On Banning Video Games

While I am not going to tell you one viewpoint or another is wrong, I would like to relate an experience.

While in high school, we played quite a few FPS games in the computer lab. After playing counterstrike (it just came out) for 2 periods (3 hours) straight, the bell rings and we head out. One student turns the the guy next to me and says, "It sure makes you wonder what it would be like to really kill somebody."

Made me think anyway...

In my opinion, people like that should be banned.


As for banning games? Well that's just idiotic. If one is of a proper age to enjoy whatever content is in the game, then there's no need to enact any ban on it.

Especially if the game is good...like the upcoming GTAIV seems to be looking and which I will be getting a hold of as soon as finals are over. (If they're in stock that is. :()

~Zoo

Banning games for violence is crazy. I think its up to the individual or guardian of a minor individual not to have rt urges to car jack a tank and drive it through a police station.

When I first read the title for this blog the first thing that popped into my head was to ban really really crappy games like Criticom for the PS1 or Superman 64...Man I really hate crappy games!

First, who is calling for the ban of video games?

Secondly, statistics have shown that people who don't play video games are more likely to engage in violence. Loner behavior and seclusion are more of a risk factor than video games, which are largely a social activity. Through that activity, social norms and standards are enforced, causing game players to be less likely to be violent.

Certainly, there are violent games, but are there not also violent movies, violent TV shows, violent lyrics in music? What makes games any different than other forms of entertainment?

"It sure makes you wonder what it would be like to really kill somebody."

He shouldn't have been playing thee game in the first place.

***ACTIVATE RANT MODE***

And another thing: we're letting fire-breathing blowhards (Jack Thompson, I'm looking at you!) convince us that the actions of a few deranged wackos who went on rampages becuase they were inticed by games they shouldn't even have owned dupe us into thinking that anyone who plays violent games will soon be a murderer.

And while we're talking blowhards, I read somone (thier name escapes me, but it isn't worth remembering anyway,) who said that the violence depicted in games makes users wan to imitate that same kind of violence.

If that's true, we should ban Pac-Man becaues it depicts canabalism!

***TERMINATE RANT MODE***

(sigh of relief) Now I fell better.

Hillary Clinton, thats who.

If she wins, the game industry is screwed, as well as America.

Hah! I knew she was evil!

~Zoo

And that's why never to vote for Hillary, folks.

Actually, Jacko the Wacko does all he can.

Have you got a source on that? I haven't heard it. Mind you I'm not saying you're wrong, I'd just like to see a statement to that effect from the source. Thanks.

Hillary Clinton has long been opposed to videogame violence. She helped get the fucking ESRB started, and has always tried to discourage game with violence, as well as blood, boobs, and booze.

Why should she suddenly change her ways?

What a horned lizard.   

~Zoo

I don't get why policticians are like this. They never make dicisions for the good of the country. Take a look at George Bush. Thanks to him, almost all of the world hates America. What a ****er.

Heh, heh. I think somewhere along the line politicians just lose their common sense, decency and respect for the people they represent. That's why I like Obama...he doesn't seem quite as evil as everyone else...yet.

~Zoo

I like most of his ideas, as well as that it is extremely likely that he will beat that ****ing man-woman Hillary.

Wouldn't it be funny if Bush got shot? (And hopefully dies? :LOL: )

No...

And if you really hate Bush so much then you should have realized what would happen if he dies (who do you think takes power if the President dies... someone I would be willing to guess you dislike more than Mr. Bush).

Go back sorta onto the topic now. Please?

Yeah. We're having trouble stopping the mass influx of illegals because they hate us so bad.

The "almost all the world hates America" myth is just that...a myth.

You lose all credibility when you call for the assassination of a President, "General".

I'm sure the game industry is her first priority. If anyone would vote against someone just because of the game industry, I think its the voters that would be screwing America.

Hillary is a disaster. McCain in '08.

I pitty the horned lizard - that is such a vile comparison.

So to stay on topic. Is someone actually advocating banning ALL video games, or just "R" rated games, in general? I can't possibly imagine banning something as general as a "video game".

