Slashdot Mirror
Banning Violent Arcade Games Unconstitutional
zTTTz writes "The US District court ruled that it was not
only unconstitutional to ban
violent video games from public arcades, but also ruled that the city of Indianapolis pay $318,000 in legal fees to the video game industry. This will probably make other cities think twice about trying to censor video game content again." Update 17:45 GMT by J : We covered the Indianapolis story previously in
July 2000,
October 2000, and
March 2001.
Check out
NCAC's open letter,
too. We haven't bothered covering the
recurring
news of
declining real-world violence
(while video games just get more gruesome and explicit), mostly because it's the same story over and over.
I was watching Shock Video on HBO the other night, and it's odd what they'll show and what they won't - erect penises are taboo, but you can show lesbians sucking on each others nipples and close ups of female genitalia. And, as always, the disparity between how much violence is okay and how much sex is.
This is currently taking place in Norway too .. where someone in the government is trying to get a full ban on Grand Theft Auto 3. This has led to every store in Norway being sold out of GTA3, which probably is more than rockstar games ever hoped for :-)
mats
One man's ceiling is another man's floor.
Here in Seattle, Gameworks had a nice solution to the problem of violent video games:
When they brought in Silent Scope (very bloody sniper game), they put it in the bar. Since no minors could go in that area anyway, problem solved.
No legal mess, no fuss.
Europe's completely the opposite. They love sex(nude beaches, porn more accessible), but they cringe at blood.
Got Freedom?
Thinking?
NO! If you don't like it, DON'T move. We are NOT "obligated by that to endure any punishments the leaders we have elected decide to bring down upon us". The parent is a foreigner here under visa, so he has rather less rights, but you don't change things by running from them. He has the right, some would even say the DUTY, to challenge unjust laws. Now, for the time being, the way to work is within the system, armed resistance is a last resort and, imo, not justified by the DMCA, but, in the end, it's your decision to make.
The Old Testament has a lot of Pissed Off God moments, where mass murder, the killing of infants, and stoning people to death is all Good and Holy. Violence can be used to accomplish Good things, such as victory over Hitler in WWII. Sexual perversion has never accomplished anything good. Regardless, I say rate arcade games like movies, and check their ID at the door.
Offtopic: Censorship Christians, you must remember a few things about the Good book. In it, God specifically ordered his followers to "take" virgins from conquered nations after killing everyone else (Numbers 31). He laid down guidelines about owning slaves (Leviticus), when it's OK to beat them (Leviticus), killed the firstborn of an entire nation (duh), and advised parents to beat their children like slaves (Proverbs). Were censorship truly blind and even, the Bible would be the first book out of the library. So, uh, be careful what you legislate for.
That's insane. Hey your not a citizen. We can take away everything you own, beat you as we please, maybe even kill you. Hey, he's not a citizen... Doesn't count.
Every person in the U.S. should be treated as if they were a citizen. They break the law, they are punished by the law. They follow the law, leave them alone. They disagree with law, let them stand against it.
God Moving Over the Face of Waters
minors (who are not, and shouldn't be, granted full Constitutional protections) Care to elaborate on this? What rights don't i deserve to have, simply because i'm younger? I'll agree with the voting age (of course, i can name plenty of adults who don't know enough to make an intelligent choice in an election, but that's beside the point.), but what else don't i deserve, and why not?
"Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
but we currently live with a system that is designed to protect our liberties.
That statement is fallacious. We live in a system that is designed to limit liberty.
Do some research. Start at http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/