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I'm extremely disappointed that an image of Statesman would be used in such a way. I know that we designed City of Heroes to appeal to "children of all ages." My proudest accomplishment with the game is that many parents (including my brother) play with their children...sharing, I hope, the same joy for the comic book world that I've had ever since I was 8. I cannot express the shock that I felt seeing that a character created by Cryptic would be used in the same sentence as Columbine.
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If that footage is copyrighted by NCSoft or Cryptic, I recommend you contact the producers of that film to have it removed. By using images of Statesman, the filmmakers not only impugned the noble (and American) ideals Statesman represents, but also destroyed any credibility they may have possessed--City of Heroes is not a violent or base game.
Statesman's inclusion into that trailer constitutes slander. It utterly misrepresents City of Heroes.
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Wouldn't it be possible to use their blunder AGAINST them? Get the word out there.. throw in the American ideal stuff.. show as many people as possible what all this BS about video games really is.. alarmist propaganda. A few people are trying to spread fear and terror to the masses through ignorance. Shouldn't we be doing everything possible to uncover these types of people for what they really are?
I just know doing nothing won't work..
edit: Is it to much to hope that Cryptic will not take this laying down? They need to come down on this hard.
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I certainly hope Cryptic/NCSoft acts to remove the footage. By mistakenly portraying City of Heroes as a violent game, the footage has the potential to fraudulently prejudice potential customers against buying the game and falsely sully the name of Cryptic and NCSoft.
I also hope that this mistake is used against the film. It demonstrates a lack of understanding and research.
This video clip just disgusts me. I get tired of all these folks saying video games are corrupting kids, when the truth is parents need to teach their kids good morals. If the parents dont instill these morals then those kids would be bad anyways whether it was movies, video games, or even music. Parents are to blame not the kids. I am a firm believer that parents should beat their kids as needed. If you dont put the fear in your child at an early age they get out of hand way before you can put the morals in them. In some individuals will just not have it in them to be bad people no matter what stimuli or morals are taught, just as there are folks that are bad no matter what you teach them. For those bad individuals they need psychological help.
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My favorite quote was "We don't want the government regulating video games, but we've told them that if they don't do it themselves... we will." or something like that.
This is not a Conservative/Liberal, Republican/Democrat, Christian/non-Christian issue. It's an issue of some people feeling that they've been empowered to tell the rest of us what's good for us. It's an issue of some people thinking that they know better than we do, how to run our lives and raise our kids. It's also an issue of some people trying to get famous and jumping on an issue that they feel they can ride to popularity.
This is the same thing as the government getting involved in the steroid issue in baseball. The chief responsibility of a government is to protect it's people from foreign forces. Where in the blue-hell does it say that the government is supposed to spend tax dollars trying to figure out what Barry Bonds is doing? Oh that's right... in the same place where they're supposed to be worrying about video games. That place where they tell us that we can't take care of ourselves so they need to do it for us with regulation after regulation after regulation ...
And btw, I'm a Conservative. Please don't lump all of us together. I don't give a flying-frigg what video games you play. That's your personal choice, or the choice of your parents if you're very young.
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As for the image of Statesman, it would be interesting to see how people would react if another super hero, not from video games, was placed in his spot in the trailer. The two heroes who leap to mind are Superman, whose battle cry used to be for "Truth, Justice and the American Way", and Captain America.
If either of those more famous fictional figures had been used, the general public would think: "Wait a minute, Superman and Captain America are... bad?"
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QFE. Note how none of the games shown are based on very known intellectual properties... they want to show something that people are not really familiar with, because it's easier to draw idiots in that way.
www.SaveCOH.com: Calls to Action and Events Calendar
This is what 3700 heroes in a single zone looks like.
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Wait now... Couldn't Cryptic(or any one of these video game company featured in the decumentery) sue whoever it is who put the clips together? I mean, in a way, they're misportraying a copywritten character? 
