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All Video Games Cause Aggressive Behavior, Say Two US Congressmen
Fluffeh writes with news that U.S. Congressmen Baca (D-CA) and Wolf (R-VA) have proposed a bill that would require most video games to have a warning label decrying their "potential damaging" long-term effects on children.
"Under the one-page Violence in Video Games Labeling Act (PDF), packaging for all video games except those rated 'EC' for Early Childhood would be required to prominently display a message reading: 'WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior.' The proposed label would be required even if the video game in question is not violent."
War causes violent behaviour too, but no congressman as ever putting a bill against, have they?
Thank FSM someone is finally thinking of the children!
I'm glad to see the parties finally getting together on a public ground in the best interests of the public. This is just the kind of cooperation that we need to see so people can move on from partisan bickering. Very progressive.
Oh, wait...
Exposure to politicians has been linked to aggressive behaviour.
Shouldn't TV come with the same warning then?
That means they can't possibly be wrong, right?? Are they still worried about the effects of Doom on the kids of today? I hear Bart Simpson is a really bad influence as well, and those Teletubbies...straight from Satan himself, there to make your toddler catch Gay.
How about "Congress has been linked with corruption and abuse of power" for any campaign Ads?
They should have to provide a warning message before they speak.
For this to be important all other problems must have been fixed. So I am happy to know that there is no more pollution, the economy is fixed, everyone has a job and health care. I bet they even fixed the education system, before coming up with this little gem.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
Violent video games may cause aggressive behavior in a subset of individuals, likely already predisposed to said aggressive behavior.
The same argument was made about violent movies and the now more prevalent incidences of school shootings. I content that the movies didn't make the kids violent; they were already that way and probably should have had help beforehand.
Then our elected officials should cease playing video games. We might actually stop bombing half the planet when we don't get our way :|
[citation needed]
No matter how many sings you put up, the general public WILL NOT READ THEM. You have "No Solicitor" signs, yet you still get people trying to sell you stuff. You put up "No Outside Food Or Drink", yet you still get people bringing it in. You put health warnings on Cigarettes yet people still buy them (because they don't care). These signs won't do anything that the ESRB labeling system hasn't done already. These Congressmen are trying to score political points by doing nothing.
They can have their unsubstantiated warning sticker when all politicians are forced to wear a tiepin that says 'Power Corrupts'.
Or do these Congressmen support Big Hollywood peddling their ultra-violence directly into our CHILDREN's homes????
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I propose a law that requires all books, even those not having any sexual content, to carry a big label "WARNING: books with erotic content have been linked to sexual excitation"
I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
Make sure if you go after the Pong recreation competition to get your warning!
The violent nature of humans causes violence.
If you take this logically through:
All video games promote violence.
Therefore Games -> Pong -> Wii Sports -> Table Tennis -> Real Tennis -> Violent person.
For the EC argument -> Let's go with Track and Field to start... that has 'spears'.
We should start the bill to outlaw Sports in general because only sedentary people can be peaceful.
The article goes on to point out that "link" between video games and violent behavior was established by a now retracted statement by the APA, and it has since been shown that a link only exists when previous mental health problems exist...It's nice to see Congressmen stay up-to-date on recent advances in medical knowledge when they propose bills!
And there is at least as much evidence that all political office causes dishonesty.
WARNING: Exposure to X has been linked to aggressive behavior.'
x ==
movies
TV
playgrounds
school
religious texts
alcohol
relationships
capitalism
life
I played violent video games throughout my childhood, and I turned out fine! And anyone who says any different is asking for a beat down!
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
The last time I played pong, I had a nasty violent outburst and beat my girlfriend senseless. I'd like to thank politicians for controlling my life and preventing me from enjoying any future video games.
When we look at two objects, one close to us and one distant, say, 100 feet, our eyes reconfigure to see the distant object as clearly as possible. But when one looks at such two objects presented on a screen, eyes don't need to tune to the (virtual in this case) distant object anymore. While movies have the same problem, they aren't interactive, and aren't so much demanding for our eyes as, say, a racing game would be (where one needs to contantly look "far forward".) This is why I would offer 2d (or at least flat 3d) human-computer interaction to children.
Exposure to video games leads to aggressive behavior. Its true. No matter what the game, if its frustrating, you might throw the controller up against the wall.
Warning: Video Games are Known to Cause...
Go ahead, put it on the boxes. You know that kids will still be buying them anyway (same way that 9-year-olds are buying games rated for 13+ right now), and that mommy and daddy will buy them for their kids for Christmas just as well.
The impact from the warning on those boxes (that you keep at home and rarely see - and doesn't even apply to e.g. Steam downloads) is even less than the warnings on cigarette boxes (comparison suggested in article) which are visible any time one grabs one of the ~20 in the pack, which is often around others.
