Ok, I've just had my own hate the internet moment so I'm going to vent spleen in what is almost nearly an appropriate thread.
Check this shit out,
http://www.destructoid.com/dr-phil-trying-to-steal-jack-s-thunder-oprah-is-not-amused-31042.phtml
What the fuck is that about?
Dr Phil is 100% percent correct in what he said, yet somehow the oversensitive gamers single shared mind thinks it's an attack on games and wildly attacks Dr Phil!? To me it doesn't read like an attack on games at all. He makes a very good point about the results of soaking the mentally suggestible in a violent environment. He says,
Violent Games/Movies/Whatever + Nutcase = BADNESS
He also says that society will have to deal with that equation. Take Jack Thompson, for example. He's trying to solve it by reducing the Violence part of the equation by getting rid of violent (and suggestive) games. Of course, if you take away the violent games then those of us who aren't Nutcases lose out because....
Non-Nutcase - Violent Games = SADNESS AT ONLY BEING ABLE TO PLAY PONY GAMES
Sorry Jack, not going to happen.
The other extreme might be to remove anyone suspected of being a Nutcase from the streets. I really don't think that'll happen either.
The final option is for society to suck it up. Accept it happens, move on. I don't think that's going to happen either.
If you're now thinking "OH NOES! WE'RE DOOOOOOOMED!" you've forgotten something. Something that's easy to forget when you're suckling from the dribbling and exotically decorated teat that is the internet. You've forgotten that a moderate path exists.
What can be done? I ain't no brain sturgeon, but it occurs to me that awareness of the problem is a major factor. Give the condition a name, maybe Environmenal Suggestability Disorder (ESD) and start wacking people over the head with it until they understand that...
Violence (not just games) + ESD = TEH BADNESS
Put an ESD warning on games (and other violent materials) that warns that anyone suffering from ESD could be adversely affected by it. Maybe that nice Simon Bates could do a voice over. I don't know, some crap like that.
No, it won't be any more directly effective than "Winners Don't Do Drugs", or "Epilepsy Warning", or my all time favorite "May Contain Nuts". But we don't need a direct effect. Educate the people and they'll police themselves, as I just said (I like to cite myself, especially mid-sentence, to support my own arguement).
So, ah, I've run out of spleen now and I just don't care about this topic anymore. I'm sure I started this with a point, but hey, this is the internets - where existence is defined by word count (swear words score triple). I can feel the central-brain calling me back in to the fold. Dr Phil's a dick.