My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

[Rodin]

I'm writing as sort of a rant about how many politicians are handling violent video games. I'm going to provide information to back up my arguments, but I hope everyone will agree with what I'm tryign to say. Eventually, I will write a letter to Senator Clinton, which will probably be thrown out, but I'm going to get my points across somehow.

Many politicans are looking to ban violent video games with the argument that they're "Corrupting our nation's youth." Honestly, I think that's utter and complete bullcrap. Making a video game is an artform. It takes a group of people with special skills and talents to make a video game. Hence, why it is art. People are expressing their thoughts and ideas, and creating an entertaining world for people to immerse themselves in. Many of the people that buy video games are children, but most children can't get those video games without the help of an adult. There is a warning system, and if a parent doesn't want their child to have a certain type of game, look on the back of the box. It's as simple as that, and if the parent doesn't look, then it's their fault the video game has come into contact with the child.

The majority of the whole "put a ban on violent video games" controversey had started after Columbine. The shooters used to play Doom. This was a big aspect of why they did it...which in my opinion is complete B.S. In the end, it was the SHOOTER who had made the conscious decision to kill his classmates. Doom in no way or form convinced him, or made him take a gun to school and shoot his classmates. Honestly, I think it's the parents fault in these cases. The shooter had a shotgun on his dresser. The gun should have never been available to him in the first place. Why wasn't the gun locked up in a safe place? Probably because his parents were a little too trusting. If they knew he had emotional problems (which, as a good parent, they should), they would have locked up the gun. Most parents today don't have enough time to spend with their kids and are too busy working. But, it's NECESSARY for a parent to spend some time with their child in order to understand them as a person. In the end, I believe that the media has bastardized video games in order to cover up that it was the parent's fault.

Another arguement is that studies have "proven" that children are more likely to show aggressive and violent tendencies if they play video games regularly. WRONG. The data was misread to become a convenient argument for the people who want to ban video games. The "violent tendencies" were temporary, and only during times of frustration. These "violent tendencies" are normal in many everyday situations, such as taking a child-proof cap off of a pill bottle. These "violent tendencies" while playing video games included throwing the contoller, short temper-tantrums, and swearing. EVERYONE at one point in their life will experience these tendencies when they're frustrated. It's normal.

Also, why would they ban violent video games altogether? I'm 18 right now. I can go into town, and go to a video store, and buy a video that features "A woman, a man, another man, a midget, and a donkey" (thank you Dave Attel). Why would they ban video games for being violent when I can rent violent movies and porn. Maybe there should be a law implemented forbidding minors to purchase violent video games, but that won't do anything. Minors still have porn, and they can get cigarettes easily.

In the end, I would say to Hillary Clinton that she should be investing our tax money into other things such as bringing aid to our soldiers or the people in Iraq, or trying to implement good parenting classes. Not spending our money on trying to get a legitimate business banned because "Tifa's breasts are too big."

Get a life, you stupid politicians, there's more constructive things you can be doing. Have a nice day!

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

Word.

[Xero]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

i agree with this guy...video games taught me to read! seriously though...i heard an argument saying that retailers dont pay attention to the ratings and would sell M rated games to 10 year olds....well, wheres the parent when they are purchasin the game? if parents are worried about what their kids are playin, they should make sure they dont expose their children to that shit on their own. you know whats really ruinin our societ is shows like spongebob and ren and stimpy(all though i did enjoy the show as a kid). i heard shes convinced video games told her husband its ok to cheat. maybe she should invest money into gettin the sand out of....

[kazuri]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

Go for it, write to senators~ I'm sure the majority here will agree with you (I do 110%)!

[TheGrandMom]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

but I hope everyone will agree with what I'm tryign to say. Eventually, I will write a letter to Senator Clinton, which will probably be thrown out, but I'm going to get my points across somehow.


Many politicans are looking to ban violent video games with the argument that they're "Corrupting our nation's youth." Honestly, I think that's utter and complete bullcrap. Making a video game is an artform. It takes a group of people with special skills and talents to make a video game. Hence, why it is art. People are expressing their thoughts and ideas, and creating an entertaining world for people to immerse themselves in. Many of the people that buy video games are children, but most children can't get those video games without the help of an adult. There is a warning system, and if a parent doesn't want their child to have a certain type of game, look on the back of the box. It's as simple as that, and if the parent doesn't look, then it's their fault the video game has come into contact with the child.

