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Blair Bullied Over Bully

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the poor-politico dept.

Following up the banning of Bully by British retailers, UK BM Tony Blair faced criticism from Parliment members over the Rockstar title. During the daily 'Question Time' the PM faces, Leicester East's Keith Vaz called for a meeting on the game, and investigation of the title. From the article: "'I know that the Minister for Creative Industries and also the Minister responsible for the industry are very happy to meet with him and stakeholders to discuss it. It's obviously an important issue. I know there's a lot of concern about it. It is, I think, right to say that the video games industry, or certainly a very substantial section of it, have made significant strides and advances over the last few years, but he's quite right, it's important that's maintained,' Blair said."

8 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. I have a document they all should read there... by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed"

    So yeah, I have a way to solve this problem without a bunch of emo hearings and speeches:

    1) Ask the citzenry what should be done.
    2) Do it.

    1. Re:I have a document they all should read there... by rwven · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The funny part about all of this is that everyone is trashing it without having the slightest idea of its content, story, or anything about it at all for that matter. All they know is that it's made by the "evil hot coffee people" and it's called bully... That MUST mean that you play this terrible bully who goes around killing people...which is actually quite the opposite...

      morons....all of them.

    2. Re:I have a document they all should read there... by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      1) Ask the citzenry what should be done. 2) Do it.

      Yeah, because the majority is always right. ::rolls eyes:: Oh damn, what the majority believes changes every week. Well, that's OK, the government should just keep passing / reversing a law as the opinion polls change.

      How about this: The government leaders ignore the ignorant masses and do what they think is right, and we periodically either reelect them or we don't depending on the outcomes or how we like the decisions they make?

      Sorry, lost my head for a second. You're right, the mob is always right.

      --
      Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
    3. Re:I have a document they all should read there... by slidersv · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How about oppression of the minority?
      Media create too much false information these days, so instead of rationally based decisions, the result will be what media wants, not what people want.

      I'm not talking about issues people understand about. I just see my parents, and their uninterest in games - the only information they ever get about games are game violence reports from TV and other news sources. How can those people make correct decisions?

      --
      there is no issue with my network
    4. Re:I have a document they all should read there... by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      At least we'll have no one to blame but ourselves in that case.

      Personally, I'd rather have a specific person be responsible for the credit or blame for a decision, rather than a mindless abstract concept like 'ourselves'.

      On the other hand, maybe I'm wrong -- if all we have to blame are 'ourselves', then no one ever gets personal blame! Wow, what a great world that would be -- no personal blame! Sign me up for that deal!

      --
      Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
  2. This is why we can't ignore Thompson by Generic+Player · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Whackjobs like Jack Thompson have a huge impact. He has convinced the media, politicians, and alot of the public that this game is some horrible, extremely violent game about a kid killing schoolmates. Of course that's not even remotely close to reality, but the people wanting to ban it are never going to actually try playing it. I keep hearing gamers say we should just ignore Jack, because responding to him makes him seem credible. Ignoring Thompson is not the way to go, we need to loudly, publicly and frequently tell people the truth about whatever game he's attacking this month. People find him credible because they aren't hearing the truth.

  3. Rockstar for the win by cyanics · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No matter what happens, Rockstar will win. They have gotten so much publicity in recent years, that even if they released a tame title, it would probably be a hit, just cause people want to see what all the hype is about. If the game gets held back, they can sue for censorship. If the game gets released, everyone wants to see what the hype is about. If the game gets held back, they can re-release with "special adults only product" purchasing, where you buy a special license via a credit card (online for legal-age verification). Again. Rockstar can't loose.

  4. Oh dear. by jb.hl.com · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The media in the UK is, with the exception of maybe three newspapers (The Guardian, The Independent and the Morning Star (which is hardly a major player)) and TV and radio, extremely right wing, with an almost fanatical devotion to "family values". The major newspapers, like the Daily Mail, the Express, the Sun, are extremely able to whip up people into angry, paranoid frenzies against just about anything. And it will happen with Bully.

    They'll stomp and cry and scream in their usual way, not for any real purpose or end, not because they think it'll do good, but because it sells newspapers, and then their readers will stomp and cry and scream, and it'll end up with Bully being banned. Joy.

    Boy do I LOVE living in a tabloidocracy.

    --
    By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --