Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for September 22, 2010

I get the joke - I appreciate the humour (and find it funny)… but as a gamer (who is generally happy and well adjusted) I can assure you that most of us play for fun… not to escape a negative world. I know, I’m trying to inject reality into a humourous strip - just like all the angst about antibiotics and viruses yesterday - but, instead of an intelligent argument all I’ve got to say is… nyer!! :^P

perhaps it is a poke at the violent games being played by the gamers. that is why the industry collapsed.

As a non gamer, I see this as a good thing. Difference of opinion, but I like to spend more time in the real world.

Meh. I bid them “good riddance”! Carry on, Ekert!

Niceness in the real world goes against nature…just wait ‘till you get hungry and you have to kill it first.

This stokes my imagination. What a kick to think of all the negativity in the world that Ekert might absorb. Of course, as noted above, what seems negative to me, might be a positive for someone else. If I had Ekert around, I would invite him to a committee meeting that I facilitate. One of the members has nothing good to say about anything. I would surely love to turn her energy around.

a la Doom or Smokin Guns. ah. iḿ gonna miss that sawed off double-barrel and the 6-shot pump shotguns. the 45 calibre Sharps Express breech-loader rifle (one shot, one kill) wasnt bad either.

There are no non-violent games out there, non-violent things are serious and a bit boring, that’s the problem.

Not all non violent things are serious and boring! take this strip for example :-)

I play Grand Theft Auto, and have only once thought of carjacking someone because it was 3am, and I was a 2 hour bus ride from work. :D

I play World of Warcraft, and I’m a well-adjusted woman. :D

I just like the non-reality aspect of it. It’s fun!

Yeah, Sim City is one of the very few fun, non-violent games out there, and even that lets you rip things up with lightning bolts and tornadoes.

But seriously… Tetris will never replace Warcraft unless the Ekert turns all testosterone into estrogen.

Some non violent games make some people get violent. I leave when the language degrades.

As a gamer, I also think today’s strip is funny but many people play games for other reasons than wanting to be mean to someone. I for one like the challenge of out thinking the opponent. Does this mean the chess and checkers industry are next?

Struck a nerve, eh Wiley? I am a total fan, have been for years and years, keep up the great humor.

I can’t wait for real games in cyberspace. In cyberpunk sci-fi the user actually enters the net. But, in some scenarios the user’s brain gets toasted by negative feedback apps.

baslimthebegger - I remember the schmoos! I think there’s even a book collection of those strips!

Re: computer games - Grand Theft Auto has the best jazz station hosted by Roy Haynes!!

Ok Ekert, the games are gone, now how about going after people who have those boom-boxes in their cars with the bass and the volume turned all the way up so you can hear/feel them coming from a mile away! Annoying!

I still blame PONG for mankind’s demise…

I’m not sure the Eckert would have much effect on the computer game industry. I don’t play ‘em myself (I kinda lost interest in computer games back in the ’70s, when we were stealing time on the company mainframe to play the first generation of text-adventure games), but it seems to me that despite the reputation, most games–even the “violent” ones–spend more time in support activities than in actual carnage. I watched a friend’s son while away an evening on something called “Fallout,” and a good ninety percent of the time he was just driving his character into an abandoned mall, picking up some convenient piece of stuff, and carrying it out to trade with some other character. In other words, he was… shopping! And they say there’s nothing for girls in these games… (duck and cover…)

I saw this more as a jab against the trash-talkers and griefers out there than against well adjusted gamers.

Jelindley said: “As a non gamer, I see this as a good thing. Difference of opinion, but I like to spend more time in the real world.”

Remembering the world before games, I think it’s a benefit to society that certain people choose to lock themselves in rooms instead of joining the rest of us.

