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Congress To Consider Age Limits On Violent Games
labrat1123 writes "It looks like Congress is getting ready to revisit the 'Protect Children from Video Game Sex and Violence Act.' Cliff Notes version: It would become a federal crime to sell or rent a violent video game to anyone under 18. Entire article available on CNN." Note that this is not a law; it's a bill being readied for reintroduction after its original version was killed last session.
"It would become a federal crime to sell or rent a violent video game to anyone under 18."
What about giving the games away for free? What about violent freeware games?
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
I'm sorry, but children are NOT full blown citizens with all the rights thereof. Even if there is absolutely no research supporting it, parents have a right to raise their children as they see fit by not letting them play video games (or watch a movie, or anything else for that matter).
I've been saying for years that children shouldn't be allowed to buy videogames (or movies or books of anysort) without parental consent. If you want your kid to have access to such things, get them a library card, get them a membership at Blockbuster, or perhaps even have an active role in your childs life by buying it for them.
Granted, in the US it's absolutely 100% impossible to control ALL aspects of your kids life and I would never suggest trying that, but perhaps anything that encourages involvement is a good thing.
Burn Hollywood Burn
This isn't censorship. This is just a restriction against selling these games to minors. A key point is that a parent can still buy the game for the minor if they think their kid "can handle it." Shouldn't the parents be responsible for this? Isn't this what we wanted?
I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants
I know a lot of people are going to get all up in arms about this, but personally I think it's a good thing. Having a good ratings system in place for games will help get angry parents off the gaming industries' back.
The truth is, games these days should be rated. I don't think an 11 year old kid should be able to walk into a store and buy GTA: Vice City. Games never really needed to be rated before because they were never really violent before. With a few exceptions, the rise of real violence in games is only about five years old.
The same thing happened with movies. Before the sixties movies didn't have ratings. They weren't needed because before that, it would have been almost unheard of to put graphic violence or sex in a movie. But then filmmakers wanted more mature content in movies, and a ratings system was introduced.
Games are at that point now. Some kind of enforced ratings system is needed, I think.
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These aren't the droids you're looking for.
I remember trying to purchase Mortal Kombat II back in the day at Walmart. They wouldn't sell it to me unless I was 17. That was the last game I bought at Walmart. Now I buy everything at radio shack and they don't card. (Except to get your home address. heh)
Beep. Boop. Beep. You have questions. I have answers and your home address.
from the article:
"Baca's office told me the new bill is being modeled on a St. Louis ordinance that makes it illegal to sell or rent a violent video game to a minor without a parent/guardian's consent."
Which means that if I think my 10 year old (well, he's only 6 now, but that's not the point) can handle a "mature" game, I can give him permission to get it. This is far from an outright ban, and more palatable in my eyes (the eyes of someone with kids of his own).
Also, there was mention made of having to hire adults to work the registers, under the theory that they'll be more responsible, and less likely to rent / sell "mature" games to minors. I made a leap of logic and figured that maybe minors would be forbidden by this law to work that kind of position. If this were to happen, it could cause problems for all kinds of businesses - how many grown-ups are going to want to earn the wages of a register jockey? This could leave nobody manning the tills, and a LOT of places folding up shop.
Lastly... Postal 2 is going to be a first person shooter?!? Check out that screen shot - wielding a can of gas while the store you're in burns! That game's gonna rock! }:^D
Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
While the congress is hardly at work, they should also consider age limits on purchasing Fast Food. It would be inline with the current trend of suing food vendors and blaming them for their child's "weight problems", which supposedly kills alot more people over time.
Where does a video game fit in with this crowd, while ignoring music and food? IANAL, but federal law doesn't seem to address any of the other items in my list (except sex).
The next installment of Mortal Combat needs a Saddam character, so we can all do our part in the war on terrorism.
Congresscritters, please protect me from myself, for I know not what I do
I have been tossing around ideas for how to maintain a global liberal republic because of a story I've been toying around with. The problem is, how do you hold elected leaders at such a high position of power accountable to ordinary people. My solution is a bottom->up republic where the local governments can force issues on the states which can force it on the nation. You have say..... 20 counties that each are petitioned by a certain number of their residents. That forces them to call on the state assembly with a mandate to consider a resolution in favor of the petitions. Extrapolate that accross the entire country. If a sufficent number of states pass the resolution then Congress must immediately drop all debate and debate the action demanded by the states. Depending on the situation say, if the issue is corruption then it would go to the President with a mandate to order an investigation. It would be non-negotiable, he would be required to order a full investigation and carry out legal action demanded by the states in order to preserve the integrity of the federal system. If the President refused, the states could bypass Congress and issue a "vote of no confidence" in the President or as appropriate in the entire Congress. In such a case you would have to get permission from your state assembly to run in the new election. That way in the event of mass-corruption, the few good leaders could be easily put back into power... and it would give the people the opportunity to elect an even better leader if say they grew tired of his/her lack of principles on key issues.
Click here or a puppy gets stomped!
As others have said, there is already a rating system on video games. The real issue here is criminalizing the sale of "M" rated games to the under-18 set.
R rated movies are supposed to forbid access to those 17 and under without adult (read, 18+) supervision. When is the last time you saw the police show up at a movie theater and arrest the 16 year old ticket seller for selling tickets to the latest R-rated action flick to his under-18 friends?
Ratings, yes. It helps people be more informed. Criminalization of "ratings violations", no? How many more non-violent offenders does the US need in its jails?
OMFG, I'm so sick and tired of hearing how the rich don't pay enough (I'm not rich yet, but I'm working on it :-)
Go over to the IRS website (irs.gov), find the link to the newsrooms, then facts and figures, and read up on the IRS's own data.
In summary, the highest 1% of income earners earn about 17% of the wealth. They pay about 39% of the total income taxes collected. The top 50% of income earners pay 96% of the income tax collected!! How much is "enough"? Good grief already.
What people like you really want isn't so much an income tax as a wealth tax. Huge bloody difference.
Government IS the problem.