JediMoose

So. Here we go again.

A 17 yr old boy brutally kills a 14 yr old boy and the killer’s parents blame it on the game “Manhunt”. Now they, and the victim’s parents, want to ban a whole selection of violent games.

Okay then.
I have a few thoughts about this.

• If someone is going to hurt or kill another human being then they’re going to do it anyway. They don’t need instruction from a computer game, a role-playing game, a comic book, a film or from television.
• The boy must have had some kind of psychological issues because it’s just not done to kill someone else, even if he did get the idea from a game, or book, or comic, or film…
• He was seventeen years old. The game had an eighteen certificate. Only one year out, but then that’s the law.
• The parents must be held responsible to a certain degree. Period.
• Why ban the game? It’s just another knee-jerk reaction which serves no long term purpose. There will alway be another violent game. There will always be another violent death. The game will always be blamed.
• Yeah, and the guy’s 17 for crying out loud. If he doesn’t know the difference between fantasy and reality then this should have been picked up long before now.
• What were is parents doing? Did they raise him correctly, instilling in him any kind of moral code? You, know the kind of moral code which says THAT KILLING PEOPLE IS WRONG.

and finally…

• I play computer games, some violent, some not. I play(ed) role-playing games, I’m not a devil-worshipper. I listen to (amongst other things) Heavy Metal music. I read comics. I enjoy Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror books, films and television. I have not harmed another human being in all my years on this planet (Okay, this isn’t strictly true but I’m pretty sure they deserved some of it…). I have never tortured animals. I don’t hate people. Generally I’m quite an nice chap.

Sorry, I was building up to quite a rant there.

It’s just that if you’re going to ban computer games for being violent then go all the way.

Why not ban violent films, books, games, and comics.
Ban soap operas. They’re full of horrendous people doing horrible things to each other.
Ban Big Brother. This time they’re encouraging negative behaviour.

And once all these things have been banned, you will still find violent behaviour in our society. Because if someone has it in their mind to brutally kill another human being, they’ll find an excuse from somewhere.

BigAl

Got Uru on Saturday. Oh, good golly gosh, it’s good.

Don’t ask me what the storyline is or what the final goal is, because I’m not really sure.
Where the first three Myst games (Myst, Riven, Exile) had a point (1. rescuing Atrus, 2. rescuing Catherine, 3. rescuing the Releeshan book) this one looks more geared towards keeping the fans of the Myst universe happy by giving them a game that has history, Ages to explore and secrets to learn.

But there’s no bad guy to defeat, no great prize to be won, no power or glory to achieve.
For me the beauty of the Myst games is the incredibly inventive locations and the depth they shoe-horn into each game. And it would have been better if the Uru: Live concept hadn’t died a death.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself here.

Uru is great. It’s full of puzzles, atmosphere and turnips. (Ah, no. Maybe not.)
But it’s early days yet. I’ve just started playing Uru and there loads more to do. I’ll see how I feel about it after a couple of hours of it tonight.

BigAl