Judges Ruled: Game Laws are Unconstitutional

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
Did they ban the 3 stooges or the road runner. there were no Games to play in the early 60's and people were still killing each other but our elected officials only stand on issues that appeal to fringe groups on the left and the right glad to see a common sense ruling for once
 
Media can only have a chance to be harmful if parents let their children being raised by media. Not only video games, but movies, TV and even plays can highly suggestive to a child. People are forgetting to relate thenself with their children. Media can act like a bad friendship on school and parents are in charge of teaching their children the corrent attitude.
There is no need for banning.
It´s sucks to see publishers cutting games to adapt them to the M rating. ERSB should be only a suggestion, not law. I´m pretty sure that most of video game players are 18+, so what a hell!
 
[citation][nom]jerreece[/nom]I kind of have to agree with the judges in this case. However, I hope this ruling will not prevent folks from preventing very young children from buying software/games which display adult content (nudity, porn, etc). That goes beyond free speech, and begins to intrude on another person's rights (which is why you can't run naked in public without being arrested)[/citation]

This is relative. If your from a smaller town where the cops are not used to drugged out peeps running around naked, you would be surprised at how apprehensive a cop would be at tackling a naked guy.. Its easy to not get arrested if the cops just watch you run away, junk flopping all over the place.. Not that I would know anything about that..
 
[citation][nom]nachowarrior[/nom]two words.... PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY![/citation]
None of the people I have ever seen in California wouldnt even know what that means.. Probably couldnt even spell it.. I know not everyone in Cali is like that, but the people who make the most noise are...
 
[citation][nom]blackened144[/nom]None of the people I have ever seen in California wouldnt even know what that means.. Probably couldnt even spell it.. I know not everyone in Cali is like that, but the people who make the most noise are...[/citation]
Damn.. I wish I could edit that 'wouldnt' to be 'would'.
 
A kid that kills his/her parents over something as ridiculous as not being able to play a violent video game, and then blaming the incident on the games itself? If this happens at all, for starters, the "programming" was already in the kids head. Help was already needed, maybe not now or even five years from now. Sooner or later something would have snapped over a similar incident and something else would have happened. This is why adults have prescription medication or counseling to deal with chemical imbalances in the mind. I am not saying that this kid would have just been evil anyway, but he was walking alongside the path in the first place - perhaps the signs were missed and he just needed some help to stay off of it. I suppose everyone else in Juvenile, prison, or psycho wards can be attributed to the phrase "Oh they must have played violent video games as a child"!
 
I think people are missing the point here. In general a rating would provide parents that are ignorant to the video games out there to make a decision if they want to allow their child to play such game. (i.e. not all moms and dads play the latest games)

We do it with movies, why not games? After all they are getting more and more real.

Again, it's about helping the parents make informed decisions. After all they are responsible for their kids until they are legal adults.

As a parent myself, I wouldn't let my kid play GTA to learn how to get their money back from a hooker by beating her up. For me, I don't believe my son would go out and beat up hookers, but I believe it desensitizes their mind against what's wrong. (I speak from experience on that one!)
 
If the state wants to restrict "M" rated games to people 17+ (or people with parental consent) that's fine, however going any further than that is wrong. It should be up to parents to decide if children are ready to play a game - not the state.

I've been playing games (violent and non-violent) since I was 7 years old - one my first being C&C: Red Alert - but I'm not a violent person - heck, compared to 90% of the people Xbox Live, even people older than me, I'm an incredibly calm person. I get A's and B's in school, and I'm in Dual-Enrollment (College Classes in highschool classroom).

My point is that everyone's different, and it's not up to the state to decide who can or can't do something. If they want to prevent violence related problems, they should try to educate parents, not ban the games.

Here's an idea - make a website availible to parents that contains more in-depth ESRB-type information. Include more than four words why the game was rated how it was, include screenshots, etc. I can imagine it being difficult for a parent to jugde the content of a game based off of 4 words and this type of information could definately help determine this type of issue.

For example, for a parent who doesn't recognize the titles so they don't know about the type of games they are: Gears of War and GTA4. Both are Intense Violence with Blood and Strong Language, but one is shooting aliens while the other you're shooting other people over money. It's reasonable to say that if a child were prone to being mentally effected, GTA4 would have a greater impact. But a parent wouldn't be able to judge this off of the esrb.org site.
 
Video games, from what I have seen, really have very little effect on peoples tempers. I have been playing video games since I was a small girl (everything from Super Mario on the NES to Gears of War and Halo on the 360) and aside from the usual attitude problems that stem from being an adolescent I have never had a problem. As psychology major I believe you, as parents, should be stressing to your children that there is a difference between what they see coming at them through the TV set, whether it be movies, shows or games and what is real life. Government should not be responsible for your parenting and if you really think that this is a problem for your child stop allowing the TV and games to baby sit for you. Become a real parent and have family time.
 
