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Illinois Senate OKs Violent Games Bill
The Illinois senate has approved the violent games bill proposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The bill was also passed by the House, but the Senate stripped the possibility of jail time out of the wording before approving it. The House must now reconsider the bill before it can be passed into law. From the article: "The sponsor, Sen. Deanna Demuzio, denied the measure would interfere with free speech rights.'Video games are not art or media,' she said. 'They are simulations, not all that different from the simulations used by the U.S. military in preparation for war.' Apparently I have been misinformed as to what exactly I've been doing for the last twenty-odd years. Thank you, Illinois Senate, for correcting my error.
That's funny. My sister has classes in art school to make 3D Art for Video Games.
I'm sure she would be surprised to learn that she is getting a "simulation" degree and not an Art degree.
Why can't our legislators deal with real problems, you know like our economy and the environment. Oh yeah, because this makes for an easy deamon.
They are simulations, not all that different from the simulations used by the U.S. military in preparation for war.
We couldn't find the weapons of mass destruction because of bad war simulations. The Marines have been training by playing Lemmings!
How can they say that it's not art? What about pen and paper, then? It has it's roots in war simulations from way back when video wasn't feasable. Are books about war simulations, since they recreate the war as a visual image in our heads? The question I want answered now is what should and shouldn't be considered art, if practically everything can be considered a simulation by someone's standards?
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
The ESRB already has a rating system. Games too sexually explicit are rated 'A' and many retailers don't carry them.
I guess that doesn't cover violence though.
"Video games are not art or media," she said. "They are simulations, not all that different from the simulations used by the U.S. military in preparation for war."
,Compare the number of violent crimes related to computer games with those related to people taking bits from the bible a bit too literaly .
They are art and media , Some games atleast are comparable to works of literature other are stylistic master works.
Yet i doubt the lady would have any problem with kid reading great works of literature, religious books or historical documents , Alot of which have explicit violance which is far in excess of that of games.
These games do not turn people into violent sociopaths anymore than reading the bible/torah/tao te ching/quoran etc does
The numbers would fall heavily in favour of banning the book if we did .
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Does this mean that I was simulating goomba smashing and princess rescuing all this time?
-Dipster
Ah, good ol' Violent Games Bill. He was the best GTA player I ever saw.
How could anybody in the great state of Illinois not like that guy?
Keep on truckin' Bill!
Let's float some other equally meaningful statements, for comparison's sake:
This is actually kind of fun, maybe someday I'll get elected to something and can use this kind of bizarre hyperbole to compare things I don't appreciate or understand to the military.Go senate.
I approve violent games too.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
As someone who plays video games and has written war simulation software, let me say that the two are VERY different.
One is very obviously created for entertainment purposes. The other is very obviously NOT for entertainment purposes. In fact, it's pretty d@mn boring.
Of course, they do have one thing in common: I doubt either has ever been proven to make anyone more likely to commit a violent act. And I doubt either makes someone more effective at it.
Since when has it been the government's job to decide what constitutes art? If this is the case, then I know of a few museums that are going to start needing to issue bans for the younger patrons.
No less amount of artistic talent is used on painting on 3D geometry than painting a traditional canvas. In fact, I know of a few game artists to paint their UVW maps on real canvas and scan them in as game readable texture files latter on.
ESRB is there to provide the OPTION to restrict the sale to ANYONE the store wants to. Many retail stores don't carry games "beyond" a certain rating. All this bill does, if I read it correctly, is create penalties for any store that sells games beyond a certain threshold (sexualy or violently, or both if you like it like that) to minors.
I understand some of the hooplah about this, but why is everyone so pissed that minors now have to get their parents to buy a Doom 3 or the next Leisure Suit Larry? Granted, I'm in my early 20's so take all this crap about parenting with a grain of salt, but I'm all for parents getting more involved with their children and what they do with their free time. I would MUCH rather force a parent (or, some might argue, older sibling or older friend but it's the same story with alcohol/tobacco) to buy this game for the child. They'll (hypothetically) be more interested in the game to see what their $50 just bought. If it's outside of their comfort zone as a parent, they can stop the child from playing it.
On a very high level, how is this different than restricting the sale of smoe of the more risque tatoo magazines, pornography, tobacco and alcohol to minors?
"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." - Patton
So what exactly does the Mario games simulate? Or Tetris? I know she is specifically thinking of violent shooter-type games when she says this, but come on.
Also:
You gotta love what our democracy has become... :/
Violent Video Games Can Increase Aggression
Report Shows 'Unequivocal Evidence' That Media Violence Has Significant Negative Impact On Children
Violence Is A Learned Behavior, Say Researchers At Wake Forest University
Gratuitous Media Violence Can Increase Violent Responses To Provocation, Acceptance Of Violence, Studies Show
Violent Music Lyrics Increase Aggressive Thoughts And Feelings, According To New Study; Even Humorous Violent Songs Increase Hostile Feelings
That said, the decision to ban violent video games should be a local one. If people wish to accept the risks the might come with allowing violent video games in their city, town, etc, that's fine and it's no one else's business.
Likewise, places that don't wish to accept the risks shouldn't be forced to.
If people want to live in "Safetyland", let them create such a place.
And if people want "Anarchyville", let them create a place.
But we should never advocate that one philosophy be THE single philosophy over the entire country. Let people find or make the place that's right for them.
Still, even some critics said they would not vote against the measure for fear it would be used against them politically.
