Video Games Vs. Politics.

[B_part]

Before video games it was heavy metal, TV or horror movies. After video games it will be something else, don't worry: people do a whole lot of stupid generalizing. I don't believe a video game or any other form of entertainment can push a normal ADULT to do anything he wouldn't do anyway.
That is because reality and virtual world are clearly separated.

Yet we are talking about kids. Kids believe in Santa Claus, in fairies and gnomes. That's also true for anybody playing D&D based RPGs, but that's another matter . A kid cannot always clearly draw a line between what's real and what's virtual, and can be prompted to emulate something he saw in a movie, on TV, or in a video game. This is true, unless there is someone there to explain him where that line is. And someone should be there.

That's the reason why I believe that video games, just like movies, must be rated. ERSB is a right thing: it allows the parent to understand what will be in the game he's about to buy for his son/daughter.

But making a law to disallow resellers to sell video games to kids is just plain stupid: a video game isn't a beer. To play Doom III or GTA 3 you need a computer, and you must do it at home. It's up to me, parent, to see that my son doesn't play something he shouldn't, just like it's my duty to scrutiny what is going on on TV when my son/daughter is in the room.
Besides, CD writers come cheap, big brothers can buy video games, and no CD cracks can be found easily... about 10 minutes is all what it takes to tackle the no-game-selling law.

[Zero Alpha]

Originally posted by cloud ff7 38: The government is trying to pass a law stating that the sale of game to minors is illgal. They believe if that kid dosent get that copy of GTA 3 the streets are safer. Instead of checking his ID maybe his IQ should be checked. "Im sorry son but your pretty much a dumass, so i cant sell you this." The world would probably be better off this way.

are you saying you dont already have laws regulating what kids can buy? [img]graemlins/saywhat.gif[/img] . over here (england) what people can buy is restricted buy the same laws as films, so if a game gets an 18 sticker it is only legaly allowed to be sold to people over that age. sure kids will find a way to circumvent it, but i think anything that can be done to stop kids buying games that are much to violent for them should be.
of course, ive been playing viloent games for a long time now and it never effected me. unfortunaly not all people are the same, so i still think people under a cirtain age shouldnt get the ultra-violence. would you want a 5 year old playing GTA3? or what about Soldier of Fortune II. (it has 32 different gore zones )?

(edit, my retarded computer decided to post before i typed anything [img]graemlins/saywhat.gif[/img] )

[ 10-21-2003, 03:16 PM: Message edited by: Zero Alpha ]

The US Government are a dumb bunch. Up here in Canada, our government blames insanity unless the dude acts EXACTLY like a game character. If ANY politicians are listening (including Joe "Baldling" Lieberman) leave the video games industry alone!

[Nanobyte]

I posted this a while back. You can use that article in your report, and get a few extra opinions from those who replied to it.

[WillowIX]

Originally posted by Pikachu_PM: A nine year old kid has no business playing GTA 3. More to the point, studies at Harvard and other universities have shown that children exposed to violence, both in video games and television, are much more likely to become desensitized to the violence---and be much more prone to commit violent acts themselves.

There are also as many studies that show violent computer games have NO effect on persons. Those studies are most often forgotten though since they aren't very popular. It all depends on who plays what. Some can play the most gory game in the universe and still think it's just a fun/boring game whereas others are influenced by the game.

Anyway I, as always, agree with Bungleau. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Beoulve]

You know what sucks?

I've been working at a video game store for about two weeks now, right? Well, while we can't sell video games to minors (store policy), we can't NOT sell a game to a parent with kids that are minors. So when a pre-teen tells his dad, "Buy me that game!" as he's pointing to, say, The Getaway, and the dad goes and buys it, well... he is elligible to have the game and we HAVE to do the transaction.

[Firestormalpha]

M rating = no sale to minors without parental consent from parent present at time of purchase.

That's kinda actually how I got my copy of Diablo 2. My mom was with me and got the game for me.

[Aelia Jusa]

Originally posted by WillowIX: There are also as many studies that show violent computer games have NO effect on persons. Those studies are most often forgotten though since they aren't very popular.

Yep. Also studies that find relationships are more likely to get published than studies that don't. Null results aren't that interesting (although in some cases they should be). There's also the issue of causality - showing that there's a relationship doesn't necessarily mean that two things are causily related. It seems just as plausible (or more so) to think that people who are predisposed to violence or antisocial behaviour enjoy video games that let them experience those things vicariously rather than them having no predisposition towards these things and being influenced by the games themselves. Further, the number of false positives and false negatives really make any such relationship pretty useless as a predictor of antisocial behaviour - lots of people who play violent video games of course do not behave badly, and many people who are violent don't play video games.

[dplax]

Why should diablo2 be rated anything?

[Chewbacca]

I work for a video game retailer, we don't sell rated "M" titles to anyone under the age of 17 unless a parent is present. The company I work for didn't need a law to make this decision. It was done voluntarily because it is what many parents prefer. If a parent decides that GTA vice city is appropriate for their 5-16 year old, that is their choice, not mine, not my employers, and not the governments.

This is all I have for politicians sticking their noses in the private business of people:
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