( Of course there's companies that sell sleeves that block off the warning. )
So clearly keeping people from buying them can't be the goal. So what is? Financial ruin by trying to get Walmart not to sell them? Hardly an issue to begin with (not the only games sellers) and Walmart wouldn't shoot themselves in the foot that much. Some manner of legal liability? But having the warnings on there should mean people can no longer blame the game devs/publishers, no? They could just point to the government-mandated warning that little Johnny could go to school and mow down his classmates after playing that game, not their fault they bought it for him anyway.
Baca and Wolf just wanted their names out there for political reasons, is my best guess so far.
Maybe there's a nuance in liability that I missed - that would still be the most likely ulterior motive.
The other day I was driving to return a DVD and I crashed my car into a lamp post because the cops were chasing me. I quickly jumped out and ran to the nearest car and pulled the guy out of it. After beating him to death with a club and stealing his money I returned my DVD to the store. Without video games I may have never had the inspiration I needed in order to avoid a costly late fee on my DVD.
argh, I meant 3d instead of '33'. Sorry.
--some of those slide tackles are pretty nasty.
org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
[citation needed]
It's true though! Two of the largest murdering rampages in history (in Russia) were caused by the killer playing Tetris!
The Russian government tried to cover it up though. You can use me as a citation for this. The World needs to know the truth!!!
Joy. it's Tipper Gore and Joe Lieberman all over again.
I propose that all legislators be forced to wear a 'Hit Me' decal on their forehead.
After a session of Brain Age, I blacked out. When I came through, I was in an alley, my skin has a green tint to it and there was blood on my shirt. Someone later told me I killed three people! I don't remember any of this. I just remember the frustration I felt when I was using Brain Age and... wait. Think happy thoughts! Think happy thoughts!
Ok. I am alright again.
Just don't get me started on Wii Fit! Oh gosh, it is starting again... $#*@%!
WARNING: Politicians have been linked to the creation of useless, pointless, and harmful laws.
It's false, but it obviously will not change consumer behavior. Hell it might even help shield the games industry from litigation from Jack Thompson 2.0 or the like.
Cigarette warning labels (displayed on an actually harmful product) are not effective. Experts think it is because they make cognative statements, rather than emotional ones... Personally I think you could require cigarette to be packaged directly in cancerous lungs, and require smokers to recite a complicated emotional sonnet declaring that they are thowing their lives away in; and you might impact the market by 1%.
You put up "No Outside Food Or Drink", yet you still get people bringing it in.
From what I've seen, these notices on the door of a movie theater is there to make it easier to enforce alcohol bans. If movie theaters enforced such notices strictly, they'd get lawsuits from some diabetes advocacy group.
Isn't this contrary to what most actual studies have shown? Besides this is just a colossal waste of time, every single "violence in video game" labeling laws that have been passed in California and several other states have *ALL* been thrown out at the state supreme court level.
I think it's been conclusively proven since the congressman questioned the Secretary of the Navy about the danger of capsizing Guam that US Congressmen are really the stupidest creatures on the planet.
And, as Senator Dodd pointed out, they don't even have the sense of a reliable whore to stay bought when they've been purchased.
Seriously, they bring each other up on ethics charges, as if our opinion of them could get any lower?
-Styopa
HKO, otherwise known as Hello Kitty Online, caused my 10 year old daughter to piss in a sandbox.
Please, WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?
With the way they're going about this, it looks like they're trying to create their own self-fulfilling issue. Make a bill so pants-on-head retarded that it's going to cause justifiable outrage among the people who enjoy video games. Then they can point to said outrage, claim it's aggressive behavior, and say, "See!!! We told you so! Games make people violent!!!! Won't you think of the children????????"
My guess is that it's a fluff measure. When it comes up for a vote, they'll try to attach some truly heinous garbage (cavity searches at security checkpoints, anyone?) so they can make sure it goes through with a minimum of fuss. Although I hope what really happens is the whole thing gets laughed at before being chucked in the trash, and the two clowns who wrote/sponsored it get censured and voted out of office.
"So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
Two liars lied. Big fucking deal.
"Welcome to our world. We are the wasted youth. And we are the future too." Yes, I know these are stupid lyrics.
There are three arguments:
1. They're right, and labels should be added.
2. They're wrong, and labels shouldn't be added.
3. It's not their jurisdiction.
The most distressing part of news items like this is that the third argument is so frequently overlooked.
Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. - John 14:6 NLT
What real-world effects does this have, if any (crime rates are certainly not going up)? How severe is the effect? Which individuals does it affect? I've only heard of temporary aggressive behavior.
So does that darn rock music these kids listen too..look at this song, its like they want these kids breakin the law!?
Well, I'm not braggin', babe, so don't put me down
But I've got the fastest set of wheels in town
When something comes up to me, he don't even try
'Cause if it had a set of wings, man, I know she can fly
Just a little Deuce Coupe with a flathead mill
But she'll walk a Thunderbird like it's standin' still
She's ported and relieved and she's stroked and bored
She'll do a hundred and forty in the top end floored
"The videogame industry should spend more money bribing congressmen, like the other entertainment industries. Then we'll start sucking up to them instead of picking on them."
