(This blog post was posted on my other blog at wordpress a few years ago but got deleted for some other reason. I am reposting it here)
Mod communities are closed communities. Fans of the game the mod is made for, and only those fans, go to the communities looking for mods for it. So how does a nanny state representitive who wants to find the newest violent game to complain about find out about a mod, to complain about it? In the case of a real game like GTA, there is countless ads on TV, articles about it coming out, etc. For mods none of this exists. So for someone to find that mod to attack it on a site, must mean that they are in the Community releasing the mod, at least I think so. Do the anti-gamers go to gaming mod sites, and then write articles complaining about the mod being released by the mainstream video game press… It seems likely this is the case…
Only problem, is this is the only time that I’ve EVER seen a mod for a game, be targetted like it’s a game, by the violent game attackers. The thing is that this is not the first time someone has made some tasteless school shooting level or mod for a game. Go to Doomworld idgames site (where doom levels are hosted) and you will find this lovely gem, from back in 1997. Overlooked by all the anti-gamers. Was really the same thing as school shooter : american tour 2012, minus the kill yourself ending. Not that I like this kind of game, but….. It’s been done before. What caused SSAT 2012 to get so much negative press? It's content is horrible, making light of the school shooting tragedies, make no mistake, but if this article would never have been written, no one would have commented on it outside the gaming community. There are tasteless mods for many games online... None are complained about in the media.
Who is inside these communities finding this stuff to write about? Is it someone being an idiot and seeing all the bad responses to get something to laugh at, because he has a sick sense of humor? Is he someone doing this on purpose to see how idiotic the comments are about violent games, to see what misconceptions they spread? Was the whole mod made for that purpose? Or is the writer some anti-gamer latching onto a mod that is tasteless to use it as ammo to attack Valve software with. It's not like Valve hasn't been hit with lawsuit threats before. Some lawyer threatened to sue valve when 'he' (the lawyer - in a news article, no less) named counterstrike as an influence to the V-Tech Killer's rampage. With no other proof that Cho played counterstrike, presumably to use it as ammo against valve in some big lawsuit, even though valve did not make Counterstrike. The thing is that he said that 'Cho Played Half-life'. Currently, the articles slamming the Mod (or "game" as they label it for this purpose) don't mention Valve. But what if one did? The company who has developed some of the best FPS games ever (half-life, HL2, Portal, Left 4 dead 1/2) would be ruined.... Out of all the gaming companies that DON'T deserve this kind of link to a school shooting, valve is it. Their games are usually puzzle intensive, where combat is a challenge, and violence is not rewarded like in GTA. They pretty much started the ideas that formed the tactical shooter revolutioin, and lead to Far Cry, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., etc.
Valve would get lawsuit threats, a crapload of media complaints, and maybe even another senate hearing that could lead to stronger restrictions, a govt enforced rating system that I think could be abused to 'effectively' ban violent games to all age groups in the US. Is this the purpose of the article......
I don’t know. But I would love to find out
