Just so you know i did know there was no R rating for games in Australia, the R rating was refering to the movies.
What i should have said was this:
The person who started the rumor obviously knew nothing about the classification system in Australia. Austrialia very rarely gives out RCs for games and movies or even R ratings for movies.
The Bobo doll experiments don't hold any water. Hitting a Bobo doll in a lab controlled enviroment isn't the same as hitting a person in real life with intent to hurt them. For one thing Bobo dolls are meant to be hit and everybody even kids know that, and aggressive play is far different from real life aggression with intent to harm. For instance kids after watching a wrestling match or some violent R rated action movie will play wrestle or pretent to shoot one another with fake guns or there fingers afterwards, but they don't really intend to hurt one another. It's just play. I did it all the time when i was young kid.
I don't see how anyone could have thought that Half-Life 2 would be banned in Australia. If SOF and SOF 2 could get passed totally uncut with the MA15+ rating then HL 2 definetly would. The person who started the rumor obviously knew nothing about the classification system in Australia. Austrialia very rarely gives out RCs or even R ratings for games and movies. I'd say 90% of films and games rated 18+ in Britian and rated R/M in the U.S are given a MA15+ and sometimes even a M15+ down in Australia.
This PSA is hardly a 'Get out the Vote' commercial. It's a single-minded attack on the Bush Adminstration. I have no problem with this type of juvenile, unfunny material, but the writeup deliberately misleads and deceives on what this is.
It's not just "highly critical", it's just a minute long blame-Bush screed.
A better title would have been "Vote out Bush or Don't Bitch".
Agreed, i don't care for Bush too much if at all, But the Democrates are just as bad if not worse. IMHO, both parties suck but at least the Republicans aren't trying to turn the U.S into a nanny state were the governemnt controls every aspect of our's and our children's lives.
Actually in Manhunt you kill psycotic gang members that are out to kill you. I don't think there are any innocent civilians or people you can kill at all in the game unlike the GTA series.
I agree, if SOF & SOF 2 can get by uncut with a M15+ rating then i'm damn sure HL2 will.
Aussie censors seem to have more of a problem with sex in games then with violence. Which of course brings up an entire other problem which i don't need to get into in this thread.
It's an opinion. It's damage in the eyes of some parents.
Again junk food, pop and Harry Potter books hell even the Bible can be considered damaging to their children in the eyes of some parents. The fact is parents can find something damaging within almost eveything out there. But this doesn't mean that these things need to be legislated. As i've said before, parents have every right in the world to take these things away from their kids if they want to, but we don't need laws for it. Do you want to get I.D'ed ever time to buy a coke at the corner store?
It's an opinion. It's damage in the eyes of some parents.
Once and IF it can be proven that the supposed damage caused by violent video games to youth is real throught strong consistant empirical evidence i will agree with regulations. Until that time though if parents think these games can damage their children in some way they have every right in the world to take them away from their kids themselves if there kids get ahold of them.
Maybe not, but it's not as if there isn't precedent.. is this same reason we don't let kids into R movies by themselves, that we don't let them watch porn?
The R rating isn't enforced by law in the U.S. It's a voluntary rating by the MPAA meant to guide parents. As for porn, porn is only meant for one thing and one thing only, sexual gratification and arousment. Also porn doesn't have any artistic, literary, scientific, political or historical merit to it. Therefore Porn is not considered free speech and can be regulated by the government. On the other hand violence within the story lines of video games, movies, and books almost always have some sort of point and message to send.
That is also a good way to not teach them the value of money. Part of teaching them how money works is to give them some, and let them decide how to get the things they want, rather then just buying them the things they need.
O.K, then you should know what your kids are spending their money on (this is true even regardless of there being violent media or not). If you see your kid come home with a big bag saying EBGames or Wal-Mart, check contents of said bag to see what they bought.
People have got to stop comparing the selling of alcohol, cigerettes, porn and guns to violent video games. For Christ's sake people there is a huge fuckin' difference between those thing and violent games. And if you think otherwise you must be a absolute moron like that idiot who said GTA 3 was 10000 times worse then paedophilia.
Do violent video games cause cancer, give you lung disease, make you smell like shit and give you bad breath. Does playing violent video games make you drunk, stumble around like an idiot, lower your perception of reality, and destroy your liver. Do violent video games contain scenes of hardcore sex acts that are only meant for sexual gratification and arousement. Do violent video games have the power to severely injure or kill other people in real life. If violent video games can do any of those things then I'll say we can start restricting them.
"Now would be the time to grow up people. Stop seeing Big Brother everywhere you look. Parents want to protect their child against some material, but since there are technologies they don't understand, they don't always know how to apply control."
Better to educate parents to help them rather then restrict access to material through regulation. Just my opinion.
There a Huge difference between alcohol (which gets you drunk, lowers your perception of reality) and driving (which can lead to accidents and death and injury) then there is with fake violent video games that have yet to be proven to cause any harmful effects on minors.
I'll tell you what, if you can provide me with some clear-cut empirical evidence that playing violent video games will somehow damage youth then I will believe every word you say and be on the front lines with you in trying to restrict these so-called evil sadistic video games from getting into the hands of minors. Until that time though, I maintain that this is solely a parental issue only and not a governmental or societal issue.
At least when it comes to junk food and pop, there is some strong empirical evidence that it has a harmful effect on kids what with causing diabetes, obesity and hyperactivity.
bwd234, i totally agree with you man and i'm a 22 yo adult. Freedom of speech applies to everybody redardless of their age or whether they are a an adult or a minor.
I believe it is up to the parents and only the parents to decide what entertainment material is or isn't appropriate for their children Period.
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Just so you know i did know there was no R rating for games in Australia, the R rating was refering to the movies.