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Wait now... Couldn't Cryptic(or any one of these video game company featured in the decumentery) sue whoever it is who put the clips together? I mean, in a way, they're misportraying a copywritten character?
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I'm no lawyer, but I hope so.
Following post from a friend who doesn't have forum access:
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i have played violent videogames since they've had violent videogames, and i haven't killed anyone. i take my violence out in the videogame
you know what they need to say? "parents, [censored] teach your kids the difference between real and make believe. oh, and while you're at it, have a [censored] conversation with them. while they're talking to you they're not hurting anyone. and make them go outside and play too."
i stand where i stand on the issue though. it's the parents fault, not videogames
they said about nine year olds playing gta. um...nine year olds shouldn't be playing gta. they can't even legally buy it.
i played mortal kombat when i was nine but if i so much as looked at my brother wrong after i couldn't play it anymore.
like i said, it's the parents, not the games
we had the original three grand theft autos, and the expansion pack for the first one. when my mom bought it she got warned, but she told the guy, "i have good kids and i trust them."
i was seventeen at the time anyway. i could have bought it
once we were teenagers my parents trusted us with our videogames. my mom played videogames with us until i was thirteen. and we weren't allowed to play videogames unless mom or dad were around and awake.
my point is that you can blame the videogame until you're blue in the face, it's not the game's fault if the parent is going to let their nine year old play a violent videogame and not explain to them that it's different than real life.
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www.SaveCOH.com: Calls to Action and Events Calendar
This is what 3700 heroes in a single zone looks like.
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I thought that was a really inneffective use of Statesman. They should have used the Nerf Punch from the CoV trailer if they wanted to help prove their point. Out of context it looks pretty violent.
The one they used looked....kinda patriotic (go figure).
I give that video a 1/10 for effectiveness. It was stupid.
I think they should ban boxing, too! It's such a violent sport, you know. *continues smoking his cigar*
Actually, someone with some decent editing skills splice in Superman from Superman the game in place of Statesman and send it back asking for their opinion...
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Actually, someone with some decent editing skills splice in Superman from Superman the game in place of Statesman and send it back asking for their opinion...
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Why stop there? With video editing and related software so doable these days, a hobbiest could take that same soundtrack and substitute in various promo-video shots of everything from 'Superman,' to 'ToonTown' to 'Hello Kitty, Online' and make this even more of a alarmist-farce hilarity than it already is.
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I'm extremely disappointed that an image of Statesman would be used in such a way. I know that we designed City of Heroes to appeal to "children of all ages." My proudest accomplishment with the game is that many parents (including my brother) play with their children...sharing, I hope, the same joy for the comic book world that I've had ever since I was 8. I cannot express the shock that I felt seeing that a character created by Cryptic would be used in the same sentence as Columbine.
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I too was shocked at the implications that video made. As soon as I'm off work, I'm superjumping over to the producers of that documentary and unleashing my fire imps upon their base. Let's see them try to finish a film production when they have to farm all that prestige again.
Oh, look at that, its time for my medication again.
My opinion, for whatever its worth, is this: the issue of violence in video games is a smoke screen. Its a non-issue. I'm sure if you conduct a perfectly up and up, legitimate, controlled, scientifically solid study of video games' impact on the game playing public, you'll find some evidence that video games promote violent behavior, to some extent or another, in much the same way that if you look hard enough, eventually you'll discover that everything causes cancer.
The question is whether the potential amount of violence it might promote either excuses that violence by being promoted to a direct cause, and equally important, whether the ability for video games to promote violence isn't overriden by much stronger environmental influences.
I'm sure there are lots of things that promote violent behavior to a greater extent than video games. Heck: soccer does.
Probably the thing that promotes violent behavior the most, by several orders of magnitude, is alcohol consumption. So why are video games talked about as a promoter of violence significantly more than alcohol. Mainly, because video games are a convenient target.
