NationStates Jolt Archive

A realativly self-explanitory thread caption. What is your stance on the Video Game industry as a whole? Should Video games be regulated or just banned outright?

A realativly self-explanitory thread caption. What is your stance on the Video Game industry as a whole? Should Video games be regulated or just banned outright?

Regulated a bit (we don't want to make our kids bloodthirsty) but for the most part, free.

Video games should only be sold with a doctor's prescription, no more over the counter sales. Plus the controlers should come with trigger locks and should be unpluged from the console and stored in a locked vault when not in use to prevent kids from using them on their friends.

Seriously though, there shouldn't be regulations on videogames other than they shouldn't cause epileptic seizures.

Regulated a bit (we don't want to make our kids bloodthirsty) but for the most part, free.
Why? We already impose a ratings code. We did this voluntarily. The government did not have to say a word. Do they regulate movies beyond ratings? NO. Even though many movies are much worse than video games, including GTA.

Regulated a bit (we don't want to make our kids bloodthirsty) but for the most part, free.

Video games do not actually cause violence. The study was done by a Orginazation biased against Video games.

they should be regulated to the extent that they already are. stupid parents shouldnt buy their kids Manhunt for christmas, cos its rated 18. duh. why not get them reservoir dogs on dvd too?

videogames kick ass, we need more of them and less of this DRM nonsense.

they should be regulated to the extent that they already are. stupid parents shouldnt buy their kids Manhunt for christmas, cos its rated 18. duh. why not get them reservoir dogs on dvd too?

videogames kick ass, we need more of them and less of this DRM nonsense.

You killed my thread....

Video games are just fine where they are. NO BANNING VIDEO GMES!

I like my SOCOM, even though it's unrealistic.

You killed my thread....

sorry... maybe if we start flaming random people someone will respond. HIlary Clinton, probly only sticks with Bill cos shes a secret lesbian anyway. thats why shes pissed at videogames, cos shes frustrated by a lack of cock that isnt monica lewinsky flavoured.

You killed my thread....

http://www.council-of-elrond.com/forums/images/smilies/murderer.gif

Anyhow, ratings fine as is.

It is the parent's job to regulate what the kids are playing, NOT the government's. If the current system helps them do it, great. If not, then they don't need to use it and can just be responsible for it themselves. Personally, I don't put much stock in the system...

Then again, I'm much more liberal about what I think kids should be allowed to do than most people are. I know that my daughter, at age 2, can tell the difference between "pretend" violence on TV and real violence in real life. She's not at ALL hardened to it. Hey, if she notices that I'm sparring someone in my karate class, she gets VERY upset and yells "stop it, mommy! stop it, stop it!" Specially if it's my husband I'm fighting. But then again, she tells me to stop it if I so much as raise my voice at him - or vice versa. I'd rather have her watch that junk on TV than tellytubbies, or barney which would try to brainwash her into liberal idiocy. :D

If there wasn't a demand for them, nobody would make them. Kids like games with violence because they thrive on conflict and self-promotion in their youth; an aspect of them that modern society does not eliminate in education.

The video games industry is no more at fault than any other aspect of commercialism in this respect. There is a market for games like that, so naturally it will be filled, just like there are markets for alcohol, gambling and whatnot.

In my opinion, games like GTA are not a cause of a decline in social standards but rather a symptom. Blaming the symptoms and solely fighting those can only postpone the conflict with the disease, often with harmful results in the end, and this is one illness that the west will need to come to terms with eventually, whether it likes it or not.

The rating system in place now is pretty good, but it just needs enforcement. I once heard of a case where a shopowner refused to sell an M game to someone who was obviously under 17 and then got chewed out by the kid's mother. The real problem, of course, is when parents buy the bad games for their kids...

sorry... maybe if we start flaming random people someone will respond. HIlary Clinton, probly only sticks with Bill cos shes a secret lesbian anyway. thats why shes pissed at videogames, cos shes frustrated by a lack of cock that isnt monica lewinsky flavoured.

Wow. You really did kill the thread right there.


The video games ratings are fine. I'm 15, but my parents let me play M games all the time. Not because they're ignorant or don't care, it's because they know I'm mature enough. It all depends on the people who are playing the games and who lets them. Jack Thompson is out of his fuggin mind.

All the court cases where a kid was "influenced" by GTA is absolute and utter bullshit. They're using the game as a scapegoat and they know it.

I like how it is in my country. The age rating is just an advice for parents and not binding in any way.

"Why not just ban all forms of entertainment?" states frantic mother Penny Gilda. "Everything and anything provides our children with access to some form of violence or inappropriate gestures. The government has to ban all entertainment in order to save our sanity!"
[Accept]

I feel that the current legislation is fine, and that people should complain about it less, as it's enforced just as much as in films nowadays.