After all, soccer moms across the country would be up in arms! Who would babysit their children for them if Mario couldn't do it?? You don't expect THEM to do it, do you?? Thats a very slippery slope. If they had to watch their own kids, then sales of new SUV's would slip due to less driving needs and salon appointments would tumble. They wouldn't be able to squeeze into a sports bra and go walk on a treadmill for 20 minutes at the gym. Next, thousands of car salesmen would be laid off and Hair and Nail Salons would close shop due to decreasing revenues from soccer moms. Riots would ensue and the chaos would be enormous. Prohibition 2.0 would arise. Black Market video game speak-easys would pop up all over suburbias around the nation. Crime would increase tenfold and the police would be strained to the point of losing control. I shiver to think of such a thing!

I don't think there's anything wrong with the ESRB... I like that they're letting us know what's in games before we buy them. If you can't buy a game because of the ESRB, then you're not old enough to vote anyway...

Anyway, I think it is true that kids imitate a lot of what they see. I have seen kids playing video games and imitating them. Luckily they weren't violent ones.

I don't think that has anything to do with the game as such. I think that on a regular basis. In fact there are a few people i'd like to inflict a great deal of violence on. Thankfully for me, the people I want to hurt, and perhaps society as a whole, i'm civilised and enlightened enough to not actually resort to it.

If anything, Games allow me to vent my anger and frustrations. So for people who think games make young people violent etc, I think it's rubbish. The thing that makes someone take a gun to school etc, must already be there, which is what allows them to latch onto certain games.

My view on banning is that you shouldn't do it. In the UK violence is more an issue, whereas the US seems to be Nudity ( the witcher is a good example ). Banning is a slap in the face for those who are responsible, and considering that the average age of gamers are this in their 20's, we shouldn't have to tolerate it. Punishment for children who play or have access to games above thier age rating falls to the retailers and parents.

Everything's wrong with the ESRB. There need to be subjective ratings, not just the objective crap. Also, don't rate mods, unless they're included without major protection. I really wanted Oblivion to be T, just because I don't  frequently play M games.

Again, some games that should be rated subjectively (Deus Ex, which encourages non-lethal takedowns [I always tried], and Operation Flashpoint [set in a war setting with a blatantly expressed "War Is Hell" standpoint] should've been T rated in my opinion.), whereas games like Manhunt with violence for violence's sake should be banned and not allowed back.

I don't mind ratings, but they should not be issued arbitrarily, behind closed doors, w/some secret process. They should be issued publicly, w/an objective process, and appealable. The game industry itself should play some role in it as well.

lastly, it shouldn't effect who can buy the game, or you run into the situation you do w/movies where they deliberately gut the movie of interesting content, or deliberately choose a bland script, in order to keep it out of the 'R' rating, which they fear will make them less money.

Also, hasn't anyone watched/read a clockwork orange? Some people are just pre-disposed towards violence. If you get rid of all entertainment and only give them a bible, they'll find inspiration towards violence even there. They happen to be playing video games, that's where they get the impulse. Get rid of video games, you don't get rid of the impulse, they'll find another source.

Does anyone believe we had less violence in the world before video games? Before there was television/movies? Before people were literate? Entertainment has never ever been the source of violence in the world, violence, in fact, seems as if it was far more abundant the less entertainment was around. Look at the insane amounts of violence in japenese entertainment, insane! Ichi the killer anyone? Is their crime rate correspondingly worse than ours?

I think we need *more* violence in entertainment. When I was a kid, I remember growing up on felix the cat, speed racer, and other crappy cartoons. Then one day, came Robotech and star blazers. Tons of death. But not just of bad guys, good guys that you grew to love and get to know throughout the series would die too. Had a big impact on me as a kid. Yes you are showing violence, and for the purpose of being cool and exciting, but more importantly, you are showing that there is a consequence to it too. Compare that to Gi Joe, another cartoon of the time. Entire armies would face off against each other, in other words, plenty of violence, yet no one would get killed, ever, in other words - no consequences of violence were ever shown. Perhaps *this* is why we are replete w/violence in our country, because we are sanitized in our youth not from violence, but from the consequences of it. The problem isn't that we don't show violence, its that we show it w/out showing its consequences. Kids grow up not appreciating how horrible violence can be. So join me in a More Violence campaign!