Nintendo_Ownes7"]

The media is so hard on Gaming because the media is mainly made up of people that were too old for games when they got popular or they were raised when gaming wasn't popular before Playstation.

All forms of entertainment was criticised we just have to wait until the people that hate on it die and are replaced by people that grew up gaming.

Nintendo_Ownes7

Movies were criticised for a while, TV was criticised, and certain genres of music were criticised.

But Movies and TV aren't that criticised anymore and some genres of Music are still criticised but Video Games are still criticised.

And, to keep on topic with the previous couple of posts, I am in the media (albeit sports journalism), and I love video games. I don't get to play quite as much as I used to, but that doesn't stop me from liking them whether they are violent or not. I think the PSN thing was a failure, but poo happens. That was more on the Sony company than gamers/gaming in general. As far as coming down hard on gaming, yeah, the overall "sensationalist" media will take anything and blow it out of proportion. Just try to watch Fox News for a whole day. It's impossible because it's the same stupid story with almost no details, and they try to push the fear factor of the story to make people scared to go outside.

As for the "age" of the media, I think the majority of people in the media are younger than 35. It's just that the most influential people are the Rush Limbaughs and the Bill O'Reily's of the world. Why? Because people love biggots with no brain. That's a fact.

[QUOTE="Nintendo_Ownes7"]

[QUOTE="Azohar3307"] I really hope your not serious with this statement Azohar3307

Movies were criticised for a while, TV was criticised, and certain genres of music were criticised.

But Movies and TV aren't that criticised anymore and some genres of Music are still criticised but Video Games are still criticised.

I probably should choose better words.

I believe that the reason videogames are so heavily critisized is because most people, and the media, have never gotten over the mentality that games are just for kids. So when a violent or mature game is released, ignoring the ratings and assuming that the game is made for children, proceed to critisize it as a bad influence on the youth. On a sidenote, I find funny how the depiction of death is more politicaly-correct and socialy acceptable than the depiction of sex (concerning the alien side-boob fiasco) Plus, people love to relieve themselves of responsibilities (parenting) and seek scapegoats (videogames) to ease their conscience.