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
I remember in the early 80s when people tried to label Ozzy Osbourne albums with similar nonsense. It only made me want the records more :)
totally messed me up as a child I now jump up and down stairs and make little noises and try and find little things to squash.
assignment: x =
comparison: x ==
There, fixed that for you.
I suppose they should put labels on beer that it causes aggressive behavior. Then a note on cigarettes warning that quitting smoking can cause aggressive behavior. Then go to all of the parents that they convinced should feed their children Ritalin and let them know it causes aggressive behavior. Then visit the gym and let them know. Finally, top it off with letting them know that lying politicians can also cause aggression in the constituents that voted for them.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Before each Congressmen spoke show the following slogan: "Beware of the Congressmen, my boy, as they only talk crap in their ignorance"
Congress always likes unworkable solutions to the timeless problems of children reading undesirable material or teenagers having too much sex. How about the radical idea of Congress concentrating on problems of war and peace, the economy, or environmental issues.
Do congressmen never realize that it is bullying, and not violent games, that is the primary cause of school shootings because congressmen have a natural tendency to never listen to people?
This is ridiculous, if we acted like computer game characters we'd all have spent the 80's running around in darkened rooms, popping pills and listening to repetitive music.
Blazing Spiders
like, whatever bro, he's right. healthy activities like sports don't promote violence at all. like football or hockey. bro!
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
Every single episode of uncontrollable rage in my life can be attributed to Tetris.
There is nothing more diabolical in this life than building a perfect Tetris foundation sans only a single empty column, just waiting for that angelic 1x4 piece to maximize your score, building higher and higher, only to crash and burn in a sea of demonic malevolence - TAUNTED BY THE KNOWLEDDGE THAT THHHEE VERRRY NEXT PIECSSE WAS THE ONE THAT WAS NEEEEDED.
GGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THHHATT 1X4 TRUCK CUT ME OFFFFFFFFF II WILLL HAVVEE MY VEEENGGEAAANCE
All Congressman cause violent behavior, says 2 video game players.
---Fixed it
- Unsubstantiated link of violent video games and aggressive behaviour
- Request to put warning on all video games (except those for 3yrs old and younger)
This has to be something they tasked an intern with.
Video game popularity rises, violent crime drops.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I am totally up for labeling public schools as well.
"Warning, entering here will cause violent behavior"
I'm so glad that Congress has finally solved all of the tough economic issues and budget concerns so that they can get back to the really important issues that everyone wants them to focus on... Oh, wait...
Mario Kart has caused endless strife and violence in my experience. But not nearly as much pain and suffering as Parker Brothers' Monopoly(r), which is not even a video game but tends to bring out the worse in people.
How many thousands of families has Monopoly(tm) destroyed?
You know what really causes aggression? Being human. Emotions are a big part of who we are. A child wanting a toy, will cry, complain, misbehave and get violent. Anyone playing sports will have feelings of aggression. Anyone doing anything competitive in life will feel aggression.
I think we should question those of us who think aggression is bad, such as the government. Now lets think for a second, Why would the government want you to be pacified for life? Could it be that they have an interest in keeping the masses from rising up against them? Perhaps they dont want proactive people who are motivated to make a change where change is needed? Perhaps they dont want a competitive public, and only want sheep?
Perhaps their goal is to ban videogames so people dont feel what its like to triumph in life?
Perhaps their goal is to destroy whatever is left of our economy, by eliminating the game industry?
Perhaps they want to stop the 1 or two children that act out in life due to a videogame? Is it really worth penalizing 100 million people, for the actions of 3 and the potential actions of 3 more?
You know what really causes aggression? Liars in public office, that get rich off lobbies money, and create wedge issues to get lobbyists to pay them even MORE money. I suspect when a few of these clowns receive their bribery checks, they will stop picking on video games. Funny that one in california... where they make games and entertainment isnt it?
The government rape of industry will continue, and you will continue to be the sheep you are bread to be.
My sons (7 and 9) have been exposed to video games for a good year now, mainly Wii and Nintendo DS ("The Tendo").
My tentative summary: All is fine as long as they play short duration games, like Sports or Mario Kart, where a games lasts only a few minutes.
But it's different when they play games with a story that swallows them, like Zelda or Lego Star Wars. I'm convinced that these games do mess with their minds. Sometimes it takes them the rest of the day to get back out of the game. They don't respond any more. OK, this is probably normal between kids and their parents, but there's more: After a game they are overexcited and hyperactive, they can't focus on a single thought, they have headaches, they scream and shout, they tell us that they hate us and they look as if they mean it. Sometimes I can almost see fangs grow on them.
I guess it's because we take away their super powers when we tell them it's time to switch off. And the worst part is they realize how they are (namely aggressive) and they're obviously not happy about it. But of course they want to play again ASAP. This is highly unsettling form a parent's pov.
