'Games as Porn' Bill Passes Utah House

The state bill which attempts to equate gaming with pornography has passed the vote in the Utah house of representatives. GameDailyBiz reports: "Even though there's still no evidence of a direct link between video game violence and acts of violence committed in real-life, Hogue suggested that playing violent games leads to 'automatic learning of aggressive behavior,' and that violent games have played a role in school shootings. 'Would these same kids have done this anyway without watching violent videos? Maybe not,' he said, referring to the Columbine massacre."

Comments

"Maybe not?"

[Zardus]

Someone should have gotten up and made a rebuttal of "Or maybe yes." and then there'd be a deadlock as the opposing side tries to come up with an actual argument.

Re:"Maybe not?"

[pantropik]

These idiots who think they can save the world by denying people the right to look at the "wrong" things would be comical if they didn't so often succeed in getting idiotic laws passed. Humans enjoy ritualized violence, whether it's playing tackle football, boxing, hunting, video games, movies ... that's not going to change until humans either evolve away from it or become extinct.

Taking away access to this stuff in no way takes away the innate human desire for it, and pretending otherwise is just willful stupidity. Before kids had XBoxes they had cap guns. Before they had cap guns they had toy spears and sharp rocks. It's not the behaviors that have changed, just the tools and implementation. As for the Columbine kids, I'd argue that he's got it all wrong. The kids sought out and surrounded themselves with violent imagery because that's what spoke to their hearts and minds, in the same way another child might seek out beautiful landscape paintings or elegant progamming code or slapstick comedy or politics or religion or who knows what else. If he honestly thinks that some bright-eyed, angelic child with no evil or violence in her heart can pick up a copy of GTA and turn into a murderous freak, he's even stupider than I give him credit for already. I'd also argue that if they hadn't had access to violent imagery they'd have probably been more inclined to create their own (torturing animals, etc.).

Just because kids are imitative enough to use what they've seen in games or movies as templates for their own acts of violent stupidity doesn't mean they wouldn't have come up with something else on their own if they hadn't had something to imitate. I love action movies, murder mysteries, violent video games. I've committed virtual murder who knows how many times and loved it. I still remember blowing bodies all to pieces in Soldier of Fortune, sniping brains all over the walls and gleefully mutilating corpses. But you know what else? The thought of gleefully or even accidentally hurting an actual person or animal is repulsive to me, just as it is to any healthy human being no matter how many slasher flicks they've watched or virtual corpses they've dismembered. The notion that the majority of us shouldn't be able to do a thing because a tiny, dysfunctional minority might not be able to handle it is absurd.

Re:"Maybe not?"

[ZB Mowrey]

The notion that the majority of us shouldn't be able to do a thing because a tiny, dysfunctional minority might not be able to handle it is absurd.

First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they went after the potheads, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a pothead. Next, they went after the protesters, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a protester. After that, they tried to crack down on unwholesome music, but I wasn't a musician so I said nothing. Now, they've gone after games and I have no excuse on which to base my arguments.

(with apologies to Pastor Martin Niemöller.)

And yes, I realize the seriousness of the original context... but I couldn't help mentioning the similarity.

ban school

[Mahou]

Would these same kids have done this anyway without being made to go to school? Maybe not.

Yes, a whole new category of criminal

[sauge]

The dreaded "gamer." Three kids go on a shooting spree and so the 1,000,000+ who play are all lining up at gun stores.

This is a law brought to you by the people who want intelligent design taught in school.

It also an example of why people are disgusted with legislators around the country.

What about war?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to start a big flame war or anything, but doesn't invading other countries kind of encourage aggressive behavior?

It seems that it isn't a question of aggressive behavior per se, it is where the aggresive behavior comes from that matters. In other words it is bullshit.

A Bold Positive Step

[Shihar]

I think this is a bold and positive step. Unfortunately, I believe that they have left a loop hole that needs to be immediately covered. Namely, while we can protect our children from violent video games, there are still now laws in place to protect our children from violent books. There are literally thousands of mystery books out there teaching our children how to be perfect killers. There are thousands of books glorifying war, death conflict, and even sexual perversion. I think must act immediately to step up an American Censorship board to keep violent books out of the hands of our children. I believe that all books containing 'adult content' should be separated out from books safe for children. Further, schools should have an absolute ban on violent and mature books.

If we don't act now, school shootings will continue to rise, the violent murders will continue to increase, and our children will continue to live shorter and shorter lives in this terrible and violent world.

Re:A Bold Positive Step

[Locke2005]

Worse yet, they might start reading The Holy Bible, with it's sordid tales of lust, murder, incest, homosexual rape, etc.... just imagine what kind of ideas they would get out of such obviously subversive literature!

Before everyone freaks out...

[ChePibe]

1. If you're not in Utah, don't worry. This isn't going to affect you. So pipe down already and focus on preventing it in your own backyard.

2. If you are in Utah, don't worry. I'm in Utah now, and guess one of the two will happen:

a. It won't pass the Senate, as legislative sessions here are remarkably short anyways (just a bill to get a little attention). It will simply die with time.

b. If it does pass the Senate, my money is on a "pocket" veto, pretty much just ignoring the bill. The Utah senate this year is farily tied up as it is.

In any case, here's the text for the bill and the ammendment for those interested. It'd be nice if the submitters included this information when they sent in an article on pending legislation.

Re:Before everyone freaks out...

[slycrel]

Thanks for the links, I hadn't found the actual legislation yet.

I live in Utah and this is the first I've heard of this.

The slashdot summary is a bit misleading. I found this nice sum-up description after following the "previous coverage" link in the article. You can also confirm this using the links the parent poster has supplied.

"The bill states that "inappropriate violence" would include video games with material patently offensive to the prevailing standards in the adult community, as long as it didn't have "serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors." Those that legitimately used violence to further a game's plot (such as games based on historical wars) would be exempt, however."

This appears to also only be for interactive video and video games after the ammendment, originally it was for just about any violent material.

After reading up, I can understand (I think) their reasons why they are trying to pass this law. While they seem to have a reasonable basis, I can't think of any reasonable implementation that wouldn't be misused. Not that my opinion matters much.

But then, Orrin Hatch actually is supposed to represent me, and I disagree with most of what he does nowadays. (And yes, I voted) Sucks to be me.

Games are now porn!

[Kirby]

That's super convenient. Now I only have one hobby!

This is stupid.

[Dastardly]

Rep. Lorie Fowlke (R-Orem) pointed out that HB 257 is the most narrowly defined legislation of these kinds of violent games bills. "I think it is worth a try," she said. "Otherwise we give up and say the court will always determine our values."

And, Dastardly said, "It is worth a try to keep these bills from being passed otherwise we give up and say the politicians will always determine our values."

ban bullies

[Shawn is an Asshole]

Would these same kids have done this anyway without being picked on daily at school? Maybe not.