"Games are neither art nor media." - Censorship push

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

On the other hand, short of the Illinois legislature throwing check out clerks at Best Buy in jail, this isn't anything that movie theater employees haven't been asked to do for decades.

 

[S'mon]

Games are art, and media - and the sale of adult-content games should be restricted to an age appropriate audience IMO, just like with films & videos. The language sounds worrying though.

BTW clearly this thread is 100% political. Certainly moreso than my comment yesterday that some cultures are more warlike than others, which got a thread locked...

 

[yennico]

young kids can't buy guns or alcohol or pornography

Are you living in a dream? Wake up In reality kids get acohol because some store owner does not check their ID. I do not like that kids can get not for their age approbiate goods (alcohol, guns, pornography, etc.) , but if the goverment makes a law against something, they also must take care that every person uses this law.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Ditto what S'mon said...(hmm "S'mon Said"- there's a good name for a game)

And to reinforce Zappo, the store owner should decide what his store contains, but society should decide to whom he can sell it (as long as no human rights are violated by those strictures). Restricting violent video games to persons over a certain age is no more a problem for me than restricting the viewing audiences of certain movies.

Especially since some of these games are hyperviolent, ultracynical and dehumanizing.

Of course, any restriction has to be grounded in REALITY. Restrict them for the same reasons we restrict access to movies, don't try to redefine what they are- that won't pass any Court's "laugh test."

 

[RangerWickett]

Are you living in a dream? Wake up In reality kids get acohol because some store owner does not check their ID. I do not like that kids can get not for their age approbiate goods (alcohol, guns, pornography, etc.) , but if the goverment makes a law against something, they also must take care that every person uses this law.

I figured it was obvious that people will still get things they want, even if they're against the law. My mom let me see Terminator 2 in theaters, and I was, like, 11 or 12 at the time. Parents will give their kids things, kids will scam or steal to get things, and store owners will not care and let kids buy things.

The idea of the law is fine -- make it clear that the government doesn't approve of kids being exposed to these things, with the understanding that they'll still manage it -- but the spirit of the law is what I dislike.

 

[philreed]

My problem with this is it will do nothing to change the view of most parents who are, in my experience, the biggest source of violent video games for kids.

When I was playing on XBox Live I FREQUENTLY encounter little kids that should in no way be playing online -- especially with live voice chat. The parents are completely responsible for the kids being on there. A Ghost Recon game packed with adults is no place for kids.

The problem is the parents. They still look at a game as a game and are too stupid to look beyond and see that these days some games are not for kids.

 

[glass]

I figured it was obvious that people will still get things they want, even if they're against the law. My mom let me see Terminator 2 in theaters, and I was, like, 11 or 12 at the time. Parents will give their kids things, kids will scam or steal to get things, and store owners will not care and let kids buy things.

Unless your mum was a theatre manager, how was it up to her? Were the staff just going to take her word for it that you were whatever age you needed to be to see T2 over there, even though you clearly weren't?


glass.

 

[yennico]

My problem with this is it will do nothing to change the view of most parents who are, in my experience, the biggest source of violent video games for kids.

I totally agree. Some kids can use a PC and internet better than their parents. These kids can use file sharing programs to download any film, game, etc. they want.
Their parents can not or does not want to control their kids. The parents are responsible for the actions of their kids.

Kids cost time, time many parents do not want to spend on them.

 

[Henry]

Unless your mum was a theatre manager, how was it up to her? Were the staff just going to take her word for it that you were whatever age you needed to be to see T2 over there, even though you clearly weren't?

A word of clarification; Terminator 2 was rated "R" in the U.S., and that rating means that you can't get in to see it if you are younger than age 17 without a parent or legal guardian. So his mom could have technically gone with him to see it, and it would be perfectly legal.

What instead often ends up happening is that as long as any sufficiently old enough adult accompanies them, the staff usually says nothing. It's how a lot of younger kids get an older brother or sister to chaperone them into the movie against mom's wishes.

 

[S'mon]

Terminator-2 was a "15" in UK by the way - only for age 15+. I saw it on the day of the August Coup in Moscow which was a little scary...