Changing my mind on Stuttgart

I’m not afraid of expressing unpopular opinions. I’ve done it a few times on this site, and will probably do so again in the future. Recently, when I took a stance in favor of a lesbian gamer who had banned on the Xbox Live network, I got quite a few negative comments that implied more or less that I was wrong and lacking in the intelligence department. I felt somewhat vindicated when Microsoft did what I suggested they do in the first place: seek dialogue instead of indiscriminately banning people. Strangely, after I updated that bit of information on my site, the comments vanished. Read more

Stuttgart cancels CS tourney

In light of the March 11 shooting tragedy perpetrated by Tim Kretschmer, the city of Stuttgart has decided to cancel a gaming competition featuring Counter Strike. News outlets reported that Kretschmer was allegedly a huge fan of Counter Strike and may have drawn inspiration from the game. Kretschmer started his shooting rampage not far from Stuttgart.

In a statement, the mayor of Stuttgart based his decision to cancel citing the shooting and also out of concern for family and friends of shooting victims.

I applaud the mayor for his sensitivity. Having a tournament based on Counter Strike so soon after an allegedly video game inspired shooting would probably ignite more unnecessary controversy on a topic that has become explosive in Germany and elsewhere. Further, how can you fault his decision if it’s based on being sensitive to people who recently lost loved ones?

Via Game Politics.

Update: I’ve changed my opinion on the mayor’s decision. Read why here.

WoW to be for adults only?

In a strange twist of logic, German Social Affairs minister, Mechtchild Ross–Luttman, wants to enforce an age restriction policy on World of Warcraft. It was known that teenage shooter Tim Kretschmer often played first person shooters, so there is a fair amount of debate on video game violence in Germany right now. However, it seems that Ross-Luttman is using that as an excuse to restrict the world’s most popular MMO, making WoW available only for adults.

Ross-Luttman draws much of her conclusions on a recently released study in Germany that suggests that 15.8 percent of ninth grade boys and 4.3 percent of girls in Lower Saxony falls in the defined ranged of being addicted to video games, logging 4.5 hours or more of play per day. The study also suggests that up to 80 percent of all ninth graders included in the study were in danger of becoming addicted as well.

I sense a lot of political opportunism in this move. While 4.5+ hours of play a day does seem a tad on the excessive side, especially for a young person, the answer isn’t restricting the game. Parents, as well as the teenagers themselves, have to accept some part of the responsibility of moderating their use. Having a government enact heavy handed legislation is almost never the right answer. Further, restricting a game which has no nudity and cartoon-ish violence sets an awfully bad precedent.

Via Game Culture.

Rapelay makes political hay

So from my perspective, the whole brouhaha about the Rapelay game is done and over with. In case you’ve been away from the Internet for awhile, a big stink was caused when Amazon allowed two copies of a hardcore Japanese video game to be up for sale on its site. The game, Rapelay, allows you to take control of a character who “wins” by raping the female characters in the game. Amazon and eBay banned sales of the game and that’s when the controversy should have ended. Read more

Police not pursuing video game link

This is an update on the January 27 post made about Erik Ayala’s shooting.

As reported in the Portland Mercury, Portland police are not pursuing a link between the violent shooting perpetrated by Erik Ayala last Saturday and his collection of video games. Detective Mark Slater, while noting there were many video games in Ayala’s apartment, concluded that Ayala possessed “…a wide variety of the kind you might find in any 24-year-old’s apartment.”

This doesn’t mean that people haven’t tried to pin video games as the main cause of the shooting rampage. Game Politics has been contacted by anti-game violence activist Jack Thompson, who unsuccessfully attempted to involve himself in the Ayala case. Thompson forwarded GP a copy of a January 26th e-mail in which the disbarred attorney complained to Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer that detectives weren’t acting on his theory that video games prompted the rampage:

Dear Chief Sizer:

I have information that would be useful to establish further the apparent causal link between the violent video game play of alleged killer Ayala and the recent incident at the teen club.

Some detective in the Bureau with whom I spoke has been compromised by the video game industry, and he was anticipating my call.

I think your Bureau and you put public safety ahead of the pro-video game bias and gaming activities of this detective.

Please have some responsible detective contact me on this, as these incidents tied to games are popping up all over the place.  Thanks.

Thompson has a history for involving himself uninvited in cases where video games are related to violent crimes. Fortunately for Portland, wiser heads have prevailed for now.