The majority of the whole "put a ban on violent video games" controversey had started after Columbine. The shooters used to play Doom. This was a big aspect of why they did it...which in my opinion is complete B.S. In the end, it was the SHOOTER who had made the conscious decision to kill his classmates. Doom in no way or form convinced him, or made him take a gun to school and shoot his classmates. Honestly, I think it's the parents fault in these cases. The shooter had a shotgun on his dresser. The gun should have never been available to him in the first place. Why wasn't the gun locked up in a safe place? Probably because his parents were a little too trusting. If they knew he had emotional problems (which, as a good parent, they should), they would have locked up the gun. Most parents today don't have enough time to spend with their kids and are too busy working. But, it's NECESSARY for a parent to spend some time with their child in order to understand them as a person. In the end, I believe that the media has bastardized video games in order to cover up that it was the parent's fault.

Another arguement is that studies have "proven" that children are more likely to show aggressive and violent tendencies if they play video games regularly. WRONG. The data was misread to become a convenient argument for the people who want to ban video games. The "violent tendencies" were temporary, and only during times of frustration. These "violent tendencies" are normal in many everyday situations, such as taking a child-proof cap off of a pill bottle. These "violent tendencies" while playing video games included throwing the contoller, short temper-tantrums, and swearing. EVERYONE at one point in their life will experience these tendencies when they're frustrated. It's normal.

Also, why would they ban violent video games altogether? I'm 18 right now. I can go into town, and go to a video store, and buy a video that features "A woman, a man, another man, a midget, and a donkey" (thank you Dave Attel). Why would they ban video games for being violent when I can rent violent movies and porn. Maybe there should be a law implemented forbidding minors to purchase violent video games, but that won't do anything. Minors still have porn, and they can get cigarettes easily.

In the end, I would say to Hillary Clinton that she should be investing our tax money into other things such as bringing aid to our soldiers or the people in Iraq, or trying to implement good parenting classes. Not spending our money on trying to get a legitimate business banned because "Tifa's breasts are too big."

Get a life, you stupid politicians, there's more constructive things you can be doing. Have a nice day!

Yes for the most part I agree with the direction your point goes and I absolutely encourage everyone to write to the appropriate places to let them know how you feel.

In fact, I lobbied with our local government in support of video game arcades. They wanted to pass an ordinance against them or put an age limit requirement to be able to enter them. Good bye Chuck E. Cheese!

I also agree that many parents look to put the blame on something else instead of looking in the mirror. We come home tired from work and don't want to have to deal with more crap. So we don't talk with our kids and shoo them off to go play with whatever as long as they are gone. Parents that take no interest into what is happening in their children's life are one of the biggest menace's to society in my opinion. Think of the power they wield. They have a human being(s) life in their hands to mold and shape. A good portion of their attentiveness to this person will influence their behaviors and personality. It's like being a mini-God in a way. So when parents do a bad job not only does the child suffer but society can also.

Now with that being said, I will also say that all forms of stimulation infuence us in some way, including video games. Video games influence us mentally, emotionally, and physically. BUT lets take this in a for instance. Let's say you have a child (12 yrs) that the parents are attentive to and do a very good job at raising. Now add in a video game like GTA: San Andreas. How likely is this child to act out what he sees in this game? Probably not much. The parents are probably ones that talk to their child and tell him the difference between right and wrong, between real and fantasy. Now take the same child and put him in a home where the parents don't make time for him, where living in a fantasy world helps him to get by. Now this child would more likely act out things that he sees repeatedly. This child is much more at risk.

Do video games make kids do bad things? No, but they can influence them and without the proper guidance in their life they are more prone to try things they see. So video games aren't totally pristine but by far the parents and other adult influences in their lives are much much more culpable.

Another point I would like to build on too is the part of the movie and tv industry in our children's lives. Television and movies have been around longer than video games. Children are by far exposed to more sexual and violent content via moves and tv than they are video games. Why aren't those industries being pulled down too? Selective censure?

