Lawmakers attacking the video games industry...AGAIN

[JackBurton]

The lawmakers are at it AGAIN!

Point:

Pediatricians and psychologists have been warning us that violent video games are harmful to children,

Counter Point:

Does it make any rational sense to you that we're going to pass a law someplace that says we're not going to prevent minors from buying `Passion of the Christ' or `Kill Bill' or `Texas Chainsaw Massacre' in a local store but you can't buy `Resident Evil?

Yahoo! news article

 

[Anubis]

argh

 

[skace]

I plan to force my kids to play Resident Evil in the dark before bed time. They will all carry flash lights and shotguns with them by the age of 12.

 

[Atomicus]

Wow.... single-minded parents at it again?

 

[Dedpuhl]

:::scapegoat:::

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Atomicus
Wow.... single-minded parents at it again?

You mean parents, who can't control their children, that blame it on video games?

 

[StageLeft]

Considering that we're all susceptible to our environmental influences, and children especially so, it's entirely reasonable to think that exposure to excessive violence in video games will influence a child's pliable mind. I do think that the law makers are trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill, and there are bigger fish to fry, but to pretend that a 9 year old spending 4 hours/day playing GTA3 isn't somewhat influenced by it is woefully shortsighted.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Considering that we're all susceptible to our environmental influences, and children especially so, it's entirely reasonable to think that exposure to excessive violence in video games will influence a child's pliable mind. I do think that the law makers are trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill, and there are bigger fish to fry, but to pretend that a 9 year old spending 4 hours/day playing GTA3 isn't somewhat influenced by it is woefully shortsighted.

I don't think anyone is arguing that what you describe is bad, but I think the problem is that lawmakers are trying to regulate something in a way that simply hurts everyone, instead of helping.

 

[Mo0o]

Poor parenting, someone should outlaw that

 

[bmacd]

they never caese to amaze me.

-=bmacd=-

 

[SoylentGreen]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Considering that we're all susceptible to our environmental influences, and children especially so, it's entirely reasonable to think that exposure to excessive violence in video games will influence a child's pliable mind. I do think that the law makers are trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill, and there are bigger fish to fry, but to pretend that a 9 year old spending 4 hours/day playing GTA3 isn't somewhat influenced by it is woefully shortsighted.

People were hacking and torturing each other for the last million years. Give me a break.

 

[crazycarl]

wth is the problem, if i want to buy an m rated game i have to show my ID already, so whats the deal?

 

[jjones]

How is the movie industry regulated? Is that government mandated or industry imposed? I thought it was industry imposed, but I could be wrong. It seems game makers and game retailers are taking the same route by labeling games and restricting sale of mature content. If industry is doing it, then there's no need for lawmakers to get involved.

 

[halik]

yay for shifting reponsibility!

in related news, mcdonalds is suing horses, racoons and general roadkill for providing nasty meat for their burgers

 

[Ranger X]

Don't they have something more important to worry about in life than video games? :disgust:

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: Ranger X
Don't they have something more important to worry about in life than video games? :disgust:

The moral police never have anything better to do then interfere in other people's lives.

 

[Red Dawn]

Kids would be better off if they didn't play video games as much as they do (Better fitness and social skills) but that's the responsibility of their parents not the government.

 

[yukichigai]

Depends on how far they take the law. As it is they're trying to exempt games from having First Amendment protections, which is crap. If they honestly believe that video games can't have a message or a story then they haven't ever played Deus Ex. (Man, some of those conversations bordered on Doctoral Thesis-grade stuff. I can see why the masses didn't like it: you had to have an IQ above 120 to understand what was happening)

If they want to make it so you have to buy the M-rated games, not your under-17 kids, fine. Same holds true for R-rated movies, so why not video games? Just don't take it any further.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: jjones
How is the movie industry regulated? Is that government mandated or industry imposed? I thought it was industry imposed, but I could be wrong. It seems game makers and game retailers are taking the same route by labeling games and restricting sale of mature content. If industry is doing it, then there's no need for lawmakers to get involved.

As I understand it, the movie industry regulates itself, with everything from the letter rating system, to enforcing ages at the theater ticket booth. That said, the video game industry is a little more lax about actually enforcing ages(it's something they need to work on), but a lot of these proposed regulations aren't talking about forcing the game industry to adapt a movie-like system; instead it's stuff like banning all FPSs from people under the majority age, requiring violent games to be in an "adults only" section(ala porn), banning any game where you can shoot police officers, etc. That's what the problem is: it's basically unfair and overreaching control of the industry.