Read just about any message board and you are likely to hear how the mainstream media haters gamers and gaming culture. This is especially true around the release of a news-worthy title such as Grand Theft Auto or Manhunt. It even seems to make sense.
After all, the mainstream media is filled with critical articles and opinion pieces on video games. Video game are a new medium, and frankly they scare those entrenched in the world of old media. Video games, simply put, are the enemy of the mainstream media. Except, that isn’t true.
Games are one area the major media companies have yet to quite figure out. While the third party gaming arena is still dominated by mostly game centric companies, it appears more and more that media conglomerates are going to force their way in. Hopefully this attempt is more successful than their attempt in the 1990s.
Paramount is the latest giant to ponder a move into gaming territory. They would join Warner Brothers and Sony (obviously) in the increasingly crowded market. This comes from an MCV interview with Paramount Digital’s general manager of worldwide distribution, Alex Carloss. Carloss sounds quite excited about the possibilities of Paramount’s move into gaming, saying (more…)
Gamers, bizarrely, feel like a persecuted group. I say bizarrely not because they can’t find potential evidence, but because it’s fairly ridiculous for any group heavily courted by the media with multi-million dollar advertising campaigns to feel too persecuted by the media. It isn’t like the media completely ignores gamers (like, say, the disabled), but instead that most major news stories involving gaming seem to lend toward the negative side. Is there a good reason why? You bet.
First, one must understand that without a detailed statistical analysis it is difficult to claim the mainstream media has a negative bent towards gamers. Any perceptions are just that-personal views shaped by anecdotal evidence. That, of course, doesn’t mean the perception is inaccurate, just not proven.
Second, one has to define what they mean by the “mainstream” media. For example, are magazines such as EGM, Maxim, and others that cater to large male demographics considered mainstream, or is the debate only concerning Newsweek, MSNBC, and The New York Times? If the former, then the argument that the mainstream media has it out for gamers seems much less defendable, as both these publications obviously feature gaming coverage and tend to sell well. If the latter, then one might have a better argument that such media outlets tend to focus on the bad rather than the positive. (more…)
The video posted with this story almost entirely speaks for itself. Essentially, a group of MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) players decided that real life retaliation was needed for a simulated world slight. The outcome? Murder.
What’s perhaps even odder is that not only did the group kill the player they were mad at, but they followed that up by harassing his sister. Now, granted, the individuals involved in this sound like they must have been truly disturbed individuals, but one wonders about the sociopathic behavior exhibited in stalking the dead man’s sister. What would cause such actions? Rage alone could explain the murder, but apparently this was very premeditated-over a game. Then, to follow that with harassment of a completely unaffiliated bystander, makes one question if these people had any indication that they were playing a game, and then suddenly weren’t? (more…)
Games are one area the major 
Gamers, bizarrely, feel like a persecuted group. I say bizarrely not because they can’t find potential evidence, but because it’s fairly ridiculous for any group heavily courted by the 
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