"Video game manufacturers are the criminals for belching out their bile and filth to young, impressionable children. This has to be stopped right now!"
Excuse me.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Ah.......okay, I think I can talk coherently now.
Hmm. Since when do impressionable children have the money to buy a computer, much less a gaming machine AND Quake 3/Diablo/The Sims? Quake 3 itself costs $60. The gaming system could cost upwards of $2000. What? Oh, the parents bought it for them. Oh, I see. So the parents aren't paying attention or taking responsibility for what their kids are doing? They sound like the criminals to me.
But as far as having games regulated like movies...raise your hand if you have ever skipped past the idiot running the ticket at a movie theater because you wanted to see T2 or something worse (rating-wise)? Come on...raise 'em high...that's right...so I guess that regulating movies doesn't work after all. HMMM. So your suggestion that we regulate games like movies (what you actually meant was regulate them like cigarettes and liquor...but wait...that doesn't work, either...there are always ways around this sort of thing) won't work either.
Anyway, I hope that your post was in jest. Because it sure made me laugh.
Making laws of this sort are unconstitutional, i.e., they prohibit interstate commerce. That's aside from the First Amendment issues (though everything, it seems, can and is being classified as a 1st Amendment issue).
However, I prefer to look at it this way: the government, in this case the IDSA, is attempting to be parents to our children. In my mind, all the parents out there should be up in arms; the idea that someone would try to TAKE AWAY some of your God-given influence on your child's life should trip every alarm in a parent's body. I'm engaged, and I'm looking forward to the time when I'll have kids . . . and this infuriates me. The government is ASSUMING THAT I'M AN IDIOT AND CAN'T TAKE CARE OF MY OWN FLESH AND BLOOD.
And for all the Anynomous Cowards out there who are saying that this "Isn't as Horrible As It Sounds," listen up: since when have you seen a movie, play or other work of art that was profound, spoke to the human condition, was deeply moving and carried a rating of PG or less?
THAT'S RIGHT, YOU HAVEN'T.
The human condition is bloody, full of sex, violence, betrayal and other horrible things. GET OVER IT. Even Disney movies contain these (though they're not usually depicted onscreen). I'm not saying that children should be exposed to these things at an early age. In fact, I'm forcefully opposed to this. HOWEVER, you cannot function as an adult without being able to handle these things.
I do want to note that I'm not placing video games up there with Milton, Homer and Shakespeare. However, I am saying that video games are treading a path toward becoming a medium for telling stories, not just releasing emotional stress. In this, there is a great, as of yet undiscovered tool for passing on values and teaching lessons: why? 'Cause kids love to play video games. If the plot's good and the game is well designed, then the lesson will be learned and passed on. But by placing blatant restrictions on games rated M by the ERSB, the creativity and imagination that could lead video games in this direction will go somewhere else.
Slashdot Mirror
Excuse me.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Ah.......okay, I think I can talk coherently now.
Hmm. Since when do impressionable children have the money to buy a computer, much less a gaming machine AND Quake 3/Diablo/The Sims? Quake 3 itself costs $60. The gaming system could cost upwards of $2000. What? Oh, the parents bought it for them. Oh, I see. So the parents aren't paying attention or taking responsibility for what their kids are doing? They sound like the criminals to me.
But as far as having games regulated like movies...raise your hand if you have ever skipped past the idiot running the ticket at a movie theater because you wanted to see T2 or something worse (rating-wise)? Come on...raise 'em high...that's right...so I guess that regulating movies doesn't work after all. HMMM. So your suggestion that we regulate games like movies (what you actually meant was regulate them like cigarettes and liquor...but wait...that doesn't work, either...there are always ways around this sort of thing) won't work either.
Anyway, I hope that your post was in jest. Because it sure made me laugh.
InvalidOp
However, I prefer to look at it this way: the government, in this case the IDSA, is attempting to be parents to our children. In my mind, all the parents out there should be up in arms; the idea that someone would try to TAKE AWAY some of your God-given influence on your child's life should trip every alarm in a parent's body. I'm engaged, and I'm looking forward to the time when I'll have kids . . . and this infuriates me. The government is ASSUMING THAT I'M AN IDIOT AND CAN'T TAKE CARE OF MY OWN FLESH AND BLOOD.
And for all the Anynomous Cowards out there who are saying that this "Isn't as Horrible As It Sounds," listen up: since when have you seen a movie, play or other work of art that was profound, spoke to the human condition, was deeply moving and carried a rating of PG or less?
THAT'S RIGHT, YOU HAVEN'T.
The human condition is bloody, full of sex, violence, betrayal and other horrible things. GET OVER IT. Even Disney movies contain these (though they're not usually depicted onscreen). I'm not saying that children should be exposed to these things at an early age. In fact, I'm forcefully opposed to this. HOWEVER, you cannot function as an adult without being able to handle these things.
I do want to note that I'm not placing video games up there with Milton, Homer and Shakespeare. However, I am saying that video games are treading a path toward becoming a medium for telling stories, not just releasing emotional stress. In this, there is a great, as of yet undiscovered tool for passing on values and teaching lessons: why? 'Cause kids love to play video games. If the plot's good and the game is well designed, then the lesson will be learned and passed on. But by placing blatant restrictions on games rated M by the ERSB, the creativity and imagination that could lead video games in this direction will go somewhere else.
InvalidOp