Anyone in Oklahoma: I feel sorry for you.

[Yukimura]

Oh a perfect topic for a 350th post! This is Grade A bullshit, I've been bitching about things like this for a few years but I never imagined someone would tak it this far...treating violent games like pornography...wraping up the games in paper so 'kids' can't see them. What is this supposed to solve, other than giving kids even less outlets for anger rage and frustration. For some reason America is starting to accept the idea that violence and sexuality aren't normal parts of human nature and they think that if they eliminate as much overt violence as possible all the problems of the world will go away.

Somehow we're forgetting that long before video games, TV, and movies people still raped, they still murdered, and they still did it just because they felt like doing it at the time. We can blame whatever we want, but if you take a perfectly good person, and put them under enough pressure, they'll react with violence. They don't need to have seen it on a video game either, it's just in us. Maybe someday this country will accept that and try educate kids well. Instead of ignoring them and trying to make a world where kids can just figure everything in life out on their own in perfect safety, with no supervision needed from adults. This world can't be lived in by adults, because the adult world isn't safe, and tossing kids into it defenseless is as good as societal suicide.

That's where I think this country is headed, toward the dream that everyone will be exactly the same, never do anything but work and consume and there will be no need to waste time or attention on little things like children because the work and consume world will be so safe and peaceful that the kids can just train themselves

:::::NEWSFLASH::::::
This isn't the fucking garden of Eden! Innocence was lost a long time ago, and no amount of repression or denial can ever bring it back.

[Ryllharu]

I'm pretty sick of video games being blamed for violence and other bad behavior in children or teens. I'm really happy to see that the parents of every school-shooting asshole punk shithead are so quick to blame what their dumbass kid did on the next fps or GTA. For what? To avoid blame for their child's behavior! Do they not understand that they are responsible for their offspring's well being and raising? It's never the fault of video games. Its either a mental problem, a behavior problem, or some other emotional disturbance the kid has! Yet, we've got our old buddy Jack Thompson so quick to find out exactly what the dumbasses were playing last so he can continue his rediculous crusade against video games. Violence in children and teens is the lowest now it has ever been, and the decline started around the advent of video games (the Atari I believe). This is by no means definitive proof that they reduce violence, but that fact and correspondence in years cannot be overlooked.

Okay, enough rant. This law really seems like a huge overreaction to what really has to be done. The ESRB ratings are on there for a reason. What really needs to be done is better parenting and actually making an attempt to enforce them. Kids can't get into an R rated movie by themselves, so it is the responsibility of the parents to watch that no ill behaviors arise if they take their 8 year old to an R rated movie. If the kid starts dropping F-bombs everywhere, you know who's fault it is? Not the movie makers, the parents. I don't mean require ID to buy an M rated game, I mean the parents are the ones who have to have a better handle on what they are buying. That's what the ESRB ratings are FOR. Was I allowed to play Mortal Kombat when I was 8? Nope. My parents wouldn't let me. I can blow up heads in SiN:Episodes all I want now, but I wasn't allowed to rip Raiden's spine out of his chest when I was eight. That's called parenting.

There's no need for a law to restrict violent games like porn. Do the boxes usually display intense violence on the cover? Look at and random copy of any GTA game you own. Is there an overabundance of bloody violence on the cover? Vice City, the most violent thing on the package is someone holding a gun or katana. What does a censorship cover make a child or teen think when they see it? "Wow, I wonder what's in that?" Its the same as it has always been for the porn section of the video store, or any 18 ONLY store (smoke shops included). The mystery incites their curiosity. Because its hidden, the kids are obviously going to want to know what its all about and why it was hidden behind paper wrappers. I know what the law states, but we'll still see parents and older brothers/sisters buying the game for the kids by themselves and passing it off to them in the house. What are the cops going to do, raid someone's house for showing inappropriate games to their little brother/sister?

I can see it now. "News at 11: That's right Cindy, this was the largest game bust EVER. This is a community literally terrified by violence and child mistreatment. The police confiscated nearly 20 inappropriate video games from this Tulsa home Tuesday afternoon after school. The victim, age nine, was being shown a game rated "T" for bloodless violence when the police raided this suburban home. They also found over 15 titles that were rated "M." The police have not yet identified the victim, but the assailant was a 19 year old male that claimed to be her brother. A local politician had this to say: 'I hope they put sick **** like this man in prison. What they do to children is absolutely horrible.' A dark day for this suburb, paralyzed by violence. Back to you Cindy."

[Deadfire]

I’ve never been one to harp on the issue of videogame violence, a topic that has been beaten to death. After observing the recent media witch-hunt over the last few years it just makes me shake my head

A couple months ago, there was a headline story in the newspaper about Grand Theft Auto and how it encourages gun violence against the police. The story was littered with statistics that “proved” this argument. Gun violence against cops is on the rise, as are sales of mature and/or violent videogames. Logically, you can deduce that games therefore cause violence. Right?

With that Recently I picked up my paper to read that this time, there was a story that accused some games, including SOCOM, of promoting and glamorizing terrorist activities; this argument has forced the removal of certain locales from some games to prevent legal action. The story included a sidebar stating that the family of a murder victim had filed a $250 million lawsuit against Rockstar because two kids cited GTA as the reason they randomly shot a man. Of course, despite millions of copies of the game being sold, one random act proves that GTA kills people.

I might go insane with rage at this shit they feed us, and it's not in the paper either. One of the rare times I do watch T.V was to look at the weather for the day, I"m not sure how long ago it was but I watched as a journalist reporting cluelessly on the violence in "Manhunt" (which is a really bad game), shaking his head in disappointment that such a horrific thing could ever be conceived of and released to “unwitting consumers and children.” Not once did he mention the game’s ESRB rating; instead, he used the airtime to reflect on Columbine before switching gears to promote Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, (Yes this was awhile ago) which was illustrated by a series of gory shots before being interrupted to go live to Haiti to show a dead man in the street. All this was at 7 a.m., when plenty of kids are cartoon surfing. But if you watch/read/listen to the news, you might believe they are playing videogames and thinking of ways to kill you.

This is simply stupid..

[BioAlien]

The story included a sidebar stating that the family of a murder victim had filed a $250 million lawsuit against Rockstar because two kids cited GTA as the reason they randomly shot a man. Of course, despite millions of copies of the game being sold, one random act proves that GTA kills people.

i bet those 2 little bastard were paid by jack thompson to say that.

Video Games don't kill people ! People kill people and then blame all that on video games.

i bet you 5$ that in less than 10 year, some fucking retarded kid will blame Pokemon for having killed many animal by hiting them with rocks to death (Park Safari in pokemon, you get to throw rocks/bait/pokeball at wild pokemon)
and then pokemon will become for 18+ ONLY

and if you realy want "free" Violance, go play the Postal games!
www.gopostal.com

[samsonlonghair]

I think that this recent article is very relevant to this discussion.

"Yet the critics of video games are not only conjuring up a threat where none exists; they're ignoring the positive moral lessons and cognitive benefits that many of today's sophisticated games offer."

[Kraco]

Although Ryllharu's post was far too long, I totally agree with him. All this fuss is nothing but stupid people trying to blame somebody else for their own mistakes. Games are an ideal target, since there still are a great deal of old people in positions of power who have little personal experience of them, and thus they can be made to believe any kind of lies and hollow statistics.

[ChaosK]

Oklahoma....that better not spread over here to NY. Keep it in Oklahoma.