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OMG...I just interviewed Gabe Newell!
A2597
Fanboy
in Zocalo v2.0
I can't BELIEVE IT!
I'm doing a research paper on Violence in Videogames and it's impact on society, I wanted to interview someone in the feild, and contacted CliffyB, Lead Designer for Epic Games. Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic Games. And Gabe Newell, President of Valve Software.
Well, Gabe Newell responded. :)
Heres what I sent:
To: Gabe Newell
I am currently working on a research paper on violence in video games and its impact on society for a college argumentation class.
I am wondering if it would be possible, through E-mail, second hand, or any other means, to have a very short Q&A session with you, or another Valve developer on this issue. This is not a paper that would be printed in the press, rather it is simply a project (read, 40% of the grade) for a class, and due to a limited number of resources that do not state how horrible violence in games is, I am left trying to find support for my argument by other means. The Valve dev team and yourself have a record of listning and helping the community, so I turn to you for help with this project.
-A2597 (Used my real name)
He accepted, and agreed to a short Q&A session,
transcript below
[b]A2597[/b]
1: Do you think violence in video games leads to people becoming violent?
[b]Gabe Newell[/b]
No.
Causes of violence are well-studied. Poverty, substance abuse, mental illness, having been a victim of violence, coming from a broken homes, low IQ, violent peer groups, military service, and being male are factors which predispose someone to violent behavior.
If your goal is to figure out what is causing violence, you'd end up looking at this list and trying to figure out what to do about it.
However there is a long tradition of politicized attacks on enertainment. This goes back quite far, including a period of over a century where plays were banned in France because of their harmful effect on women and the lower classes. It sounds absurd nowadays, but similar vilification has been heaped upon new forms of entertainment including radio, TV, specific musical genres, and so on.
The rise of videogames has coincided with a decrease in juvenile violent crime. Countries with the highest videogame consumption, such as Japan, have extremely low incidences of juvenile crime in comparison to countries with low videogame consumption. In other words we've run the experiment - will increasing or high rates of violent crime drive impressionable youth to violence - and the answer is no.
The underlying "folk" theory embedded in attacks on entertainment is that people are passive and manipulable consumers of media. This "folk" theory has been tested, most notably at MIT and the University of Utrecht, and it simply isn't accurate. Media simply isn't that powerful, otherwise we'd all be tan, slim, and wealthy.
[b]A2597[/b]
2: Many people think that the average age of people playing games such as Unreal Tornament is quite young, while statistics show that the majority of gamers are over 18, do you think that violent games could influence younger minds?
[b]Gabe Newell[/b]
Sure, but not to be violent. People who play videogames learn a lot about the Internet. Typically it makes them think about game design issues. Playing videogames may turn kids into geeks, but it won't turn them violent.
[b]A2597[/b]
3: Which do you think would leave a greater impression on a person: Playing Unreal Tornament for two hours, or watching a violent film such as Hannable or Starship Troopers, where people are repeatedly blown to peices.
[b]Gabe Newell[/b]
Neither will incline a person to violence more than being poor, dumb, and beaten.
[b]A2597[/b]
4: How do you feel about the press singeling out violent video games as a source for teen anger?
[b]Gabe Newell[/b]
It's lazy journalism. They know it's not the case, as they are typically very sophisticated consumers of media themselves. They understand the cycles that these stories go through, and that they are really in the entertainment business themselves. They also know that the press itself is frequently scapegoated in the same way that other entertainment forms are scapegoated, and they do it anyhow because it's a cheap story to write.
[b]A2597[/b]
5: Finally, what is your own view of violence in video games? (Is it used for storytelling, or some other reason?)
[b]Gabe Newell[/b]
Just to be clear, there is no "violence" in video games. Real violence is deeply disturbing. The "violence" in video games may be a safe way of exploring feelings about the real thing, but it's the same way little kids sitting around a campfire telling each ghost stories are exploring the anxiety and fear they associate with various aspects of the world.
