So we know that video games are getting more popular, and that there are more graphic ones available. This is a simple stastical matter. Thus, if there was a causal link between kids playing these violent video games and being more violent, we'd expect to see an increase in youth violent crime.
The questions are anything but simple.
These sophisticated, visceral, video games which draw the player deep into street level violence and celebrate a gangster life-style are something new.
There is historically a tendency for americans to romanticize their criminal sub-cultures, and middle class kids can be among the most naive and suggestible.
The social divide between players and non-players of these games is deep and dangerous. Mrs Clinton is a centrist politician by american standards, with important consistencies and contacts in both the inner city and the suburbs. That ought to have been taken as a warning.
You can't look at these games as descendants of Doom or Half-Life, and I suspect you cannot even place them on the same plane as the morally ambiguous stealth shooters pioneered by Rouge Spear.
Okay, but what can they do? With the first admendment in place all they can seemingly do is pressure retailers? I'm sorry, but with the most violent games getting the best sales can this really effect the market long term?
You bet it can.
The Hays Production Code (ca 1930) was adopted by all the major studios and rigidly enforced for twenty years. Production Code.
Pre-Code films played on infatuation with the gangster culture of Prohibition and the sexual license of the 'twenties, but tended to spin out of control, like Hollywood's real-life scandals of the era.
The Great Depression made the past decade look not only frivolous but malign and the studios had to respond, and respond quickly, to the change in atmosphere.
POTS doesn't need a death watch yet, but it's certainly moving that way.
TeleGeography's own survey concluded that 30% of U.S. broadband subscribers have never heard of VoIP and that only 30% of online households would consider replacing a landline if "automatic" 911 was not part of the service. (June 15th)
I wish I could just purchase a car without all of that extra safety shit and roll the dice on whether or not I survive. In return, I get a car with a huge discount. But noooooooo, the Big Government wont give me that option. So I must pay the "safety tax"
even a relatively minor traffic injury can cost you serious money these days: in uninsured medical expenses, higher insurance premiums, time lost at work, and so on.
Maybe there is such an insane law, but without actual reference to it I'll assume there is not and live without fear of discarding a USPS shipping envelope unused
Personally I have no problem with Police enforcing laws, it's just when they go for the easy, (relatively) harmless, money-grabbing ones to the detriment of rapes, murders, assault, criminal damage, etc. that I have a problem.
Consider this:
Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for all age groups from 1 through 34 years. Almost half of all traffic fatalities are alcohol-related, and an estimated 40% of all persons in the United States may be involved in an alcohol-related traffic crash sometime during their lives. Current Trends Alcohol-Related traffic Fatalities - United States, 1982-1989
>i>A good first step would be to shut off analog TV and radio. That bandwidth is too valuable for us to just sit on
That is not going to happen while hundreds of millions of people, billions world-wide, still depend on radio for entertainment, news, education and emergency services. Bringing radio to rural Africa
The difference is the advertising, not the product
The difference is in the services you provide and how they are marketed:
For example, direct links to files. Search engines that make it dead easy to locate and retrieve DVD rips, etc. Ratings systems and other schemes that insure a "quality" download...
It won't be any one thing that brings you down or keeps you in the clear. But if you walk like a duck, and quack like a duck...
I don't care that Britannica might be more reliable because I don't have the money to pay for it, and Britannica doesn't carry articles on many topics that I care about (e.g. I was learning about XML on Wikipedia today)
learning implies something more than skimming through texts that happen to be convenient.
What society accepts is based on the majority of the population. If the majority of the youth accept something, it stands to reason that society will as well once they grow up and take over the positions of power.
This assumes, first, that the majority of the population is young, and, second, that the values of the young remain unchanged as they grow older, marry, have kids, and so on.
if a vendor sold a PC with any major linux distro preinstalled...
Take a look at the revolving-door display of Linux systems at Walmart.com. Try to find one with a matching printer and monitor, a half-way decent pair of speakers...
I think this is what should be worrying every gamer. You can't help wondering what Rockstar and others have in the pipeline...when the next shoe will drop.
I do not want the M rating to become synonymous with rape-torture-kill. I do not want sexual themes in gaming to be defined by the mysognistic gang culture of Grand Theft Auto. I do not want to see the modding community disappear because development tools, game assets, and code have been locked down tight.
The voluntary ratings system is hanging by a thread and Rockstar continues to poison the water.
It is time to stop blaming the parents and the politicians for the Hot Coffee fiasco and take a look at what has been happening closer to home.
These people need to realize that we gamers are a much more powerful force, financially speaking, than they are with their holier-than-thou moralism
I wouldn't take any bets on that.
Not that it matters. Hot Coffee took GTA back into the political arena, where Rockstar stumbled badly at the start and took a butt-kicking from the pros.
So it's OK to jack cars, attack and kill people to steal their moneytake work as a hitman, blow police, etc., etc. But having sex is very very bad, and bullying is beyond the pale
The gangster games appeal to a young male demographic and to no one else.