That's all this is. Video games may or may not have a net negative influence on society. But for the most part, we don't *judge* voluntary activities in a free society that way. It only happens sometimes when the activity is considered marginal, in the sense that it has few supporters. Which means it only takes a few detractors to beat up on it.
Columbine is the perfect example of this. Kids wear trenchcoats, play video games, and shoot up a school. Can't attack gun ownership, because that is a losing battle: its not a convenient target. Can't attack trenchcoat ownership, because people will rightly assume you are insane. So attack video games, because that is - or appears to be - an easy target.
Why is City of Heroes, in the persona of Statesman, in that video? Probably because the people making it really don't *care* if any particular video game is good, bad, or ugly. The video game industry is an easy target, and when you are beating up a relatively defenseless target, you don't really need to fight fair.
Understand: "fair" in this case is not whether they represent all sides of this issue. For me, the inherent unfairness of the situation is that video games are actually being *made* into an issue at all. There is no good reason to do so, that cannot be applied to a great many other things but aren't, because they are not easy targets.
In other words: Bully was a target because ironically the ones doing the targetting thought it could be bullied.
I would be more concerned than I am now if I didn't believe that because video games are being targetted only because they are an easy target, this problem is very likely to moot itself in relatively short order, as video games become as pervasive as television watching, or if you prefer, alcohol consumption. At that point, it will cease to be an easy target, and the people who currently believe they can beat up on it will simply be forced to go away. They will be obsoleted by societal evolution.
Ultimately, I think we have to tolerate these social dinosaurs, primarily making sure they don't stomp on too many things, before they flicker out. We can fight them, but time is on our side: we only have to contain them long enough for them to be marginalized out of existence.
In case my position isn't obvious, I'll state it bluntly. Suppose you could prove that (some) video games actually made (some) people more violent. That would only mean to me that psychiatric medicine needs to catch up to help the disturbed individuals for which this is true. It means nothing to me in terms of the video game industry: nothing. Why? Because if you could prove to me that certain books made some people more violent, like Catcher in the Rye, I would have the same response. I wouldn't ban Catcher in the Rye, and I wouldn't conduct a government study to find out what future writers need to not do, to avoid replicating Catcher in the Rye, and bar them from doing it. To me, that's a place I won't go.
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Actually, someone with some decent editing skills splice in Superman from Superman the game in place of Statesman and send it back asking for their opinion...
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Why stop there? With video editing and related software so doable these days, a hobbiest could take that same soundtrack and substitute in various promo-video shots of everything from 'Superman,' to 'ToonTown' to 'Hello Kitty, Online' and make this even more of a alarmist-farce hilarity than it already is.
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Do it with Care Bears and My Little Pony.
I'm confident that the American people are smart enough now to say, "don't you have a mass-murdering terrorist to capture or a budget to balance or something?"
Sure, I'd prefer that CoH included more things than using a battleaxe to "arrest" criminals myself. Why can't my superhero stop plane crashes or rescue kids from fires, like Superman and Spider-Man? But CoH is certainly not in the same debatable category as GTA-3 or Mortal Kombat. It's inspired by comic books that have taught us perseverance, courage and decency.
In 1954 our grandparents weren't so smart. Congress used the excuse provided by Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent to castrate Sequential Art in the United States. The medium reached maturity in Europe and Asia and our superhero-dominated, DC/Marvel dominated, Diamond Distribution monopolized comics industry has been playing catch-up ever since, to the point where the US reading public has demanded transfusions of British writers and Japanese artists.
If the equivalent of the infamous Comics Code Authority is placed over this embryonic medium called computer games, I predict a similarly depressing result.
And States? You have my sympathies. Go get 'em.
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I'm extremely disappointed that an image of Statesman would be used in such a way. I know that we designed City of Heroes to appeal to "children of all ages." My proudest accomplishment with the game is that many parents (including my brother) play with their children...sharing, I hope, the same joy for the comic book world that I've had ever since I was 8. I cannot express the shock that I felt seeing that a character created by Cryptic would be used in the same sentence as Columbine.
