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Government Pressure on ESRB
Alex Blonski writes "There is new CNN coverage on the recent pressure the government is putting on the ESRB to crack down on mature-rated titles, after the Grand Theft Auto Debacle. ESRB President Patricia Vance says that 'It is very important for people to realize that this game is rated " for mature,' Vance said. 'This game is not a game that was rated for children. Regardless of what if anything was modified, it's a game that the ESRB has made as clear as it can that it was not intended for anyone under the age of 17.'"
I can see how someone could see the word "game" and immediately associate "kids" with it. This is what the media depends on to add some shock value to the story. But I was not complaining about parents letting their kids play MA rated video games, just as I don't complain about parents letting their kids see R rated movies. I think the central issue here is a media bandwagon that politicians see and the facts are of no interest. It's all about appearances now.
The relevant facts to this story are that the game industry hasn't put enough lobbying money into congressional pockets, so they're being investigated. It's just like when Microsoft was getting hit by the DoJ. Whether you like it or not, the main difference between the DoJ's interest in Microsoft before, and the lack of interest now, is the amount of lobbying money flowing from them to congress. The interest of the DoJ quickly dwindled even before a Republican got elected to the whitehouse.
"Scientists don't change their minds, they just die." -- Max Planck
Awesome! When do we get to sue to the nightly news?
"Nobody owns the fucking words man." - James Dean
Let them make their own decisions.
This is the most fundamental principle of liberty.
The information is a self-explanatory game ratings.
The decision is whether or not to buy this or allow your child to play it.
I know, I know. Precious Little Johnny (er.. Taylor or Tyler or Hayden or whatever the hell you people name your kids these days) leaves and goes over to his friend's house and plays GTA on little Mikey's (er... Connor or Tanner) computers, and he's out of your control. Well, it's your job as the parent to go meet Mikey's mother and find out if you can trust her to oversee your child for a few hours.
My girlfriend's son came home the other day and bragged about how his aunt let him play a game that was rating "M". He wanted to throw it in Mom's face that he got to play one. That landed his ass banned from his Game Boy for about a week and then she didn't know what to do. "How do I get him to make good decisions?" I suggested that the KID be made to go talk to Aunt Ignorant and that HE explains to her that he's not allowed to play rated M games and that he should have told her the game was rating M, but he made a bad choice. The kid did it, Aunt Ignorant was horrified at her transgression, and said that it just never crossed her mind.
I promise you that if it was a movie, Aunt Ignorant would have thought about it, but video games are "kid's stuff" to that generation, so it's not part of their decision-making to consider that the game could be inappropriate.
Anyway, the point is that my old lady is responsible for her child and trying to teach him how to make good decisions by turning situations like this into learning opportunities for her son. And that's a hell of a lot better for a kid than having some paternal-minded windbag like Senator Clinton spending our tax money on investigating how in the world a video game that is intended and rated for adults ended up having adult-only content.
"I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
"This used to be primarily the domain of the "right"" I agree with your post but disagree with this statement. The left has *always* been on some "think of the children" garbage whereas the right used to have a respect for things like freedom of speech and personal responsibility. I suppose the difference is academic at this point because now all of our politicians, left and right, want to have a hand in forcing their morals on you, but I do think it's an important distinction that conservatism is supposed to respect market forces and personal responsibility, not foisting Christian morals on other people.
It's the MPAA's fault. Terms like "R rated" are trademarked by the MPAA and they won't let anyone else use them, they've even sent cease and desist letters to fan fiction writers not to use those terms.
I remember reading a Newsweek (it's mainstream, not liberal) piece about soldiers in Iraq. When they saw an Iraq guy running away from their guns, they literally begged their leader for permission to kill. It's shocking, but being a soldier now means being trained to love to kill. Google 'killology'.
"Long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead." (John Maynard Keynes)
The point is, the age thing is in no way hard-and-fast. First of all, people mature at different rates, therefore what is suitable for one kid may not be suitable for the next. More importantly, right and wrong can be taught at nearly any age, and if it is taught properly, it is highly unlikely that something such as a video game could through a child off the straight and narrow. Certainly, for someone who's either mentally disposed to psychopathy, or for someone whose parents have not taught proper behaviour and so on, video games can have a very detrimental effect, but it's not the game that is the problem.
I am 16, and play GTA. What I do in the game has no relation to what I do in reality, except perhaps talking about the experience with friends. Killing without fear of retribution is separate enough from reality for me that I can run people over and beat their bloodied corpses while laughing my head off, and not carry that into the real world. At the same time, this gets pretty boring after a while; the real fun comes in doing missions and doing challenging or cool stuff in the sandbox environment. If I can pull off an insane stunt, or go out with a bang, the killing is interesting. The killing itself is actually not the meat of the sandwich.
There are more realistic games than GTA, but if it is a situation where death is particularly graphic, it's sickening, not enjoyable. If someone finds graphic death fun or amusing, then they're just getting kicks for their mental condition.
im in ur