Old male US politicians who are out of touch with reality... - by EvaUnit02
EvaUnit02 on 22/3/2012 at 12:52
A couple of US congressman are trying to pass a bill so that games sold in their country will have to carry cigarette-like warning labels, saying the gaming has been linked with "aggressive behaviour". Jesus Christ.
(
http://www.iforce.co.nz/View.aspx?i=0dwyhg14.1ln.jpg)
Inline Image:
http://iforce.co.nz/i/0dwyhg14.1ln.jpg(
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/166615/US_bill_proposes_tobaccostyle_warning_labels_for_games.php)
Quote:
Two congressmen have introduced a bill that would require almost all video games to feature a warning label concerning exposure to violent games, similar to the health warnings on tobacco products.
Called the Violence in Video Games Labeling Act (H.R. 4204, PDF link), the bipartisan bill seeks to label games in the U.S. with a message that reads "WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior" on their packaging (or in another clear and conspicuous location, if distributed digitally).
"Just as we warn smokers of the health consequences of tobacco, we should warn parents — and children — about the growing scientific evidence demonstrating a relationship between violent video games and violent behavior," said Virginia Representative and the bill's co-sponsor Frank Wolf, according to The Hill.
California Representative Joe Baca, who also co-sponsored the bill, added, "The video game industry has a responsibility to parents, families and to consumers — to inform them of the potentially damaging content that is often found in their products. They have repeatedly failed to live up to this responsibility."
At least not all US authority figures are living in fantasy land, since the games are recognised as art and protected under their First Amendment (freedom of speech).
Jason Moyer on 22/3/2012 at 13:59
Zero chance of being passed. If you read the article you'll notice this is the 7th time the bill has been proposed, and I doubt it's even gotten out of committee.
Koki on 22/3/2012 at 15:25
Even if I lived in amerikkka, why would I care?
demagogue on 22/3/2012 at 16:10
ahaha. no.
What they need warning labels on are disgusting fat-people food for heart attacks and cars for accidents, the two things (other than cigarettes) with the highest mortality rates by far, oh and household accidents like bathtub falls. School shootings due to game-playing ranks I think around the 3 millionth type of risk we should be worried about controlling at the source, with 2.9 million other dire threats that should have labels long before this. (And the connection doesn't make much sense anyway. Just not clear if you took the game away the violence wouldn't happen.)
demagogue on 22/3/2012 at 17:27
Huh that makes me honestly wonder why homicide rates are down, or what was going on in the 90s. My guess is, after watching a documentary on crack, that by the end of the 90s people started voluntarily turning away from the drugs associated with all the violence like crack, and gangs were making truces, because it was so clearly turning people into zombies & killing the communities (and AFAIK gun violence has long been most prevalent for drug crimes). That and now we can do our drive-by shootings in GTA. :cool:
fett on 23/3/2012 at 05:46
Koki, do you ever shut your fucking mouth, or do you just like the sound of your own voice? I swear to god you're the most worthless poster ever in the nearly 12 years I've been on these boards. Jesus.
In Freakonomics, the author makes the case that legalized abortion in the late 60's led to fewer unwanted children. The connection seems to be that unwanted kids grow up in households that eventually lead them into deviant behavior or violent crime. Thus, the reduced crime rates for that generation, and subsequent ones.
I would also postulate that playing violent video games actually helps hormone ridden teens to release their aggression on Nazis and monsters, rather than peers.
Renzatic on 23/3/2012 at 05:57
This has roughly a snowballs chance in hell of passing. Unless I'm horribly mistaken, I believe videogames are now considered protected under the first amendment. You could have a thousand overly scared, out of touch cantankerous old bastards bring up the issue again and again, and it'll be slapped down by SCOTUS each and every time.
zajazd on 23/3/2012 at 07:50
I couldn't agree.. with them more. I hate stupid over the top violence in games, e.g. Darkness II, wtf mēn.
june gloom on 23/3/2012 at 08:22
You're an idiot though. So it's no surprise.