id Software: gaming could create “a more peaceful world”
Though it’s probably a stunner to hear from the makers of Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake and all other iterations of the first-person shooter forerunners, id Software decided that it was high time they laid down their side of the gaming violence controversy, oft opposed by one crusading Florida lawyer.
If Take Two wasn’t high in the possibly politically-driven campaign against games, it was Doom that critics often placed the blame on for violence sparking from video games. The Columbine massacre was one such tragedy linked to id Software. Caught in the middle of all the heated discussion, id appeared to have let out a heavy sigh in an interview with Games Industry and speak out on gaming from the gamer’s perspective.
“I think the media is always looking for stuff to make headlines, and they sensationalize things. They take something that they know will make news and they run with it and then figure out whether it’s true or not later,” said CEO Todd Hollenshead.
More on id Software’s opinions of hostility against gaming right at the Full Article!
Though it’s probably a stunner to hear from the makers of Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake and all other iterations of the first-person shooter forerunners, id Software decided that it was high time they laid down their side of the gaming violence controversy, oft opposed by one crusading Florida lawyer.
If Take Two wasn’t high in the possibly politically-driven campaign against games, it was Doom that critics often placed the blame on for violence sparking from video games. The Columbine massacre was one such tragedy linked to id Software. Caught in the middle of all the heated discussion, id appeared to have let out a heavy sigh in an interview with Games Industry and speak out on gaming from the gamer’s perspective.
“I think the media is always looking for stuff to make headlines, and they sensationalize things. They take something that they know will make news and they run with it and then figure out whether it’s true or not later,” said CEO Todd Hollenshead.
Opinions by game-informed and gameplay-experienced third parties often pinpointed misinformation being thrown around with the allegations, proving that those who fear gaming have had little to do with games. Hollenshead believes that familiarization with games will soften the apparent hostility against it, after people become comfortable with the concept of games and how they’re sometimes developed for certain audiences:
I think that the wider videogame market doesn’t understand that [the violent games are] not just for kids, they’re for adults too. That’s where paranoia and lack of rationality comes into it. You wouldn’t go and get a Quentin Tarantino movie and go, ‘Oh my God! I can’t believe someone was shot in that film!’ because you know there’s Disney for kids and there’s Quentin Tarantino for adults, or there’s Spielberg for everybody.
Lead designer Tim Willits concurs with his boss’ opinions, and adds that with time and with generations slowly opening up to gaming (thanks to one platform, we reckon), the pessimism against games may be turned dramatically when a man having grown up with a PlayStation in childhood is elected President. Games could even contribute to society building and cultural development, offers Willits – so far as to encourage cooperation and world peace. He adds:
One of the things that I see with my kids – I have a ten-year-old – is that they love to play online games and get together, and when they play these games, their world shrinks. They’re solving problems and playing against each other or with each other, amongst all these different cultures and people throughout the world, and I believe that when our kids get older and become the politicians of the future, it will probably be a more peaceful world because they have grown up knowing that they can just play with people from China or Russia and everyone’s the same and everyone solves problems together. So I actually have a brighter outlook on the future based on the social interaction, the social connectivity that we have in videogames in our youth.
Via Games Industry