[Maxwell]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6171789.html

Earlier this month, state senators in New York approved a bill that would make rating labels on games mandatory just four days after it was introduced. Yesterday, a different gaming bill passed the state's Assembly, five days after it was introduced.

That bill, A8696, would make it a class E felony to sell or rent to minors any game that includes "depictions of depraved violence and indecent images." It would also prohibit the sale of home gaming consoles without parental restriction options and establish an advisory council to appraise the work of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

Its disturbing how fast politicians can move when it comes to doing silly things.

[vyper]

... yeah so have you guys even noticed the theocracy rising or has the thought of next season and Tony Romo got you all distracted?

[Nuke]

its hard to oppose the bible thumping majority.the democrats are too self centered and stoned to care that freedom is being cast to the incinerator, and the republicans dont seem to know that this is what they are doing. thus is the nature of politics.

[Janos]

Amerika is the Great Satan

[Nuke]

hail satan!
sorry couldnt resist

[G0atmaster]

Ehh?  AFAIK, this has nothing to do with bible-thumping theocrats, and everything to do with misconcieved ideas about violent media and lawmakers feeling the incessant need to do SOMETHING without actually thinking about what they're doing, why, or if it's even necessary.

FYI, Christians play video games too:   www.christiancs.com

[TrashMan]

That we do...that we do...
Maby far more than we should...

[Nuclear1]

So wait, I don't get it--passing a bill that actually forces stores to actually pay attention to the ratings on the box and mandating that gaming consoles make parents' jobs a little easier is somehow the work on a theocratic majority acting to shut down the gaming industry?

Ok...  So now parents can actually do something about their kids playing violent video games--disable or disallow them on the system.  How the hell is that a bad thing?

[Nuke]

im actually starting to get concerned that kids theese days arent getting shown enough realistic violence. all theese politicians are clearly doing is fishing for the parent vote.

[achtung]

I hate people who aren't open with their kids.

[Nuclear1]

I hate people who aren't open with their kids.

Yeah, but do you show a 10 year old Platoon or Saving Private Ryan?  Same goes with games--it's up to the parents, and every way that can be helped to prevent kids from going around their parents' backs is a help.

[diceman111]

Well I am not from the US and all that I know about these issues is what have been in some newspapers and magazines here in sweden and on the web.

But I think that it's quite rediculus to force the stores to make sure the person who buys them are old enough, ok I will say that its a good idea with games rated 18+ and similar and I think we actualy got that here in swden (Not sure about that) but in the end it comes down to parenting i mean a kid at 13-14 proberly will have to ask his/her parents for the money to buy a game since the damn things arent cheap (ok not counting in piracy here but the bill wont include that either) so it should really be up to the parent to make sure that their child dosent buy a game rated 16+ if they think its improper.

And besides dont tell me the senators are going to play all the games (or any for that matter) to make sure the rating is right

Also another thing that I have notised is that asoon as there is a bit of sex and or nudity in a game (GTA IV - Hot Coffe) everybody freaks out in america but they didnt really complain when you where blowing up buildings or doing drive by shootings.

Sometimes politicans can be quite silly, thankfully we dont have this problem here in sweden we even had a new party formed during the last election here in sweden the Pirate party or something got a few wotes (some people from ThePirateBay there) acctualy got quite a few votes.



/Dice

[Nuclear1]

But I think that it's quite rediculus to force the stores to make sure the person who buys them are old enough

How exactly is that different from carding someone buying alcohol or cigarettes?  They're not just pulling this idea out of the sky, y'know.

[karajorma]

For once I agree with you 100% nuclear1 and I'm as liberal as they come.

If you want to buy 18 rated games as a child simply get your guardian to buy them for you. If they say no well you're **** out of luck but at least when you shoot them they can't blame it on Quake.

 We already have this law for violent/sexually explicit movies and it wasn't the end of everything then. It's not the end of everything now either. Hell if anything this gives people who like 18 rated games much more ammo to tell bible-thumping idiots exactly where to stick it. If they don't like little Johnny coming home with GTA IV then you can simply tell them that the shop is to blame for selling it to him as soon as they try to ban it.

This basically ends Jack Thompsons crusade of stupidity (I'm sure he'll find another one) as you can simply say "18 rated game. If kids are getting hold of it you have to blame the parents"

There is nothing at all wrong with stating that 18 rated games should only be sold to 18 year olds. Maybe the law itself is bad. I haven't read it but I suspect that no one who has commented on it has either. So why the hell is everyone so fired up against it?

