Wednesday, December 26, 2012

In order to avoid having to take reponsibility for gun deaths the NRA has attempted to lay the blame on video games. However as it turns out, in some cases, they are actually working together.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

As Electronic Arts prepared to market Medal of Honor Warfighter, the latest version of its top-selling video game released in October, it created a Web site that promoted the manufacturers of the guns, knives and combat-style gear depicted in the game. 

Among the video game giant’s marketing partners on the Web site were the McMillan Group, the maker of a high-powered sniper’s rifle, and Magpul, which sells high-capacity magazines and other accessories for assault-style weapons. 

Links on the Medal of Honor site allowed visitors to click through on the Web sites of the game’s partners and peruse their catalogs. 

“It was almost like a virtual showroom for guns,” said Ryan Smith, who contributes to the Gameological Society, an online gaming magazine. After Mr. Smith and other gaming enthusiasts criticized the site, Electronic Arts disabled the links, saying it had been unaware of them. 

The video game industry was drawn into the national debate about gun violence last week when the National Rifle Association accused producers of violent games and movies of helping to incite the type of mass shooting that recently left 20 children and six adults dead at a school in Newtown, Conn. 

While studies have found no connection between video games and gun violence, the case of Medal of Honor Warfighter illustrates how the firearms and video game industries have quietly forged a mutually beneficial marketing relationship. 

Many of the same producers of firearms and related equipment are also financial backers of the N.R.A. McMillan, for example, is a corporate donor to the group, and Magpul recently joined forces with it in a product giveaway featured on Facebook. The gun group also lists Glock, Browning and Remington as corporate sponsors.

I stand by my earlier statement that the violence in the majority of video games probably has a negligible affect on gun violence in this country. But a video game that uses real world weapons and then links to where you can buy them online?

Well THAT is an entirely different issue altogether.

Take a look at this video to see how blatantly the video game and gun manufacturers have been working together.

Well that is certainly quite troubling.

15 comments:

  1. sally in MI1:09 PM

    Didn't the Army or the Marines or someone develop violent video games as recruiting tools? It would be interesting to see what kinds of 'outside' advertisers were on those sites, too. You know, because we want all our young people to nurture that deep desire to kill other people becuae it's 'fun' and 'patriotic.'

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    1. Boscoe2:10 PM

      The ironic thing is that in the 90's there was this Lieutenant guy who tried to make himself rich fearmongering about videogames and that was exactly his gimmick: "we use simulations just like Doom (yes, DOOM)to train our troops". And I guess the difference between our military and a psycho is having an asshole drill sgt yell at you for six weeks?

      The fact of the matter is that videogames have been more popular and widespread for longer in Japan and they don't have the problems we do.

      I've always said that entertainment media are a REFLECTION of the culture that produced it, not the CAUSE of it. I think all the fixation on combat, guns and zombies is more about a general apprehension of the present and despair of the future and trying to cope with that emotionally. Videogames empower you in a way that isn't acceptable in the real world.

      But just imagine how powerless Fox viewers and Glenn Beck fans must feel, being relentlessly mentally poisoned with "America will be destroyed" rhetoric punctuated with ads for gold and "survival seeds".

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  2. I've always felt that video games, like sports, allow people to release their aggression in safe ways. Could you imagine banning video games -- heck, TVs too, while we're at it -- and then dealing with all the keyed-up dudes who have to get up off the couch and do something? It won't be flower arranging.

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    1. Anita Winecooler7:56 PM

      I feel the same way. It's the same argument that's pushed on "Pornography" by the moralists.Their view is that Porn means more "rapes". Did they ever watch daytime television/soap operas? They're chock full of sex and guns. Even cartoons and children's stories have a dark side.

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  3. Anonymous2:43 PM

    Corruption is everywhere and all of it that is constantly proven and brought to the forefront involves the big companies and money.

    Add to that our violence throughout the nation. It's almost becoming an embarrassment to say that we are American.

    The NRA crowd needs to be stopped and their numbers deminished. Before anyone hollers at me for saying that, I am a gun owner (Only 'one' that I took lessons to learn how to handle and it's a small one!)

    I never became a member of NRA - never interested me at all!

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  4. Anonymous3:16 PM

    OT Help! Please, Gryphen. You live in Alaska. Surely you must recognize some of these people:
    http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/bristolpalin/files/2012/12/photo-2.jpg
    What is Britta doing at a Palin Family gathering?
    Is that Track wearing a beard?
    Who are those people?

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    1. Anonymous5:20 PM

      Interesting that Track divorded his beard and is now doing the beard style on his face. Can you see him next year?
      http://tinyurl.com/dywzwob

      Delete
  5. Anita Winecooler8:08 PM

    I don't condone the linking to gun manufacturer's sites because it crosses the line between fantasy and lunacy. The NRA would love to shift the blame to anyone but them, another comment up thread mentioned Japan, and I recall seeing a news story on television that had the statistics of gun violence in America vs. gun violence in Japan over the same time frame, the American number was in the thousands while Japan had a grand total of ten for the same period. Gaming Software is more pervasive than it is in the US, yet they don't have an equivalent to the NRA.

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  6. Anonymous9:41 PM

    Sasha & Malia Obama have 11 armed guards at their school.

    http://now.msn.com/obama-daughters-attend-school-with-11-armed-guards

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    1. Leland8:12 AM

      So, what is your point? The children of the top elected officials have ALWAYS had government agents protecting them! Why? Because there is a DEFINITE threat that automatically pops up when their parent(s) is(are) elected officials.

      DUH!

      Delete
    2. Boscoe3:58 PM

      I'd be willing to bet Bush/Cheney's daughters needed fewer though.

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    3. Anonymous4:14 PM

      I just mentioned it as a statement, nothing more. I am with you..

      Delete
    4. Boscoe4:31 PM

      Just to be clear, what I meant was that if they have 11 guards, I'm assuming that's because they NEED that many. Bush/Cheney's daughters clearly had much less to worry about...

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    5. Anonymous3:25 PM

      Agreed.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous11:53 PM

    I don't think linking the actual weapons in the game to a website for sale is a super idea. Merch? Sure. But not actual, working weapons.

    I bought my fiancé Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for Christmas this year. He played it for like three hours today. He has a whole lot of first person shooter, war based games, and I know he isn't going to go out and start shooting people. My 20 year old brother, and all of his friends, play similar games. Besides racing games, FPS ( first person shooter) games are a HUGE genre, and really are most of the games they have to choose from.

    But I don't it's fair to say that the NRA and ALL video game developers are working hand in hand to put real guns in the hands of people who want them.

    I'm more of a platform gamer myself. Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog all the way!

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