Friday, 12 October 2012

Time for a change

Things keep getting crazier and crazier in the world of video games so it's time for a change.  Between developers taking advantage of their loyal fan base, mob mentality within the gaming community, bullying, whoring game journalists and everyone outside looking to tarnish gamers and games for being harmful and dangerous.

It seems that some aims needs to be stated here to know what are purposes are:
  1. Defend video gaming as an entertainment medium
  2. Cut through media spin
  3. Identify and explain profiteering examples and methods
  4. Offer genuine reviews with a clear system that goes beyond a simple numerical scale to help informed consumer choice
Running in the background of these aims are a number of key principles that this project holds to, aims to explore and will explain any observed bias:
  • Consumer capitalism is a free market and should remain so with no government intervention aside from the classification of games
  • Although individual games may be considered art the video game industry is a commercial enterprise and should be accountable for it's business practices
  • Paying customers should get value for money
  • Video games do not create or cause violence
  • Every game/developer/producer/platform should thrive or fall purely on it's merits
  • Skeptism should be applied to everything
  • This project will never be for financial gain in any form, this includes freebies
  • Discussion is encouraged, disagreement doesn't equate to a personal dislike
I'm going to put it out there right ahead of time, yes this is a first world problem, yes there are many other things to fight for.  That doesn't mean that consumers can be taken advantage of and it doesn't mean that good people need to hide a harmless pastime, suffer needless censorship or face prejudice.  My personal politics and views/causes will not come into play in this project with the exception of the aims above, it's a broad enough subject.

"We have the power to stop and reverse the tides of time by making our awareness of abuse known to the powers of industry and their uncouth political arms. Only by raising the awareness and promoting personal peace within today’s self-defeatist society, can we allow the planet a chance to avoid self-destruction!
OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN YOUR MOUTHS,
CLOSE YOUR HANDS AND MAKE A FIST"
Daron Malakian
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2 comments:

  1. Alex Johnson27 October 2012 at 09:47

    Excellent article! I don't think customers get the value for money as they used to, with games nowadays consisting of practically all sequels. Some originality please...

    One thing I would say is that there have been some scientific research that says video games do increase aggression and similar things.

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    1. Anonymous29 October 2012 at 10:30

      Thanks for the feedback, it is really appreciated. I believe we have every chance of getting what we want if the gaming community sticks to their guns about what products and services we want.

      Personally I've got a strong history on critical review of studies and hopefully when I have the time to put in the proper research we will be able to show that those studies are fundamentally flawed and show bias. If it turns out that they aren't I will make a very large point of saying exactly where they show they are right and how I think it would be best addressed. If you have seen any particular studies that are of interest please feel free to send them on, I would love to see them.

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