Governor wants to outlaw selling violent games to minors

[kai123]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=562&ncid=738&e=2&u=/ap/20041216/ap_on_hi_te/video_games_blagojevich


One year in prison? That seems a little extreme to me.... x_x I think a fine would do more to prevent this than jail time.

Quote from article:
"The proposed legislation also would require retailers to label violent or sexually explicit video games. Video games now are rated with general labels such as "M" for "mature."

Can they not flip the case over and read all the details of what is in the game?

[Gamereviewgod]

Maybe the parents should just do their job and this wouldn't be an issue. x_x

[RCM]

Maybe the parents should just do their job and this wouldn't be an issue

Couldn't have said it better myself.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[link1110]

Even if it IS a little extreme, I don't see what's wrong with a law banning selling violent games to minors. If there was, next time some kid imitated GTA, and they immedialtly blamed video games (as they do,) we could tell them "well, the parents had to BUY the kid that game, so now who's to blame." A law like this could only serve to benefit gamers, and gamers should be for it instead of deathly against it.

[CartCollector]

Make the punishment fit the crime, and we got a nice law. Video games have been getting a bad rap for years. It's time we let the public see that video games are an art form and not kill-fests sold to 12-year-olds.

[izret101]

Maybe the parents should just do their job and this wouldn't be an issue

Couldn't have said it better myself.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

Even if it IS a little extreme, I don't see what's wrong with a law banning selling violent games to minors. If there was, next time some kid imitated GTA, and they immedialtly blamed video games (as they do,) we could tell them "well, the parents had to BUY the kid that game, so now who's to blame." A law like this could only serve to benefit gamers, and gamers should be for it instead of deathly against it.

I fully agree with both.
But a law should not be needed if this 10 year old goes and buys GTA where are his parents and why do they not know what he is playing?

But i have NEVER been in a store that would sell a game like that to a kid who didn't look old enough(shops) or could prove they where (larger stores and chains)

[furor]

Here's a nice rant on the subject...

http://www.brokentoys.org/index.php?p=6607

[kai123]

Not everybody looks their age so this could backfire on some chains. Can't a kid still go buy a R-rated movie? I don't think there are laws against that. Prison sentences are what has me concerned. Fines are ok for something like this but going to prison for selling the wrong game to the wrong kid is just wrong.(Do you like all of those wrongs? :) )

[JesterDev]

Soooo.. Looks like Walmart will be taking off all the M rated games of their shelves?? Just a thought, but I doubt it. Just seems to be the norm with them. At least around here.

Eitherway. Quite right. Parents need to do their jobs.

[Ed Oscuro]

Social censorship; it'll cure whatever ails the system. Of course.

The thing that gets me is you know there's truth to the points made that we have lots of advertisements shoved at us - OMG THE NEW PRINCE OF PERSUH IS BADDAR THEN U - but games get it heavily, and movies don't get nearly so much official attention. Probably, in reality, just as many people act against movies, but there doesn't seem to be much momentum there.

$? :D

[orangemage]

well i'm from ichicago and i think this is just a stunt by Blagojevich to get his ass out of the papers for using cops(some making six figures) on private trips.

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/236nd2.htm

[Retsudo]

Maybe the parents should just do their job and this wouldn't be an issue. x_x

Yep, I agree.

Yesterday when I was at EB, I watched this lady buy GTA San Andres for her son. He had to be at least 10.

[Griking]

Maybe the parents should just do their job and this wouldn't be an issue

Couldn't have said it better myself.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

Oh come on. Like you never did anything that your parents didn't know about when you were young. I'm sure that nobody here ever;

Purchased or went to an R rated movies before they were 17
Purchases alcohol before they're 21
Bought cigarettes before they're 18

Parent's just can't monitor their kids 24/7. It's just not realistic. I really don't see why these laws are such a big deal. If you're of age then it doesn't change a thing for you. If you're underage well then I'm sure you're used to the fact that there are rules. And if you absolutely have to have the game you'll can always have your parants buy the game for you. At least they're responsible for making the decision at that point.

[thetoxicone]

Quote from article:
"The proposed legislation also would require retailers to label violent or sexually explicit video games. Video games now are rated with general labels such as "M" for "mature."

General labels...aren't the ratings given by the MPAA for movies pretty general (some R movies aren't bad and compare a pg rated movie now with one from the 70's many differences in the labelling). All video games released in retail stores have a rating on it, where as there are a lot of movies coming out without a rating. So I don't see why people jump on video games so much since that is something that can be enjoyed by all ages too like movies.

[Hep038]

People jump on video games because most people don't understand them. Its like a boogie man to senior citizens and some parents. They have no idea what is in these video games so it is easy for these politicians to scare the crap out of them by telling them how they are destroying the younger generations. Think of it like Rock and Roll music. Young kids loved it, older people did not like it. But what made them hate it was they did not understand why the younger kids liked it so much, so they tried to get rid of it.