You can argue whether this is really as bad as it looks from my perspective, but IMHO these are clear symptoms of addiction and negative side-effects. I have come to believe that video games are unhealthy (to some extent) at a young age and would have liked to keep them away from gaming for a bit longer, and feed them football, hide-and-seek and some healthy mud-digging instead. The kids appear much more sane (and happy, and human) after some real-world activity. But of course you can't help them gaming if daddy owns a Wii, and everybody else in school boasts with their elder brother's gadgets.
In order to mitigate the symptoms we have agreed never to play longer than 30 minutes per day in our family. This has helped a bit, but only quantitatively. The outbursts of aggression have become rarer but not less harsh.
Say out loud: I'm an Aspie and I'm somewhat proud, I guess. Uh. Can I write an email in all caps instead? Hm...
I can see posting the warning message on violent video games. But on all video games?
Isn't that kind of like requiring an anti-smoking warning be stuck on all oranges when sold by corner stores that carry cigarettes?
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
... is solved like the budget, tax reform, repairing the infrastructure of the nation, fixing problems with education, etc. We can all turn our attention to those nasty video games. Joy of joys.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/16/survey-97-percent-of-chil_n_126948.html
Or is it the other way around?
Or maybe it is a two way street.
Politicians have killed more people than video games ever will.
Sure, they can do this - right after they put one on every Bible. I can't think of many things more "linked to aggressive behavior" than that set of fairy tales...
So.... which video games have Messrs Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove et al been playing?
I suspect Mr Clinton's favourite was Leisure Suit Larry....
BM3
Baca aka Baka, and we all know what that means. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/baka#Noun_5
Politicians with their dumbfuck ideas, Orwellian beliefs, lies, greed and hypocrisy bring out the worst in me.
If I had my way, every politician on the planet would be lined up against a wall and shot.
Link to violence? By whom? Some quack? Can anyone go around linking cause and effect? As far as I know, no study has conclusively linked violence to video games. And a few have shown the exact opposite, in that violent video games give people an outlet to vent.
He was first elected in 1982, promising to retire from the Congress after 6 terms. That would have been 1994. He's still there, 18 years, and 9 terms after he'd pledged to retire. So much for his word. His OTHER interests are Tibet, Stopping Internet Gambling, and pork (in the form of road construction funding for his district). How do I know this ? I'm a citizen of Virginia's Tenth Congressional District. Somebody: Dems, Greens, Libertarians, Tea Party: PLEASE run someone to replace this clown...
on every politician?
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Then again, Congressmen are potentially damaging, and much more so. I think they should be branded.
There's more sex and violence in the Bible than most Christians know. If they want to remain consistent with their morality, then I'll accept a warning label on video games when the Bible is considered to be pornography.
For those not visiting grocery stores in the State of California (USA), you don't have the privilege of seeing these signs posted everywhere...
WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
This is because of a silly law created by lawyers called Prop 65. So as a totally defensive measure, grocery stores sellling food in CA all have these signs which apparently do three things:
1. Satisfy the "inform the consumer" portion of the law to help the store avoid liability (aka CYA).
2. Give no information at all about what the specifics or scope of the problem with a particular product or how to avoid it.
3. Train consumers to ignore the warning such warning signs.
Since there is no penatly to post the sign even if the chemical exposure is minimal or none, all stores post this to satisfy #1. This would be funny, if it wasn't just all sad...
I think this Prop 65 label is essentially equivalent to the proposed Violence in Video Games Act labeling requirements. Lots of political grandstanding, no actual effect. I predict all games published by large, even those that might be "EC" will include this label to avoid lawsuits, and it'll just become one of those things that are generally ignored.
For example, who pays attention these warnings on the Nintendo Wii...
1. Sit or stand as far from the screen as possible.
2. Play video games on the smallest available television screen.
3. Do not play if you are tired or need sleep.
4. Play in a well-lit room.
5. Take a 10 to 15 minute break every hour.
Don't worry, people have to endure all sorts of extraneous labeling requirements without causing the end of civilization. A link to some these to cheer you up... This link has some pretty good ones too...
The congressmen are not the morons. The voters are.
You see, congressmen do stupid things like this to get the votes. See the connection there?
Once they have the votes, they can work on their actual political agenda (usually some form of protectionism of the entrenched upper class). Now and then, they do stuff like this to make sure they get the votes again the next round.
The congressmen get it, apparently better than you.
The people who's votes are being played for, by this move, are in a demographic that is largely unconcerned with the value of your house (or, by extension, the current state of the real estate market).
Playing sudoku always makes me want to punch the guy sitting next to me on the bus.
When they post congressmen and senators they should list their ages along with their party affiliation. That way you know when they are old fogies and walked uphill both ways in snow to the capitol building when they were younger.
-Xen
The chat function in modern (XBox and later) video games does foster an environment of hostility, because the slurs come freely in multiplayer games.