@Baslim The Beggar: Thanks. I had forgotten all about the Shmoos. I wonder if they were Wiley’s inspiration for the Eckert.

this is great, Wiley - almost science fictional in the exploration of the “what ifs” that Ekert would cause. can’t wait to see where it goes next. Bravo

Wait til the NFL and NHL start to fail…

…since we’re on the subject, the world WOULD be a happier place, huh? http://blog.givemore.com/be-more-amazed-complain-less/ (Check out the video…we oldER persons will remember a bit of it…)

I would rather spent my time in that special world of cartooning. It’s more enjoyable and productive. Humor is the best medicine.

What would happen to the porn industry?

I resent the idea that Industry is made up of adolescent gamers. They play nice on Wall Street.. Just pick the winning side.

My wife spends hours playing solitaire on the computer. The computer has REDUCED the violence of this game– no more paper cuts from using REAL cards!!!

Do the “physically interactive” games improve muscle tone while pulling people even FURTHER out of reality??

It is too bad that we cannot have an ekert riding every school bus and on every playground in the world. That is where we really need niceness. Bullying has been around for a long time. I was bullied as a kid and came home almost every day with a bloody nose. The bullying stopped when I started winning all of my fights. Today I would have been kicked off the schoolbus and forced to walk the 8 miles to/from school. (It WAS all uphill both ways too).

SimCity may not be violent but it sure it’s sadistic. you can destroy building leaving sims homeless or unemployeed. start natural disasters, including dropping a meteor. heck, the whole selling point of the game is to be a God.

runninanreadin - I’ve seen that video and love it! However, it reminds me that the #$!%@* movers stole my vintage 1940’s rotary phone! I miss it! It worked perfectly fine and was clear as a bell…C’est la vie! I “talk” on the computer now so “can’t complain.” (It IS amazing!)

I fear they’ll take my favorite TV programs off the air next, like The Simpsons and Family Guy.

@ RichardSRussell : have the book in my den. Such a bittersweet ending. That bullfight scene was a PETAist’s dream.

The NRA probably wouldn’t like ekert. Oh, I know, it’s just for hunting.

I look at “violent” games as more of a release than an escape. After spending 12 hours dealing with corporate sludge , I’d much rather plug in and rip their spines out than plant magical strawberry plants that emit rainbows for neon bunnies to ride on.

Not that I’d actually rip anyone’s spine out. Just sayin’.

I spend way too much time on the computer doing interesting things to bother with games. I post on FB but often have to tell my friends not to invite me to their games (all hidden on my page). As I’ve said before, we need a whole herd of Ekerts.

Oh my Halo what will happen next ??

@ Silberman: I wasn’t aware that corporate sludge had spines. I guess that they need those huge bonuses to get them implanted…

It’s not that the gaming industry would collapse–it’s just that the Sims would be about growing gardens, Grand Theft Auto by a game to ride bicycles to the store for milk and cookies, and so on.

Ah, the good old stereotypes about violent video games. Apparently non-violent video games are an oxymoron - according to the media anyway.

I can only speak for my little part of the world… but my ex said the same thing as Siberman… “I’m just taking out my aggressions in the game.” But I can guarantee you that for hours after he’d played an FPS, he was a total testosteroney ass. WoW or D&D Online didn’t have any affect on him.

So, I can believe the ill effects that violent games can have on behavior. (says the gal with a rogue for an avatar). :)

“How about a nice game of Global Thermonuclear War?”

Touche, Reynard. I believe they (execs) use the bones of those whom they have crushed on their rise to the top as implants.

There are LOTS of non-violent games out there: Animal Crossing World of Goo The Adventures of P.B. Winterbottom Samorost 2 Bejeweled Bookworm Fantastic Contraption The Professor Layton series Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent The Ace Attorney series Picross Polarium Electroplankton

… and I shouldn’t have to go on and on and on. The idea that games are solely driven by violence and negativity is complete and utter bullshit!

Oh, and for those that don’t know, so called “casual gamers” playing Bejewelled, Farmville, Bookworm, Solitare etc. Often log more hours playing than “hardcore gamers” playing Halo. The casual game market is huge. Games are about play, not about violence.