In terms of game design, "violence" actually isn't a very useful tool. You can't take a game and say "let's make this better by making it more violent" and succeed. There are a number of game designs that have tried to go in that direction ("hey, if the press keeps saying stuff about violence in videogames, they must be right, right?") and they fail miserably (unless some politician is willing to wave it around in front of a camera and give them a bunch of free publicity).
[b]A2597[/b]
Thank you very much for your time.
*Faints*
Now THAT will look good in my sources page! :)
I'm doing a research paper on Violence in Videogames and it's impact on society, I wanted to interview someone in the feild, and contacted CliffyB, Lead Designer for Epic Games. Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic Games. And Gabe Newell, President of Valve Software.
Well, Gabe Newell responded. :)
Heres what I sent:
To: Gabe Newell
I am currently working on a research paper on violence in video games and its impact on society for a college argumentation class.
I am wondering if it would be possible, through E-mail, second hand, or any other means, to have a very short Q&A session with you, or another Valve developer on this issue. This is not a paper that would be printed in the press, rather it is simply a project (read, 40% of the grade) for a class, and due to a limited number of resources that do not state how horrible violence in games is, I am left trying to find support for my argument by other means. The Valve dev team and yourself have a record of listning and helping the community, so I turn to you for help with this project.
-A2597 (Used my real name)
He accepted, and agreed to a short Q&A session,
transcript below
[b]A2597[/b]
1: Do you think violence in video games leads to people becoming violent?
[b]Gabe Newell[/b]
No.
Causes of violence are well-studied. Poverty, substance abuse, mental illness, having been a victim of violence, coming from a broken homes, low IQ, violent peer groups, military service, and being male are factors which predispose someone to violent behavior.
If your goal is to figure out what is causing violence, you'd end up looking at this list and trying to figure out what to do about it.
However there is a long tradition of politicized attacks on enertainment. This goes back quite far, including a period of over a century where plays were banned in France because of their harmful effect on women and the lower classes. It sounds absurd nowadays, but similar vilification has been heaped upon new forms of entertainment including radio, TV, specific musical genres, and so on.
The rise of videogames has coincided with a decrease in juvenile violent crime. Countries with the highest videogame consumption, such as Japan, have extremely low incidences of juvenile crime in comparison to countries with low videogame consumption. In other words we've run the experiment - will increasing or high rates of violent crime drive impressionable youth to violence - and the answer is no.
The underlying "folk" theory embedded in attacks on entertainment is that people are passive and manipulable consumers of media. This "folk" theory has been tested, most notably at MIT and the University of Utrecht, and it simply isn't accurate. Media simply isn't that powerful, otherwise we'd all be tan, slim, and wealthy.
[b]A2597[/b]
2: Many people think that the average age of people playing games such as Unreal Tornament is quite young, while statistics show that the majority of gamers are over 18, do you think that violent games could influence younger minds?
[b]Gabe Newell[/b]
Sure, but not to be violent. People who play videogames learn a lot about the Internet. Typically it makes them think about game design issues. Playing videogames may turn kids into geeks, but it won't turn them violent.
[b]A2597[/b]
3: Which do you think would leave a greater impression on a person: Playing Unreal Tornament for two hours, or watching a violent film such as Hannable or Starship Troopers, where people are repeatedly blown to peices.
[b]Gabe Newell[/b]
Neither will incline a person to violence more than being poor, dumb, and beaten.
[b]A2597[/b]
4: How do you feel about the press singeling out violent video games as a source for teen anger?
[b]Gabe Newell[/b]
It's lazy journalism. They know it's not the case, as they are typically very sophisticated consumers of media themselves. They understand the cycles that these stories go through, and that they are really in the entertainment business themselves. They also know that the press itself is frequently scapegoated in the same way that other entertainment forms are scapegoated, and they do it anyhow because it's a cheap story to write.
[b]A2597[/b]
5: Finally, what is your own view of violence in video games? (Is it used for storytelling, or some other reason?)
