Xbox One's creepy advert is bad for us all!

Chris Rock once did a comedy skit about how he loved rap music but was tired of defending it. At the beginning of the routine he stated the thoughts of many: “that’s not music, that’s not art, that’s garbage. Why are you listening to garbage? How can you listen to that trash?”

I think every gamer knows that feeling. We’ve all been forced to defend ourselves as gamers from those who mistakenly believe gaming is a lesser form of entertainment and sometimes from those who believe that gaming is actually dangerous. It’s a difficult task and sometimes those who make the games don’t make our lives easy!

I felt this same way when I saw this advertisement for the Xbox One:

Guys, come on! Do we really want people thinking we want the violence to be real? Isn’t that a stereotype that we are firmly against?

Now I know that many people will think that I am being oversensitive, and maybe you are right, but to me this represents us badly. Let’s look at the timeline of events

• Before the video begins Hank is playing a game (he looks like a Hank to me).
• Hank goes to the bathroom.
• Whilst washing his hands (good boy, Hank) he experiences some form of hallucination where the wounds inflicted on his in-game-character appear on his flesh.
• After several hallucinations, Hank returns to his game looking more determined than ever.
• Whilst playing the game he experiences further injuries.
• Hank does not stop playing!

There is an implicit suggestion that Hank is playing is because he wants this experience, he wants the violence to be real. I know this because if Hank wasn’t excited, he would probably have done something other than return to the game!

As gamers we must be aware of how we are portrayed precisely because so many people are misled into having such negative opinions about us and our community. Unfortunately computer games are an easy scapegoat and adverts like this which imply a connection between virtual and actual violence do nothing to help our reputation.

Yes, we like shiny graphics, yes, we like well-engineered combat and yes, our lizard-brains still enjoy a good romp with a virtual sword, stick or gun. But we absolutely do not want to be wounded whilst playing video games.

I was genuinely annoyed when I saw this commercial because I could not figure out who made it and for whom. It certainly wasn’t made by a gamer as they would have immediately pointed out the fact that we really don’t want to be associated with real, harmful violence. Presumably it was the brainchild of some marketing geeks, and this is their opinion of us! Masochists who want to feel the pain from their games!

How the hell I am I supposed to defend my hobby when this is the image that people are being presented?