http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/30/5763922/glenn-beck-watch-dogs-hack-ubisoft
So according to this guy, Watchdogs will teach me how to hack stuff. By playing this game it will make me compulsively need to hack every electronic thing I see and could probably do it from my phone.
He also made a point about how violent Call of Duty is and how it teaches people how to kill.
What complete asinine statements.
I just think it's so incredible when people like him get in front of media and start spewing their nonsense. Creating arbitrary conjecture and taking quote for fact. Any idiot with an opinion needs to get in front of a camera. I wouldn't even care if they kept their ignorant ideas to themselves, but what's worse is that they get other, possibly less informed people, to go along with them.
If there is any link from a game like Call of Duty causing crime rates/violence, I think it would be doing pretty well then. Out of all the millions of people who play Call of Duty, maybe a couple nutjobs per year are linked to committing a sort of violence. Then through an understanding of statistics, we should probably say people who play Call of Duty are largely not inclined to violence. It is just so ridiculous and almost sad how people like this allow unfounded conjecture to overcome any sense of logic.
As far as Watch Dogs, nevermind all the people studying computer science at higher degrees of education, if all it takes is a video game to teach you enough technical skill to hack. If anything its probably good that Watch Dogs is exposing "hacking" to the masses by creating a game world around a society of omnipresent digital surveillance. It's making people aware that this could be a potential future if certain policies are followed through. Not that a single vigilante will be hacking you at any moment, but that your information could be widely accessible if governments and corporations allow it to be collected.
The only thing he had close to a valid criticism of Watch Dogs is why it (and according to him most games) are centered around an anti-hero. Well the answer to that lies in our culture and society. People aren't perfect and there is no Superman to be the paragon for all individuals. Likewise, it makes for more colorful story telling and character development in most entertainment.
Anyway, I just wanted to rant about how stupid media is in general. I am off to see if I can become a doctor by playing surgeon simulator.
