"So did all of the other millions of teenagers throughout time. Its apart of growing up."
I wish it were true that they all turn out "fine." That would really make all this a moot point, I agree.
I realize, as you do, the process of testing boundaries and, well, growing up. And I did many of the same things you did. I guess I just count myself as lucky as not everyone I knew turned out ok. Two died young in an alcohol related car accident which they caused. One other dropped off the map with severe drug problems.
Kids will test, it is the way to maturity, but it's still the parent's responsibility to do what they can to set boundaries, to keep their kids safe. It's a very fine line and a true "give and take" but we can't just throw away our rules becuase we know kids will try to break them.
I'm not talking about pissing away our freedoms. I have no problem if adults want to play it. I'm talking about people keeping adult material away from kids. It's a broader problem than GTA.
Are you saying that because only 20 kids were (arguably) influenced by GTA then it should be okay for kids to play? How do you feel about letting kids view pr0n? Compare the number of child-commited rapes to the number of dirty pictures on the web and you'll get and even smaller number than your 20 out of 100MM+. That doesn't make it irrelevant.
Apparantly its unacceptable on/. to suggest that anything other than "pr0n & violence for all" without being viewed as an anti-free speech nazi.
Free speech is absolutely NOT horseshit. And I don't take it lightly. Horseshit is when people scream First Amendment protection for violent games (which I totally support) and ignore a legitimate problem with kids playing them.
FWIW, I have played FPS games for years as well. Going back to Castle Wolf., and the games were not a substitute for parenting in my house either. Where they are, I agree, the family is to blame.
Thanks for reinforcing my point about piss-poor parenting. GTA is not really the fault of the industry. GTA is not a problem at all for adults. Kid's playing GTA is a problem and it's the fault of the kids' parents.
This is exactly what I was ranting about. Proof be damned. There may not be any proof that these games or TV or whatever definitively lead to criminal behavior, but common sense screams that they can't be doing anything to help kids grow up with reasonable values, respect for law, etc.
How much unequivocal proof is out there that porn is bad for kids? How many studies have statistically proven that children who play with guns end up shooting other kids? How many studies tracked 6 year old heavy drinkers to see if it harmed them in the "long-term?" Shall we repeal all laws until statistics prove their necessity?
Of course politicians have their agendas. I trust the lot of them as far as I can throw Capitol Hill. But I don't need a formal study to understand that games like GTA aren't good for kids.
Mod me "troll" if you must, but I'm sick and tired of people rallying blindly behind the First Amend. and defending crap media at all costs.
Just because people have the right to do something doesn't mean it should be done. There's a difference between what's legal and what's responsible. I'll defend people's free speech as much as the next guy, but, come on folks. Regardless of your politics, some of the crap in these games is really beyond the pale.
No way in hell I'd want my kids playing GTA
Yeah, yeah, "free speech" and "it's just a game" and all that horseshit aside, the content of these games is a horrible commentary on society. So murdering prostitutes sells? What does that say about our collective values?
The problem here, IMO, (I've been informed that I no longer have the right to refer to my opinions as humble) is that the media (games, TV, movies etc.) is giving us what we want and what we want is appalling crap. It comes down to personal responsibility, folks. This reminds me of the early 90's move towards V-chips in TV's. Handy if you abdicate your parenting responsibility and use the TV as a babysitter, I guess. If more people just monitored (cared?) what their kids play/watch and voted with their dollars by not buying, media would get the message and we would be on our way to a solution.
Sen. Clinton etal. may not have the solutions, (and I most certainly don't) but people denying that these games are problematic are at the root of the problem.
Wasn't this same article posted in 1982, 1983, 1986, etc.? (Oh, wait....)
Seriously though, I clearly recall my mother freaking out over my playing because of crap news like this back in the very early 80's when I was in 7th or 8th grade. Its amazing how this "D&D is the root of all evil" horseshit keeps coming back.
