General Discussion

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/new-york-game-law-unconstitutional-/1232102

Like I need to stake a claim for any support in these forums.. but man does this shit piss me off beyond belief.

I turned on the TV the other day, on regular cable television and happened to turn on CSI: Miami. I became witness to 6-7 young kids with their hands bound behind their backs, gagged and blindfolded, being executed via gunshot to the back of the head. One by one, crying and screaming. I flicked the channel and I was watching an 'infomercial' about a fabulous weight loss supplement, for a low low price of 19.95, plus Shipping and Handling.

Then you can walk into any normal movie rental store and rent some of the sickest, twisted and vilest crap ever to be seen by human eyes, via so-called film.. and there are many of those. Yet, these fools must crusade against video games, for reasons yet unknown to me.

This is unconstitutional, main reason being that its on the backs of those who pay tax. This shoddy crap of a ruling suggests a new forced rating system on top of the already existing one. One that works quite well in my humble opinion. So why do they do this? Why do these crusaders continually try to disrupt my hobby, one that I enjoy, one that allows me to experience some of the most beautifully rich stories and adventures that I will never find in any book, or in any movie? I don't know, so I would like you to discuss.

/rant

Well, the law just tries to enforce parental controls.

-Age ratings on all games.

-Parental locks on consoles.

-Research on the effects of minors exposed to violence.

Unless there is more legislation I didn't read about, I see nothing wrong with this really.

I'm getting tired of people pointing to the constitution as the holy grail of wisdom and as an excuse to let their kids watch murders / horror / rapes, w/e in the name of freedom. GTA is a good example of this.

I'm sorry but I see nothing wrong with this legislation.

Originally posted by Waterlily

Well, the law just tries to enforce parental controls.

-Age ratings on all games.

-Parental locks on consoles.

-Research on the effects of minors exposed to violence.

 

Unless there is more legislation I didn't read about, I see nothing wrong with this really.

I'm getting tired of people pointing to the constitution as the holy grail of wisdom and as an excuse to let their kids watch murders / horror / rapes, w/e in the name of freedom. GTA is a good example of this.

I'm sorry but I see nothing wrong with this legislation.

 

My point of all this is fairly simple. Wasted time, wasted money and meaningless blame.

We're talking people trying to lay blame on video games for violent crime. If anyone is willing to believe this, then I present you with this:

The crusades. Mass suicide. Child sacrifice. Genocide. In the name of, religion. More people have been killed in the name of God and the Bible (Insert any religious text) than any other medium ever conceived in the history of man.

Ahh, so the answer must be that these people are simply crazy and delusional. So their actions are limited to their inherent disability.. religion has no effect on them. No, sir.. golly gee whiz, it surely don't have any effect.

^ So to believe that, you have to believe it to be true for any medium. Book, movie, game or sport, etc.
Games don't cause violence, people cause violence. The only thing that forces your hand, is your own self, nothing more.

"I'm getting tired of people pointing to the constitution as the holy grail of wisdom and as an excuse to let their kids watch murders / horror / rapes, w/e in the name of freedom. GTA is a good example of this."

I'm also quite sick of people pointing out GTA as the sole representative of all games. "A good example of this.." A good example of what? The game is rated mature, it should be treated as such. Also, last time I checked, I was pretty sure that Censoring rights and free speech was abusing the constitution. How do you call GTA an abuse of the consitution when it is you who abuses your own rights, blindly.

Originally posted by aeroplane21

The crusades. Mass suicide. Child sacrifice. Genocide. In the name of, religion. More people have been killed in the name of God and the Bible (Insert any religious text) than any other medium ever conceived in the history of man.

Ahh, so the answer must be that these people are simply crazy and delusional. So their actions are limited to their inherent disability.. religion has no effect on them. No, sir.. golly gee whiz, it surely don't have any effect.

Ok, this is where you loose me and where people are going overboard.

It's an age limit on explicit sexual and violent content.

Tell me what is wrong with this from a pragmatic standpoint. Nothing as far as this legislation goes.

People using the constitution for arguments sake to overule any legislation every single time in the name of 'their freedom' while it's firstly not about  personal freedom but about the welbeing of their children is something that I don't agree with.

The game ratings are in place. The only thing this is going to do is waste time and money. It will just burden the game companies and you the consumer as developers get the shackles.

I definitely agree with you that children should not be playing games like GTA and the like. Well, thats not anyone's fault other than the parents. Every store I go to checked my ID for mature games when I was younger, so it does work and it works just fine. We certainly don't need to attach a ball and chain to game studios because some people can't take the responsibility to monitor their children's lives.

these kinds of "laws" have been proposed and shot down all over the U.S. thus far and i dont think they'll ever hold water in a true court.

That there are more pressing issues where one could devote time on than this I agree on.

I don't agree with every point you made, but I do understand where you're coming from.

<3

Crusading against video game serves as much purpose as the fight against gay marriage.

Blaming video games for anything in society makes as much sense as blaming movies. If kids want to learn violence they just need to turn on CNN, unless people have actually forgotten that this world rolls from one war to another. The fact that it is the video games fualt your kid is violent in school, or your kid knows how to use a gun, or your kid is a sociopath who hog ties kids who call him "gay" and anally rapes them with the nuzzle of a shotgun before he kills them. God forbid it has something to do with the fact that this kid has psychological issues, and access to a rifle because of your piss poor parenting, no, it was that mission in grand theft auto 4 that gave him the inspiration and the tools to carry out his act of mental depravity. Damn those sick bastards at Rockstar games for damaging todays youth.

Seriously, if you are a parent reading articles like this and nodding your head in agreement, that video games are too violent and are to blame for the downfall of youths today, not only blamed, but taken to the extent that the government, and not YOU should be taking steps to raise your kid you need to be euthanized, or at the very least castrated, because people who think like that shouldnt be allowed to breed.

We have violent movies, violent video games, violent music. And if your kid isn't smart enough to know, what is just for entertainment, what is just words, what is just something to experience and not act out, then you fucked up and haven't given this kid enough parental input to help him develop a morale compus. Do you know what i would fight for instead of Ratings, Censorships and bans on video games.. equal charges for parents and kids when their kid walks into their school with berretta and blows away have his class room because dad thought the best place for the gun was under the kitchen sink. This is one of the few topics that actually piss me off just hearing it discussed.

Another I still find it ridiculous the way people rank things these days. These ESRB ratings have devolpers afraid to push the envelope. Look at age of conan as the prime example, first game to promise nudity, and sex and when the time came to deliver they back down, not only that they started patching the little nudity they did include.

It is amazing that people will accept rampant death, and wanton murder (that is what most grinding in mmo are, randomly killing animals and people for any minor reason given) but the idea of nudity and sex offends them. This stigma on sex in society is ridiculous, on the hierarchy of bad things, Sex trumps violence. Whether or not you want to see nudity and sex in a game is not the argument, but the fact that people are so morale against it, just shows what our values are today, procreation bad.. ending life, not good, but acceptable as long as we don't have to witness procreation. You may not agree with that last statement but if you look at how people get riled up at the thought of seeing sex or nudity in a game you will see there is subtle truth in the statement.