Politician Asks Game Makers to End Real-Life Gun Licensing

[Andy Chalk]

Politician Asks Game Makers to End Real-Life Gun Licensing

The Speaker of Connecticut's House of Representatives has sent a letter to leading game publishers urging them to end the practice of licensing real-world guns for use in videogames.

Electronic Arts said earlier this year that it would no longer license [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123850-EA-Halts-Gun-Brand-Licensing] real-world firearms for use in its games, and now the Connecticut Speaker of the House J. Brendan Sharkey is calling on other big players in the videogame industry to do the same thing. In a letter sent to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick, Valve Managing Director Gabe Newell and ESA CEO Michael Gallagher, Sharkey said "the industry practice of videogame publishers entering into licensing, marketing or other financial arrangements to feature real guns in their games blurs the lines between fiction and reality in ways that can have tragic consequences."

Although he acknowledged that "research has shown little connection between the virtual gun violence depicted in your games and the actual gun violence that claims the lives of 33 Americans every single day," Sharkey nonetheless made a point of noting that Sandy Hook mass murderer Adam Lanza was an "active" Call of Duty player and that the Bushmaster rifle he used appears in the game.

"Games designed to recreate the experience of wartime carnage and criminal violence constitute protected speech under the provisions of the First Amendment," Sharkey wrote. "But there is little to be said in defense of an industry-wide practice of arranging licensing deals with gun manufacturers for the rights to use the make, model and visual design specifications of their real-life weapons."

"I write to you today to request your cooperation in ending the nefarious relationship between videogame makers and gun makers," he concluded. "Our communities, our country and our children are counting on your leadership on this important issue."

Describing a legitimate and possibly even legally required licensing deal as "nefarious" is a little over the top and I'm not really a fan of how Sharkey admits the lack of evidence connecting virtual and real-life violence and then in the next paragraph slides into talk about "blurred lines," but regardless of how you feel about the underlying sentiment I think it's also rather badly misdirected: the real-life Bushmaster, a "versatile and useful gun" with flash suppressor and 30-round magazine, is still available at your local Walmart [http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?ic=16_0&Find=Find&search_query=bushmaster&Find=Find&search_constraint=0].

Source: GamePolitics [http://www.housedems.ct.gov/Sharkey/2013/pr088_2013-08-02.asp]


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[Roofstone]

At least he sent a letter asking them to "please do this, it might help?" instead of shouting about it up on a podium.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

At least he sent a letter asking them to "please do this, it might help?" instead of shouting about it up on a podium.

It's still retarded. He's basically admitting that guns are bad. But he doesn't want to do anything about real guns. Instead he thinks video games should take the heat.

 

[Erttheking]

It's slightly better than what most of the idiots are trying to do, but it'll still solve jack shit.

 

[Racecarlock]

While at the same time we're putting armed guards in schools because Second Amendment.

On the other hand, branding doesn't really matter that much, so this is the smallest deal out of possible small deals. This is an anthill next to a molehill.

So please, guys, try not to make a mountain out of it.

 

[Lawyer105]

I dunno... since none of the content is going to change, what possible use could this be? If they comply, however, it could easily be "interpreted" as the games companies recognising a link between their products and violence, and taking "responsible" action to head things off. From there, it's a really short step to trying to censor the content, since the companies themselves have already "admitted" the link.

Sure... it's /tinfoilhat thinking... but we're talking about American politicians here. Morons who think regulating vidya-games (while simultaneously ignoring books, movies, advertising and... you know... actual guns) is gonna solve their problems. I don't think the above is a significant stretch for mentally challenged lug-nuts like that.

 

[WanderingFool]

It's slightly better than what most of the idiots are trying to do, but it'll still solve jack shit.

Thats roughly the same as giving a person a sweater so they dont get cold... in the desert...

*Edit*

Oh for fuck sake, YES! I KNOW DESERTS ARE COLD AT NIGHT! MOST PEOPLE WILL ASSOCIATE DESERT=HOT, THUS MAKING THE POINT OF THE REMARK ABOUT HOW ITS ALL FUCKING USELESS.

Also, I when I read bushmaster, I thought this:

I make no apology.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Slightly less stupid than the way most politicians deal with this sort of thing, but still fucking stupid nonetheless.

