25 to Life under attack again

[TomO]

The charity organisation, the Taser Foundation, which gives grants to families of policemen killed in the line of duty, has hit out at the controversial game (http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/nid/921/1020/). Foundation director Gerry Anderson said "games such as this actually dehumanise police."

[Evil Avatar]

Funny, as both a law enforcement officer and a gamer, I really have no problems with these games at all.

I guess it comes from that whole "Being able to tell fantasy from reality." thing I have going on.

[Varsity]

Have they still not realised that you can play as a policeman too?

Evil, I don't think being an admin counts in this circumstance. :p

[Evil Avatar]

Have they still not realised that you can play as a policeman too?

Evil, I don't think being an admin counts in this circumstance. :p

Good thing I'm not an admin then. :)

And, No, it is pretty obvious that they never read the game Press Release and figured out that you can play as the cops.

[PacerDawn]

I've never considered myself to be on the bandwagon with the anti-video game lobby, but I'll admit, even I think this game may be going a little to far. Grabbing people to use as human shields while you shoot cops and bystanders? Isn't that hostage taking and murder? So now we have games that let us club people on the street for money, and now hostages. At least in GTA, the main action was limited to fighting other bad guys (killing people in the streets, like hookers, was always optional, and totally unnecessary. The game wasn't fun because of that, it was fun because it had open ended style play) but in this game it looks like it's part of the storyline.

What's next? Rape? Torture perhaps? How long will it be before we see a "Dictator" sim where the player gets to control the masses through terror and genocide? How long before a game lets you use suicide bombers as units to destroy civilian populations and cause a "terror level"?

Think I'm being extreme? 10 years ago, if you told someone we would be playing games today where the players could kill hookers or take hostages and use them as human shields I'll bet they would say the same thing to you.

I totally disagree with "as long as it's fun and not real life, you cannot go to far." I don't think anyone here has the expertise to say whether these games are harmful in the long run or not, but it appears most would rather err on the side of sorry than safe.

[net7runner]

How long will it be before we see a "Dictator" sim where the player gets to control the masses through terror and genocide?

*cough*BlackandWhite*cough*

[KNOTE]

As we know, the best way to get kids to not do something is to have a bunch of adults say "hey kids DON'T PLAY THIS! It's BAD! We're TOTALLY against it."

[EGO]

Vile games such as 25-to-Life and Manhunt don't help the videogame industry at all, but I'm not going to say something shouldn't exist, because it's really up to the consumer to make choices.

Horror movies, Gang-bang-porn, crash videos, extreme sports, soulless action flicks, pathetic chemestry-less formulaic romantic comedies. All of these things get made, are seen by millions and missed by even more. Yet, movies don't recieve the same scrutinty/attacks as videogames.

[PacerDawn]

Horror movies, Gang-bang-porn, crash videos, extreme sports, soulless action flicks, pathetic chemestry-less formulaic romantic comedies. All of these things get made, are seen by millions and missed by even more. Yet, movies don't recieve the same scrutinty/attacks as videogames.
Actually, movies do recieve the same attacks. At least, they used to before there were these video games. For example (just one, there are many), way before her husband became the vice president, Tipper Gore wrote a book back in the 80's called "Raising PG kids in an X rated society" where she slammed many movies, such as Friday the 13th. However, people said "Meh!" to that and it died down. Now video games are receiving the focus.

Also, movies are considered to be less a threat because the viewer is distanced from the action, as opposed to video games where a viewer is part of the action. There is a huge difference in watching someone be a killer, and actually playing the killer yourself.

[Goronmon]

How come no one complains about the Sims? I mean, you can burn down a house with the family inside, trap someone in the wall and let them waste away, etc...yet we never hear about anyone blaming the Sims for causing fires :p

[EL CABONG]

wow this game isn't going to be out for months yet and it has gotten more press from sentors and others slamming it than most games ever get in nongameing news. The more they slam it the more people will know about it ,so more poeple will buy it. All their whinny is just going to help its sales. 2 live Crew all over again.

[mister_slim]

Is the 25 to Life PR team staffed entirely by former Acclaim employees?

[Shifteh]

How long will it be before we see a "Dictator" sim where the player gets to control the masses through terror and genocide?

Tropico?

Really, I think people are playing right into game developers hands with stuff like this. can't you just see the guy who produced this game with his hands in the air and an evil laugh?

There's no such thing as bad press - thanks media, you just made a game-producer rich.

[PacerDawn]

It's because the theme of the Sims isn't to start fires, but to nuture them (and don't you lose if you do that? I don't know, I've never played it, no interest really). In this came, taking hostages actually helps you and in that respect is encouraged. Big difference, and why I'm not on the side of the anti-videogame lobby. Just because a game allows you to do unaccepted deeds isn't the point. I mean, hell, kids can do that on their own just by pretending.

The controversy occurs when doing those deeds is part of the standard game play.

[PacerDawn]

I never played Tropico, but is part of the gameplay to take citizens and bath them in chemical baths for torture? I guess I should have spelled it out, but that is what I meant. A game where you have to do all of the vile deeds of todays dictators, not a watered down financial sim.

How about a game where you can take hostages, cut their heads off, and publish the video footage on the web? How about a game where the players go into average neighborhoods, grab pregnant mothers, cut the babies from their wombs, and try to sell them on the black market?

Where do we draw the line? The kind of stuff in games today would be considered as taboo as what I described above just 50 years ago. Will this continue? What will we be playing in another 50 years? Rape games with kids who know no different saying "Hey, it's just a game, I'm not really raping anyone!"

[Neosho]

Where do we draw the line? The kind of stuff in games today would be considered as taboo as what I described above just 50 years ago. Will this continue? What will we be playing in another 50 years? Rape games with kids who know no different saying "Hey, it's just a game, I'm not really raping anyone!"

But the real question would be...how would the gameplay be on a rape game? That doesn't sound very exciting to me. And have you seen any of those crazy japanese games?

[Kelegacy]

i think that this game should be banned from every store, and Eidos slapped with a huge boycott for even thinking about publishing this game.

I also think the first amendment should be abolished and everyone spayed or neutered at birth. It would make things easier.

[darkmoonz]

... everyone spayed or neutered at birth. It would make things easier.

Selective neutering... or my favorite, have people get a liscense to breed...

other than this though, in all honesty it's about the gameplay. manhunt might have been some terribly immoral game, or something like that, but in my opinion, it sucked. it was repetitive, the "hardcore" or whatever death scenes were annoying, it didn't have a very driven storyline, and all in all i just didn't enjoy playing the thing. if 25 to life can entertain people, and i don't mean intertain as in the intertainment people get from calling one another n00bs or talking about someone's mom, then i say let the thing be made, and be quick about it. otherwise, i hope it rots on a shelf somewhere... (: