Games for Change Challenges The White House's Misguided Video Reel With This Beautiful Showcase

After last week's misguided video reel on violent games posted by the White House, Games for Change challenged it with a counter showcase of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring moments in titles such as Horizon, Zelda, Ori, Abzû, The Last of Us, Shadow of the Colossus, Firewatch and many more.

[KaiPow]

What a beautiful way to counter that video they put together in bad taste.

[NecrumOddBoy]

No one is doubting games as art but the medium has content not suitable for children. Parents are ultimately responsible for their healthy upbringing.

[DarkOcelet]

The only people to blame for having violent games in the hands of children are the parents. They are the ones who should be monitoring their child. The games that have violence in them usually are rated M or higher which is intended for adults.

[Imp0ssibl3]

Spot on DarkOcelet!

[sampsonon]

agreed. don't understand why the down votes for pointing that out.
you don't want teens walking into a school shooting everyone? stop selling them rifles.
we in Canada play games just as much as people do in the states and the reason we don't have mass shootings is, well it's really really simple actually, we don't sell guns to just anyone and we have a lot less on the streets.

simple i know.

[madforaday]

That is the problem because the games that get showcased to the public are games that are usually the most violence. If you go and talk to random people on the street and ask them about Video games, they are going to mention, Battlefield, COD, Halo, GTA, Mario and a few others. Most of the games that are HUGELY popular are extremely violent games. Do you think people know about Flower? Or the countless of games that have an amazing artistic look and feel to them?

Just think about the Oscars, the movie that wins best picture are usually some movie that mostly no one ever heard of or saw. You rarely see a violent action film win best picture. I am looking through the ones that won, the closest one I see to an action film is Hurt Locker in 2009 or The Departed in 2006. Almost a decade ago I had to go to find something violent.

[_-EDMIX-_]

agreed.

At the end of the day this comes down to Parenting because we already have the ESRB system and many retailers that will deny the sale of a violent video game to minors.

@Dark agreed

[UCForce]

@DarkOcelet You are goddamn right.

[SuperSonic91]

Video games is just like any medium of expression - music, theatre, television, radio, books, film, etc .
It can be used for great good or great evil.

I am a great believer in video games as the best medium of expression today.

This is a wake up call for developers, publishers and gamers alike for responsible gaming.

For The Glory of Gaming Forever May He Reign!
- Kevin Butler VP of PlayStation

[rainslacker]

Of course it has content not suitable for children. That's why ratings boards exist. I don't think that anyone denies there is content not suitable for children, just the extent to which that content has on the child's psyche. But, it's not for us, or anyone but the parents to decide how their child should be raised, and if those parents don't care, what more can be done other than to censor to ruin it for everyone else.

I'm not one to say everyone should be denied guns because of these recent instances of violence. I'd like the same consideration that not all games need to be censored because some children may get their hands on them. Children get their hands on porn too, but the porn industry is still going strong.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Well I understand why they put the video out I also don't believe it's something that really needs to be combated simply because the medium has a rating in regards to the ESRB so violent content can exist like that in the first place.

So at the ending of the day I don't really believe that anyone needs to prove or give any type of evidence that games many times are not violent because I don't really believe that the argument nearly even needs to be about the violence and games as much as it's about that we already have a rating system for that type of content in the first place.

It would be like trying to say let's show you a bunch of family friendly films to prove to you that it's not just violent films that exist... I mean I don't disagree with that that's all well and good but like video games there's a rating system that exist for a reason.

It is very clear that the video that the White House put out was completely out of context, but they could show us much violent video game footage as they want I believe those games have the right to exist no different than games that are non-violent. All this is is desperation to push the agenda towards something other than the abundance of high-powered Weaponry in this country.

[rainslacker]

A couple of the games shown in this video have violent content in them. TLOU in particular is extremely violent, not just from Joel, but Ellie, as a teenage girl, who will viciously attack someone and stab them to death. The game is quite graphic in its depiction of violence, and it was intentional by the developer to help drive home just how cruel the world they live in is.

And that's where the game comes down to art. The fact that despite humanity being on the brink of despair, or past it, there is still good in the world worth living for. That no matter how bad things are, there is always something that can be appreciated....there is something worth living for.

