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New York Bill Aims To Restrict Games Containing Profanity
GamePolitics notes a new bill out of New York which seeks to prohibit "the sale to minors of certain rated video games containing a rating that reflects content of various degrees of profanity, racist stereotypes or derogatory language, and/or actions toward a specific group of persons." It goes on to say: "These games, containing adult images such as morbid violence, rape, alcohol and illegal drug use, as well as other malicious acts, are not appropriate for children under 18. This legislation will regulate the sale of such games." The full text of the bill is available. It also suggests that children who are exposed to in-game crimes are more likely to participate in real-life crime.
"It also suggests that children who are exposed to in-game crimes are more likely to participate in real-life crime. "
So they think it's monkey see monkey do? They give children far less credit than I thought.
How many of these laws have to get struck down, with court fees awarded to the plaintiffs challenging them, before legislatures will decide that it's just not worth it to pass them?
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
Well, I'm reassured to see that they are really working on solving the major problems of the world.
Oh wait..
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson:
CALVIN: [as he's watching a TV show] Graphic violence in the media.
... Well, that's hard to prove.
Does it glamorize violence? Sure.
Does it desensitize us to violence? Of course.
Does it help us tolerate violence? You bet.
Does it stunt out empathy for our fellow beings? Heck yes.
Does it CAUSE violence?
The trick is to ask the right question.
(Credit: Written by a "GR" user on forum message 1008906 in websitetoolbox.com)
Do they even ask the opinion of experts like paedopsychatrists or anything before writing such laws?
You just got troll'd!
Legislators can't fix real problems, so, isn't this a distraction? Doesn't it make them look like they're doing something, rather than sitting around?
but outlawing a game you obtain:
1. for kids the game will instantaneously become 10x cooler to be played, just because it will be harder for them to get their hands on it.
2. if you have never played the game you'll be treated like a dork.
3. the game will be sold in the "black market".
Outlaw next GTA and RockStar will sell even more copies. It's just human nature to desire what we can't easily get.
- Human knowledge belongs to the world
This story would be more interesting if it was about a man named William from New York who aimed to put an end to all the game-playing by cursing at people.
So, let's pretend they have a point... why target games? You could remove every instance of the word "Game" with any other media (Books, Television, Movies, Music, Theater) and it would be the same thing. But no, if they tried to target "Theater" with a bill like this, they'd get laughed out of politics (and rightfully so.)
"Don't trust anyone over 25!"
When I first read the headline, I thought it meant that New York would use profanity to ban games. That could work.
Don't you dare buy that ****ing game, you ****, or I'll ****ing kill you!
They already do this with movies, rated R (where the parent needs to be in the movie with the child for them to watch) and NC-17 (no one under 17 period).
...they restricted or burned culture too.
These days they declared video games officially as cultural assets.
Google/Translate
There you go :D
because video games are one of devil's little tricks to control children minds!
after, it's all about the children right?
- Human knowledge belongs to the world
I'll accept this restriction as long as the same restrictions are placed upon any books and movies that contain "various degrees of profanity, racist stereotypes or derogatory language, and/or actions toward a specific group of persons."
Oh, what, you can't actually do that for other media? What makes you think you can do it for games, then?
Parent made a very good point from real life experience. Anyone got mod points to spare?
I am 19 years old... How have I ended up? I am a pacifist, physically disgusted to see any real violence.
Relax. I was merely referring to an old Calvin and Hobbes comic. That comic was good for highlighting Correlation does not imply causation, i.e. some people are over-reacting when they say that violent shows/games cause kids to be violent.
... played DOOM etc. ... Operation Flashpoint ... three years ... Max Payne, DOOM 3, CS (both 1.6 and source), Battlefield 2, Painkiller, Manhunt, the Punisher ... fair share of violent movies ...
Rats! You've out-beat me by at least 10 times! It's only DOOM and CS for me, not even violent movies.
I think you're very sensible, and you have very good family values. If you're reading this, my hat off to you.
Weekday Warrior, about a bored corporate drone struggling against office politics.
RuneScape has lots of resource-gathering activities (fishing, cooking, wood-chopping, etc.) that feels just like work.
marketing Phinal Phantasy Phuck You in Albany?
No, they don't. There is no law anywhere in the US that prevents children from seeing R or NC-17 movies. It is a voluntary restriction enforced by the theaters that show rated movies.
The gaming industry is getting pretty massive in terms of the money that goes through their doors. I've sat in on state lobbying meetings and heard spiels about tax dollars and jobs crossing state lines of such and such subsidy isn't maintained.
I've also heard that if such subsidies and favorable laws are maintained, sweetness and buttercream will come, with jobs for constituents and parades for congressmen.
Once the video game industry figures out that this is a pay to play system like telecom, the RIAA, and the studios have (or the studios move to gaming) we'll have less of this kind of legislation.
