Video game commercials are a disturbing trend

[Goathead]

Last night while watching The Daily Show a commercial for a video game that allows players to play poker in a casino-like atmosphere came flashing on the screen. Is anybody else a little concerned that videos games are teaching young children how to gamble? Who knows who called for the creation of such a game? The Las Vegas Gaming Commission? Before you say, "Those games are intended for adults" the commercial said, 'Rated "E" for everyone'. Video games are obviously marketed to children. The commercials I have seen for video games tell me that they promote horrific violence, gambling, and sexism(One game out now has women mud wrestlers that tear each other apart) The air waves are flooded with video game commercials that are essentially turning people into listless zombies. Combine the video game commercials with the pharmaceutical commercials and the virtual lobotomizing of a great deal of the nation's populace is complete.

[Forkboy]

1. I'll give you 2 to 1 odds someone disagrees on the gambling aspect

[chicagiana]

2. Grand Theft Auto kinda disturbs me ...

But I'm not concerned about people learning gambling since they can get their "fix" on the video console instead of the Casino.

[Goathead]

3. Yeah but...

don't you think that some sixteen year old kid is going to learn how to play poker on one of these games, start thinking he's the shit and count the days until he's eighteen and can get into a real casino?

[rinsd]

7. That's a logical as saying Sex Ed encourages underage sex...

I just keep hearing Helen Lovejoy in my head when I hear this stuff.

[Goathead]

11. That is why the U.S. military

uses first person shooter games to train recruits for combat. And you can't see a correlation?

[DrWeird]

13. The U.S. military also uses push-ups to train recruits.

I say we ban P.E.

[rinsd]

18. Yes, now I see it....

The military has gotten into video games to create an entire army of shock troops fooling us by continually flattering us on our penis size....oh wait that was an episode of South Park

Okay, I've had my fun. You're not really calling for a ban on anything and it is certianly up to you what you buy for your child. But this type of stuff really isn't any different from the puritanesque crap that usually causes immediate cringes.

As a sidenote, the military uses combat simulators as indoor shooting ranges. I saw one on Mail Call. A buddy of mine has actually used the same site. Let's just say it was a few steps up from pong in terms of graphics.

It's not like after you arrive at Camp Pendleton they cue up Doom on the big screen.

[Goathead]

37. Oh yeah, think again

http://www.detnews.com/2003/technology/0310/06/technology-288267.htm

[rinsd]

46. Oh my goodness....

The military decided to join the 21st century and decided to upgrade their simulators.

So what straw are you grasping at now? That TV has become commercialized? That the military is brainwashing our children through video games?

The best part is this all started with your rant against a poker video game commercial shown during a young adult show.

[Goathead]

39. And then there is this little gem

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/11/02/patriot.shtml

[DrWeird]

43. Seems like you have a problem with video games in general.

Kind of reminds me of people who don't like books.

Here, for example, we see a South Carolina PTA group who's upset that they're children are wasting their lives reading Harry Potter books.

[Forkboy]

44. So? No one denied that the military uses video simulations

Would you rather they trained on live people?

[DrWeird]

8. As opposed to learning poker from television...

or movies or books or parents?

[Goathead]

14. Which of those outlets is going to teach somebody

in a step by step manner how to play poker? A movie certainly won't teach you how to become skilled at poker. A book? If you are a teenage kid and you play video games then I doubt reading is one of your priorities. Parents? If your kid is playing video games for twelve hours a day, then I seriously doubt that you are going to take the time to teach your kid how to play poker. A parent like that has already turned over it's parenting responsibilities to the television.

[DrWeird]

19. I saw step by step instructions on no-limits Texas hold-em on TV...

just last night.

And if you think people who play video games are illiterate you've got another thing coming. I play plenty of video games. I'm also a doctoral candidate in Organic Chemistry. I don't think you want to go there.

But yes, books are a place for step by step instructions. If you've ever browsed in book stores you probably would have seen them.

"If your kid is playing video games for twelve hours a day, then I seriously doubt that you are going to take the time to teach your kid how to play poker."

If my kid's playing poker twelve hours a day then he could probably teach me a thing or two about poker. And if teenagers aren't playing videogames twelve hours a day then they're masturbating twelve hours a day or listening to pop music or some other such thing.