One could show all the great scenes in TLOU, or all the most brutal, in some reel, but when you strip all context from either, it lessens the impact of both.

Games, at least those with stories, at their very core, are a package deal. If all you show is the violence, then you ignore the purpose of that violence. If you only show the good stuff, then you don't appreciate it fully because you don't know what it means to the story or characters. Context is key, and those that want to blame video games love to remove all context.

This video, as nice as it was, also removes the context. Again, pointing to TLOU, the giraffe scene has no context. It looks good sure, and one can imagine the inspiration, but they don't actually know.

I'm sure we could all agree that the violence itself will have a much bigger impact on the uninitiated in terms of what they feel about the game itself.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I completely agree with you regarding the last of us but I simply feel that violence inside of video games is 100% okay regardless of the context because we have a rating system anyway.

So even if they're trying to cherry-pick or show content out of context I don't think it should matter in the first place considering regardless of the actual violence itself there's a rating system designed for it anyway.

[rainslacker]

I agree, it doesn't matter if it's in or out of context from a general point of view.

There was that one game where you played as a psychopath. Can't remember the name, but it was a couple years ago. It got banned from Steam.

The general consensus seemed that it was in bad tastes, so the market seemed to take care of itself. I think most people don't want to play as someone who's just violent without purpose. They want context, and they want purpose. If that doesn't exist in a game, then it tends to be looked at as a bad game because that context is part of the experience.

[rainslacker]

I really do enjoy videos which celebrate games as art.

There are so many more games that could have been shown. So many that you wouldn't have a single repeat in the whole thing, and it could last ten times as long.

Many games are made to awe the player, and in many cases, they can be inspiring.

[ccgr]

Haven't played any of the games listed but they're on my ever growing backlog

[Alexious]

Really? These are masterpieces

[Jinger]

What have you been playing then!?

[Brave_Losers_Unite]

Donald Trump just couldnt he his damn mouth shut. The buffoon is so quick to criticize everything

[madforaday]

You make it sound like he doesn't have people in both ears telling him what to do, say, and wear. Trump and presidents in general are just someone that the people can point to because it is easy to. Of course, with Trump it is much easier to point since well, it is Trump. Who lets a boy walk around with no parents aimlessly in NYC lol

[Liqu1d]

Except Russia.

[lellkay]

Absolutely brilliant!

[AizenSosuke]

This is the true power of mortals

[OffRoadKing]

For every scene of out of context violence in their bullshit video theres dozens of quality heartfelt meaningful moments in video games across the board. Glad someone did this.

[Ethereal]

I approve. Games are so much more than just first-person shooters.

[Felsager]

Horizon Zero Dawn and Zelda Breath of the Wild are two outstanding games. These are great games without a doubt.

Parents are responsible for what the kids gets at their home. Simple.

[mafiahajeri]

Did some quick research gun violence is down in the last 20 years in the US opposed to it peaking over the last 50 years in the 80's and early 90's, I'm assuming it was due to all the Pong people were playing, and pixelated blood they were spilling xD

This whole fiasco boils down to sniveling snakes called politicians who will further their agendas while not giving two shits who they step on in the process, it's the same everywhere.

It's desperate, pathetic and most importantly obvious. Looking for scapegoats to hide your own failures is the lowest of the low.

They make it seem like if violent video games were banned people would all of sudden become peaceful and we would all be living in a utopia...

A lot of human beings are pieces of shit in general, video games have nothing to do with the crimes they commit.

[Gh05t]

How does no one seem to see the irony in how hard everyone is trying to "defend" video games as a first amendment right while also blasting people trying to defend a second amendment right?

[moomoo319]

Seriously i remember even if i preordered a game with my parents, paid it off im full, i still couldnt pick up because it was rated M. However you can buy anything on the digital store and thats how kids circumvent the rating system.

[The-Matrix-has-you]

There are parental controls on all major consoles though so that’s no excuse for poor parenting.

[moomoo319]

It isnt an excuse but at the same time when xbox live marketplace just started getting popular parents werent as aware of their kids ability to download a full M-rated game. But now ude have to be living under a rock lol

[UCForce]

I really like this video. It’s a heartwarming.

[victorMaje]

Long live games.