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Crackdown on M-Rated Videogames?
Inigima writes "According to this article at the dying GameCenter, the IDSA is preparing to make a proposal to Congress about the marketing of games rated "M" by the ESRB. According to Gamecenter's analysis, not only would this neuter the game marketing industry, but might even prevent games like Quake and Half-Life from being produced."
When I was 16 or so, I was playing Lazer Tag in the street in front of a friend's house. There were 3 of us. Two had the pistols (black, with red blinkenlights) and one had the Lazer Tag rifle (big and white, like a refrigerator, with red blinkenlights).
We were playing at night. Someone in the neighborhood called the cops; we were told later that they had called in "man with a gun prowling around." Maybe they made that call knowing we had toy guns, because they just wanted us to go away. I'll never know.
Anyway, the cops show up. I almost got killed. Literally. I was hiding behind a parked car. I hear a car driving up the street, and I think, "when it passes by, I will pop out and gun for my friend who I know is hiding across the street." Well, when I popped out I saw it was a POLICE car, passenger door open, driving slowly, deputy with a shotgun walking along with the car, using it for cover.
He saw me pop up and pointed his shotgun at me. He must have been a cool customer because I did not get blown away. At than range (a couple of yards), the shotgun would have really made a mess of me.
Anyway, I relate this tale of teenage misadventure to make the following points.
1. It's too bad we live in a society where it just isn't safe to play with toy guns outside.
2. To *some* extent at least it doesn't matter what your toy gun looks like. The cops still showed up for Lazer Tag. Because lighting was good where I was, the cop who aimed at me was able to make the right decision about my threat level. If it was darker it wouldn't have mattered what the toy gun looked like. I probably would have been shot based on my posture and the vaguely gun-shaped thing in my hand.
If the LT pistol had looked like a real gun, I probably WOULD be dead. I still don't support laws that outlaw toy guns, or force restrictions on them. I am a fairly libertarian kind of person.
I see a Jon Katz article in the making out of this. :) Wait a week, let's see.
The benefits of such a system would include freeing parents, who these days both have to work to support the family, removal of the financial burden of children (The tax increase to support this should cost less since you're doing it in bulk) and the children will be raised in an environment that's much less likely to be physically or sexually abusive.
All in all I think it'd be a good idea.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
It's always nice when *facts* humiliate the long-winded rants of Jon Katz.
Since Bush won, all we've heard from him is "Evil Bush! He will only let you read books on baseball!! He's evil I tell you!"
All of this was speculation, since Bush's record on any type of censorship is virtually non-existant. (That's good!)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Joe Lieberman's *record* indicates a strong eagerness to censor based on "protecting the children." (Games, TV, movies, magazines...)
Now, you may not like Bush, but let's be honest: when put side-by-side with Joe Lieberman, he's our *friend!*
Add that to the fact that John Ashcroft is a die-hard privacy proponent, and arch-nemesis of Carnivore, etc.... hey, things are pretty good.
GenChalupa
What about freedom of choice?. Is the government the one who should say what is correct and what is not regarding computer games?. Is their responsibility?. I think not. Are people that stupid that they cannot choose or tell their children what they can buy and what they cannot?. Isn't the rating enough? One more time, the responsibility is placed where it shouldn't be.
Does the games industry want to be tarred with the same reputation as the cigarette industry? They will get it if they continue saying that they have to market violent QIII type games at children, right or wrong (rightly, in my view).
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
I think of little else but you.
I recall going to purchase Unreal Tournament, a game with fanciful violence but a ton of blood just the same. Some kids simply took the game up to the cash register and bought it (the employee completely ignoring the M (17+) rating). When there was a parent involved, they simply plopped down their credit card at the cash register.
I even pointed out that the game had a good deal of blood and violence to one parent, who was buying it for a kid who looked around 10. "There's blood in this game?" she said. They don't show blood on the front of the box. I pointed out the M rating that was clearly stamped on the front. "Oh. I didn't even know what that meant".
More education has to be given to parents and even kids that M rated games should only be viewed by adults. Hell, can you imagine if 10-year olds across the nation were all watching Hannibal without their parents knowing its contents? Nightmare city.
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Carmack is an elitist, pseudonerd bastard.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Kids without proper parental support and guidance kill kids, and since its not politically correct to teach morals to kids in school nowadays, the only people to teach kids right from wrong is their parents. Parents who drop the ball, or just "dont have time" to talk to their kids about this stuff are fucking it up for the rest of us... or maybe the parents dont know because they were not taught this stuff when they were kids (not too long ago).
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
Look, I played Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, etc starting when I was 13. The games have had no effect on me. I am scared to death of guns. If I ever see one in real life, I will not even be able to pick it up.
There will always be people in the world who are weakminded enough to try to solve their problems with violence. This has very little to do with video games, movies, or television. Do you think that people somehow get confused about the danger of guns when they kill someone in a video game? No, they don't. Do you think they get desensitized? Not in real life. Yes, I am less sensitive to video game and movie violence, profanity, and sex than I used to be. That, however, has nothing to do with real life. I am very much opposed to violence in real life. I am not a proponent of using profanity in public, especially in the presence of children. I am opposed to having a society that is too sexual.
So, you tell me what has happened to me as a result of playing video games.
No matter what you do, there will always be seedy people who seek violence or graphic pornography or whatever else. Please don't take things away from me because you are looking for something to point your finger at. Perhaps you should point to the fact that there are no restrictions on procreation. We have some of the worst members of our society producing offspring. They grow up with alcoholic, violent parents. Often, they grow up with one parent and grow enraged at a parent who abused or left them. Perhaps we should look at why our society does not frown upon things like adultery and divorce.
If they're looking to keep dangerous content away from minors, they have plenty of other targets before they get to video games. For example:
If someone reads "Happy shall he be, he who taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones" (Deuteronomy) and bashes their babies into rocks, they're considered crazy. If someone who plays Doom and listens to Metal shoots up their high school, it's the entertainment industry's fault.
If you want to talk about protecting your children, you put an NC-17 rating on the Bible and prevent children from buying it or you're going to shut up.
If you want to talk about protecting your children, you put an NC-17 rating on the Bible and prevent children from buying it or you're going to shut up.
Damn right. More people have been killed and tortured in the name of Organized Religion than any other cause. And the Bible is filled with very negative messages; anti-gay, anti-female, anti-other religion, etc. Quake, Doom, Unreal, etc. show a little blood and guts, while the Bible tells you that everyone unlike you is evil and should be punished. Hmmm....