"Why not just ban all forms of entertainment?" states frantic mother Penny Gilda. "Everything and anything provides our children with access to some form of violence or inappropriate gestures. The government has to ban all entertainment in order to save our sanity!"
[Accept]
Wait, is that from an issue?

Wait, is that from an issue?

Don't know.
Just wrote it.

Don't know.
Just wrote it.
Oh.

"Why not just ban all forms of entertainment?" states frantic mother Penny Gilda. "Everything and anything provides our children with access to some form of violence or inappropriate gestures. The government has to ban all entertainment in order to save our sanity!"
[Accept]

I wonder how many people experimentally clicked Accept.

Regulated a bit (we don't want to make our kids bloodthirsty) but for the most part, free.

Bloodthirsty? I challenge you to show me a single scientific study that shows a statistically significant relation between violent videogames and real life increases in aggression.

We are looking at an old yarn used to scare parents into voting for "family friendly" candidates. We've seen it in the music industry with every generation since Elvis(you could argue that the scaremongering goes back as far as early Jazz and Robert Johnson's blues), we saw it with the Comics Code and the demise of EC comics in the fifties, we've seen it with the Hayes Code and the MPAA's rating system, We saw it with television and the V-Chip. Videogames are just a new technology to target.

Anyone who has taken a basic class on sociology, social psychology, criminal justice, or abnormal psychology can tell you that the factors which lead people to engage in violent activities are many and varied. Hell, a good look at crime statistics in the US shows violent crime decreasing for over a decade, decreasing during the exact same time period as more violent videogames have become popular.

The rating system in place now is pretty good, but it just needs enforcement. I once heard of a case where a shopowner refused to sell an M game to someone who was obviously under 17 and then got chewed out by the kid's mother. The real problem, of course, is when parents buy the bad games for their kids...

Why? No, really, why is it a problem that a parent might make a choice different from the choice you would make? Why do the ratings need enforcement, do we need a massive Nanny state standing over us telling us what is and is not ok to consume, what we can and cannot buy for our children? Sorry, bub, the government exists to protect me against criminals and invaders, not myself.

Hey, concerned parents. Go to the FBI (federal buaru of investigation, for you non-Americans). Acording to them, youth crime is at its lowest ever recorded. Yeah, I guess video games really are hurting the kids... :rolleyes:

Video games should not be regulated. Regulation is censorship and censorship is the means by which the government controls how and what we think. Down with censorship, down with Bush!

Should not be reulated.

they should be regulated to the extent that they already are. stupid parents shouldnt buy their kids Manhunt for christmas, cos its rated 18. duh. why not get them reservoir dogs on dvd too?

videogames kick ass, we need more of them and less of this DRM nonsense.

yeah, shouldn't a parent be smart enough to not buy a game called KILLZONE or GRAND THEFT AUTO for their kids

Why? No, really, why is it a problem that a parent might make a choice different from the choice you would make? Why do the ratings need enforcement, do we need a massive Nanny state standing over us telling us what is and is not ok to consume, what we can and cannot buy for our children? Sorry, bub, the government exists to protect me against criminals and invaders, not myself.

QFT

Just keeping this on the front page.

Regulations are stupid, considering that freeware developers around the world can publish and release anything to the general public without having to submit to them.

Exactly.

Ban this, ban that, outlaw this, regulate that ... that's the sort of stupid attitude government likes to take. Control freaks thinking they can regulating everything for the better (or worse).

How did the PC industry start? Lack of regulation and innovation free from government interference.

How did the PC industry start? Lack of regulation and innovation free from government interference.

Not to mention grants from the Feds.

Not to mention grants from the Feds.

Point taken but you take the money where you can when starting a new industry.

Point taken but you take the money where you can when starting a new industry.

Very true.

The current rating system is fine, but it should be enforced when it comes to kids buying the games. If a parent is okay with their child having a Rated M game, they can buy the game and give it to the child. Children should not, however, be able to buy Rated M games on their own. Parent's choice to give the kid the game, if they think their kid is ready, but the ratings system is a good way of letting the parents know how gory/violent/explicit (in language or in visuals) the game is before they give it to their kids.

And I don't want to hear a word about how kids will hear foul language outside the video games either. I had a 7 year old cuss me out on the street one day. That's not right. Video games don't cause violence, but parents who don't care what their kids play certainly help propagate foul language in their children. Parents should be more careful what they say around their kids, and more careful what they let their kids play on their consoles and computers, IMO. But that's a discussion for another thread.

THey're fine the way they are.

Hell, if I were in charege, i'd employ an even more liberal moderation policy, but obviously thats not going to happen anytime soon, so i'm 100% fine with the way it is. Doesn't need any more censorship.

It's back.