There isn't a day where I play Metal Gear Online 2.0 or Gears of War 2 online where I do not hear someone say 'fuck' or 'shit' or 'dicklicker' using their headset or bluetooth mic or typing those same words into the in-game chat box.
Shouldn't New York State ban all multi-player games that have in-game forms of communication?
But what if they disabled communication in games? What if in Starcraft or any other RTS, the opposing player arranged his buildings to form the word 'cock' ? Shouldn't we ban Starcraft as there is the potential to communicate bad words?
What constitutes profanity? Swear words? Bad words? What is a bad word? Is taking the (fictitious) Lord's name in vain using profanity? I guess that means GOD of War is a DISGUSTING AND INAPPROPRIATE GAME!!!
These lawmakers will not stop until ALL games are banned.
I don't mind violence and profanity in games, I just want a software switch the bleeps or turns the profanity off. I just don't see a point in hearing curse words. Yes, as an ex-marine I do realize that real marines curse, however having it in a video game doesn't add realism. Real Marines scratch their junk constantly and talk about girls, sex, and racial sterotypes. Unless you are going all the way with the profanity I don't see the point. Call of Duty WaW comes to mind here, there's an inordinate amount of profanity but there's also a switch to turn it off, however for some stupid, stupid reason, it doesn't work in online play.
"Is everything you say total bullshit?"
Nevermind glorifying war, 24 hour news networks showing us at least a murder a day, TV shows frequently having 'action' scenes and/or rape/sex scenes, movies doing every kind of horrifying thing to people (Hostel, eh?), and, my favorite of all, when they felt the need to take a picture of Saddam's dead sons and slap it on TV for all to see, with a swift 3 second warning that it would be disturbing.
Nope, all violence clearly stems from video games.
Ya know, some games rated E have swearing in them. In fact, most PG movies have swearing in them (so where is the angry picketing for Shrek and his ass?). As for horrific violence, I'm pretty sure every game involves a little (you're either popping someone's head off or you're setting a trap to have the anthro squirrel fall in a hole). Sex is pretty limited, but I do recall Tony Hawk's Underground having some sex hinted at, and that was T for teen.
In short...I think this will be fun. Once you decide one thing is unacceptable, it's hard to draw the line. They'll be stuck on if Super Mario Bros. really causes animal abuse next, and soon every game will emulate us hugging everyone. Now wouldn't that be FUN?
Film carry certs to try to protect kids, why shouldn't games? Well there's the rub, you see the very word games I'm afraid is the problem.
Soccer Mommy down the local games store, Johnny wants "Shitfaced-Psycho Killer IV" game and mommy knows it's only a computer game so what's the harm? Average Joe thinks games are for kids, they are not. Entertainment comes in many levels, including kiddies, average Wii and DS game and psycho 18/Mature rated, see GTA, Fallout 3, Manhunt, etc.
You want to make a difference? Employ more people like I met in local game store about 6 months ago, when I went to buy a second hand copy of Quake IV. "You know this game is rated 18. Do you have any proof of age, driving license or name and address on a utility bill?". Very well done son. However I am 38 years old and due to fun career in IT support, I look about 5 years older than that!
Windows guys please stop pissing on everyone and the Linux guys stop pissing in the wind, hoping to hit Windows guys!
Back in my day, games didn't have talking characters with digitized voices.
All the profanity and cursing came from the player. And oh boy, did it.
There are no government restrictions on the sale of Games to minors. Currently the age rating system on the boxes is an entirely voluntary system agreed to by the publishers, developers and retail outlets.
It is currently entirely legal for someone to sell GTA4 to a 3 year old child without any fear of prosecution. This law is intended to change that situation.
Correct, there's no law against a child seeing NC-17 or R movies, but there is a law prohibiting sale of those movies to minors. This proposed law will simply apply the same rules to the sale of games.
Yes. I did become a street fighter, after all. No, wait, I didn't. I wonder what game of my youth was about going to an office and working for hours and hours until my soul died.
I know a man (a friend's brother) who is in prison for parole violation. The crime he was paroled for? Grand Theift Auto.
AFAIK he never played any video games at all. He told his sister (the aformentioned friend) that he stole cars because he loved cars. When he was on parole having a beer with his sister and me, he was extatic that he had been given a ride in a Lotus. "My life is complete!" I thought "Wow, and people think we nerds are dorky!"
I've played GTA and know hookers, but I've never stlen a car (or anything else) and never shot any of my hooker friends in the face.
More to the story's topic: this law is a bigger joke than my friend's imprisoned brother. I can't understand why legislators keep passing laws they know full well are unconstitutional and won't pass muster in any court. WTF is wrong with people?