"I'm going to vote for this bill, but I'm voting for it for one reason -- because this is a political bill," said Sen. Mike Jacobs. "If I vote against it, it will show up in a campaign mail piece."
This is why I hate the political spinmachine so much. I can just see it now- "This man ignores the blatant debasing of morals that violent games display to today's youth. Do you want this person in office?"
Thanks a lot, Baloneyvitch.
I hope they send a very clear message to Illinios politicos that video games are very much an art form and worthy of comparison to movies, literature, and photography. Hell, video games are outselling every other medium out there these days.
So, I really hope that all gaming company execs will take a few minutes today to send an email to these boneheads in Illinois.
"I'm going to vote for this bill, but I'm voting for it for one reason -- because this is a political bill," said Sen. Mike Jacobs. "If I vote against it, it will show up in a campaign mail piece."
This really concerns me. I'd like to think that politicians would have enough faith in the populace that they could vote against bills they didn't agree with. If someone mentions this as a "doesn't care about the kids" swipe in a campaign brochure, they should respond with a "protecting free speech" piece in theirs. If they made their position clear on this issue before they were elected no-one should be surprised enough about it to vote the other way the next time just because of that. Then the politicians might actually enforce the principles in the manifestos they were voted in on to some extent - imagine that!
One good turn - gets all the covers.
Let her know how you feel demuzio@senatedem.state.il.us I know I am.
-Diomedes
"Simulations"? Awesome! I was worried that I was a slowly weakening pasty-faced desk jockey wasting my life in the cold blue glow of a computer monitor but maybe that's not true.
If this bill passes it will be LEGAL PROOF that I am actually a expertly-trained bad-ass motherfucker.
I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects
Of course they're just simulations.
How else does one expect to get a job as a tetris engineer without first practicing in the simulator?
nil
Video games are not art or media? WTF! That's the last straw, I'm going to writing some real mail to express my displeasure with the idiocy coming out of the state house here. If you live in Illinois, I would encourage you to write as well. Here is a link to contact info for Sen. Deanna Demuzio.
p ?s=y&step=8&id=++++52845
http://energyaction.ase.org/legdirectory/Index.as
Capitol Address
Senator Deanna Demuzio
M106 Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
Phone: (217) 782-8206
Fax: (217) 854-5311
District Address
Senator Deanna Demuzio
140 Carlinville Plaza
Carlinville, 62626
Phone: (217) 854-4441
Fax: (217) 854-5311
demuzio@senatedem.state.il.us
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
All this bill does, if I read it correctly, is create penalties for any store that sells games beyond a certain threshold (sexualy or violently, or both if you like it like that) to minors.
However, as I understand, the bill does not explain how violent or sexual is too much.
Frome the article:
The measure approved Thursday would require store owners to determine which games are too violent or sexually explicit for anyone under 18. Anyone selling them to a minor could be fined.
So who's making the decisions about what's too violent/sexual? Does the store owner determine what's inappropriate, but if (s)he sells it anyways, (s)he gets fined? No, that doesn't make any sense. Does the store owner decide what to sell, but then a parent disagrees with his decision and then he gets fined? Well, that would suck.
The reason I hate these restrictions is because they are invariably too vague and invariably done by people who have no clue (video games aren't media, they're stimulations, what?). If they just legally enforced the ESRB, I'ld be ok with that, though I'm sure if they can, since ESRB is a private organization. But people who don't play video games making up random restrictions? I'll pass.
"What is Internet Explorer 7? Are you saying we can't access the normal internet?" - I love tech support. Really.
"I vote that anyone who believes video games are not at least as good as novels as art forms be made to read the entire Harry Potter series and *then* play the entire Final Fantasy series for comparison."
Me too. By the time they're close to finishing trudging their miserable way through 11 Final Fantasy games, they'll either kill themselves to end it all, or it'll be time to elect someone else anyway...
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Not to mention that once the government starts reviewing and approving certain titles for sale/restricted sales it looks an awful lot like text-book case of censorship.
The standard in Illinois will probably be found to vague to be constitutional. I imagine it will end up in court almost immediatly after being signed into law.
The only reason they are doing it is so that all the politicians can run under the family-friendly label in the next election.
Save a life, sign your organ donor card.
Why is everyone in such an uproar when such a simple and reasonable solution exists?
Because they're not taking the simple and reasonable solution. They seem to be ignoring the fact that there is a competent ratings board that has been rating games for about 15 years now and almost every single game out there has a rating on it. Instead, they have to make up their own rules. Washington had one (that fortunetely was struck down) that restricted games with violence against police officers, which would cover even some E-rated games (while excluding M-rated games with rape, amoung other things)making it a nightmare to work at a game store and figure out what you can and cannot sell, and not preventing kids from getting bad games anyways. Not to mention the cost to taxpayers to get it overtuned, which it probably will be. So that's why I'm not real fond of these kinds of laws.
"What is Internet Explorer 7? Are you saying we can't access the normal internet?" - I love tech support. Really.
As an inhabitant of Illinois, I would liketo apologize for the dim-witted actions of our political leaders as they not only condemn video games as a form of mind melting evil, but also strip away the title of art from them. I am from a family of computer programmers, and my father, brothers, and I have all made games and they are definitely art. To have our hard work insulted by our own officials is embarrassing. Again, I'm sorry for their numbskullery. And although I realise that the law itself is for all purposes not enforceable, they still make games in general the enemy, all in the name of "protecting our families". ugh.
Sorry to inform you, all those "simulations" were really the real war, Ender.
Sometimes my arms bend back.