What i should have said was this:
The person who started the rumor obviously knew nothing about the classification system in Australia. Austrialia very rarely gives out RCs for games and movies or even R ratings for movies.
My Mistake.
The Bobo doll experiments don't hold any water. Hitting a Bobo doll in a lab controlled enviroment isn't the same as hitting a person in real life with intent to hurt them.
For one thing Bobo dolls are meant to be hit and everybody even kids know that, and aggressive play is far different from real life aggression with intent to harm.
For instance kids after watching a wrestling match or some violent R rated action movie will play wrestle or pretent to shoot one another with fake guns or there fingers afterwards, but they don't really intend to hurt one another. It's just play. I did it all the time when i was young kid.
I don't see how anyone could have thought that Half-Life 2 would be banned in Australia.
If SOF and SOF 2 could get passed totally uncut with the MA15+ rating then HL 2 definetly would.
The person who started the rumor obviously knew nothing about the classification system in Australia. Austrialia very rarely gives out RCs or even R ratings for games and movies. I'd say 90% of films and games rated 18+ in Britian and rated R/M in the U.S are given a MA15+ and sometimes even a M15+ down in Australia.
Jesus Christ you mean the party in power in France right now is right-wing. I'd hate to see what your left-wing parties are like.
This PSA is hardly a 'Get out the Vote' commercial. It's a single-minded attack on the Bush Adminstration. I have no problem with this type of juvenile, unfunny material, but the writeup deliberately misleads and deceives on what this is.
It's not just "highly critical", it's just a minute long blame-Bush screed.
A better title would have been "Vote out Bush or Don't Bitch".
Agreed, i don't care for Bush too much if at all, But the Democrates are just as bad if not worse. IMHO, both parties suck but at least the Republicans aren't trying to turn the U.S into a nanny state were the governemnt controls every aspect of our's and our children's lives.
Actually in Manhunt you kill psycotic gang members that are out to kill you. I don't think there are any innocent civilians or people you can kill at all in the game unlike the GTA series.
I agree, if SOF & SOF 2 can get by uncut with a M15+ rating then i'm damn sure HL2 will. Aussie censors seem to have more of a problem with sex in games then with violence. Which of course brings up an entire other problem which i don't need to get into in this thread.
Yeah! Christian bashing. You can't go to one forum without that being in there. Sigh.
It's an opinion. It's damage in the eyes of some parents.
Again junk food, pop and Harry Potter books hell even the Bible can be considered damaging to their children in the eyes of some parents. The fact is parents can find something damaging within almost eveything out there. But this doesn't mean that these things need to be legislated. As i've said before, parents have every right in the world to take these things away from their kids if they want to, but we don't need laws for it.
Do you want to get I.D'ed ever time to buy a coke at the corner store?
It's an opinion. It's damage in the eyes of some parents. Once and IF it can be proven that the supposed damage caused by violent video games to youth is real throught strong consistant empirical evidence i will agree with regulations. Until that time though if parents think these games can damage their children in some way they have every right in the world to take them away from their kids themselves if there kids get ahold of them. Maybe not, but it's not as if there isn't precedent.. is this same reason we don't let kids into R movies by themselves, that we don't let them watch porn? The R rating isn't enforced by law in the U.S. It's a voluntary rating by the MPAA meant to guide parents. As for porn, porn is only meant for one thing and one thing only, sexual gratification and arousment. Also porn doesn't have any artistic, literary, scientific, political or historical merit to it. Therefore Porn is not considered free speech and can be regulated by the government. On the other hand violence within the story lines of video games, movies, and books almost always have some sort of point and message to send.
That is also a good way to not teach them the value of money. Part of teaching them how money works is to give them some, and let them decide how to get the things they want, rather then just buying them the things they need. O.K, then you should know what your kids are spending their money on (this is true even regardless of there being violent media or not). If you see your kid come home with a big bag saying EBGames or Wal-Mart, check contents of said bag to see what they bought.
People have got to stop comparing the selling of alcohol, cigerettes, porn and guns to violent video games. For Christ's sake people there is a huge fuckin' difference between those thing and violent games. And if you think otherwise you must be a absolute moron like that idiot who said GTA 3 was 10000 times worse then paedophilia. Do violent video games cause cancer, give you lung disease, make you smell like shit and give you bad breath. Does playing violent video games make you drunk, stumble around like an idiot, lower your perception of reality, and destroy your liver. Do violent video games contain scenes of hardcore sex acts that are only meant for sexual gratification and arousement. Do violent video games have the power to severely injure or kill other people in real life. If violent video games can do any of those things then I'll say we can start restricting them.
"Now would be the time to grow up people. Stop seeing Big Brother everywhere you look. Parents want to protect their child against some material, but since there are technologies they don't understand, they don't always know how to apply control." Better to educate parents to help them rather then restrict access to material through regulation. Just my opinion.
There a Huge difference between alcohol (which gets you drunk, lowers your perception of reality) and driving (which can lead to accidents and death and injury) then there is with fake violent video games that have yet to be proven to cause any harmful effects on minors.
I'll tell you what, if you can provide me with some clear-cut empirical evidence that playing violent video games will somehow damage youth then I will believe every word you say and be on the front lines with you in trying to restrict these so-called evil sadistic video games from getting into the hands of minors. Until that time though, I maintain that this is solely a parental issue only and not a governmental or societal issue. At least when it comes to junk food and pop, there is some strong empirical evidence that it has a harmful effect on kids what with causing diabetes, obesity and hyperactivity.
bwd234, i totally agree with you man and i'm a 22 yo adult. Freedom of speech applies to everybody redardless of their age or whether they are a an adult or a minor. I believe it is up to the parents and only the parents to decide what entertainment material is or isn't appropriate for their children Period.