There's stupid, and there's stupid. According to the country's biggest newspaper, South Korea's Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation ran a segment that sounds rather "thick". This might not be the dumbest TV news reporting on gaming ever, but it's up there.
MBC did a news story on "game violence", focusing on how violent games can make children, well, violent. To illustrate that point, the program conducted an experiment: in a net cafe, it had the power on all the computers shut off simultaneously. The segment showed how gamers in the cafe began to speak in loud voices and use bad language. Those in the net cafe were paying customers, so of course, they'd be pissed.
Yet, the report pointed out that the reaction was filled with cussing, adding, "They've been transformed into the violent characters they are playing."
The segment caused an uproar when aired, with viewers complaining that anyone would get upset about the power outage, that the show should even pay the net cafe users damage and the the program should apologize. MBC noted that the segment did upset some viewers.
This is a bit like walking up to someone who is reading a newspaper on the train, snatching it out of their hands, ripping it up in little pieces and going, WHY ARE YOU SO ANGRY?
No. This is exactly like that.
中央日報 - ＭＢＣニュース、暴力性を例示する"おかしな実験" [Korea JoongAng Daily] [Pic: Getty]