[Macht]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

Ohh, new word of the day..... culpable. >.>

Didn't even know such a word existed, I like it though. Anyway on topic, yes I have to agree with The Grand Mom and Rodin. If these "violent games" were really that bad then why haven't they proven to be across the board? I mean you go to Canada and you don't see stuff like the Columbine, go to Europe, Japan, etc... still nothing substantial enough to prove the game is the fault.

Game or not, you leave a child unattended and not teaching right and wrong well then you are leaving others to teach them. This can be anything a sports icon, a music icon, a gang, a psychopath, a child molestor, anything. You are taking one HUGE risk that what that child finds to teach them right and wrong will be a good influence, especially when the pressence of both are quite even. Also especially with how powerful peer preasure can be.

I still give kudos to the places that figured it out and not only penalize the child but the child's guardians as well. A good parent if you are doing something wrong may embaress the hell out of you, but they are doing it for good reason. Part of problem I think is just how screwed up the legal system is.

I mean if a 12yo child wants to disown his parents it's possible. You can't really even put them in timeout, if someone feels that your method of putting them in timeout is too harsh you can have a child abuse slapped on you. Even if it's simply just having them sitting in a chair staring at a corner wall. Not to mention how dumbs the police officers can be, I mean arresting a child and putting them in jail because they had a temper tantrum? So they threw around a few pieces of paper and flailed their arms, how the heck can that from someone barely 3ft. tall possibly be life threatinging to someone 5ft. tall and definatly stronger?

Just all this stupid stuff that's been occuring recently with the government and legal system....Alright who allowed the regular customers from the "Happy Hotel" run for government positions.

[Necro923]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

I agree. these guys have got to find something better to do then arguie about video games. You should send this... it makes alot of sense

[711rocks]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

The violent video game argument is another thing the goverment uses in the media to keep public intrest away from the real issues. Like what they do with flag burning, who really cares how to destroy a flag? They make a huge deal out of things like that, so that no one notices things like the filibuster/nuclear option argument. Same thing with the Terry Shiavo (Spelling?) case, but I'm not going to get into that, because I don't want this to become a big issue on "morals" and whatnot. America has three things it really cares about: God, Gays, and Guns. The government knows very well it can bring up multiple problems with those three topics to keep people from paying attention to our real problems. Don't say that the news won't lie either, it's owned by big business corps who make sketchy deals with political leaders. (Republicans & Fox News anyone?) You have to find alternate sources of information, like news shows on public broadcasting and stuff.

[Macht]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

Oh, god don't even mention Fox News. Their "Fair and Balanced" spiel makes me so violently ill hearing them lying through their teeth like that. That so pissed me off when they went and did that "Top 10 People Ruining Amercia" crap. Every one of them were pointing out stuff that you basically see go ignored by the government. It's almost like if you want the government to pay attention to what they should be you have to have an unusually large number of people doing that wrong action, or do it in such a way that is can't be covered up which is just flat out nuts.

Next person to mention "Fox News" I'm registering you to the "Happy Hotel Insaine Assilum" come on I dare you

Double Post Edited:
Oh and then with their resent stuff about the London bombing. They go and had an arab on, the news reporter basically didn't even let the arab defend the muslim communities reputation against what the Alqaida are doing. And then how they basically cut the arab off when he basically had a chance to talk, you could just see it in his eyes how annoyed he was. I'm surprised we are not getting bomb more frequently with news stations pulling crap like that.

[Keyura]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

want news? watch the daily show, its more unbiased than anything "real" news show you'll see, and thats sad. I would leave the country before i allowed my government to have a say in what i get to do. most if not all the blame in any actions children take stems from their parents, and the parents got plenty of scapegoats when it comes to pointing fingers. blame the schools, blame tv, blame movies, wait, blame video games! public schools are free, don't jepeordize that, what about TV? good way for parents to not have to listen to their children, they are mesmerized by a pineapple under the ocean, hey, maybe the kids will drown looking for it and the parents wont need a scapegoat, they don't have to worry with their problem they created when they decided to get drunk at that party. and so on, i digress, most kids causing problems that showed a link to "violent videogames" came from less than acceptable home lives, and a quick study could show most of them reenact what they see on video games not cause games make them violent, but probably because they just wnat attention from their parents. i'll play FFXI Ut2004 and DOOM 3 as much as i want, and as long as i my parents stay involved, knowing what i play (heck my dad plays doom 3, mohaa and ut2004 too) theres no chance i'll change because of it. its sick what politicians use to distract from the real issues. btw, someone listen to the family guy theme song, "it seems today, that all you see, is violence in movies and sex on tv, but where are those good on fashioned values, on which we used to rely? lucky theirs a family guy, ...etc." the key, is parents and morals and values, which if present, the media can't break with a stick.

