Comments on: Maturity, Madness, and 'Mass Effect'

A look at some of the strange and downright fictional portrayals of Mass Effect in the media.

[johnbuker]

15 years ago called...

Someone needs to send them a video of Leisure Suit Larry- tell them (correctly) that the object of the game is to try and get Larry laid. Faux outrage at a 15 year old game would be awesome...and might lead to us getting a new LSL game.

[Scribe6]

The New BoogeyMan

Video games have become the new BoogeyMan. First, it was comic books, then it was TV, and now its video games. I'm not surprised that Fox picked up the controversy from Townhall.com.

Penny Arcade, definately a game player oriented comic, had a really funny cartoon about the original post. It basically said that the author did the follow-up post because of the incredible page views he received from the original.

There has never been any true correllation between video games, TV and real life violence. Yes, there are studies that show that TV tends to make viewers less sensitive to violence, and can cause short term agression. I'm sure, eventually, there will be studies to link video games to violence. All you need to do is look at all of the teenage shooters that have been said to play "violent video games" that were nowhere near as graphic as current games.

Mass Effect is one of the first "Mature Adult" role playing games that features any kind of "true" romantic option. The focus on the game is the story. This is more akin to an adult's version of "The Legend of Zelda." 1 Main bad guy, lots of friends to help take his minors on, and you get to see the universe at the same time.

As with everything else, it comes down to the industry listing the proper ratings on the games, and parents being "informed consumers." But, this is America, so why would we want to take responsibility for ourselves and our families?

[JazGalaxy]

78% of gamers are adults is crap

I know the study which purports that nearly 80% of gamers are adults, and, as someone who works with children daily, I find that to be absolutely ridiculous.

Anecdotal evidence, certainly, but in my interactions, nearly 100% of the children I work with play videogames. They might not be the newest games, or what we call "good games" but be it some Barbie DS game or Guitar Hero, nearly every single kid actively plays and talks a bout video games on a regular basis. Moreover, nearly every single one of them owns a console and a handheld. Even at a charity event I worked this christmas for kids whos parents are in jail (suggesting that these aren't the most affluent kids in the world) many of them asked for and recieved video games as christmas gifts.

80% of gamers being adults is pure crap. Now, they may PURCHASE MORE GAMES. That's incredibly likely, since they have jobs. I know I purchase about 10 times the games I purchased as a child. But that does not mean I play games LESS than I did as a child. Quite the contrary, with the neighborhood borrowing system that exists between children...

[sommer182]

% is pretty darn close

We've got 16 people in our office. At least nine of us own consoles and occasionally play games. Of the 20 or 30 adults I know from our church, at least 60% of them own and play consoles. So 70 to 80% is fair, I think, when considering gamers and adult play.

Now handhelds, however, are a different story. With two college aged exceptions, no one I know over the age of 14 owns a DS or PSP.

[jack_the_nugget]

Fox News doesn't know what they're talking about.

I really can't believe that an actual national news network would put this erroneous load of crap on the air. I think next time Fox News opens their mouth about this topic it should be an apology to microsoft, bioware, and the gaming community at large.

[Tokimemofan]

The problem is American media and sexual content.

Someone needs to tell these fools about hentai games, then see how these guys manage to distort the facts. -.^

[sommer182]

America: GROW UP!!!

I've spent some time overseas, and one thing I've learned about media--games, movies, latenight TV--is that we need to GROW UP over here in the great old U.S. of A. We are such HUGE prudes here when it comes to sexual content, alcohol, etc. in our media content. Yet when it comes to graphically depicting violence in infinite forms, we are okay with showing that in all forms and at all times of day. My mother-in-law complains when someone gets their groove on in prime-time here, yet seeing some bare shoulder and back on network TV is NOTHING compared to what you'll see overseas. And none of those countries have the hang ups on sexuality or the sexual predetor problems we seen to have over here. Funny, however, most of their dramas, even crime and war shows, will refrain from blowing up limbs and lives. And they also don't have the same levels of violent crime that we do.

Maybe we have it backwards here?

[LenSp]

Things are changing overseas

Interestingly, violent crime has been increasing in Europe. Countries like France have passed the US in most categories with the big exception of homicide. The trend in the US in all categories has been downward (despite the increases in certain cities like New Orleans and Philly due to local conditions). And the US murder rate is heavily concentrated among young urban black men -- mostly due to turf fights over drugs among gang members. Solve that problem and the US murder rate would plummet. However, for the vast majority of the US population, a murder is becoming an increasingly exotic event.

In many ways, Europe is going through the crime problems we did back in the 1960's and much of the debates there remind me of the debates here forty years ago. Hopefully, they'll come to quicker solutions than we did.

Regarding displays of sex, the US will always react with more inhibition. It is and always has been a very religious nation, especially compared to the currently weak faith in modern Western Europe. Plus, the US has maintained it's total fertility rate at the replacement level for three decades now. That means there's a lot more parents here with kids than in Europe with it's rapidly declining birth rates. So there's always going to be a large pool of people uncomfortable with too much overt sexuality in public life and would like some restraint.

[Squirrel1081]

THANK YOU!

I've been practically begging Tom and Molly to cover this story in the Buzz Out Loud since Tuesday, but they keep ignoring my freaking post!