Just look at what happened to fighting games (see Penny Arcade's coverage). Now racism and sexism are "normal" talk amongst fighting game players. As a kid who grew up on Street Fighter and the like, that was never acceptable -- mainly because you played against people face to face and couldn't just talk crap, and you played games in public, in an arcade, where you had to maintain civility or get kicked out.
These days, trolls in the confines of their basements can spew any kind of hateful speak and get away with it, because the people they are playing against are a million miles away. We all know how ugly that can get.
But is that the fault of games? No. The same thing happens with anonymous discussion turning ugly in public forums on the Internet. You could make the same argument against any medium where people have real-time anonymous chat, not just videogames. It just so happens the videogames are the biggest example of this, so they bear the burden of being "violence causers".
Games don't cause violence, but the social chatting element that is a part of all modern games can lead to it. We all joke about raging after getting chewed out because we've all experienced that kind of burning hatred, and sometimes we want to do it ourselves and say hateful things to others.
Football also causes aggressive and violent behavior. Jocks beating up the video game playing nerds.
Or rather, I would like it if they would narrow the scope to games that really are violent. That way, I don't have to waste time reading the boxes of any games that don't have the label.
In fact, when both sides get behind something it is usually not a good thing.
I'll stab his b@stard face!
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
You mean you get door to door lawyers in your neighbourhood?
Its the litigeous society GONE MAD!!!
(capacha "visited" - how appropriate!!!)
Under this theory we should ban all flight simulators especially this one as it causes people to fly planes into buildings... or at least put a sticker on the front stating "WARNING: CAN CAUSE TERRORISM"
You have a sick, twisted mind. Please subscribe me to your newsletter.
Whoever said anything about politicians being the best?
They are just well-connected, wealthy, and power-hungry. That is the basic recipe of a politician. The rest is just details.
I have been TAing for physical chemistry labs these past two semester and this bill does what students consistently do when writing lab reports (not surprising when you think about it) and which drives me crazy - it makes statements without citing literature/data to back up claim. This is ridiculous, no journal publisher would accept such thing - why should this be even considered!
Also you'll note the abstract inaccurately describes what the Bill is doing - "To require certain warning labels to be placed on video games that are
given certain ratings due to violent content." - Unless I a missed it no where does it say something relating to "...given certain ratings due to violent content." All I found was if a game is rated then it gets labeled.
What other baseless material is clogging up our government. I mean I do not care if you agree with me - at least provide evidence to back up your statements! (and don't blatantly lie on the summary). I would suggest creating a body like journal publishers to weed this crap out - but the gears already grind too slowly...
How about placing a significant HEALTH WARNING at each airport's body scanner instead? That would be a truly real warning.
What do we care what these two loons say. All they're gonna cause me to do is donate money to their competitors then next time they come up for election.
In other news a warning label has to be attached to each religion saying that it can cause violent behaviour and the occasional genocide.
This does not make any sense. What would an old shitty ass republican who's life is about passing bills, know about video games? Do they ever play any video games, if so, according to them, they should be kicked out of congress for being too violent of a person. Old shitty people in their 50's and 60's should not have the right to pass any sort of tech bill, it is unethical and it would be like asking a 10 year old child if we should go to war or not. We have the wrong people passing bills, there should be a ( Tech ) congress with younger aged gamer's and computer engineers/designers that are in charge of passing tech bills, at least they would understand wtf the bill is about.
I propose a bill that whenever "Congressman" is used as a title, it must be accompanied by the following: "Warning: Exposure to public office has been linked to stupid behavior" Of course, we'd also need to find independent data to support it... Oh wait! We can just use a US history book!
video games...
yeah, because they are
I wonder what we will blame when we turn old and conservative.
It's pretty obvious. Cell phones with cameras plus facebook.
It has been found that nearly all agressive violent offenders have been exposed to food.
In fact, those who had never been exposed to food were almost uniformly very passive.
Want proof? Well, just note how political ads ( and most other commercials) make adults stupid
Ok, Congressman Wolf is from Virginia, but Joe Baca is the congressman from a district in California just east of LA. We're talking about companies whose workers are probably his constituency. How is it that the fact that video games employ large numbers of people in the state of California not helping keep idiocy like this from happening?
Our government has been reduced to blackmail and corruption. They introduce bills to blackmail the the corporations for monetary contributions so they can be re-elected.
Blow away the smoke and mirrors and get in tune with what they are really trying to accomplish here.
After racing my son in Mario Kart, I had a strong urge to throw the *^%@# controller across the room. Fortunately I'm mature enough to control my temper, and instead handed the wheel to my wife and told her "YOU can race him on Rainbow Road".
A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
"If All Video games cause aggression, Then All Congressmen are liars."
Oh wait thats inaccurate.
"All Congressmen are liars."
There thats better.
Only if we get warnings on vote ballots, informing us that voting for a congressmen means pissing away our rights and electing somebody who is tackling the wrong issues we need dealt with by our elected officials.