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Wouldnt Cryptic be able to Sue for using that pic of states like that? Seems that they would have to get permission to use that...
I think most people have to understand that there will always be some retard trying to claim that video games or Television or Radio or something is the reason why someone does something.
That Moral Combat thing is just an excuse and is a way to try to blame something else instead of putting the blame where its supposed to go.
The blame should go specifically on the parents and guardians and educators who do a crappy job at doing things and don't care either.
Quick reply here, but..
Does anyone here NOT think that this is silly? I mean, we're on a video game board for a game that wasn't put forth in a positive light in the clip. You guys can vent all you want, but if you want to actually do something about it your frustrations are better spent elsewhere.
The Paladin
Steel Canyon, Virtue
Exalted
@Paladin
"You guys can vent all you want, but if you want to actually do something about it your frustrations are better spent elsewhere." -- ThePaladin
Hey Paladin. Valid. Specific suggestions?
Ummm.... *looks around*
/em protest
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"You guys can vent all you want, but if you want to actually do something about it your frustrations are better spent elsewhere." -- ThePaladin
Hey Paladin. Valid. Specific suggestions?
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Write your damn Congressman. 
The Paladin
Steel Canyon, Virtue
Exalted
@Paladin
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Wait now... Couldn't Cryptic(or any one of these video game company featured in the decumentery) sue whoever it is who put the clips together? I mean, in a way, they're misportraying a copywritten character?
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I'm no lawyer, but I hope so.
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3 words: Defamation of Character
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Hence, any attempt to link violence with new inventions, is ultimately illogical.
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Off-topic: Throw in the clause about how new inventions can increase the effectiveness of violence (it's hard to compare a flint axe with a rocket-propelled grenade), and I'd agree.
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Yes, it was a bit off topic, and if I may say so kinda irrelevant to this particular discussion.
If a person poses an argument to support a particular point of view, just because a second person attempts to insert other "requirements", relevant or not, into the pre-stated conditions, it does not suddenly invalid the original argument. This is like someone saying "I am sweating, so I think today is too hot.", then have someone else comes along and declares "If you also throw in 'sweating causes your body to lose salt' then I'll agree."
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I was agreeing with your original point. I was also in a hurry, so I didn't reply to the original post of the thread. Apologies if I caused any misunderstandings.
I don't know what to think about the video, in the sense that I just cannot understand the message that it is trying to convey. It's like someone randomly coming up to me and saying that the world is made of smoked cheese: it doesn't fit the version of reality I'm familiar with, and I simply have no response to it that would fit the context of the discussion.
A part of me wonders if this is just another example of sensationalism, and the rest of the world will go on as it is. However, there is historical precedent for sensationalism, intentional or otherwise, getting a rather serious reaction (Wertham being the primary example), so I have no idea how seriously to take this one.
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"You guys can vent all you want, but if you want to actually do something about it your frustrations are better spent elsewhere." -- ThePaladin
Hey Paladin. Valid. Specific suggestions?
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Write your damn Congressman.
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I don't have one.....
People? People who?
I hate saying this, but I think you underestimate the power of stupidity. If nobody takes a stand and just assumes everyone is smart enough to know better.. well then bad things happen.
There are also a lot of easily taken advantage of parents out there. Parents, especially the new ones, will do ANYTHING.. and I mean.. ANYTHING for their child. They will do anything for the well being of their child even if it doesn't make any sense. When it comes to a child it is "act now and think later". If you tell a bunch of dads that dressing in adult diapers and sucking on baby bottles will help their babies then BY GOD those fathers will do it. What is the MAIN focus of anti video game propaganda? "It will turn little jimmy into a killer!".
Don't laugh. I am 100% serious. What about people that have barely heard of a video game? Tell them it could turn their child into a murderer and they will most likely go "OMG TEH VIDEO GAME! EBIL!".