Why were people so fearful of video games in the 2000s?

[RyanEX]

its an easy political target. its effortless to blame, easy to pass stupid legislation against (if it even gets that far). its something to add on their CV about their "tough stance on immorality" without having actually made any effort, let alone made any meaningful change (because thats way too much effort and a waste of money/time/resource)

its even easier than blaming minorities or any other powerless group. their voters just lap that stuff up.

its been going on MUCH longer than the 2000's and not only with video games.

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right wingers are the source of heavy "moral" censorship and "family values". its why many potentially great games either got their content diluted or were rejected outright because "family values" = "profitability"

That has been far more devestating than the hot air thrown around by Anita.

civvies on both sides however are responsible for attacks on developers with their contact details, personal data and location being posted. Now THAT has hurt the industry the most. new devs havent had the experience to develop the thick skin to resist malicious trolls either, so new talent gets scared away.

Fair point. I remember the shit shows that came out of games like Postal and Manhunt.

However, while those became more difficult to acquire, you WERE still able to get them. The new crop of "gamers" instead of making games harder to get instead have gaming companies pushing shit games which you wouldn't want to have regardless.

[Dellis0991]

With the leap in graphics and violent content, some feared that the gaming industry was programming children to become harden killers.

[Mad_Murdock]

Wow (no pun intended) people have short memories. OK #1 a few decades ago this started out as a non-partisan issue. Over time though that has shifted to being right of center on average, but even now it's not 100% partisan. #2 the issue was that violent content desensitized people, especially youth, and made them more tolerant of violence. This added tolerance it was alleged removed a key societal pressure that helped tamp down potential violence.

Yeah some folks forgot that Tipper Gore (Wife of Al Gore) and the Washington Wives had a big push for the explicit material labels on music. Ice T even calls her out in one of his jams if I recall right.

On a side note, I am disappointed that a couple of my gaming friends who used to play Battlefield and counter-strike start spewing Video games are evil whenever a shooting happens. I don't think they really believe video games are evil, they just want to shift the focus off guns, which makes me sad that they would betray one to save another.

[WowIsDead64]

Health concerns? You mean like MMO addiction? Can you elaborate further on that point?

Gaming is similar to smoking, alcohol and drugs. Why? Because you can use human weaknesses to pump money from them, causing harm to their heath - both physical and mental. For example you can use fact, that children have lower self-control. Or use some psychological tricks, such as some natural addiction to opening chests with shinies or some Skinner-box RNG addiction. That's, why mobile gaming market is so profitable. And, as in case of smoking and alcohol, there should be some government regulation. What dirty tricks gamedevs can or can't use in their games.

[Vash The Stampede]

Why did they think gamers were "enablers" and "voyeurs"? What do we enable?

Blaming video games for the problems of the youth is a distraction from the real problems. Think of it like a magician where they want you to pay attention to this hand while the other is doing the real work. There are some genuine idiots that are afraid of new things, but they're also afraid to admit they're old and behind the times.

And does GamePolitics need to come back?

No please.

[Budong]

It's the 2010s, almost the 2020s is what he's referring to. The 2000s, in the manner he's referring to, ended a long time ago.

When a historian says sometime in the 1800's do you think he's only talking about 1800-1809???

[cparle87]

When a historian says sometime in the 1800's do you think he's only talking about 1800-1809???

I've seen it used both ways. They could be vaguely referring to the 1800s as a century as a whole, or the decade in particular. From the words of the OP it seemed like he was using the latter usage, as he was speaking of video game fear as something which used to be more prevalent, but seems to have died off.

How is it different from saying "Back in the 2000s they did this" than "Back in the 2010s they did this" except the former can have a different meaning based on context.

[Budong]

I've seen it used both ways. They could be vaguely referring to the 1800s as a century as a whole, or the decade in particular. From the words of the OP it seemed like he was using the latter usage, as he was speaking of video game fear as something which used to be more prevalent, but seems to have died off.

How is it different from saying "Back in the 2000s they did this" than "Back in the 2010s they did this" except the former can have a different meaning based on context.

I've never seen it used that way and my undergrad degree was history lol. That's a lot of history professors. If 1900's it's the century, if it's the decade it's specified. Then again most professors use 18th century for the 1700's etc.

Maybe it's a cultural thing. I've attended three universities but all in the U.S. Maybe it's this way in other countries?

Regardless this is terribly off topic so this discussion ends here.

[Sughs]

I've never seen it used that way and my undergrad degree was history lol. That's a lot of history professors. If 1900's it's the century, if it's the decade it's specified. Then again most professors use 18th century for the 1700's etc.

Maybe it's a cultural thing. I've attended three universities but all in the U.S. Maybe it's this way in other countries?

Regardless this is terribly off topic so this discussion ends here.

Pretty sure its like that everywhere. Just depends on the context and it was pretty clear here.