"Proof beyond a reasonable doubt" is the standard for conviction in a criminal trial. In civil cases, you only need to show that "the weight of the evidence" is on your side.
That said, the simplest and most plausible explanation is the one a jury is most likely to accept.
Slashdot Mirror
The questions are anything but simple.
These sophisticated, visceral, video games which draw the player deep into street level violence and celebrate a gangster life-style are something new.
There is historically a tendency for americans to romanticize their criminal sub-cultures, and middle class kids can be among the most naive and suggestible.
The social divide between players and non-players of these games is deep and dangerous. Mrs Clinton is a centrist politician by american standards, with important consistencies and contacts in both the inner city and the suburbs. That ought to have been taken as a warning.
You can't look at these games as descendants of Doom or Half-Life, and I suspect you cannot even place them on the same plane as the morally ambiguous stealth shooters pioneered by Rouge Spear.
How many Slashdot "conversion" stories have begun like this? The authoritarian (Dare I say patriarchal?) streak in the Geek makes me itch.
I an not in the business of harassing correspondents who use Office formats, 100% of the total in our line of work.
You bet it can.
The Hays Production Code (ca 1930) was adopted by all the major studios and rigidly enforced for twenty years. Production Code.
Pre-Code films played on infatuation with the gangster culture of Prohibition and the sexual license of the 'twenties, but tended to spin out of control, like Hollywood's real-life scandals of the era.
The Great Depression made the past decade look not only frivolous but malign and the studios had to respond, and respond quickly, to the change in atmosphere.
TeleGeography's own survey concluded that 30% of U.S. broadband subscribers have never heard of VoIP and that only 30% of online households would consider replacing a landline if "automatic" 911 was not part of the service. (June 15th)
the odds are not all that good:
Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for all age groups from 1 through 34 years. Almost half of all traffic fatalities are alcohol-related, and an estimated 40% of all persons in the United States may be involved in an alcohol-related traffic crash sometime during their lives Center for Disease Control - Current Trends Alcohol-Related traffic Fatalities - United States, 1982-1989
even a relatively minor traffic injury can cost you serious money these days: in uninsured medical expenses, higher insurance premiums, time lost at work, and so on.
so the guys in down in shipping heve taken to reading Slashdot?
Time spent in the mail room can be instructive:
Prized for portability -- possessed illegally
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/25/TampaBay/Prized_ for_portabilit.shtml" a>Prized for portability -- possessed illegally"
Did the Intrepid and the van have the same mass, the same center of gravity?
Consider this:
Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for all age groups from 1 through 34 years. Almost half of all traffic fatalities are alcohol-related, and an estimated 40% of all persons in the United States may be involved in an alcohol-related traffic crash sometime during their lives. Current Trends Alcohol-Related traffic Fatalities - United States, 1982-1989
I'd be laughing harder if Florida had lost the competition.
That is not going to happen while hundreds of millions of people, billions world-wide, still depend on radio for entertainment, news, education and emergency services. Bringing radio to rural Africa
Conspiracy theories are for losers.
To a CEO you sound like a whiny little kid always looking for excuses when you pitch these tales of woe.
The third world is multilingual almost by definition.
The difference is in the services you provide and how they are marketed:
For example, direct links to files. Search engines that make it dead easy to locate and retrieve DVD rips, etc. Ratings systems and other schemes that insure a "quality" download...
It won't be any one thing that brings you down or keeps you in the clear. But if you walk like a duck, and quack like a duck...
learning implies something more than skimming through texts that happen to be convenient.
This assumes, first, that the majority of the population is young, and, second, that the values of the young remain unchanged as they grow older, marry, have kids, and so on.
Take a look at the revolving-door display of Linux systems at Walmart.com. Try to find one with a matching printer and monitor, a half-way decent pair of speakers...
I think this is what should be worrying every gamer. You can't help wondering what Rockstar and others have in the pipeline...when the next shoe will drop.
I do not want the M rating to become synonymous with rape-torture-kill. I do not want sexual themes in gaming to be defined by the mysognistic gang culture of Grand Theft Auto. I do not want to see the modding community disappear because development tools, game assets, and code have been locked down tight.
The voluntary ratings system is hanging by a thread and Rockstar continues to poison the water.
It is time to stop blaming the parents and the politicians for the Hot Coffee fiasco and take a look at what has been happening closer to home.
I wouldn't take any bets on that.
Not that it matters. Hot Coffee took GTA back into the political arena, where Rockstar stumbled badly at the start and took a butt-kicking from the pros.
The state has the right to limit the sale of pornography to the red light district of your local adult book store. It has the right to demand ID.
Interesting to see a Slashdot post defending the constitutional rights of big business.
The gangster games appeal to a young male demographic and to no one else.
The word "customer" is usually associated with the word "paying."
"Proof beyond a reasonable doubt" is the standard for conviction in a criminal trial. In civil cases, you only need to show that "the weight of the evidence" is on your side.
That said, the simplest and most plausible explanation is the one a jury is most likely to accept.