Actual City of Juarez Wants Videogame Juarez Banned

[Greg Tito]

Actual City of Juarez Wants Videogame Juarez Banned

Townsfolk in the embattled town of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico want the upcoming Call of Juarez: The Cartel banned.

Mexico is not a very safe place right now, with drug-smuggling cartels and gangsters often wielding more power than the lawmakers and civilian government. But people in the town of Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, don't exactly want the violence that they live with every day to be rubbed in their face. The state legislature of the Mexican state of Chihuahua unanimously voted to ask the Federal government to ban Ubisoft's Call of Juarez: The Cartel for its videogame depiction of violence. More than six thousand people were killed in Juarez over the last two years, and Call of Juarez: The Cartel's tagline allowing players to "experience the lawlessness of the modern Wild West" hits a little to close to home. Of course, politicians claim the proposed videogame ban is for the children. Call of Juarez: The Cartel is slated for release this summer on PS3, Xbox 360 and the PC.

"It is true there is a serious crime situation, which we are not trying to hide," said Congressman Ricardo Boone Salmon. "But we also should not expose children to this kind of scenarios so that they are going to grow up with this kind of image and lack of values."

The children of Juarez have already been taught to take cover when gunfights erupt, and playing this videogame will only exacerbate the problem, according to politician Enrique Serrano. "Children wind up being easily involved in criminal acts over time, because among other things, during their childhood not enough care has been taken about what they see on television and playing video games," Serrano said. "They believe so much blood and death is normal."

I don't pretend to know what it's like to grow up in Juarez, nor have I yet played the game in question, so I can't say whether this ban is justified. All I do know is that it's rare for a piece of art to have the detrimental effect that these politicians are supposing. Does Faranheit 451 promote book burning? Is reading Huck Finn really going to bring back slavery? Will watching Star Wars allow me to move stuff with my mind?

Well, I hope that last one is true.

Source: Associated Press [http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iqMZxkL6DmPxcnMeoZsLBbE9Jrfw?docId=906bc064872a4a3db3301f4d46dcf92d]

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[zehydra]

but children aren't supposed to be watching/playing this game in the first place!

 

[Cormyre]

Round 2 of Jaurez vs. Video Games
First round was first G.R.A.W. 2
GamePolitics [http://gamepolitics.com/2007/03/09/juarez-mayor-objects-to-graw2]

 

[CardinalPiggles]

this is rediculous, he may as well be saying ALL violent games should be banned.

 

[manythings]

I can half understand though, shit be crazy there. If there were people shooting each other in my town and someone made a game wwith my towns name about shooting people I wouldn't look on it charitably.

 

[Woodsey]

All Star Wars has ever inspired me to do is get off with my sister.

I can see an issue with the tagline, but we still don't know what the game's about, or the role of the titular Cartel.

 

[oldtaku]

53 people killed in Juarez in the last three days: http://www.currentargus.com/ci_17439708

Obviously the problem here is video games. I certainly hope Ubisoft will be held accountable.

 

[OldAccount]

I can't support the ban as I never condone censorship. But in this case I can understand the logic.

 

[Thyunda]

I think this one might actually have some justification...but bear with me. Maybe not banning...maybe delaying. I mean, it must be a bit of a kick in the cock to have to deal with the things that happen in Juarez, and then have some game come out and basically shout to everyone "Hey guys! Come experience the awesome that is the modern Wild West!", when there are actually people living like that. Not by choice.

I dunno about doing it for the children. Just good manners, is all it is.

 

[Tsaba]

I share the border with the knuckleheads, if they can stop the bodys from being hung within sight of the highways on my side of the border then they can have a moral argument against against a video game.

 

[theriddlen]

All games should be banned! They make people rapists, murderers and jaywalkers!

 

[Exterminas]

It's funny how little people know about how video games work.
It doesn't matter what you call the bloody city, after it was already modelled after a RL-Example. People will always be able to tell what the inspiration was.

Ask the citizens of Liberty City aka New York.

 

[Jumplion]

Amidst all the knee-jerking "Kids aren't supposed to play it, dood!" I just have to think.

The situation is already bad enough over there that they don't need video games glorifying the situation there (because I have absolutely no confidence in the developer to deliver a thoughtful, mature story or gameplay with it) making things even more desensitized there. From what I have read on previous threads on the subject, it seems that there's barely any regulation there, let alone one for video games, so I'd say that it'd be very easy for kids to get their hands on the game.

 

[Catalyst6]

As much as I hate the "games cause kids to become murderers", I can pretty much accept this decision. I don't support it, no, but it does make sense in a way. It's kind of like the GTA argument; there's no way that a suburban kid is going to play GTA and then go out and beat an old woman with a baseball bat. However, if a kid lives in a place where the possibility of him joining a violent gang is a real threat, well, GTA's glorification can't hurt.

Of course, kids aren't supposed to play the game, that's obvious. And anyone that wants to play it in Juarez can just get it mailed to them.

In all, I can see where they are coming from.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

I can't even...what is this?

Heres an idea, if you don't want it rubbed in your face, don't buy the game. Problem solved. DERP.

I don't see how this is something they're worried about anyways considering the other large list of problems down there anyways...ya know, like...ACTUAL DRUG CARTELS.

 

[gigastar]

Its not too difficult to see why they want it banned, but I just dont see any government outside of Mexico going beyond pretending to listen to one of the most crime-ridden cities in the north-western demisphere.

I'll stick to the same saying that I have with CoD, recent Spyro games, any Crash Bandicoot not made by Naughty Dog Activision's games, if a game displeases you, dont buy it.

All games should be banned! They make people rapists, murderers and jaywalkers!

You forgot arsonists.

 

[Talvrae]

I think that maybe this time they should have let the dust settle down a bit before going for such a project it was bound to be controversial

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I can half understand their concerns. While this game probably would not have any effects on kids living in stable areas (like the US), it might have a detrimental effect on children in areas that are highly violent, since many of those children might already have emotional problems due to the violence in the area, and it's possible (even if it is unlikely) that a videogame might push a kid who is already emotionally unstable into doing something stupid.

Besides, the exact quote was that

"Children wind up being easily involved in criminal acts over time, because among other things, during their childhood not enough care has been taken about what they see on television and playing video games"

I think we can all agree that "not enough care being taken to prevent kids from seeing movies and playing games they shouldn't be" is a problem. Of course the care should be taken BY THE PARENTS instead of by the government. The quote isn't saying that games are evil, it's just saying that people should be careful about what their kids see, and I can agree with that, even though I completely disagree with the idea that the government has some kind of legal duty to ban this game. It has no such duty, or right.

 

[Beryl77]

Why do people always believe that a ban resolves all the problems?

 

[awesomeClaw]

Then maybe you should send in the military and actually do something rather then sitting on your asses and blaiming videogames? Just maybe?

...

Idiots.