Of Course this is just a theory.

[Graham Mitchell]

"If you're 18 or older and you're a grown-up and an adult, that's your business," the governor said. "But I don't believe that my 8-year-old daughter has a constitutional right to cut somebody's head off in a game that she plays."



This is a huge crock of shit. Yes she DOES have a constitutional right to play a video game. You may not want her to play said game, but she has a legal right play it. Kids under 17 have the right to watch R-rated movies; they just can't buy a ticket to get in. The situation should be the same with M-rated games if they're going to legislate it at all. Besides, how are you going to stop an 8-year-old from walking up to a Mortal Kombat machine and playing it? They are still around, you know. You can't have someone guarding the machines 24/7 and throwing people off of them who look too young. That's rediculous.


A law like this could only serve to benefit gamers, and gamers should be for it instead of deathly against it.

That's not necessarily true. Designers will start to pull questionable content out of games to keep it in the less offensive Teen categories for the sake of making more money. This happens with movies all the time. That's why we get "unrated" home versions of DVDs. The problem with the games is that there is no public forum for them--they go straight to the home these days, so the deleted content will NEVER see the light of day.

I don't think that a little regulation on this stuff will kill anybody; most likely those old enough to buy the games won't even notice a difference. But there is the chance that things could be affected adversely from an artistic standpoint.

[Kamino]

This Sucks.
It's the "not me" generation - "it's not my fault. don't blame me, don't blame my actions! Blame the fact that I had opportunity! Take away my opportunity, let me live in a room with rubber walls so I can't hurt myself!"
people who blame the media should not be allowed to breed.

[SoulBlazer]

Okay, maybe because it was how controling my parents were, but:

I never saw a R Rated movie before the age of 17 by myself
Drank but never bought alcohol before 21
Never smoked once in my life
Never bought a M rated game before I was 17

Really, is it that hard to enforce those rules? :hmm:

[Griking]

This is a huge crock of shit. Yes she DOES have a constitutional right to play a video game. You may not want her to play said game, but she has a legal right play it.

Minor's aren't legally allowed to view NC-17 or X Rated movies. And before you counter that (most) videogames aren't pornographic keep in mind that the NC-17 rating isn't just for pornagraphic movies but can be given to an extremely violent movie as well.

[Graham Mitchell]

This is a huge crock of shit. Yes she DOES have a constitutional right to play a video game. You may not want her to play said game, but she has a legal right play it.

Minor's aren't legally allowed to view NC-17 or X Rated movies. And before you counter that (most) videogames aren't pornographic keep in mind that the NC-17 rating isn't just for pornagraphic movies but can be given to an extremely violent movie as well.

Right, but I don't know that most video games have the level of obscenity or graphic violence to be truly comparable that in an NC-17 or X-rated movie. If the Playboy Mansion game showed as much as your typical issue of Hustler, then you would be correct here. But as far as sexuality goes, most games don't feature that much of it, and if they do, it usually isn't all that graphic.

As for violence, well some games probably would compare to an NC-17-rated movie, so you may have a point with that. I don't know what the criteria are for giving a film an NC-17 rating for violent content; ie-if there's a lot of killing, or if there's actual graphic depiction of dismemberment. Most games just have a lot of blood spraying around. If that was enough to get movies an NC-17 rating, there would be a few Monty Python sketches that would've been banned.

So, I guess the violence is sort of a gray area to me, and it's pretty difficult to draw the line on what minors should and should not be allowed to see. But, the kids are gonna see it anyway, no matter what you do, so why try to ban them from it?

[FranklinSherman]

If only legislators would understand that making these people suffer selling a product that is just as "dangerous" as your average Robocop or latest Vin Diesel movie is idiotic...I would be more worried about kids seeing the latest crap in the movies (like RE: Apocolypse, god i still have nightmares and not good ones). I think we should start slapping a 1-year prision sentence on blockbuster employees for selling/renting the latest toilet of a film...which would warp a child's mind more than your average GTA or Halo...just a thought. :sob:

[Kamino]

i have a thought.
Attention all irresponsible morons.
STOP BREEDING.
thank you.

[Cmosfm]

Maybe the parents should just do their job and this wouldn't be an issue

Couldn't have said it better myself.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

Oh come on. Like you never did anything that your parents didn't know about when you were young. I'm sure that nobody here ever;

Purchased or went to an R rated movies before they were 17
Purchases alcohol before they're 21
Bought cigarettes before they're 18


Honestly, I'f you are raised in a moral and correctly disciplined household than these should be no problem.

I didn't watch/buy/rent/etc an R-Rated movie unless I had my parents permission before I was of age.

