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Officer's Group Calls for Ban On 25 To Life
Kotaku reports that the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is calling for a boycott of 25 to Life. From the post: "It is absolutely unconscionable that game makers are enabling young people--or anyone--to dramatize shooting and killing as a form of entertainment while officers and innocent people are dying in real-life on our streets every day. We're encouraging parents, caregivers and everyone who is concerned about both law enforcement officers and children to ensure this game never makes it into the homes or hands of impressionable young people."
When you've got the real thing available online?
- islami-baghdad-sniper/al-jaishul-islami-baghdad-sn iper-70mb.rmvb
http://ia300831.eu.archive.org/3/items/al-jaishul
Seriously, isn't this sort of thing how Arnie got rich...and into office?
Yes! These games are an outrage. In my youth we had good, clean, wholesome fun. We kids ran around outside and played, uh, Cops and Robbers.
Postal really started this genre many years ago and created a stir. This is just the next target from crazy parent groups and surely not the last. If they would spend as much time with their kids, maybe they wouldn't be so messed up!
http://religiousfreaks.com/Meaning its for older individuals? Not impressionable children? I'm not going to buy the game because it looks like a drole rehash, but keeping it out of the hands of children? The industry already did their duty with its rating. Now Parents need to do theirs and not buy the damn game for their kids. YOu don't give porn to 12 year olds, why would a game be any different. People need to wake up and realize just because its a game doesn't mean its suitable for children. I'm always astounded at what I see parents buying for their children in the games section.
It may be my opinion, but a parent that buys their kids this type of game probably wouldn't blink about giving said child a copy of Mien Komf(sp?: Hitler AutoBio) or a terrorist's manifesto because THEY NEVER READ WHAT IT IS! How damn difficult is it to LOOK at the content you are giving your children. Hell if you want to buy this game and you think your child can handle the adult subject matter and you want to take the time to discuss it with your child, fine by all means that is your right as a parent. It just drives me nuts to see all the irresponsible parents who think its everyone elses job to police their children.
Oh I understand you'll never be able to controll all that they see, but in my mind you should make a damn good effort to make sure they understand what they see and the consequences.
"If I were bound by all laws everywhere I'm sure I would have committed a capital crime somewhere."
Instead of boycotting the game (though reasonable) and seeking to remove it from stores (something of a free speech issue?), why don't they spend more effort on supporting the ESRB rating system and its enforcement? They should do that if they're really focused on keeping it out of the 'hands of impressionable young people'.
It is absolutely unconscionable that game makers are enabling young people--or anyone--to dramatize shooting and killing as a form of entertainment while officers and innocent people are dying in real-life on our streets every day
So, I assume you'll get right onto boycotting the show COPS, right? Because it dramatizes pursuit and police brutality as a form of entertainment while civilians and innocent people are being arrested in real-life on our streets every day.
It would be impossible to even consider trying to quantify the number of media titles (games, movies, etc.) where killing has taken place. Of course I don't condone any type of real life murder, including the killing of peace/police officers. I do, however, wish to retain my right to play whatever the hell I want to play.
One thing that groups like this don't know or don't consider, is that the people who commit these heinous crimes are not the normal average everyday kids. If they have any type of mental instability that allows the line between reality and fantasy to blur enough to think that committing the crimes they see in these games is okay, then there is a word for that. Its called predisposition. Its not the games that is causing these violent crimes. I was playing GTA: San Andreas last night, where one of the missions I had to do was to rob a bank and a betting store. I successfully completed both missions, and guess what? This morning I woke up, ate my breakfast, took my kids to their babysitter, came to work, and so far have had a very productive day. Not once did the idea of robbing a bank or a betting store enter my mind, because I know the difference between real and fantasy. Those people who commit these crimes then blame video games or movies for them are either mentally ill, or they are just trying to find a scapegoat. Personally I feel that anyone that has the "mental" capability to actually take another person's life in cold blood has a mental defect, regardless of what the courts say. I'm not saying that these people should not go to prison, but I'm saying that thats not normal behavior.
I respect police officers and the dangerous job they do. I have several in my family, and have gone along on ridealongs with quite a few. I know all about the training they have, and the day-to-day dangers they can endure. However I do not feel that anyone has the right to tell me what I should and should not be able to play. One might say "Where can the line be drawn"... However given the history of 'cops and robbers', 'cowboys and indians', etc that I was bombarded with growing up, I don't think this is really any different, AS LONG AS the person playing these games is mentally fit to differentiate reality from fantasy. Do I feel that people should undergo mental testing to purchase a game? No. However I do feel that people need to stop blaming the games and movies and start putting the blame where it probably lies the most: On the parents. Parents need to teach their kids right and wrong, they need to teach their kids whats real and "make-believe". If they can see that their kid can't tell the difference between tv and real life, they need to seek professional help. I'm sick and tired of people blaming the game companies when its usually the parent's fault.
Children aren't born with an inherent understanding of good, evil, right,or wrong. They need to be taught these ideas. This is way before school, and rests entirely on the shoulders of the parents.
And they said zombies weren't real!
