How long before someone calls for a BAN ON SNIPING SIMULATIONS in video games?

Probably just around the corner.

I think someone will come out soon and and start calling for a ban on this activity in video games and they will claim it will teach kids to kill.

Personally, I don't doubt that killing in games can desensitize kids to death but I don't think trying to ban things will change this.

I think we should ban women from having a uterus until they can prove they are fit to be a good parent. While we're at it, we should ban men from having sperm until they can prove they'll stick around and be a good role model if one of their 'soldiers' finds home base.

As for this sniper business. I don't think it'll have any effect on gaming beyond the usual rabble rabble from the peanut gallery. Perhaps Donahue will do another "fair" panel discussion about it.

It will all depend on the killers motive.

If it turns out to be some wacko who has lost it, yeah the games will come under fire.

If it's terrorist motivated or some other connection to an organized effort other then an insane man, probably not.

MSNBC already brought up Counterstrike and "god mode" in games during one of their pieces about it, and CNN apparently brought up Doom (like Doom would have any affect on someone in 2k2)

It effected a movies release, so I wouldn't be surprised if it effects the video game industry.

I say they ban all AWP's.

Doom 3 has me in diapers so I don't soil myself...

seriously though - linking this to video games is stupid. It makes me want to whip out my BFG and vaporize them... or maybe I'll just blast them into giblets with my railgun. Er... I'm not helping our side am I?

MOD NOTE: console bashing comment removed. -namja

I'm going to have to buy all the snipering type of games before they edit them or take them off the shelves

Crap - if this delays Vice City, I'll climb on my roof and start firing.

*NOTE* If anyone takes Groucho's comment seriously, I will come to your house and dropkick you.

Get Pargon Pargon out_you Pargon Pargon thread_crapper!

Hopefully they'll have (mostly) forgotten about it by the time Halo 2 gets close to release!

how quick it always seems to cast the blame on things some people know nothing about about i.e. video games especially,

you know i never remember playing a video game on insider trading or big companies stealing money from there own employees, kids being molested by just about anyone and so on.

so who do we blame for this?

movies?
tv?
radio?
books?
video games?
Answer: none of the above

well it cant be themselves, oh no thats too easy, its not the parents, Hmmm And why not. (yes it starts there they need to educate there children right from wrong, real from fantasy).
the quick way out is to point the finger to someone or something else.
iv'e been gaming for the almost 28 years now and never once have i ever thought about killing someone, out running the cops or even shooting aliens or monsters well maybe monsters, i still believe to do it on the screen and not on the streets.

I find myself really sicken by the media whenever they attack video games. Do they ever stop to think that this guy hasn't been caught yet, and this guy could be just some random nut? Do they stop to think their almost 24 hour coverage of this guy isn't giving him more gusto (and others) to keep doing the things he does? Yet I see some news anchor like Paula Zahn or Phil Donahue denouncing games when they probaly never played one in their lives.

I can remember playing video games ever since I was 5 years old. I've played almost every system from atari to gamecube and almost every game from Mario to Soul Caliber. More then that I'm a big fan of slasher genre. I'm not going to murder anyone because I see Jason slash someone's throat or steal a car like in gta3.

Today, it isn't the child driving to the store and picking up that rated M video game.... it's the parents. Is the job of being a parent tough nowadays? Absolutely, but their are safeguards in place like the ratings system to warn you about this stuff. I don't want a company delaying games like MGS 3 because you didn't make a informed decision as a parent.

Sorry to go off on a rant, but stuff like this always gets me rattled up.

I want to play silent scope again! er...before they take it away.

I stink at that game past the third level. I can't hit a moving target to save my life. Is it common for snipers to take out helicoptor propellors?

Sadly the politicians will likely take to blaming video games if this guy turns out to be a nut job and not a terrorist.

I think it's pathetic that video games are the scapegoat for everything. I mean I live within a half hour give or take a little, of most of the shootings, and have been scared to stand in parking lots or get gas for the past 2 weeks, but I still snipe people in GTA3. I have no problem with the "sniper simulators" because they're not real. They're not going to make any body go kill someone, unless they were already planning on doing it anyway. And it sure as hell isn't going to help them shoot a real gun.

So that's why there's all this violence in the middle east... They just play too many video games.

And...if BMX XXX is banned from WallMart how will the children ever learn about the birds and the bees. They will just have to buy Silent Scope and learn how to kill people.

The press are ignorant for ratings ... the people that don't realize it are ignorant for their children.

It's obvious this guy didn't learn how to snipe sitting 8 feet away from a TV with a plastic gun. He has military training of some sort to be this good, but I doubt we'll see that come under fire. Bringing up video games or movies or anything else to try to explain what this moron is doing is just stupid.

While we're blaming "God Mode" why not blame the church and the bible and religion all together for even introducing us to such a figure. It'd be about the same thing... might even be more warranted but barely.

~Scheherazade

I hear trained snipers in the military and law enforcemnet are saying the shots he's taking can be done by the average hunter with the "right equipment".

According to them, the distances he's at aren't as awesome as the media likes to make them.

In other words they're saying he's probably NOT military trained...we'll see.



I guess I'm hoping the usual "kneejerk reaction" from opportunistic polititions and SELF PROCLAIMED activists doesn't follow.....yeah right Many are runnig for re-election this year right? I forget

Best Buy pulled "Sniper", a PC Game, from its shelves Monday.

Have you heard this drivel? Radiculos.

I wonder how many of the people spouting off this theory have fired a rifle and played similar video games? I'm thinking the number is low. People that have done both might realize that firing a video game rifle and a real rifle are a little different. Heck, they even brought up a game like Counterstrike. Hello? Clicking a mouse does not train you to fire a high-powered rifle with any sort of accuracy.

Your thoughts?

Ridiculous. I've heard this theory several times, as I live within a half hour of most of the shootings (some closer, some further away) and it's in the news all the time.

Playing a game won't train someone to do this. It might desensitize them to shooting people (even that's debateable), but it will not train them to aim and fire the gun that precisely.

That said, he doesn't have to be a trained sniper either. I did a good deal of hunting in years past, and shooting a dear at a distance with a decent powered rifle is the same as shooting a person.

At any rate that's getting off topic. Games definitely didn't train him to do this. He's either just practiced on shooting ranges and/or by hunting, with the lesser chance that he has formal sniper military training.