You may or may not recall last year's Mass Effect controversy, when Cooper Lawrence spoke about her objection to a supposed sex scene in the game. She was immediately lambasted for her words, as it was clear she hadn't the slightest clue what she was talking about. Well, she's back, and although she's more careful this time around, the entire crew at FOX proves to be about as sharp as a box of erasers.
You can watch the recent Lawrence video over at BingeGamer – just prepare for a lot of eye-rolling – and then suffer a minor bout of depression as you realize the mainstream media still doesn't get it. After 30 years, they still don't get it . This has gone way past amusing; it's past embarrassing; it's past annoying; now it's just downright idiotic and even obscene. This is how the media does their homework? Really? We won't go into a crazy long rant, but there are just a few points we'd like to make: first, social gaming is the thing these days. Or did you miss the fact that Guitar Hero , Rock Band , and online multiplayer gaming basically rules the world? Secondly, considering that video games are no different than any other entertainment medium in terms of "addictive qualities," why are we still talking about them as if they're the spawn of an alien species? Thirdly and lastly, I am extraordinarily sick and tired of games being blamed for anti-social behavior. Who here doesn't go outside or participate in social events because they'd rather play video games? Go ahead, raise your hands, I'll wait…
Yeah, I see about one or two out of sixty gazillion. The truth of the matter is, and has always been, that games serve as a hobby that, for the vast majority of people, is something they do for fun when there's nothing else to do. We're not missing work because of games. We're not bypassing a night out with friends because of games. We're not locking doors, wearing costumes and screaming at TVs. Video game addiction certainly does exist; I will grant them that, but to no more extent than any other addiction, and the percentage of avid gamers that can accurately be described as addicts is very, very low. When the weather's bad, we like to play. When there's no good movies at the theater, we like to play. We like to play with friends sometimes. This entire philosophy that gaming actually removes someone from social activities needs to die, and until the mainstream media can wrap their puny minds that use quarter-century-old information around the truth, we'll continue to laugh in their faces.
End of story.
P.S. Psssst…Ms. Lawrence…over here….. Considering you only have access to very old info, you know how – in your mind – all gamers are "geeks?" …remember what the geeks were in school? The ones with all the good grades, right? Yeah, well, they all grew up and now they're all smarter than you.