That said, this game just represents the view of one group of people. Probably not even that. Art (in a broad sense) has always tried to provoke us, to try our morals, feelings and values. A Clockwork Orange is probably the most famous piece of art that depicts violence in a non-judgemental way. The outrage it created at launch is, a thing of the past. Today we think of it as nothing more than a provocative addition to the debate.
Is 25 to life a piece of art? It does provoke some thought. It probably wasn't made for the cultural elite (to say the least!), but it still caught their attention. It doesn't encourage violence (real violence, that is). So it doesn't qualify to be anything other than art. It isn't a political statement, not a call to arms or religious propaganda. It's just entertainment.
All i'm saying is that this is nothing new. The game is nothing new. The reaction to it is nothing new either. And i'll say to the policemen: Get over it; it doesn't represent the view of the majority of the population. And it won't have an effect on the violence on the streets.
The images are wrong. The messages are wrong. And stocking it in U.S. stores is wrong.
And perhaps banning it is also wrong.
What's so different about violence in video games as opposed to violence in books, movies, TV, etc.? And what about all those shootout games kids play with toy guns? Why not ban those?
Millions of kids watch/participate in entertainment that contains violent content and millions grow up to be law abiding citizens. These guys don't have any evidence of a connection with games and real life. They just don't like the content and want to enforce their preferences on everyone else. Shameful.
No, I won't let my kids play it - at 3 and 5 yo, they're still working through the "Clifford the Big Red Dog" games. When they're closer to 18, I'm sure we'll discuss the VR headsets to augment the latest round of violent video games, but for now, nope.
I used to play Lazer Tag with my friends at night around our high school. It was fun and sometimes a huge adrenaline rush. It made it very clear to me that I never want to be in a firefight - I lost way too often, which in RL is defined as "more than once".
Never never never smoke crack before geometry class!
Nice missleading headline though.
No one in the article mentions banning the game, other than the author who apprently postulates that the next logical step is banning all movies that depict violence against police, showing that he profoundly missed the difference between ban and boycott.
I'm going to be boycotting this game as well, not because I think virtual depictions of killing cops and the innocent are wrong, but because I think that like most games relying soley on offensive and gruesome content, this game will be terrible to play.
If you want to not buy the game based on 'moral' grounds, good for you. Don't take the Jack Thompson road to raving lunacy and I really can't take issue with this kind of protest; other than to say I think it defeats its own purpose. Controversy, and complaint is a substitute for the marketing budget in these kinds of games. This is a fairly small, niche (Adults only rating if I'm not mistaken), low quality, no class game; and leaving to flounder in obscurity would do more harm than a nationally publicized boycott.
You must have grown up in a different time and neighborhood than me if the cops always won when you played.
I was wondering the same thing. Talk about needing to mod a story (or at least a headline) -1 Flamebait, sheesh.
By calling for a boycott, they leave the actual decision in the hands of the parents/guardians/game-buyers. As a community, this is precisely what we want. No absurd laws or regulations, just a group of concerned individuals advocating that people think about what they're buying before they buy it.
Sounds good to me.
http://publicvoidlife.blogspot.com
Again, different neighborhood.
If we learned anything from the second Rodney King trial, cops will lie to avoid liability for their violent action. In other words, cops are not always the good guys. They are as capable of being criminals as you or me, and they have a lot more protections from being caught/prosecuted than you or me. I wish they were the good guys, but that simply is not the case. There are far too many counterexamples, even with the protections.
I'm not sure that I'd support a ban on it, but no one can really sanely offer that this is good, clean, kid-friendly fun.
I agree with you on that. Would you allow a five year-old to play GTA? That's like asking a if a five year-old should be able to see "Reservoir Dogs."
The game rating system needs an overhaul, and parents need to take more of an interest in what their kids are playing, because there seems to be this wierd double-standard. Parents don't mind that little Timmy is buying GTA, because it's just a game and games are harmless kid's stuff, but then they get completely shocked when they find out what's in GTA. And then they let little Timmy buy Manhunt because games are just harmless kid's stuff and the cycle starts all over again. Computer games started out innocently enough and most were kid-friendly, and that stigma still follows all games around, which is why people yell so loud when they find this kind of extreme content.
This sig is false.
And why arn't they? Why do so many cops become cynical and lose sight of why they joined the police force in the first place? IMHO it's because they are called upon daily to enforce laws they don't believe are reasonable or all that important. Primarily, they spend so much of their time policing what people can and can't put into their own bodies.
How we know is more important than what we know.
"This game's a little nastier with no clear morality, actual graphic death, and a glorification of the "thug life." I'm not sure that I'd support a ban on it, but no one can really sanely offer that this is good, clean, kid-friendly fun." Well then it's a good thing this game(25 to Life) is rated M for mature(17+) and definitly not ment for kids then isn't it?
>>>The game rating system needs an overhaul, and parents need to take more of an interest in what their kids are playing, because there seems to be this wierd double-standard. Parents don't mind that little Timmy is buying GTA, because it's just a game and games are harmless kid's stuff, but then they get completely shocked when they find out what's in GTA.
The game rating system doesn't need an overhaul, parents need to actually look at the ratings.
"What is Internet Explorer 7? Are you saying we can't access the normal internet?" - I love tech support. Really.