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Games Government Entertainment Politics

Games Irrationally Connected To Violence 59

Posted by Zonk from the i'm-sure-that-surprises-you dept.
GamePolitics reports on a story of confusion and misunderstanding in Florida. A flyer made from the Zombie Survival Guide was found near a school. Police have, naturally, leapt to the conclusion that the makers of the flyer are threatening violence against schoolchildren and are videogame players. From the article: "Although the Democrat reports that 'Zombie' is a video game, GP is not so sure. There are plenty of games based on zombies, of course, but we can't recall a single one actually named 'Zombie.' 'This underscores the importance of parents knowing what their kids are doing online,' school superintendent Bill Montford said. 'This should be a wake-up call to parents. Students shouldn't be involved in games where people are being shot.'"
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Games Irrationally Connected To Violence More

Games Irrationally Connected To Violence

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  • It's crap like this that makes me ashamed to live in Florida. Not only do we have idiots like Jack Thompson, but we have horrendous schools, idiotic school boards, and an idiotic government. Arrggh!

  • Drugs (Score:4, Funny)

    by Gr33nNight ( 679837 ) on Monday January 09, 2006 @01:40PM (#14429314)
    Maybe the government should sue Nintendo for all the kids hopped up on mushrooms.

    Oh wait....

  • WARNING! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dr. Bent ( 533421 ) <ben.int@com> on Monday January 09, 2006 @01:44PM (#14429352) Homepage
    Your children are at risk! While browsing online, they may be exposed to many forms of humor, including parody, sarcasm, and even irony. Most parents are unaware of the dangers these pose. Symptoms of exposure include:

    1. Sassing and Talkback
    2. Uncontroled Laughing
    3. Creative Impulses
    4. Original Thoughts

    Your child could be reading The Onion at this very moment...exposing thier tiny, unformed brain to a world of raw, hardcore comedy. Take action now! Before it's too late!

  • Quotes... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bogtha ( 906264 ) on Monday January 09, 2006 @01:55PM (#14429461)

    All these people in a position of authority being quoted talking about something they know nothing about... it reminds me of Brass Eye [wikipedia.org], where celebrities and politicians (is there a difference any more?) were filmed warning about the dangers of a fictional drug called "cake" that affected an area of the brain called Shatner's Basoon, and warning people that paedophiles were using an area of the Internet the size of Ireland. They unquestioningly accepted what they were told and were happy to lend their own authority to the matter by repeating it to the public, merely because it was in the name of a good cause.

    I think the quality of journalism would skyrocket if one simply thing were to happen: people who don't know what they are talking about should just be quiet.

    • Yea, well what do you know about it?

    • Re:Quotes... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rwven ( 663186 )
      This would instantly lead to the obliteration of political talk shows of both conservative and liberal genre's. I've come to the informed opinion that political columnists and talk show host don't have a flipping clue about the real world and the real people out there living in it. They let you get half your rebutting sentance out, then trash you non-stop until you are forced to hang up on them or are hung up on. -RV
    • This would improve the overall quality of communication anywhere, especially here.

  • Look on the bright side (Score:3, Funny)

    by voice_of_all_reason ( 926702 ) on Monday January 09, 2006 @01:56PM (#14429467)
    It's not like banning games, movies, or books will stop teenagers from disobeying authority. They already come equipped with special organs to do that!
  • ...and they don't get the joke? Please, someone rent these people a copy of Shaun of the Dead [imdb.com] .
  • Maybe the kids were working on an ad for the monthly geek boardgame day and were going to play the new Zombie game called School's Out Forever [boardgamegeek.com]....

    though if I were the police, I'd be worried about underage drinking. I know for a fact that beer makes the Zombie game better.

    but then again what doesn't beer make better?

  • Nipped in the bud (Score:3, Funny)

    by Supurcell ( 834022 ) on Monday January 09, 2006 @02:13PM (#14429609)
    It's a good thing they caught this one so early. I would hate to think about the hate crimes that would have been committed against the living-impaired if they let this horrendous flier keep circulating.

  • This is just wrong (Score:5, Funny)

    by FidelCatsro ( 861135 ) * <fidelcatsro@gmaDALIil.com minus painter> on Monday January 09, 2006 @02:23PM (#14429709) Journal
    Zombies are not people , they are the living dead . Perhaps controlled a parasitic virus or an ancient sorcerers curse.
    how to shoot Zombies is something all children must learn , I would far rather my 240000 kids learn how to blow their heads off with a shotgun than have the lot of them get infected and turn undead themselves.
    These moralists are endangering all the nations of the world , we must educate our children now or risk the Zombie plague.
    I HAVE SEEN IT , just watch Night of the living dead, it could happen people .
    We are in a zombie amber alert , vigilance will secure our liberty.

    • Re:This is just wrong (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Zombies are not people

      Totalitarian dictators always use the technique of demonising the minorities in order to gain public support for wiping them out. Hitler did it with the Jews, and now you are doing it with Zedkind.

      First they came for the zombies, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a zombie.
      Then they came for the werewolves, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a werewolf.
      And when they came for me, there was nobody left to graah for me.