I've never drank a day in my life

I've never smoked a day in my life

This all comes from being raised properly. Parent's these days are too scared to stand up to their kids when they want to do something they aren't old enough to do because they are to afraid there kids will get mad at them, which they do.

Parents these days need to grow some balls, spank their kids, and no not those wussy ass taps, I'm talking about full on BELT to SKIN spakings. If your kids do something wrong, ground them, yell at them, make sure you get the point across that they DID WRONG.

Parents need to stop being so scared and raise their kids properly.

And I still believe that if games weren't given a special rating, and given the standard G,PG,PG-13,R ratings than we'd have no problem out of this whatsoever.

Parent's dont know what "M for Mature" means, but they know that R means "BAD"

[Kamino]

Maybe the parents should just do their job and this wouldn't be an issue

Couldn't have said it better myself.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

Oh come on. Like you never did anything that your parents didn't know about when you were young. I'm sure that nobody here ever;

Purchased or went to an R rated movies before they were 17
Purchases alcohol before they're 21
Bought cigarettes before they're 18


Honestly, I'f you are raised in a moral and correctly disciplined household than these should be no problem.

I didn't watch/buy/rent/etc an R-Rated movie unless I had my parents permission before I was of age.

I've never drank a day in my life

I've never smoked a day in my life

This all comes from being raised properly. Parent's these days are too scared to stand up to their kids when they want to do something they aren't old enough to do because they are to afraid there kids will get mad at them, which they do.

Parents these days need to grow some balls, spank their kids, and no not those wussy ass taps, I'm talking about full on BELT to SKIN spakings. If your kids do something wrong, ground them, yell at them, make sure you get the point across that they DID WRONG.

Parents need to stop being so scared and raise their kids properly.

And I still believe that if games weren't given a special rating, and given the standard G,PG,PG-13,R ratings than we'd have no problem out of this whatsoever.

Parent's dont know what "M for Mature" means, but they know that R means "BAD"
WORD TO THAT.
Parents are such wimps these days, from what i see and hear. It's a rare day that i see a parent saying NO in a store. when i do, its a good day. i never pwned my parents like that. these damn greedy kids are ALWAYS asking for shit in the stores. i learned not to do that early. and you know what? I got plenty of stuff, once my parents had a bit more money and were able to do so. why? because i wasn't constantly gimme gimme gimme. I had an allowance and learned what it meant to earn your stuff.
It's not just the damn kids these days. It's the damn parents these days. Now, some of you out there are parents, I don't know how you raise your kids so don't take it personally, i'm speaking of parents that i see or hear being whiny and wimpy.
And as for the video game ratings, i still say it could be solved by actually properly raising kids so they know right from wrong and reality from a video game. I do think that in the past, parents must have done a better job of this. Because i never heard of a kid stomping another kid to death and shoving him down a pipe because he saw it in mario brothers.
Oh, and what violent video game did Hitler play? Or Mussolini? or Saddam? pick your villian.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Parents:

"We don't have time to be involved in our kids lives. We're too damn busy living ours."
"We get little Timmy whatever he wants just to shut him up so mommy/daddy can have quite time."
"We don't monitor our kids activities, that's too hard. If I were to check on every little thing our kids were doing we'd have no time for happy hour at the club."

Government:

"All right folks, we hear you! We'll raise up them kids right and proper for ya! Trust us."

Government legislating parenting... is this the 5 o'clock bus? I'm gonna step in front of it.

[Jasoco]

Never drank ever. Never wanted to. Don't have a wanting to.

Never smoked ever. Same thing.

Never did drugs. Ditto.

Never saw an R movie before I was 17. (In the theater. TV is a different thing.)

I have customers (Parents) in my store all the time who buy these games for their young kids because they know their kids and know they can tell the difference.

I have young kids try to buy the games, and I ask them to get their parents. No biggie. Usually the parent knows the kid was gonna get the game and is just pissed they had to actually come over and buy it themselves. Lazy assholes. Usually they're just angry with the kid rather than me thankfully. Still, they should know it's gonna be a game they'll need to buy themselves.

[CartCollector]

I was thinking... how would the government get all the games already owned by minors?

"FREEZE, KID! PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND DROP THE GTA!"

[Push Upstairs]

Parents these days need to grow some balls, spank their kids, and no not those wussy ass taps, I'm talking about full on BELT to SKIN spakings. If your kids do something wrong, ground them, yell at them, make sure you get the point across that they DID WRONG.

Exactly.

I remember when my cousin had a kid and she did that "time out" crap.

Time out? What exactly is that supposed to teach?

[sirgeoph]

I like how if you sell smokes to an udnerage kid, the cashier has like a $400 fine and the owner of the establishment pays like a $200 fine, but if you sell an M rated game to a kid, they want you to go to jail for a year.