Violent games on the OLPC Activities page

[Ian Daniher]

Bryan,
Having dealt with people suffering from PTSD and the like, I agree that Doom
should not be on the Activities page. No matter how much one can argue the
whole aspect of "Free as in Free Speech," Doom obviously does not fall in
with OLPC's missions. I am in agreement that Doom should be removed from the
Activities page, but not removed from the OLPC wiki. To someone with an
exposure to violence, violent video games, no matter how unrealistic, can
either be therapeutic or traumatic.
Just my .02usd,
-- 
Ian Daniher
it.daniher at gmail.com
Skype : it.daniher
irc.freenode.com: DyDisMe


On Jan 17, 2008 10:46 AM, Bryan Berry <bryan.berry at gmail.com> wrote:

> I feel very strongly that violent games should not be associated with
> OLPC. Albert Cahalan points out that games like Doom can teach geometry
> and other skills. There are ways to teach those skills w/out involving
> violence. I work in Nepal, a country recovering from an 11-year civil
> war. Exposure to more violence, real or virtual, is the last thing most
> Nepali communities want.
>
> I removed the Doom activity from the Activities page yesterday and put a
> note on the page asking people not to post violent activities to the
> page.  Doom was added back shortly thereafter and my note was removed.
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activities
>
> People can host such games on their own sites but they should not be
> hosted by OLPC.
>
> We can debate forever whether violent games cause violence. The fact is
> many those people (esp. outside the US) whose support we need for OLPC,
> think that violent games are damaging to kids. We need to respect that
> sentiment.
>
> Is there an existing wiki policy regarding violent activities? If there
> isn't, there should be.
>
>
> --
> Bryan W. Berry
> OLE Nepal, http://www.olenepal.org
>
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>
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