Comic Book Industry Rallies Against Game Law

Interesting. I'm not sure whether it's a "law" in the UK but games all have ratings just like movies - something like GTA IV is an 18 for example and anyone under that age cannot buy it. I can't really comment whether or not kids should be completely banned from playing stuff like that though as I just used to get my parent to buy the games that I was too young to buy myself! :P I don't think it's that big a deal myself...I've played violet games since I was much younger and have never had a desire to live them out and kill/attac anyone! Stuff like that is just down to bad parenting and mental issues rather than video games IMO.

yea you gotta admit.. that usually the people that go around maiming and killing other people are not the same people that sit at home playing "violent" video games.

This type of debate is getting old and outdated. What's the difference between violent games and violent movies??? The both depict the same imagery, so why are the movies much more accepted than the games??? If anyone is going to ban anything, they should ban the idiots who purchase these games just to complain about what kind of affect the games will have on our Nation's youth.

They should educate parents rather than do this. Most kids who play games they shouldn't play get them from a parent. Then of course the parents complain about violent games, which they shouldn't because games are just not for kids.

Yeah, okay, WOAH!!! I'm a parent and at the end of the day, it is STILL the child's choice to act badly or not. Kids aren't programmable robots. YES they DO always keep in concideration everything their parents have tought them but they DO have their OWN personalities and they DO come to an age where they start making their OWN decisions and become the person they CHOOSE to be. And that's regardless if it disobeys what they learned from their parents in their tender years. You might not realise it but that happens WAY before they hit 18! A videogame does not MAKE a child act. The child CHOOSES to act how HE wants. If your child even remotely has a slight tendency to "thrill seeking", and is slightly easy to influence no matter what punishment awaits him at home, then one day he just might try to see with what acts he can get away with, no matter how hard you tried to teach him to behave. So don't give me this shit about "punishing" the loving parents of challenging children. Sure you were only talking about the parents who DO raise their children to be nothing more than criminals but then the law doesn't distinguish between the two so you'd be condemning more innocent parents than guilty! It is EVERYONE'S duty to obey the law, child and retailer alike! If a child commits a crime, then he or she SHOULD be charged, not the parents. If the retailer doesn't obey the law and sells adult products to a child, then he or she SHOULD be charged, not the parents. Lets stop putting the guilt on anyone else but the guilty! Stop it with the "but he's just a child" bullshit! Kids take into everything before their 10 years old. After that, they choose to do whatever they want, even if they aren't allowed. How you raise your child only goes as far as the child chooses. The second the parents have their back turned, they are without supervision and they act how they want to. Superman can't even be at two places at the same time in a freakin' comic book so how can you even ask the parents to do that in real life? It is imperative for parents to teach their children at a very young age what is right and what is wrong, what the law is and it's consequences but at the end of the day, it will never be anythying more than "advice". And it is the child that will choose whether to take it or not.

"This type of debate is getting old and outdated. What's the difference between violent games and violent movies??? The both depict the same imagery, so why are the movies much more accepted than the games??? If anyone is going to ban anything, they should ban the idiots who purchase these games just to complain about what kind of affect the games will have on our Nation's youth."

I think the way they're looking at it is in a movie you're watching people kill or commit violence, whereas in a game, you're the one doing it.

A lot of this has to do with parenting. Yes there are some kids who are straight up Psychopaths but at the same time, parents need to be active when it comes to media consumption by their kids. Why would you as a parent buy a pair of shoes worth $200 for a child? Kids these days are not taught anything about accountability and personal responsibility because the parents are doing a piss poor job. It is your duty as a parent to regulate what your child watches/plays. You have kids getting buck wild out there and their parents cant even be bothered to reign them in. Oh your child wants a certain game? Maybe you as a parent should play that game first and see what its about instead of just dropping the money and buying it.

You guys are totally missing the point! Now that the economy has recovered, unemployment is at an all time low, we have brought all of our troops home from war, there are no homeless in America anymore, there are no longer high school drop outs, we have won the drug war, prostitution has been eliminated, we are all on solar power, oil is a thing of the past, the Ozone has been repaired, crime is at an all time low, taxes are almost non existent, Republicans and Democrats now works together for the good of the country, racism is deader than Sonny Bono and it no one worries about leaving their doors unlocked anymore the only thing left is to wrangle in these damn Video games!!!! .....Huh? what? none of that?....at all?....seriously?....but isn't it 2010?...and none of this has been fixed?.....my bad. Well then WTF???

This is just more craptastic dog and pony show stuff to distract the masses from the actual issues no one seems to want to tackle. For the parents and people the do want this, how about trying to be a good parent instead? If your kid is out of control it's because you suck as a parent period.

The funny part is there is an upside for us whoever wins. If the entertainment/games/movies/comics industry wins, nothing will happen, it will just be back to our amendment, free speech, and that's all.

If California wins (and I know 11 other states are going to go forward with their case if California does win and ban minors from violent videogames) we will not have all the kids in California (probably like 8% of the youth online) screaming into the microphone while I'm trying to enjoy my pwning. I always ask these children how they got this game, or if your parents know you're playing this game (cause some of them are pretty violent and mature like Gears of War) and they say their parents got it for them. I usually tell them that they have failed as a parent if that's the case, and that my mom would have killed me if she caught me playing a game like that. It's sad when the parents are so lazy they just give the kid whatever he is wanting, without researching it beforehand. I mean, even if you think your child can handle the game itself, the people on xbox live or psn or 10x worse with the stuff they say, so having your child on there being told to "stfu" and "N" word to some kid isn't good. I have to mute the kid, cause they are so irritating I cannot handle it. Parents need to pay attention and babysit their own kids, not let the state do the work for them. Though, I'm worried if they do win, they don't think they can do whatever they feel like now, with their heads held high, thinking they are all bad ass, trying to ban violent games to all people. I mean, that would be almost impossible with the free speech amendment, and since it's a ban to everyone, every single person in the industry would fight it. It'd lose very quickly. You can ban it from a certain age group, but not the world.

But on the other side of that coin, it's not a bad idea to govern those types of games to minors, hell, we do it to porn, cigarettes, and alcohol, which are all harmful in one form or another (porn is more a visual/mental thing cause you can't take back what you see lol). I don't think kids should be allowed to play some of the games that are out because of the content in the game, and they should especially be unable to play any type of multiplayer with other people online (strangers no less).

I'm on both sides of this, but I'm leaning towards ban of minors for the reasons I listed above. Kids don't belong in mature settings, it's not that hard of a concept.

The problem here is that, even with this law on the books, too many parents would still buy these games for their kids because they give the kid everything he wants without screening it first. If the parents won't buy these games, an older sibling or friend certainly will. Look how many teens still smoke, despite universal laws prohibiting them from buying cigarettes. Laws prohibiting sales to minors do nothing if people turn a blind eye to it.

This law has its heart in the right place, imo. The thing is, Chad Vital is exactly right with many points in his excellent post right above this one.

You know what's gonna happen if it does pass, a skyrocket of fake IDs lol.

this needs to be put on the parents. The kids under the age of 18 are usually getting the money to buy these from the parents. Don't just give your kids $60 and not care. Be active, dont make this the rest of the states problem cause you didnt realize a game called KILL THEM BITCHES was about a game that you kill people.