[rinsd]

25. Masturbating for 12 hours?

That may actually be a real psychological problem ;-)

[okieinpain]

28. hahahahahahahaha, I can see it now, " uh, I don't have anything

in my hand teacher".

[rinsd]

24. That's not the point....

"A movie certainly won't teach you how to become skilled at poker."

Do you have any idea how many jackasses have lost money because they thought they knew it all from Rounders? Or the movie inspires them to get a friendly game together with their friends?

"A book? If you are a teenage kid and you play video games then I doubt reading is one of your priorities"

It may amaze you but kids can read and play video games. It's not an either or situation.

"If your kid is playing video games for twelve hours a day, then I seriously doubt that you are going to take the time to teach your kid how to play poker"

How non seuqitar Batman! If you're kids playign video games 12 hours a day then you have bigger problems on your hands as a parent than potential gambling. At least going to a casino would get them out of the house at that point.

"A parent like that has already turned over it's parenting responsibilities to the television."

Agreed, though I don't think its even possible for a kid to play 12 hours a day.

[Carl Brennan]

4. What about "Las Vegas nights" at the Catholic Church? This

something I always found odd, until I realized that many in the Mafia are devout Catholics.

That is one reason, among many, that I am an atheist.

[rinsd]

5. "Video games are obviously marketed to children"

Yes, but they are also marketed to young adults mostly male. Which is why the commercial was on the Daily Show. If you saw it, during Blues Clues you may have a point.

"The commercials I have seen for video games tell me that they promote horrific violence, gambling, and sexism"

So do cartoons. So does internet porn.

"The air waves are flooded with video game commercials that are essentially turning people into listless zombies."

Compared to reality TV, the video game commericals may be some of the best stuff on TV!

[DrWeird]

6. LOL!

My god! Card games! Craps! Flashy lights!

Oh won't somebody please think of the children!!!



:eyes:

[rinsd]

9. You're killing me (see post #7)

[Goathead]

10. I wouldn't want my kid playing that crap, besides that...

I am more offended by the desensitizing aspect of video games. These companies are getting rich off of turning people into vegetables.

[DrWeird]

12. Then don't buy it for your kid.

These companies are making quality products and these creators are making art, so they deserve all the money they get.

You kind of remind me of those parents who want to ban Toni Morrison books in schools.

[Goathead]

16. I don't even have any children

...and you are obviously a gamer who probably spends a lot time with this type of product. Have at it. It's just another form of brainwashing.

[Name removed]

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[Goathead]

26. I am subjected to that crap

whenever I turn on the television, I hate pharmaceutical commercials too. Maybe you like commercialization. I don't really care for it. What kind of game system do you have? Didn't mean to knock one of your pastimes.:freak:

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[DrWeird]

31. Who's getting personal?

You're argument went from "disturbing threat against our children" to "i don't want to watch those commercials."

I mean card games! For fuck's sake!

How old are you?

[Goathead]

34. Corporations that target children

Look, I think that it is wrong that corporations target children. I also think that underage kids gambling is wrong. I don't have to have children of my own to feel this way. It is a serious moral issue. Minors have about zero rights in this country and they are targeted for exploitation by large corporations. I believe that the exploitation of any group is wrong and I don't see what the problem in pointing that out is. What do you believe in? Besides video games?

[DrWeird]

40. Ahh, yes. Don't forget Dungeons & Dragons and Heavy Metal Music.

It's all a plot from the trilateral commission to turn our kids into Satan Worshippers

Won't somebody please think of the children!

[Goathead]

52. Dungeons & Dragons is childish

I was more into 'Hardcore' than 'Heavy metal' We would listen to the 'Circle Jerks' or 'Minor Threat' and then go and throw trash cans through store front windows at the local strip mall. ...ahhhh, those were the days.

On edit: This was done at night and usually after we had drank copious amounts of Maddog 20/20

[DrWeird]

55. Hardcore?

Isn't that for, like, mormon straigt-edge punks who vote conservative?

[Name removed]

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[DrWeird]

66. Mental masturbation?

You mean like trolling on message boards?