Defender of Microsoft and Communism!!!
Warning: Misleading broadcasts have been linked to stupid legislation. This program may contain misleading statements and false claims. Please conduct careful research before assuming the content shown/heard is accurate.
I think the decrease is violent behavior could be caused by one of two things,
1. Women have more say and tend(in my experience) to be less violent or at least preach non-violence
2. The young hot heads with the will and genes for aggression and violence have been running off to war and dying for the past few generations.
Causing these genes to be less prominent in the gene-pool. (note: in the past like 100's or 1000's of years ago this didn't happen due to the large amount of raping and pillaging that used to happen after successful combat, yes yes this may still happen but it does not happen on home soil anymore hence the reduction)
Disclaimer:
Obviously these are meant to be largely inflammatory, however I do wonder if there may be a hint of truth to it.
I'll give you $7.50
I am getting so angry at these stories.
In school, I seem to remember another sort of game that DOES inspire violence, American Football. In fact, I have been physically and verbally attacked by football players and fans alike quite frequently.
The worst a gamer (as in video games) has ever done to me is whine...
Are they trying to get more video games sold? Might as well write "WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to getting laid." If I saw a game that would cause "aggressive behavior" I would totally want to buy it even more! Isn't that why kids do drugs and drink under age? Cause it's cool to do things you're not supposed to do. If you really want to stop them from buying the game write that it's linked to boredom, or linked to having your Facebook account automatically deleted. That will surely teach them.
I wonder if there's any (rational) basis for exempting games with an "EC rating". Especially if there are examples of such games which are "violent" in some way or other...
There should be a warning label on all games:
Warning, contains government propaganda and social behavior modification goals.
Congressmen seem to spout offensive and inane comments on a regular basis. We should protect our children from exposure to congressmen! Personally, I'd just throw the whole lot to jail, but possibly could settle for some sort of arrangement where they have to shut up and donate money to UCLA and/or EFF every time make a stupid and/or bigoted suggestion.
Just video games, huh? From what I've seen in life, any game of any type results in aggressive behavior. Go watch some little kids playing checkers or "go fish", you'll see it in action.
People shouldn't be indoors playing those competitive video games that put you all on edge and make you so aggressive.
They should go outdoors and do some traditional non-competitive, non-aggressive activity, like buy a rifle and shoot animals and stuff.
How does a gun-toting country ban video games for being too aggressive?
I think my head is exploding.
I am anarch of all I survey.
The important question is: Has it?
We should replace the juvenile "pics or it didn't happen" with a more adult and badly required meme: "Sources or it's not true."
And in more depth: there are two questions here. One is: "has it?" and the other is: "is this link disputed or has it been independently repeated?"
I find our society in a very sad state regarding how we deal with easy questions. We KNOW that faith, magic, miracles, prayer, herbs and folklore don't make planes fly, computers work or factories produce stuff. We know what does. Why do we still apply methods PROVEN TO HAVE FAILED US to the questions of our life?
If I would be king of the world for one day, I would pass a meta-law making it a requirement for every new law to list in plain english the assumptions it is based on and the sources that show these assumptions to be true. That's it. No requirement for the sources to actually check or or be undisputed, I think we can sort that out ourselves, and many questions in politics are too complicated for simple solutions. But this tiny bit of evidence would reveal many of our politicians to be the gut-driven, ignorant fools they actually are. And prove to us that a random 9 year old could do most of their job.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
They want to use the word linked, sadly, I cannot seem to find the study that links tetris to violence in children. Legislators should think before they try to get ALL products in a specific category labeled with a disclaimer. Positive Example: UK's 'Smoking Kills' there is research that links tobacco smoking to health issues. There is not, however well-documented, and supported claims that ALL video games support violence in children. It's like saying ALL Mexicans support illegal immigration (or maybe like saying that most of them do, before you conduct a poll).
-KJ4IPS(forgot-my-username)
What's the big issue?
Another one of those dumb congressmen wants a stupid sticker label on a video game, just get the sticker on and give the dumb folks at congress something else to waste their time and your money on.
Leaves to aggressive behavior. See what I just did there?
While I believe such a label is unnecessary, and ignoring the lack of logic behind such an approach (I do not believe that the Surgeon General's warning on cigarettes has slowed smoking), would it not make more sense to put the warning on games that are rated as violent? Otherwise, the labels will become like banner ads, which most people have learned to tune out.
Also, what are they fighting? It has been stated in earlier comments that the link between video games and violence is questionable at best. Perhaps they are fighting the perceived increase in violent crimes. If we are to believe wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States), violent crime has been stable or on the decline in past ten years. So, if there is the perception of an increase, it is probably due to the 24-hour news stations filling air time, so we hear about more crimes while the actual number is declining.
And (these points may have been made in previous posts), didn't they, back in the 1950's, claim that "Rock and Roll" music caused similar behavior? What about violent movies? How about caffeinated beverages? Alcohol (they have too strong of a lobby in Washington, so they will never be labeled like games)? Where will it end?