[b]Gabe Newell[/b]
Just to be clear, there is no "violence" in video games. Real violence is deeply disturbing. The "violence" in video games may be a safe way of exploring feelings about the real thing, but it's the same way little kids sitting around a campfire telling each ghost stories are exploring the anxiety and fear they associate with various aspects of the world.
In terms of game design, "violence" actually isn't a very useful tool. You can't take a game and say "let's make this better by making it more violent" and succeed. There are a number of game designs that have tried to go in that direction ("hey, if the press keeps saying stuff about violence in videogames, they must be right, right?") and they fail miserably (unless some politician is willing to wave it around in front of a camera and give them a bunch of free publicity).
[b]A2597[/b]
Thank you very much for your time.
*Faints*
Now THAT will look good in my sources page! :)
Comments
Interesting questions as well as interesting answers.
[B]Gabe Newell is such a great guy. :)
Interesting questions as well as interesting answers. [/B][/QUOTE]
Ain't he though!
CliffyB and Mark Rein both have ignored me thus far...heh.
Gabe replied same day, in a matter of hours.
I am joking, by the way. I knew about the code theft before, too.
Some interesting things:
NO study has ever found conclusive evedance that violent video games leads to violent people.
Studies HAVE shown that in nations where violent games are easily gotten, like in Japan, youth crime rate is almost non-existent.
The hardest part of this paper, believe it or not, was finding sources for the opposition. Sure, there are THOUSANDS of sites talking about how bad violence is in video games, but they are so obviously one sided and blatent lies that they cannot be used as support. I was left with news.BBC, which slanted their article by leaving out some important information, and selecting quotes.
ABC News,which attached MS Flight Sim 2000 because you could fly a plane into the world trade center (Failed to mention you could crash into the ground as well...)
and childrenNOW.org, which featured examples of violent games such as EarthwormJim, Zelda, and...get this...The Sims.
Who would have thunk?!?
A lot of it does come down to the context of the game. An RPG is generally set in a world where it's possible to be evil because that's how the world works. The Sims, on the otherhand, is set in a house in a suburb.
HL2 ..
Tis a shame that hard working people like the developers @ VALVe get ripped off by hackers, and as a result have to ,in essence go back to the drawing board to re-write aspects of the programmes that they have created... how it must feel to programmers .. I would guessit would be on the same parr as Somone breaking and entering your own home and rumaging through your stuff and then stealling what means most to you and basically your livelyhood...then to top all that,the theif goes and lays your wears to bear to all and sundry on the net !! omfg i't saddens me , because more than anything else...VALVe feel they've let the 'fans' down.! life sux sometimes.
.. End Rant ..
Damn , I WANT HIS GAME !!!!!!!!!
"in Gabe we trust"
:( :confused: :(
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Marcus*COAL*Peake [/i]
[B]...then to top all that, the theif goes and lays your wears to bear to all and sundry on the net !! [/B][/QUOTE]
OH! Was that [i]YOUR[/i] underwear that I saw for sale on EBay?!?
:eek:
Serously though... You're right...
:(
'i had to pay bidders on ebay to take em aweh' :(
[B]They have email addresses available for anyone to just get? Or is there some other way you got it? If it's the latter, how would I go about getting Harvey Smith's contact info? [/B][/QUOTE]
does he work at valve?
Anyway, all I've been able to get from their site is the webmaster contact info. Probably doesn't matter. I dont' really have much time to make use of any good contact info.
Anyways, I would assume you would explain to the webmaster why you wish to contact him, and hope to get an address.
[B]Ion Storm. You should know that, man. EVERYONE should know who he and Warren Spector are. Everyone. Why it wasn't taught in my highschool history class, I don't know. But it's a shame. Single tear.
Anyway, all I've been able to get from their site is the webmaster contact info. Probably doesn't matter. I dont' really have much time to make use of any good contact info. [/B][/QUOTE]
I knew of Warren Spector, but never heard of Harvey Smith until now. Well, you learn something new everyday.