I could have told them that would happen. Really, like the whole thought that the detector would be able to tell which maxima hit the argon thingy is totally absurd. Like, duh. Um, yeah.
*quickly googles femptosecond, maxima, minima...egads...*
Nostalgia, plain and simple. I cut my teeth on a Sinclair before moving on to a TI99-4A then the Atari, but the Atari is where I spent my time. Way too much time. Because of Archon, the Infocom games, Jumpman, Seven Cities of Gold, etal., I'll always have a soft spot for my Atari system.
Oh, and I do still have my NES and Atari 2600 running as well...
Emulation is great, I have a full-blown MAME project in process, but there's nothing like playing the classics on the old iron.
As long as we're suspending disbelief when it comes to building the damn thing, why not pick a bigger crater? C'mon, guys, think big...
How about Tycho? Just think of the view with an 85,000 meter mirror. Or maybe a field of smaller craters in the neighborhood of Tycho...we could call it the Tycho Massive Array #1, or TMA-1 for short. Yeah, thats the ticket...
"Just claim your C-64, your Datassette, or your 1541 floppydisk drive are broken..."
Probably not in the case of the C-64 itself.
Provision (1) says that the software must be used in conjunction with a machine. If the computer was broken then perhaps you could use backed up bios, etc. but the machine that uses the archived software is the C-64 itself.
Slashdot Mirror
A Star Wars series will prove that Lucas' franchise is indeed the most powerful force in the universe...
what you could see with a Beowulf cluster of these things....
True enough. After all, look what happened to his empire. He couldn't even keep his flood control dams online....
the suspect was caught while searching for an altar to sacrifice the body at....
News for Nerds? Check.
Stuff that Matters? Um... Well... Oh, nevermind...
Slow news day, methinks."So did all of the other millions of teenagers throughout time. Its apart of growing up."
I wish it were true that they all turn out "fine." That would really make all this a moot point, I agree.
I realize, as you do, the process of testing boundaries and, well, growing up. And I did many of the same things you did. I guess I just count myself as lucky as not everyone I knew turned out ok. Two died young in an alcohol related car accident which they caused. One other dropped off the map with severe drug problems.
Kids will test, it is the way to maturity, but it's still the parent's responsibility to do what they can to set boundaries, to keep their kids safe. It's a very fine line and a true "give and take" but we can't just throw away our rules becuase we know kids will try to break them.
Are you saying that because only 20 kids were (arguably) influenced by GTA then it should be okay for kids to play? How do you feel about letting kids view pr0n? Compare the number of child-commited rapes to the number of dirty pictures on the web and you'll get and even smaller number than your 20 out of 100MM+. That doesn't make it irrelevant.
Apparantly its unacceptable onFree speech is absolutely NOT horseshit. And I don't take it lightly. Horseshit is when people scream First Amendment protection for violent games (which I totally support) and ignore a legitimate problem with kids playing them.
FWIW, I have played FPS games for years as well. Going back to Castle Wolf., and the games were not a substitute for parenting in my house either. Where they are, I agree, the family is to blame.
Thanks for reinforcing my point about piss-poor parenting. GTA is not really the fault of the industry. GTA is not a problem at all for adults. Kid's playing GTA is a problem and it's the fault of the kids' parents.
This is exactly what I was ranting about. Proof be damned. There may not be any proof that these games or TV or whatever definitively lead to criminal behavior, but common sense screams that they can't be doing anything to help kids grow up with reasonable values, respect for law, etc.
How much unequivocal proof is out there that porn is bad for kids? How many studies have statistically proven that children who play with guns end up shooting other kids? How many studies tracked 6 year old heavy drinkers to see if it harmed them in the "long-term?" Shall we repeal all laws until statistics prove their necessity?
Of course politicians have their agendas. I trust the lot of them as far as I can throw Capitol Hill. But I don't need a formal study to understand that games like GTA aren't good for kids.
Mod me "troll" if you must, but I'm sick and tired of people rallying blindly behind the First Amend. and defending crap media at all costs.