"If Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."
Yes, tetris and all it's line erasing is an absolute blood fest.
Want to see anti-social aggressive behaviour, just go look at sports. Sports actively cause competition, which is the direct cause of aggression!
How will the poor children of the world ever experience Hello Kitty's Adventure Island now? =(
IT Professional.
because the democrats want to take our guns
Didn't Penn & Teller already debunk the violent video games myth on their Showtime BULL*! show? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SgM_acEsqw
Gresham's Law of economics says that bad money tends to drive out good; and similarly bad politicians drive out good. There are substantial and sensible "liberal" and "conservative" arguments to be made about policy for all important issues facing the US and the world. But the people who could make them, and if elected, would attempt to run more sensible policy, aren't willing to have their lives wrecked.
Cry the Beloved Country indeed.
Before I put a label on anything, they are going to have to prove it's actually true first.
The overlabeling of everything as harmful is a general symptom of the dumbing down of the world; however, another symptom is illiteracy. Therefore, by the time this idiocracy reaches peak stupidity, everything will be labeled but nothing will be read.
Life finds a way to resolve its own problems.
Three Step Plan:
1. Take over the world.
2. Get a lot of cookies.
3. Eat the cookies.
"morons that hold public office has been linked to aggressive behavior"
It's not the ones in public office driving this, but pseudo-science social constructionist ideologues in the soft sciences at universities. They have tunnel vision for purely cultural explanations of behaviour, and so therefore, any violence in society /must/ have been taught to children who "internalised" it. Then, looking around, it seems obvious that violent media /must/ be the the cause. So... given they know that violent media is the cause, they then study it "scientifically", and jump up an down when they produce results that -- lo and behold -- validate their preconceptions.
Criticism of this research is never taken seriously in large part because it challenges a greater world-view that is behind radical views on gender roles. So if you look at "scientific review" articles in the literature, you will find criticism and alternative views conspicuously absent. This, of course, find, since these people often promote the post-modern criticism of science: there are not facts anyway.
It is all rather sad an pathetic -- esp. when you have to get the supreme court to label the "science" speculative. I wrote an essay analysing the discourse surrounding violence and the media which contains plenty of references to both sides of the story.
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
Here's the deal, people are getting ruder, budgets are getting tighter, parents are parenting less, the world sucks.
You add that to the fact that most people deal with customer serving jobs, it makes them more ticked off, they get yelled at, low wages, treated like crap.
If they have kids, there's a good possiblity that the attitude and frustration / aggressive build up / energy of these people is flowing in their home.
That means they're shorter tempered, their tone is more agressive etc.
So their kids pick up on it, get more violent and aggressive.
Personally, if I didn't have video games to blow off some steam, I'd likely drink and do it then, or next time some jerk cuts me off or throws something out of their car at me, I'd ram them off the road, literally.
But fortunately, I have other ways to deal with stupid ****king people.
You can't pass a bill against ***holes, and that's the one thing you need.
This is something I've been thinking about for a while so I'm just gonna throw out my idea below if the filters will let me:
A True House of Representatives
From the earliest Ancient Greek Democracies sortition, or the random selection of office holders, was used to ensure the fairness and equality of the society. The ancient Athenians distrusted elections as they believed that elections would only be won by those who were already rich, powerful and/or popular. And that the average citizen was quite capable of discussing and deciding on the topics of the day. If fact only about 10% of their public officials were elected into office. These were offices that required special training or skill such as treasurers, military generals, and those in charge of the water supply.
Today, we still use this process to select our Juries for court cases for much the same reason that the Greeks did.
It should be obvious to most observers that our current political situation has become extremely polarized and beholden to special interests.
I believe that selecting our House of Representatives by sortition could go a long way towards alleviating some of these problems. By selecting random Americans we will get a better representative cross-section in the House. This could increase the political vitality of the House. Getting new and different people into the political sphere should also feed up into the Senate and the Presidency as those that serve well will get noticed and elected to these higher offices.
We would eliminate the need to campaign and with it the need for campaign money for House elections. Think about that for a second. No longer having representatives voting with campaign funds on their mind.
My proposal for doing all this?
In January of even years each House District randomly selects 48 candidates from registered voters over 25 years old currently living in that district. After months of learning about their candidates the public will vote, on the standard Election Day, for their top eight. Whether the voters get one vote, eight single votes, eight weighted votes or some other process will be up to the states. Once the top eight candidates are selected the current incumbent's name is added to the selection pool and the Representative randomly is picked from these nine.
FAQs
What would the qualifications for candidates be?
The current qualifications as laid out in the constitution are : each representative must: (1) be at least twenty-five years old; (2) have been a citizen of the United States for the past seven years; and (3) be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state they represent. Members need not live in their districts.
The easiest way to implement this idea would be to add that candidates must be selected from registered voters currently living in the district.
What's to keep some random bozo from becoming my representative?
