First console inventor calls violent games a “disgrace”

And the first people to develop the written word must be ashamed of all the books which have since been written which are morally apprehensive… Same goes for whomever invented the film medium, and hell, why not throw photography in there too?

I honestly have no interest listening to stuff like this.

A disgrace? That’s a stretch.

Boring? Sure. Unoriginal? Definitely. Insipid, childish and juvenile? In a lot of cases, yes.

But I wouldn’t call them a total disgrace.

Just mostly.

@1 There’s a difference between violence for the sake of telling a good story, and violence purely for the sake of violence. The latter is dull no matter what medium it’s presented in, but gaming seems to relish in it.

@2
Yes, of course. But the point is, it’s apparent in every medium. I just find the singling out of gaming ridiculous. If people, as much as I abhor violence for the sake of violence, wish to create fictional works containing that sort of stuff, all the power to them.

You know what’s a total disgrace? Some human beings’ shallow, square and limited mind and perspective.

I’m very proud of him for rhyming “created” and “abominated.”

@3 Nowhere in the interview is it even remotely suggested that he was “singling out” video game.

He was simply asked how he felt about how the medium had progressed over the past 40 years, and that was part of his answer.

@6
Um… Okay. Go ahead and nitpick my phrasing. You know quite well what I meant regardless. (Besides, I’m not really sure what you’re even on about. He is talking exclusively about video games here, thus singling them out).

The point is, is criticisms like this are useless. People will still make senselessly violent video games, and people should be free to do so. The only way to change it, if that’s what the majority wants, is to talk with your money, really.

Videogames aren’t a medium, they’re interactive computer entertainment. Games were around for ages and predate culture.

@8 That’s like saying movies aren’t a medium because they’re simply pre-recorded plays, or music isn’t a medium if it’s not played live.

Things come in different forms.

@7, This article has a lot of selective quoting, you should check out the original where he actually says:

“What I created got abominated. You can see the same thing in music, literature, art — any form of art,”

Not gonna lie, VG, this is quite a focus on the one minor negative parts of the entire interview.

@10 That’s Internet journalism for you.

Tabloid sensationalism.

I mean, why create an informed report about a heartfelt interview with the inventor of our favourite past time, when you can just pull out a paragraph of text and slap a sensationalist title on the top.

The “Quick Quotes” news segments exist almost exclusively for the purpose of selectively quoting stuff for the most negative or dramatic headlines. You think they care about context? Hahahaha!

Rather that’s like saying pop music isn’t a one.

And slapping a pic of Mona Lisa on a box of chips would still make that a box of chips, making a porn movie with an emotional storyline still constitutes for a porn movie. They’re a spin-off.

@11, It’s still pretty sad. I imagine a lot of people have no idea who this guy is. I certainly didn’t.

It would have been good to have seen a positive report about the person who seemingly started it all. But no, we just get a cheap attempt at some flamebait.

@12 And there is a vast, vast difference between kicking a ball around a field and the ever evolving video game industry, with its multiple distribution channels, archive of similar media and creative output.

Medium (in relation to media) is the process of communicating things to individual through a specific form of media. Gaming, but it’s digital nature, is media. So yes, it’s a medium, by any definition of the word.

Evolving or devolving, it’s ultimately kicking a ball around. Note that I ‘m not the one saying it’s a bad thing.

If you view gaming as a ‘medium’ then yes videogaming is a spin-off of that, making it therefore a medium as well, just not a standalone one.

@15 Simply gaming isn’t a medium because it’s something snyyone can recreate in their own environment with simple items. There doesn’t need to be any distribution involved to do it.

I’m not sure what’s hard to understand here. If it’s not distributed to a person AS A FORM OF MEDIA, it’s not a medium. If it is, it is.

We were talking past one another.

I don’t mind violence in games but I just hate it how people take it too far that it is so meaningless!

The devs who created Splatterhouse got carried away with the stupid blood without fixing the damn game!

I wonder if the inventor of the telivision would feel the same about today’s shows and movies.

What a muppet. Also I love how he claims to have invented the video game.

@19 What the hell are you babbling about? He *did* invent video games.

“What I created got abominated”.

You short sighted fool.

/end

@10
Oh, shit. I didn’t read the original. I was only going by what it says here. I apologize, Michael. Sorry, dude. That’s my fault for actually thinking they weren’t just quote mining here. I guess I’ve become too complacent with this site.

@22 No worries. I wasn’t nitpicking your phrasing. I was nitpicking their selective quoting.

The actual interview through the link is a very good read. It’s certainly nice to see real journalism still prevails somewhere on the internet.