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Game Makers Could Be Liable For Violent Games
Christopher Reimer writes "KOMO 4 News of Seattle, Washington, is reporting that state law makers are considering a bill that would make video game companies liable for illegal activity that players under 17 are responsible for. From the article: 'Should the people who make and sell "violent video" games be held accountable if someone commits a crime because of playing them?'"
Lets blame anyone and everyone but the kid and his parents... After all, why should the parents have any involvement in what their kids are doing? Blame it on those damn games!
Give me a break, just more stupid laws.
- AMW
This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.
Sweet! I'm going to Washington.
"What?? I only stole cars because I play [insert video game here]."
Too bad I'm not 17 anymore....
What happened to personal responsibility? Also, how do you determine if kids were going to break the law whether or not they played the video game? It's just ridiculous.
Try eMusic. DRM free, legal, MP3 downloads.
If they clearly label a game "Mature" and some fool sells it to a kid. The one responsible should be the seller, because the company clearly made the game for an audience that was old enough to understand the implications of doing such things in real-life. Same thing can be said for kids who sneak into R-rated movies. Or kids that smoke underage, or drink, or get porn. Would you seek penalties against the movie production/tobacco/alcohol/porn company that made the material in those cases? No!
The problem here is that there is no strict enforcement on the game maturatiy rating system, not with the developers for making mature and violent games.
Hero of Allacrost, a FOSS RPG for *NIX/*BSD/OS X/Win
From the article: 'Should the people who make and sell "violent video" games be held accountable if someone commits a crime because of playing them?'
k for the last time - no one commits a crime because of playing a video game. no one. not anywhere, ever, under any circumstances. if you commit a crime after playing a video game, you were going to commit a crime anyway. i've played a LOT of very, very violent video games and never once have i ever even considered reproducing the game in real life. if you do, you have issues beyond any video game or television program...
its basic psychology. you are either inclined to commit crime or you're not, and if you are, its usually because you were psychologically damaged as a child.
lets do something about parents who abuse their kids and raise murderers instead of trying to create a law that criminalizes a harmless video game.
law makers are considering a bill that would make video game companies liable for illegal activity that players under 17
What happened to the parents??? I have a 4 year old, and I am involved in everything he does. I plan on that staying like that til he's 18~25 or whenever. I need to protect him from propaganda like this crap. (and, not the games, the lawmakers).
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
Can video game companies be held liable for marketing their M-rated games to kids?
If only there was a "-5 Preaching to the Goddamn Choir" mod. Why do you people all get so angry on slashdot, for god's sake? Do you all just like validation that much?
This has gotten out of hand , the scape goating and Buck passing mentality of these people is truely juvinile . ...). . ,Run around shooting each other and playing dead ,they have played these types of games in the plagrounds for years and will continue to , and these games simulat just as violent situations , yet we view them as more holesome.
First off , if you want to blame anyone for your children commiting crime , i would take a long hard look at yourself.
Sure they may immitate a game , but if it had not of been the game it would of been a movie , a cartoon or even a book.
I have played games like Grand theft auto , Counter strike, Manhunt , Eternal darkness and DOOM , I dont worship satan , i have a clean criminal record and have no urges to go out and car jack someone , paint Pentegrams on my forehead or blow people to bits(although if i had a rocket launcher and a clean sight at the RIAA offices
Infact non of my freinds have , Im well beyond that age range now , but even when i was 12 or so , i used to play games that were just as violent , they were fun and still are
Children still play cops and robbers , or cowboys and indians
nothing new here , just some politians trying to ride there way to greater office on the back of a whitch hunt
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Basic psychology would also suggest that violent video games can prevent violent crimes, by giving kids an outlet for their aggression and anger.
I think you were asleep when that lecture came up. Psychological researcher Albert Bandura found out in his studies of aggression in children that catharsis (getting a feeling of relaxation after an act of violence) doesn't work.
Say when you feel angry at something, you decide to punch a pillow. When you get more angry, you hit the pillow harder. But eventually, you build up a tolerance and you need to do more to get the same effect (kind of like being on drugs). Eventually you get from punching a pillow to stabbing it. Bandura (and other psychologists) hypothesize that some people (in particular, very young children) might move from imitating that behavior in a video game to imitating that behavior at play, and then in real life. (See his "Bobo Doll" Study).
Now the difference between children and (most) adults is that adults have learned somewhere along the line that committing violent acts does not a)have a big reward at the end of it, and b)there is a consequence to committing those violent acts.
While I might agree with you that violent video games do not cause adults (without a previous history of violence) to act violently, I don't think I can say the same about children. And I definately disagree with you that "basic psychology" says that violent video games reduces violent urges.
"What do you think?" "I think 'What, do you think?!'"
Why not blame the 2nd Amendment, after all it has served it's purpose, USA have a large army, they don't need most citizens to be able to own guns.
Here in Australia, you need to be a member of a gun club, or require a gun for work to own a gun, you must keep the gun in a safe, and can only carry it in public going to or from a club meeting (or at work, if it is for work). Not only that but you cannot own semi's or autos, etc etc. we dont have large amounts of shooting murders like you do in the states.
Weapon