First, it should be noted that the whole purpose of this plan is to get a wider cross section of the population involved in the legislature of the country. Secondly, voters would have 10 months to learn about their candidates and then vote out the least qualified among them.
Wouldn't getting selected be a huge burden? Wouldn't I lose my job for disappearing for two years?
Well putting patriotic and civic duty aside. Representatives currently earn $174,000. Or almost 4 times the median household income in the US. So for the average American being selected would practically be like winning the lottery. Also, laws could be enacted similar to those protecting the jobs of jurors or national guard troops that are deployed.
Why add the incumbent back into the selection pool?
Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. -Commissioner Lal
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, avid gamer
(yeah, google translate.. Still, it's readable)
It's The Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules."
that gave me violent tendencies was "Ninja Gaiden: Black" for the Xbox.
I got so freaking angry at that game I nearly threw my Xbox out of a window. Those save points were just cruel and unusual punishment.
However not limited to video games, online video games, particularly of the console variety with voice is the cause of stuff:
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19
Since when is aggression a bad thing? I get violence being bad. But aggression?? I always viewed aggression as being the opposite of passive. Can we get the following label instead.
'WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to non passive behavior.'
I thought maybe going to War over nothing made kids violent, I thought maybe pushing kids to draft so they can die for a country who doesn't care about them makes them violent. I thought bullying in schools made kids violent, maybe school shootings maybe low income, maybe rRacial issues make kids violent. No No it's video games, thank god someone solved this.
You know back before the Atari 2600 that my brother and I got when we were younger, we fought just as much over board games as we did over video games, I pose that all games encourage aggressive behavior.
For that matter every activity you can imaging poses potential for "doing ones best" which could be considered aggressive. Apply the same to business, businesses and companies should have a label of the same. Oh and Congress. I'm sure no Congress(person) ever got to Congress by not being aggressive in their campaign.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
High-density development, the consequent lack of green spaces, as well as a cut-throat competitive work environment also contribute to aggressive and violent behavior. Does this mean we should abolish cities? I know, let's just eliminate human society! That'll be a win for everyone!
You know, just like all tax cuts for rich people trickle down to the plebes. Right?
Right?
*crickets*
I would like to congratulate our congressmen on making REAL progress!
It's AMAZING to find a SINGLE-PAGE bill! Maybe a layman can even understand most of the language!
Unfortunately, the bill had to be about total fucking rubbish.
The good news is eventually in 5-10 years you'll have congressmen who DO play video games. Just don't hold your breath, most of 'em are freshmen now.
But they haven't banned cats yet either. http://www.parasitesinhumans.org/toxoplasma-gondii.html
Someone ought to slap a big warning label on all american newborns.
WARNING! Your newborn may eventually get sick, get beat up in school, bullied in school, get depressed and become an alcoholic.
It really blows my mind that americans aren't suing each others over this daily. Oh wait, they are.
Also, some fence posts are used by some children as toy swords, so all fence posts will have to be individually labeled as potentially damaging to children.
Goddamnit, you shitheads, didn't any of you learn the lesson of Califuckedupia's Proposition 65's ubiquitous (and therefore meaningless, and therefore WORTHLESS) warning labels that something or another in, on, or around the premises may cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm? They're everywhere, on everything, therefore they are ignored, and hence constituted a massive waste of everyone's time and money.
Might as well require single engine prop planes to fly, dragging banners in every language behind them, whenever the sun is up, warning people about the dangers of UV radiation!
A lot of useless bs stuff here...
Exposure to siblings, especially younger siblings, can lead to violent behavior.
Under the one-page Violence in Video Games Labeling Act
Finally, a law short enough that people can actually read it and know for themselves exactly why it is a bad law.
Well, there's Ron Paul ...
...but the moronic utterings of US Congressmen on subjects they have zero knowledge about cause more aggression than a lifetime of playing games.
greedy and selfish legislation has been linked to rioting in the streets
but apparently congress does not see fit to take action on that either.
Aggressive games make better Cannon Fodder.
I'm just not stupid enough to do it myself.
This is true.
I played 120 seconds of Farmville to try it and instantly wanted to kill thousands of people. Thankfully my friends were there to talk me down.
We shouldn't even mentioned the Bejewled incident, or Tetris. Oh, the horror, the horror...
The world "All" should never be used when describing a group. But hey, let me give it a shot.
ALL congressmen are retarded idiots with their heads up their butts.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
Another brick in the wall...another two US Congressman playing games. Life is a gamble itself in many ways. You can't help but play it. Aggressive behaviour originates from within a man, not from a video game. Its not worth the label, a waste of time and stupidity to the computer age with its vibrant freedom, creativity and fun.
aggressive behavior may include breathing, moving autonomously, and thinking. Anything that threatens the stultifying effects of decades of forced fluoride and mercury poisoning needs to be examined, guarded against, and stopped with byzantine legislation so complex that even lawyers get confused reading it.
striker