    • Z-Day is coming man. I am prepared, I'm glad you are too. I have my carbine rifle and dirtbike ready for the day and took my katana to a Catholic priest to get blessed and dipped in holy water. My friends and I all have our survival plans outlined for Z-Day. I pity the fool who thinks Z-Day is silly, paraniod nonsense.

      This would be funnier if I weren't serious...
    • "[...] vigilance will secure our liberty."

      I agree. In fact, I was reading in the New York Post how they've discovered that the NSA is eavesdropping on all Americans who could potentially be Zombies or Zombie sympathizers. NSA Satellites listen to phone conversations and anyone who says "Brains" on the phone will be investigated by the FBI.

  • One could argue that if one shouldn't be partaking in video game that shoot people then the requirement to bear arms is mute and unnecessary. Ergo, the constitution of the USA (I am British) is irrelevant and should be abolished.

    Good luck in getting the US citizens to agree to that one...

    • It's not a requirement to bear arms (except in Texas), just a right.
      • In most places, during the the early days of the Colonies, it was a requirement to be armed. People who weren't armed while traveling or at public events could be fined a sum of money. Even slaves were required to be armed by the masters. I believe much of this originates to an event in which Indians slaughtered about one-fourth of a town's population. After that, the idea was to be armed at all times.

        Pacisifists like Quakers protested and exceptions were eventually made for them. The slave-arming requ
      • hence my argument stands...I should have the right, if I so choose, to spend my time brandishing a gun in a video game. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I should have more of a right to do this in a game than I have in real life. We may be influenced by what we play, but to compare that to bringing wrath into the real world is simplifying the issue. If anything, it is weak minds that have the mind already set in the path and games just attenuate the problem. The fact that US have free access to
  • How does an old comedy book by an SNL writer become a video game (or at the very least, a video game manual)? Did they not RTFM and just automatically bring up good ol' Vid'agame McScapegoat? These people are supposed to solve murders and they can't even differentiate between a comedy book and a video game? Yikes... I guess I know where to commit crime now (better go practice with some GTA first, though).
    • Somehow i do not feel safe at night knowing that "These people" can strain an elephant through a straw just to catch a fly.
      RTFM? Some dont even know where the manual is. Scary huh.
  • Perhaps they confused the Zombies!!! [amazon.com] card game with being a video game.

  • Stupidity... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Ceseuron ( 944486 )
    Unfortunate that in this day and age, stupidity is recognized as a form of diversity that subsequently demands tolerance from the rest of us while people speak their minds without actually USING them first.
    • I've had lots of people explain essentially that because something was their job, it meant they were so much smarter than me, and that I'm not God.

      Oh, and listening to the goings on about you to understand people and how you and they might be a benefit/risk to each other isn't a smart thing to do in their minds. They label it "evesdropping" and is unquestionably wrong in their minds.

      With the lack of vital information that listening in provides, no wonder they're so dumb.

  • It's from a book no less! (Score:3, Funny)

    by neostorm ( 462848 ) on Monday January 09, 2006 @03:57PM (#14430556)
    Quick, secure all your books before they poison our childrens minds with damage and violences!!!
  • With all the talk in TFA about how everybody took a set of facts and come to a totally idiotic conclusion, I thought we were talking about the President of the United States!

    Could you have imagined how much more damage they could have done if they had included the letters "WMD" in it?

    Of course, this happened in Florida. Most of the residents are too old to care. They are going to each other's place and getting faced and playing bridge. (Lord knows my parents are. That "Mandatory Florida Resident Age" is
    • Of course, this happened in Florida. Most of the residents are too old to care.
      They do care. With their advanced age, they are closer to undeath. When their time comes, they don't want every school child to take up arms against them. Most young people these days just don't plan for the future, and they will pay for it.
  • It shows that some people suck at research. I took two seconds on Google searching for "Zombies game" because I remember hearing the name from SOMEWHERE. When I found this like, it dawned on me that one of my friends actually owns this sh***y board game. I understand that they said that it was a video game, but if they're mucking up what the kids claimed the game was, then it's actually a board game. Here's the link for those who whish to check out the game ^_^ http://www.angelfire.com/games/zombierevi [angelfire.com]
  • I don't think that the "video games make people killers", and all that other crap are targetted at us generally. I think they are targetted at the children of today, as a way of programming them to think that video games are bad for them, so there would be a good chance, I think, that in 10 years or so, more people will actually believe this stuff spewed out by these propagandists. It is a better way to get their messages; false or not, listened to, and it is working I think.
  • I think everyone is missing the point; it doesn't matter whether there is a video game link here or not, the real thing to worry about is that there are some potentially crazy people taking the time to post flyers near a school that say "BE PREPARED" and depicting people shooting some other form of "people."

    I think there is every right to be concerned about some psycho kids going Columbine on this school, but as for a video game link, I think that's just what's selling papers. But again, regardless of th
  • The Zombie Survival guide is a book, I have it, its funny. Its a bit of tounge-in-cheek satire at an acctual zombie attack. Its not a damned game. I hate florida, I'm glad I moved and now reside in the great state of Colorado (no, I was not motivated by any specific herb either, I press jump to get high anyways)
  • instead of bad parenting. This is America baby. You can't mess with chidren and parents. Thats taboo.

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