[711rocks]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

Oh, god don't even mention Fox News. Their "Fair and Balanced" spiel makes me so violently ill hearing them lying through their teeth like that. That so pissed me off when they went and did that "Top 10 People Ruining Amercia" crap. Every one of them were pointing out stuff that you basically see go ignored by the government. It's almost like if you want the government to pay attention to what they should be you have to have an unusually large number of people doing that wrong action, or do it in such a way that is can't be covered up which is just flat out nuts.

Next person to mention "Fox News" I'm registering you to the "Happy Hotel Insaine Assilum" come on I dare you

If anyone wants to try to stick up for Fox News or Republicans, please add what state you are from, I'd like to see how many hicks out there actually believe what Fox tells you.

[ruffrydasean]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

A big problem IMHO, is that a very large number of "Adults" treat and view games and still being just for kids... So when they see the content of games such as Doom, Mortal Kombat, GTA:San Andreas*, they think game developers are out ther to corrupt their kid.. yet they still make it a family event to go see a Rated-R movie, because in their minds. That "is" a viable form of entertainment/art.


*This GTA:SA situation especially gets me heated, you could already kill, maim, pick up hookers, rob places, etc etc, and a sex scene makes you look twice at the game???? What in the F...?? First of all it was intended for adults for the most part in the first place. Regardless whether or not the hot coffee scene was in there... Man I could go on and on.. Hillary just irks the hell outta me right now...

[Rodin]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

Lol, don't even get me started on the hot coffee scene. Do you guys know why we have more child molesters and rapists than any other country in the world? It's because we try to hide these things from children. Honestly that leads to sexual repression and mentally that will lead to such things as promiscuity at a young age, anger/agression, and sexual confusion (not knowing what's right sexually). In other countries women can walk around the beaches topless and many European men don't even twitch an eyebrow. When an American guy goes over to Europe and sees this sort of thing, then they freak out and are like "OMG, WTF?" or they act ashamed to see it. If the US were to put more things out in the open, then children could experience certain things at a younger age, which would reduce the shock value when they do learn about it.

[kuu]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

Well since the game industry quicky figured out that the money isn't being made in the 8-12 group, but rather in the 15-25 age group it was natural to make games that appeal to the adult segment.

Now the thing is, is it appropriate to let the younger groups in on it?

US has an almost anal obsession of "shelter the children" syndrome. Is a child's life/mind that much more precious then a grown adult?

US are very odd when we start analyzing it rationally. Like movements where child sex-offenders, who never actually killed, can be thought worse, or lolita-ism, pedophilia is like lower then hell, etc,etc.

SO yea when it comes to children everything goes out the window.

While childhood shattering to reality isn't exactly the best thing to do, we all face realitity sometimes, and many times will do it behind their parent's backs. Children will learn about sex, before the first sex-ed class hits. Sex is a fundemental part of like for sakes, but anything like selling playboy to a minor = bam.

Thus overbaring US goes way overboard and tend to blame anything if a child goes down the wrong path... Like a fresh 19yr old serial-muderer is a blip in a police report, but a 12yr old would blame everything and anything.

Games are games. It's a slice of reality through a looking glass it clouds minds as much your salarymen going postal is just as likely as a kid would.

[Macht]

Re: My two cents on how violent video games are being handled.

Lol, what Kuu posted just reminded me of a ban schools were doing for teachers. Teachers are not suppose to grade the childrens reports in......Red Ink. They say it screwed with their psyche and start having some failure complex or whatever other bs the psychologists put out.

Double Post Edited:
Anyway it's another great example how to many people are going way overboard in this protecting the children.

Double Post Edited:
Actually I should refrase that. Not going way overboard but missdirecting to the actual focus they should.