Maybe you should try something about the actual guns. Might help a bit more than trying to get rid of some licensing deals.

 

[Andy Chalk]

From the Speaker's page:

A report published in June by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and The Gun Truth Project detailed how deals between video game companies and weapons manufacturers often lead to promotional campaigns enticing players to purchase weapons featured in the games they have just played.

I'm not sure how "often" it actually happens; I'm only aware of the deal EA signed with McMillan and Magpul that it canned last year. But that's obviously the nail the Speaker has chosen to hammer.

 

[Erttheking]

From the Speaker's page:

A report published in June by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and The Gun Truth Project detailed how deals between video game companies and weapons manufacturers often lead to promotional campaigns enticing players to purchase weapons featured in the games they have just played.

I'm not sure how "often" it actually happens; I'm only aware of the deal EA signed with McMillan and Magpul that it canned last year. But that's obviously the nail the Speaker has chosen to hammer.

Ok, that I don't mind so much. But it still kinda feels like he's going after games and not the gun manufacturers.

 

[CriticalMiss]

As we all know guns and violent videogames don't make people in to cold-hearted killers, it's licensing deals.

 

[Bolt-206]

This would make looking up weapons in wikis so much more annoying... :/

But seriously, this feels like another attempt to kill MMS games, albeit in an indirect way; I'd say the biggest aspect MMS games have in common is familiarity - Familiar planet, familiar setting, familiar weaponry, etc. - If they can't licence weapons then they might aswell be making up the weapons they feature, and then it's not so familiar anymore.

...Not that I'm against creativity or anything.

 

[Reeve]

That's right kids: Publishers have to pay to licenses to be allowed to depict real world guns in games. That money goes to the arms industry. Which means that every time you buy a game that depicts real world guns in it: Some of your money is spent on making real weapons. You help the arms industry! (And some of you, whilst doing that unwittingly, will be on the Internet demanding gun control. lol cosmic irony!)

 

[Hero in a half shell]

This is bizarre.

"the industry practice of videogame publishers entering into licensing, marketing or other financial arrangements to feature real guns in their games blurs the lines between fiction and reality in ways that can have tragic consequences."

Although he acknowledged that "research has shown little connection between the virtual gun violence depicted in your games and the actual gun violence that claims the lives of 33 Americans every single day," Sharkey nonetheless made a point of noting that Sandy Hook mass murderer Adam Lanza was an "active" Call of Duty player and that the Bushmaster rifle he used appears in the game.

Translation:
"This act will decrease the violence that videogames cause, even though there is no proven link between videogames and real violence.
Also this one time a guy played a videogame that had a real gun in it, and he shot people in real life using that gun. True story."

Note how, even when he was required to state that this request had no scientific basis, and he was essentially talking out of his ass, he dressed it up to appeal to the listeners patriotic emotions by adding the shocking "claims the lives of 33 Americans every single day". That's simply there to lock his listeners focus on the sheer extent of the problem, so they forget the first half of the sentence which refutes the whole basis of this appeal.

This will solve nothing and fool nobody. What's the point in all that videogame research that was called for if they aren't going to bother to wait for the results. That's like going to the hospital to see if you have testicular cancer, and then deciding to castrate yourself in the car park before you enter the building.

 

[vun]

I'd be ok with this as it'd mean less money to the arms industry, but unless they can actually come up with proper weapons we'll see the same thing we're seeing with cars in games like GTA and SR. A bunch of cars that are vague and shitty clones of existing and non-existing real life cars. So basically we risk ending up with Hot Wheels guns.
Still, I'd say it's worth it.

 

[Smooth Operator]

You know what at this point I just find it insanely hilarious, no one dares take on the real life issues so they duck it out over games... it's so messed up I can't even tell what form of entertainment this would qualify under.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

It's slightly better than what most of the idiots are trying to do, but it'll still solve jack shit.

Thats roughly the same as giving a person a sweater so they dont get cold... in the desert...

Also, I when I read bushmaster, I thought this:

I make no apology.

When I read Bushmaster I thought of this:

Spoiler

Our videogames need more guns that shoot Paul Hogan at people.

 

[Dark Knifer]

While at the same time we're putting armed guards in schools because Second Amendment.

Wait what

OT:He went a bit too far in the "Think of the children" way but I do like the idea of less real guns as it gets the arms industry less money.