Video Game Company With Heart

[Computer Hobbyist]

I didn't know that video game companies ever thought about anything but profits. It seems that this one (http://www.onion.com/onion3842/beltway_sniper_video-game.html) does.

What to you all think. Where they right in waiting to release their new game? :rolleyes:

On a more serious note, should anything be off limits as the subject for a game?

CH

[doctorgonzo]

I saw that article too. The Onion is one of the best. :)

I don't think anything should be off-limits. Saying something should be off-limits for a game is like saying something should be off-limits in literature, or music, or art. Video Games are becoming a true form of artistic expression, no different from movies. They should be treated the same way.

That's not to say there aren't some seriously messed up video games out there. There are: I remember seeing a news story about neo-Nazi propaganda video games. But we live in a free country, and so people have the right to make whatever games they want.

[mike breck]

So what's the objective of this game - shooting civilians with a sniper rifle - or am I reading this wrong?

If that is the case, then I think it shouldn't have been made, and I worry about the kind of people who made it - and even more, the people who want to play it.

In most good FPSs there is an element of morality - the good guys against the bad guys i.e. the bad guys do something terrible and our hero sorts them out - or - they (humans, monsters, or aliens) just want you dead, so you must kill them to survive.

However, going around killing unarmed, innocent people for sport is not a game; it's the ramblings of a warped mind.

Games like that give all video gaming a bad name.

Without any kind of morality in games, we'd all be just a bunch of sickos getting our jollies by killing things.

[doctorgonzo]

mike,

The Onion is a satirical newspaper. That videogame doesn't really exist; the article is just a spoof.

Don't feel bad; lots of people have read the Onion and taken it seriously. In fact, recently China took seriously an article in the Onion that the U.S. Congress was going to leave Washington unless a new Capitol was built.

[mike breck]

Glad to hear it DoctorG.

I'll come off my soapbox now :)

[Computer Hobbyist]

Got you mike. :)

I love the Onion. The story might be fake, but the issues it raises are real.

CH

[Tiretool]

How distastefully funny! Can you imagine the blasting a company would get if they actually tried to distribute such a game? Can you say Lawsuit? I knew that you could.

;)

[TimPoet]

hmm

[Computer Hobbyist]

Poet, you might be right, but if you can't have fun and think at the same time, there is little point in life.

CH

[TimPoet]

I'm glad we agree somewhat. We must understand that what is funny to some on this forum may not be funny (at all) to others. This thread has the potential to be very hurtful....

[Tiretool]

That link is meant as an extreme form of satire. It's not a tasteful article, but it's not meant to be. It's an attempt to get a laugh, not to poke fun of any victims. If you don't like it, don't read it.

[glc]

Folks - this is going to get out of hand. I'm closing the thread.