Honestly, do I think that a 10 year old should play Far Cry 2 with full gore and everything? No, but does that mean at 15 I'm not capable of keeping myself from putting bullets in people/pulling them out of myself. There's a limit where it MAY have an effect, but it shouldn't be 18. A lot of gamers are under 18, but were not all psychopaths who can't control game vs reality when we get mad. I can be mad about something and take it out by playing something like Far Cry 2, but does that mean when I don't have Far Cry 2 I find a machete and hunt down my neighbors and or people I don't like? NO, Just NO.
 
[citation][nom]brendano257[/nom]Honestly, do I think that a 10 year old should play Far Cry 2 with full gore and everything? No, but does that mean at 15 I'm not capable of keeping myself from putting bullets in people/pulling them out of myself. There's a limit where it MAY have an effect, but it shouldn't be 18. A lot of gamers are under 18, but were not all psychopaths who can't control game vs reality when we get mad. I can be mad about something and take it out by playing something like Far Cry 2, but does that mean when I don't have Far Cry 2 I find a machete and hunt down my neighbors and or people I don't like? NO, Just NO.[/citation]
Lead poisoning is bad.
 
The fed isn't my daddy, why should they be policing what I can and can't do? This is the US, the most lax on rules country and done that way so you can have personal freedom to do what you want without the fed inhibiting you. Its the idea that has created the most prosperous economy in the world and has shown too much government control fails. I wish all the people who want the fed will go to the other 90 some odd countries that do just that so they can realize what a failur the idea is. The battle for personal freedom isn't just the big fights but also the little fights that many don't care about.
 
Yea, I do get violent once in a while. I got pocket Aces and some kid called me with a Q 3 off suit and win. I just want to punch his socket. But I'm all good with any kind of shooter or mmo, no problem there.
 
I played games like Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat, Battlefield since i was 14. Did it turns me into some gun wielding maniac shooting random people in the streets for fun? No.
 
More legislation from the bench via the 9th circuit court of appeals. . . this is a joke these days.

I'm not anti violent games, but when a 12 year old kid wants to play Gears, I would rather their parent decide if the game will have too large of an adverse effect on them or not. Maybe they are mentally ill and violence causes them to want to shoot people up. Clearly that person doesn't need a violent video game.

I realize that there are people over 18 that could fit that description too, but it's much harder to legislate mental illnesses than age.
 
[citation][nom]blackened144[/nom]None of the people I have ever seen in California wouldnt even know what that means.. Probably couldnt even spell it.. I know not everyone in Cali is like that, but the people who make the most noise are...[/citation]

Ey, I live in Santa Cruz County and I can second that.

Everything is always someone elses fault and no one is responsible for any of their actions around here.
 
A few bad apples always spoil it for the rest of us, true gamers know the differance between reality and fantasy/escapism.

Perhaps what is needed is a Gamers Licience where you have to go thru a number of tests to ensure your mentally stable enough to play games that deal with material of a alternate/virtual reality and non therapeutic nature.

Much in a similar way to driving a cars/trucks/heavy vechiles or using a gun or flighing a small plane/Jumbo or becoming a security officier and various other profession you have of sound mind and body to be granted such a licence and this way regardless if your 7 or 87 etc. you are allowed based on your mental competance as shown on such licience.
 
What everyone fails to see is its the responsibility of the parents to keep real guns out of reach of children. In the case of the child shotting his mom. Its simply either the mothers fault or the father. Who's gun and who left it where the child had access. This smoke screen that the game made the child shot his mom is just dumb.

Gun safety is simple. Keep bullets and guns in different places both out of reach of children.

The judges are correct and games shouldn't be blamed.
 
Kinda seems odd that restricting the audience of movies is "constitutional" and game is "unconstitutional". I'm not saying that they should put a restriction on games, but that maybe pick on or the other...
 
Funny. I always felt better and more relaxed after a couple of hours shooting people online. It is a great stress reliever. Never thought to carry it over and into the neighborhood though. Or shoot my wife, the dog, the cats or even hack up the gerbils.
 
That Kid who killed his mother and shot hit father was already unstable from what I've read. Besides research has shown violent crimes have gone down since video games have been around. To say a video game caused someone to pick up a gun and shoot someone or mimic other things you can do is ridiculous. Those are the kinds of people who should already been seeing some psycho therapy, and besides these kids parents should be to blame because they suck as parents.

If you don't pay attention to what your kid is doing and give into buying them that rated M game then it's your fault not the game creators fault for your "f"ed up kid. Start taking some responsibility. Still not saying violent games cause violent behavior but children tend to act out what they see on television or the movies.

Time for parents to get more involved with their kids lives is all im saying.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom