Bad News Sells...
"In short, contemporary media regularly construct discourses of fear and panic" (Williams and Smith 3).
This quote about sums it all up, doesn't it? The media typically reports bad news... or extremely happy news... there really isn't a happy medium. No one wants to hear about how the world is just okay... so the media is charged with reporting on (and often causing) the next big epidemic or other panic-causing events...
I, for one, am sick of violent games getting a bad rap because people who shoot up schools happen to play them. I have been playing games all my life and have never done anything like that!
For someone who takes gaming seriously though, I have to say that it is strange to see games being treated as a scholarly subject in this book. (Which I know is very hypocritical of me!) I argue with people all the time in defense of how games have become an artform and then kind of scratch my head when they are being discussed on an intellectual level... It is sad that immoral deviants and immature, impressionable youths are the seen as the stereotypical gamer... especially now (as the introduction points out) that so many different people are gaming and it has become such a major facet of popular culture...
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Cody Naylor on Bad News Sells...: I think that comparing William
Keith Campbell on Bad News Sells...: I completley agree with you on
Dennis G. Jerz on Bad News Sells...: Since most teenagers play comp
Since most teenagers play computer games, most teenagers who commit violent crimes also play computer games, but that doesn't mean that the games cause the violent behavior. Having said that, I have not yet let my 11-year-old play a FPS game, though he is very interested in military history, and my wife has let him watch R-rated war movies. (I go into this topic a bit more in the lecture videos I posted for tomorrow morning's readings. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.)
How do you feel this book differs from Koster's?
I completley agree with you on video games getting a bad rap. It is frustrating to hear all of the negative mdeia about video games when you know first hand what the media is reporting is not fully true
I think that comparing Williams/Smith's book to Koster's is like comparing apples to oranges. Koster's is so unique and playful (and young feeling)... though it does go into specific detail at times while Williams/Smith's book is very cut and dry... they both make points about violent video games eventually though and it is a topic that is interesting to me so I am enjoying both readings...
I agree that it's a breath of fresh air to see video games studied on a scholarly level. I've grown tired of always listening to people who think that video games are only for entertainment. They have so much more to offer. Even some of the violent ones, like the War games, because they at least give a little bit of history. I swear that I saw the same clip from the Military Channel on one of my Call of Duty video games.