[gd8]

you're delusional if you think consuming video games and other media 24/7 isn't bad for your brain

[Niroshi]

Progressives have been far worse towards Videogames in the last 5 years than Republicans have. Just look at Gamergate, Retards like Anita Sarkeesian and the constant whinging of "inclusiveness" by mentally ill idiots on Tumblr.

Progressives have absolutely not been worse than the era of politicians being discussed. Seriously man, Sarkessian and the others for the most part wrote things or made internet videos about topics you didn't agree with. Republicans and third way Democrats of the 90s wanted to regulate the shit out of video games through the federal government.

[cparle87]

I've never seen it used that way and my undergrad degree was history lol. That's a lot of history professors. If 1900's it's the century, if it's the decade it's specified. Then again most professors use 18th century for the 1700's etc.

Maybe it's a cultural thing. I've attended three universities but all in the U.S. Maybe it's this way in other countries?

Regardless this is terribly off topic so this discussion ends here.

So how did your professors refer to the first decade of a given century? ie 1700-1709 and 1800-1809?

[Knaar]

Hold on, there is/was a website talking about games and politics????? I cant see anything possibly going wrong with that, top kek.

[Tiwack]

Because some have difficulty in separating fiction from reality. Especially vulnerable and socially isolated people can lose themselves in them just as they can in TV, books or any other hobby for that matter. Even healthy individuals are subconsciously influenced by the media they consume when they're open to it, with their guard down and enjoying it. Many don't realize but biases are constructed and taken with them into reality this way. If they don't have a solid foundation of worldview and identity that they've chosen for themselves beforehand, they may end up in a position where if they don't think about it, they may begin to question where all these other impressions, concepts of ideas and perspectives originate from. It gets dangerous if bewildered and incapable to make these reflections for whatever reason due to their impairments, leading them to question their own sanity and effectively becoming schizophrenic over time. The classic example is shooting games making people see potential enemies everywhere but the sad reality is that it doesn't make them violent, it makes them paranoid with connection- and intimacy-issues. To add for good measure, nobody will end up like that without untreated bad past experiences but it's part of the reason age-ratings exist and need to be respected. Kids are dumb but capable of hiding a lot of shit behind a mask just like any adult but unlike the adult they may not immediately realize that they're making that choice themselves.
People fear that which they don't understand but it violence isn't in our nature and it takes a lot of time, effort and stress to push anyone towards that brink in any given situation.

[Krawu]

Because the parents then were only familiar with the likes of Asteroids and Space invaders and didn't play or understand then-modern video games.

It was basically a rehash of the PRMC nonsense of the 80s where they tried to ban rock and heavy metal music for selling violence and what was essentially dubbed pornography to children.
In the 70s there was the Satanic Panic when Dungeons & Dragons was said to be literally converting kids to Satanism and teaching them how to summon demons.

There was even some preacher (claiming to be an ex-satanist having witnessed supernatural shit) who told parents that Pokemon was introducing kids to demonology. (Yes seriously, check it out if you have 30 minutes to piss yourself laughing):


This is why we need to not blindly listen to some pissed-off parent with an agenda.

[PaladinBash]

Crazy isolated loners were boogeymen to conservatives because they didn't have families, didn't participate in their communities and didn't work. That's why gamers were painted as that, right or wrong. Now that progressives hold power instead, they compare gamers to their usual boogeymen of heterosexual white men. If some other group has power, gaming will be bitched at for some other reason.

[Tenjen]

you're delusional if you think consuming video games and other media 24/7 isn't bad for your brain

no one is argueing about over-indulgance. Consuming anything in extremes is uneahlthy. The arguement is against statements trying to say any basic consumption is unhealthy

[ldev]

Same reason why people were afraid of heavy metal in 80s....

[Kumorii]

people have expressed fear for almost anything that's new... not sure why Video games would be the exception.

[Egomaniac]

I remember reading GamePolitics back in the 2000s and laughing at all those out of touch people.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090425...-jack-thompson

Ever since the Supreme Court in 2011 there has been no major threat to video games. Video gaming's biggest foes have been vanquished. Jack Thompson has been disbarred and Leland Yee sentenced to Federal Prison. LT Col Dave Grossman has his little cult of "sheepdogs".

GamePolitics went offline several years ago. Does the end of GamePolitics signify the culture war victory of video games?

I remember these old people on an Utah talk show calling gamers "enablers" and "voyeurs". They even had Jack Thompson.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100418...alk-radio-utah

Why did they think gamers were "enablers" and "voyeurs"? What do we enable?

And does GamePolitics need to come back?

Because there will always be those that cry "X is corrupting our youth"

Today "X" appears to be Vapes
Before video Games "X" was Heavy Metal, Dungeons and Dragons, "reefer madness", etc.

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I think Columbine (which happened in 1999) had some to do with it in the early 2000's. There was some finger pointing at video games going on over that for a good while because it came up that one (or both, I forget) of the Columbine shooters was a Doom fan.

They also listened to Marilyn Manson and Rammstein...so they were targeted as well.