Exactly imo books are more damaging and effecting society then games and movies, Hitler's Mein Kampf anyone and The Church of Latterday Saints litiarture (not that I meant that Mormons did any harm is that I meant Joseph Smith really made in impact with his writings.)

"rewired in a totally new way that demands constant stimulation"

HAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously?
Because publishers fear to anger the fragile people, you know, the PETA-like disasters (only this time it won't be about animals, but about humans).

May I ask what kind of book or movie is ok with violence on children?

You ever read "A Song of Ice and Fire"?
They're not humans, they're colored pixels...

I think I actually read an op-ed piece in a place the Huffington Post or AlterNet (which I can proudly say I now avoid like the plague) that was making similar arguments. And the fact that it's the subject of a TED talk only solidifies in my mind how TED has now become little more than an elitist corporate pseudo-intellectual wank-fest.

Tell that to PETA and similar groups.

I don't think they're human either:P

Hm, I don't think that's a very convincing comparison. If you'd named an influential novel or something, maybe that would be different, but "books" like that one weren't even meant as entertainment. Propaganda movies could harm society, too. And I don't even think that Mein Kampf had such an impact as a book. It reveals part of the confused hateful ideology of that guy for us today and some idiots might revere it as their bible, but I'm afraid the Nazis didn't need it in order to get support for their Third Reich ... I don't even know if many people actually read it at that time.

What book would say that had more impact then non entertainment movies and/or games?

(agreed that propaganda can come in all forms)

Is this supposed to be surprising? This kind of hokum pervades CNN like bearded ladies in traveling circuses. So it included video games for once. It's still just as easily dismissed as any of the other opinion articles they've published from these so-called "professionals."

We already do. :) The is the main group out there, but other groups like the [url=https://www.eff.org/]EFF also count as well. WIth matters concerning video games and mainstream public opinion, the ESA is also with us (which makes sense, since they represent the people who make and publish games), and given that the ESA alone represents the interests of companies like EA, Sega, Nintendo, and Microsoft, they're not a force to be dismissed out of hand.

I'd like to think also that charities like Child's Play also count too, since they're a strong sign that gamers, well, are real people too.

The Bible*?

/Troll

The point I think, is that video gaming is treated unfairly compared with other media. As I've said before, video games are still understood and viewed by the mainstream as being toys for children, with any other exception being a demonic corrupting force pushed by evil doers. That's why games are either depicted as either things like Mario/Pac Man, or Grand Theft Auto/Mortal Kombat. People don't think about Deus Ex, Shadow of the Colossus, or Planescape: Torment, and if they are, they're grossly misunderstood (e.g. the controversy surrounding Mass Effect's "sexual content").

There's plenty of depictions of violence, sexism, and racism, out there in popular media. In some cases, it's so pervasive that we've become desensitized to it and don't even know it's there. Yet, if there's even a possible, slight hint of something which could be construed as even vaguely "sexual" or inappropriately violent in a video game, people bring out the pitchforks. So why do those other guys get a pass, while video gamers get the shaft?


*As a Christian myself, I think I get some license to have enough humor to make a good dry, self-deprecating joke or two. :)

Yeah, that's what I meant. You could certainly do propaganda in video games, too, like in every other artistic and informative medium. Just denying it and saying that games are harmless and without effect no matter what doesn't do them justice and doesn't really serve gamers and help them defend them, because that position wouldn't be credible.

Not implying that you suggested anything like that, just speaking in general. I think we might actually agree with each other. :)

Agreed :) 'handshakes' since I just remembered various propaganda films of WW2 such as this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8bCuNiJ-NI&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLDD242E3C14D37AD0

(NOTE: I am not a Nazi sympthasizer, I am just showing an example of Propaganda
and Warning to people who are easily offeneded to Nazis do not watch)

Interesting. I've never such a Disney movie before. :D

I was sort of worried that I could get flak for posting this especially posting it to you since you are Germen and I am aware that most Germans today are easily offended to Nazis