[Forkboy]

57. So why not blame the Circle Jerks for your stupidity in trashing stores?

[Name removed]

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[Forkboy]

60. Sorry,I couldn't seperate it from the other crap you've been spewing

[rinsd]

32. Easy Solution = Don't watch TV

Of course that and lack of beer would cause me to go crazy but to each his own.

[Forkboy]

21. Do you watch movies or read books?

[kysrsoze]

36. Sheesh, calm down. I'm 35 and have played videogames my whole life

I've killed thousands of people in Grand Theft Auto, yet can't even remember the last time I got in a fistfight - maybe 13 years ago? Videogames are more of a reflection of reality than a replacement. Taking your logic, I should read a horror novel and go murder someone, or sexually assault someone after reading a Harlequin Romance novel.

Try giving your kids some credit for being able to distinguish reality from fantasy. I'm much more concerned about my daughter watching somebody getting shot on the TV news than her seeing somebody get run over in a videogame. Look at all the Tom/Jerry or Coyote/Roadrunner violence, but you don't see any complaints about that.

Notice that with literally 20 million copies of Grand Theft Auto 3 in circulation, there has only been one documented case of someone taking a joyride based on seeing it in the game, and absolutely no violence has been attributed to it.

Kids need protection from much more damaging things like violent or uninvolved parents, unsavory peers, drugs, TV violence, etc. This is the real danger to them.

[Goathead]

42. Again, I don't have children

Isn't parking your kid in front aof a T.V. being an uninvolved parent? It is in my book.

[rinsd]

54. Your book is a fav.....

....amonst the rest of the holier than thou, I must save you from yourself crowd.

What would compel you to question this person's parenting skills? Are you trying to start shit?

[drbtg1]

15. Oh No! Video games that teach poker?!?

What happened to the good old days when the family could enjoy wholesome video games like Doom?

As long as the video game doesn't allow kids to gamble for real (via the internet), I've got more important things to worry about for my three kids than if they learn a card game.

OTOH, was this an ad for "World Championship Texas Hold 'Em with Bill Bennett"? ;)

[Goathead]

35. You really don't have a problem with

your kids learning how to gamble from a machine?

[Forkboy]

38. This thread is getting funnier by the second!

[DrWeird]

50. You know, as long as they're open and honest with me...

I'd rather them do that at home then get a call at 2 in the morning finding out they've landed in the hospital after wrapping their console around a tree.

[drbtg1]

67. No, I call it part of being culturally literate

Poker has been around for how long now? And now with all sort of shows on TV showing poker, I'd expect my kids to eventually learn the game that, probably, they'll have a good chance of playing with friends into adulthood. Doesn't mean they'll lose the house payment playing.

Heck, I have a bigger problem with my kids learning card games like Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Neopets, etc, games that are truly targeted at kids. In poker, everybody has an equal chance (assuming no cheating) of getting a full house, royal flush, et cetera using 52 cards that almost anyone can afford to buy. But if you're playing Yu-Gi-Oh and haven't gotten a second mortgage to get those five cards that comprise Exodia The Forbidden One, well then your just screwed.

[Cats Against Frist]

17. Easy enough

Don't let your kid watch TV, don't buy him/her a Playstation, and keep your kids away from the consumer plebs by taking all the money you save and starting a small, private school for progressive kids.

[louis-t]

22. More concerned with

violent war video games being hawked during 'Band of Brothers'. (I posted earlier)

[OhioChick]

23. What bothers me more than ads for video games.....

is the non-stop ads for prescription drugs. They all say "ask your doctor." Remember the good old days when you went to the doctor and 'he' gave you what 'he' thought would help? Not any more......drug companies are spending more ca$h on ads versus actual research.......disturbing, to say the least.

[Goathead]

29. Yes, and as a result

You have unsafe drugs that are on the market, like Vioxx.

[Cleita]

33. Jeez, I learned to play poker, casino and craps when I was

six years old on board a freighter to South America. It was right after WWII and my parents used to let the merchant marine crew left on board babysit me while they went nightclubbing in each port of call. The crew just dealt me into their card games or let me roll the dice and let me play until I got tired and then they put me to bed.