[Dark RevenantX]

This is a bad law because nobody had to do anything stupid to make politicians think of it.

Most laws require someone to do something stupid, making the politicians say, "Oh!  This ****ty thing happened!  Let's make a new law to protect our people from this 'new form of danger'!"  This law came about without anyone doing something stupid to cause it.  It's as if the politicians said, "I'm bored.  A war, crashing economy, global warming, and American Idol is just too damn boring.  Say, let's make a new law to 'protect our people from a new form of danger'!  Hmm...  Oh, I know!  Let's restrict video game purchases from minors by a factor of ten!  Yeah, that's a great idea!"

[Maxwell]

So because someones careless with their kid, we all have to jump on the prohibition/censorship bandwagon to compensate?
Despite all the inconveniences weighed on adults the children can still get guns, smokes, booze, porn, drugs, etc...
Adding another hurdle to a stores operations wont change that. What it will do is waste peoples time (and eventually of money) solving the wrong end of a problem.

If you start holding parents responsible for raising bad kids, you'll probably do more to curb problems than the last hundred years of censorship has.

[Nuke]

the more corrupt the government, the more laws.

I hate people who aren't open with their kids.

Yeah, but do you show a 10 year old Platoon or Saving Private Ryan?  Same goes with games--it's up to the parents, and every way that can be helped to prevent kids from going around their parents' backs is a help.

id rather my kids (not that i ever intend to produce any more humans) see something like saving private ryan, where they can see the blood, guts, pain and suffering that comes as the consequence of war, than a movie such as (insert name of generic action flick here) where bullets kill instantly, you dont see any blood, and the gun weilding good guys are portrayed as heroes for gunning down all the bad guys. the idea is you want those kids to come out of the movie thinking "violence sucks" and not "that was cool".

[Polpolion]

We Were Soldiers would be good for that category .

[Bobboau]

Yeah, but do you show a 10 year old Platoon or Saving Private Ryan?

yes, I thought full metal jacket was an awesome movie when I was 11, still do, I think exposure to these movies led me to becoming more mature faster, and thus a social outcast amongst my peers, causing an entire childhood of horror which left me fearing other humans until I was like 18... violence in media isn't out problem.

So because someones careless with their kid, we all have to jump on the prohibition/censorship bandwagon to compensate?

what the hell are you talking about, this is not censorship, now the game devs can probly feel free to realy let lose on the violence and nudity in the games that warent it because they are no longer responsible if someone under age gets ahold of it.

[Nuclear1]

For once I agree with you 100% nuclear1 and I'm as liberal as they come.

Liberal, conservative, it doesn't really mean anything.  This is a common sense issue, and everyone regardless of what side of the aisle they're on should see this as a step in the right direction.

But glad to know we both see eye-to-eye on something for once.    I'll get the insect screens up for the swarms of locusts anyway.

Despite all the inconveniences weighed on adults the children can still get guns, smokes, booze, porn, drugs, etc...
Adding another hurdle to a stores operations wont change that. What it will do is waste peoples time (and eventually of money) solving the wrong end of a problem.

True, it won't stop it, but it is one nasty discouragement.  I mean, look, if a kid has to go through the trouble to get a fake ID or otherwise convince somebody of the right age to break the law and get the thing for them, why bother?  Most kids at that age just want to screw around; if it turns out to be more trouble that it could be worth, then there's the discouragement.  The guns thing is an entirely different category, but that's another discussion for another time.

The kids we have to look out for are the ones that will do just that:  go to any extreme to get it.  That's where parents have to be responsible and lay down the law at home.  Which is, of course, where I agree with you on this issue:  parents have to be parents. 

id rather my kids (not that i ever intend to produce any more humans) see something like saving private ryan, where they can see the blood, guts, pain and suffering that comes as the consequence of war, than a movie such as (insert name of generic action flick here) where bullets kill instantly, you dont see any blood, and the gun weilding good guys are portrayed as heroes for gunning down all the bad guys. the idea is you want those kids to come out of the movie thinking "violence sucks" and not "that was cool".

Interesting, because I 100% agree with you Nuke.  There's a difference between SPR/Platoon and XXX/genericactionflick#49591:  the exact reasons you just stated.  Still, I don't know if I'd want my kids watching SPR at age 10 or so; maybe wait a few years (14/15 or so), then let them have a go at it.  Just my own personal experiences working on that, I guess.