Just because people have the right to do something doesn't mean it should be done. There's a difference between what's legal and what's responsible. I'll defend people's free speech as much as the next guy, but, come on folks. Regardless of your politics, some of the crap in these games is really beyond the pale. No way in hell I'd want my kids playing GTA
Yeah, yeah, "free speech" and "it's just a game" and all that horseshit aside, the content of these games is a horrible commentary on society. So murdering prostitutes sells? What does that say about our collective values?
The problem here, IMO, (I've been informed that I no longer have the right to refer to my opinions as humble) is that the media (games, TV, movies etc.) is giving us what we want and what we want is appalling crap. It comes down to personal responsibility, folks. This reminds me of the early 90's move towards V-chips in TV's. Handy if you abdicate your parenting responsibility and use the TV as a babysitter, I guess. If more people just monitored (cared?) what their kids play/watch and voted with their dollars by not buying, media would get the message and we would be on our way to a solution.Sen. Clinton etal. may not have the solutions, (and I most certainly don't) but people denying that these games are problematic are at the root of the problem.
Denial ain't just a river.
Wasn't this same article posted in 1982, 1983, 1986, etc.? (Oh, wait....)
Seriously though, I clearly recall my mother freaking out over my playing because of crap news like this back in the very early 80's when I was in 7th or 8th grade. Its amazing how this "D&D is the root of all evil" horseshit keeps coming back.
Next we'll be back on the Proctor and Gamble has satanic symbols on their product witch hunt..."The guy (Coto parallel) builds the friggin Taj Mahal for you, but it's built on the crappy foundation the first guy laid."
This may be more insightful than you thought as the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum.
This gets modded "insightful?"
Tell me, which was the insightful bit, "it just doesn't matter" or "Utah is a screwed up place?"
Sheesh.
Mod me up "informative" for calling bullshit on this. Yikes.
I could have told them that would happen. Really, like the whole thought that the detector would be able to tell which maxima hit the argon thingy is totally absurd. Like, duh. Um, yeah. *quickly googles femptosecond, maxima, minima...egads...*
"...water that close to the equator should have melted by now.."
ITYM sublimated, not melted.
Slashdot: Where no innocent error can go uncorrected...
"Food of the Gods"?
Nostalgia, plain and simple. I cut my teeth on a Sinclair before moving on to a TI99-4A then the Atari, but the Atari is where I spent my time. Way too much time. Because of Archon, the Infocom games, Jumpman, Seven Cities of Gold, etal., I'll always have a soft spot for my Atari system.
Oh, and I do still have my NES and Atari 2600 running as well...
Emulation is great, I have a full-blown MAME project in process, but there's nothing like playing the classics on the old iron.
Archon is one of the main reasons why I still have my old Atari 800XL hooked up and working.
If that doesn't qualify me to carry a geek license, nothing does....
I just hope they don't over-engineer it. It was the simplicity which made the game addictive. Ah, how I loved that unicorn...
Everyone who's anyone knows that Grandma Gertie is the rap-mp3-file-sharing-overlord....
Steganography vs. Steganalysis
Wasn't this the sequel to Godzilla vs. Mothra?
As long as we're suspending disbelief when it comes to building the damn thing, why not pick a bigger crater? C'mon, guys, think big...
How about Tycho? Just think of the view with an 85,000 meter mirror. Or maybe a field of smaller craters in the neighborhood of Tycho...we could call it the Tycho Massive Array #1, or TMA-1 for short. Yeah, thats the ticket...
This thread is wreaking major havoc on my productivity. Major Havoc? Arrrghh...must...play.....MAME machine....
"Just claim your C-64, your Datassette, or your 1541 floppydisk drive are broken..."
Probably not in the case of the C-64 itself.
Provision (1) says that the software must be used in conjunction with a machine. If the computer was broken then perhaps you could use backed up bios, etc. but the machine that uses the archived software is the C-64 itself.