In first grade I taught my classmates how to play the games. Both parents and teachers thought it was cute. No one had a second thought about any growing up to be gamblers. I never grew up to be a gambler. I play slots in Nevada when I'm there but usually no more than ten dollars worth so I don't think those games will make gamblers out of your children unless they are predisposed to this type of behavior. I know gambling can be as addictive as drugs for certain people.

I'm more concerned about the war games where part of winning is killing the opposition. It makes killing seem like a basketball game.

[cattleman22]

41. Why is this a political issue?

Seems to me this should be completely up to families to determine what video games are allowed in the home. I learned how to play poker at a relatively young age. My family would have poker night. We only used chips and it was a good way for our family to have fun together. But not one person in my immediate family has gambled with money, even though we all know how to play poker.

[Goathead]

45. Advergaming

Advergaming is the practice of using games, particularly computer games, to advertise or promote a product, organisation or viewpoint.

Advergaming normally falls into one of two categories. In the first a company provides interactive games on its website in the hope that potential customers will be drawn to the game and spend more time on the website, or simply become more product aware. The games themselves usually feature the company's products prominently.

In the second form games are published in the usual way that are intended to interest the player in the game's subject and cause them to investigate further. The subjects may be commercial or political. Examples of the second form of game include America's Army, intended to boost recruitment for the U.S. Army, and Special Force, intended to promote Arab resistance to the state of Israel. Games themed for a specific sporting organisation such as NFL or Formula One racing can also fall into this category.

Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advergaming

[DrWeird]

47. Congratulations. You've discovered product placement.

Did you know that Reeses Peices paid Speilberg to put their candy in E.T.?

[Forkboy]

49. Damn those Reeses Pieces!

We must save our children...even if we dont have any!!!!

[DrWeird]

51. I'm as mad as hell!

DID YOU KNOW THESE GIANT CANDY CORPORATIONS ARE MARKETING THEIR CANDY TO CHILDREN!!!??

[Phx_Dem]

73. type 2 diabetes in 13 yr olds is real funny

[Forkboy]

48. Again...so?

US Army was actually a pretty damn good game.

Oddly,I'm still against the war and dont have the urge to kill any Arabs.

[Goathead]

59. Your hypocritcal lifestyle is at odds with itself

Classic schizophrenia. I suggest therapy.

[Forkboy]

62. LMAO

I'd suggest some things too but I dont want my posts deleted like yours will be :crazy:

[rinsd]

63. LOL

This from a person who watches TV and doesn't like what they see. Yet continues to watch TV.

[DrWeird]

64. You still haven't answered my question about how old you are.

Either you're old enough to be Anthony Comstock or you're too young to know any better.

I, myself, enjoyed Kafka's Metamorphosis. But I'm against turning into giant bugs. Does that make me a hypocrite too?

[Forkboy]

68. LIAR...you really want to be a giant masturbating bug!

:)

[DrWeird]

69. Eww.

No. I hate bugs.

[Goathead]

70. Who the hell is Antony Comstock?

[DrWeird]

71. The million dollar question is...

How does somebody young and ignorant enough not to know who Anthony Comstock was, yet be pruddish enough to complain about illiteracy and the moral failings of poker?

[Phx_Dem]

53. the video game cos are chasing after a trend

Studies conducted over the past decade suggest that gambling activities remain particularly attractive to today's youth and that its popularity is on the rise amongst both children and adolescents. Prevalence studies conducted in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Europe, and in Australia all confirm the rising prevalence rates of youth involvement in both legal and illegal forms of gambling. While approximately 80% of High School students report having gambled for money during the past year, 4-8% of adolescents presently have a serious gambling problem with another 10-14% of adolescents at-risk for developing a serious gambling problem (Jacobs, 2000; National Research Council, 1999; Shaffer & Hall, 1996). Yet, for most parents and teens, gambling is viewed as an innocuous behaviour with few negative consequences. Our Centre at McGill University is actively involved in research, treatment, prevention, training, public health and social policy issues.


http://www.education.mcgill.ca/gambling/en/problemgambling.htm

[cheezus]

56. don't let your kids watch tv

then they won't see those ads, you can be happy, and the rest of us can play blackjack on playstation

[Name removed]

65. Deleted message

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[Moderator]

72. I'm locking this at the request of the original poster n/t