Free Martian Whores!
hy
manhunt sux0rz. no, not j/k it really sux. dont play it. also, stupid.
I just found out yesterday that there's a Gordon Ramsay video game. It's rated T for teen in the US, yet apparently it still has Ramsay's trademark cussing. WTF?
Oh well. The game also includes SCARY CRIME KNIVES so it's probably banned in the UK by default.
well, it certainly wont help the game industry.
if their parents wont by it for them, the next step will be copyright infringement.
How stupid of me!
Of course they learn to curse from games! What a fool I was to think that they were learning from their friends!
Ok, there are crimes that occur from time to time that are apparently patterned after something that happened in a game. This is pretty solid- it only takes a single verified instance for this to be proven, and it's happened.
So we know that video games can influence crime. The question becomes "In what ways do video games influence crime?"
Are these crimes that would have happened anyways, and the game just influenced how they were commited?
Or do the games inspire commision of the crimes in the first place, crimes that simply wouldn't have happened without the influence of the game?
From what I've seen of various studies I've looked into, none of them seemed capable of distinguishing between these two very different conclusions.
It gets more complex. Say someone plays GTA and decides to kill a prostitute because it was fun in the game, must be fun for real. This seems to fit the latter category, but does it really? Sure, the thought process that lead to the crime started in the game. But it's possible that in the absence of the game, something else would have set him off and he still would have killed someone. In tis case, it would fall under the first category.
Better studies are needed, to distinguish between the crime itself being inspired by the game, and the form of the crime being inspired by the game. It isn't always the simplest distinction to make, but making it will help to determine the best way to deal with the issue.
Racist and stupid is no way to go through life.
It is increasingly clear that the censorship crowd is using new media formats as an excuse. These new formats don't present a new problem. They should be censored exactly as much as the old formats, neither more nor less.
Physical objects sold--video games, CDs, DVDs, magazines, and books--need only one rule because possession of the object controls access.
Transmitted media--radio, over-the-air-television, cable television, the Internet (including games, music, and video)--need only one rule because possession of the device/account controls access.
We can debate what those rules should be, but this business of slapping stricter rules on new media than we had for old ones is just a sham.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
After scanning over the article, it seems to me they aren't attempting to ban the games or prohibit them from being made or sold.
This is more about appropriate content for children. In my mind at least, its similar to how DVD movies with a certain rating aren't supposed to be sold to anyone under the age of 18. Everyone else can still purchase copies though.
I'm not saying I agree with the idea that the government has a right to tell us whether each individual child is mature enough or not to handle the content, but this isn't about preventing most people from obtaining the game.
Kids don't buy games because they don't have money, parents buy games for their kids because they have money and the kids ask for them. Furthermore, if they're going to try to censor video games by restricting sale, then they should ban most of what's on television for the same reasons they're stating, and for that matter restrict kids from ever going outside their homes because they'll learn to swear and learn violence from their peers, you fucking morons! Growing up I learned every filthy word I know on the streets of suburbia for fuck's sake, what do you THINK they'll learn on the streets of New York (urban, suburbs, or what have you)?
>>reflects content of various degrees of profanity
Fuck-off.
[citation needed]
It's because they've already tried the others, and either failed (music), succeeded and then failed (books, theatre), or succeeded (television, movies).
If you're thinking of porno, that's a different case.
It's perfectly legal for a kid to go buy or rent an R or NC-17 rated movie, or even the book based on that movie. Heck, you now have "Unrated" versions of movies, which go from an R to borderline porno being sold in mainstream stores.
The last I checked, movie ratings are voluntary, at least in the US. Many businesses won't carry unrated movies, mainly to discourage independents who can't afford to submit their production to the rating board. However, it's still not legal enforced that you need to get your movie rated before distribution.
TV is different, because the FCC claims that as their dominion. Nowadays, though you can do a weekly video podcast in the same style as a TV show and distribute it without a rating.
Misread that as "This legislation will strangulate the sale of such games."
I must be playing too many violent video games..
No, there is no such law. It is a voluntary restriction that retailers impose upon themselves. All such laws, for movies or video games, that have been passed previously have been struck down in courts. The same thing will almost certainly happen if this NY law gets passed as similar laws in NY have been passed and killed by the courts.
Lord Ignorant, I humbly request that it is time for you to destroy the entire global economy using an ancient technique call "Sales control"
I was talking about the Wii version. There's no voice chat there.
Video games that include acts such as violent crime, suicide, sodomy, rape, incest, bestiality, sadomasochism, racism, religious violence, and the illegal use of drugs or alcohol
Holy crap, I've been missing out on all the good games!
Seriously, what games contain this material? I haven't seen or heard of half of these things in games. To see something like beastiality in a game would just leave me disgusted, and I'm pretty desensitized!
"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." - Pablo Picasso