Actual City of Juarez Wants Videogame Juarez Banned

[Tdc2182]

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

Well now you are being extremely melodramatic. He is merely stating the fact that they are involved with a very real drug cartel war right at home. Complaining about the fact that a game about the exact situations is being made.

I honestly doubt he wants to ban Halo... Unless he is concerned about that big alien invasion that's happening right now.

 

[Kae]

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

Well its already been established, bulletstorm does in fact, make you a rapist and is fucking awesome... So this not that different an argument.

This one is not like that, there is an actual valid argument unlike with bulletstorm, and the argument is the fear of it glorifying the cartels and thereby influencing kids to join them, it's a real issue, now they would do this for music too but there's just too much of that and would be impossible to regulate, but this is a big budget AAA game we're talking about so of course since it's just one it would be easier to get rid of it before it comes out.
Besides it's pretty damn disgusting to think of someone having fun doing recreations of a situation that is going on right now and that people ARE DYING on, I mean would you like to see a game about how you're father gets killed? Because for a lot of people over here that is what this is.
EDIT: BTW since I have been very active on this thread I must say that I am going to sleep now so I won't be responding until tomorrow afternoon to any comments that are made to me; and yes I do realize how big my ego looks for making this post.

 

[camazotz]

Yes, I'm sure a video game is exactly what's hindering your city's ability to foster peace and happiness.

He livesin El Paso, which is right across the border from Ciudad Juarez. As a NM local, I can tell you that I see no easy answer to this. On the one hand, the border is going to hell, fast, and its gotten too dangerous for anyone to reasonably cross these days, for whatever reason. On the other hand, banning this game may make it more popular than usual, and since El Paso is in the US and right across the border, it may not be too hard to get ahold of. In this case, all banning the game will do is make it more tantalizing to the audience that they're supposedly trying to keep it from.

Anyway, Mexico's got some strange stuff going on along the border. I don't advocate banning anything...book, game, film or otherwise...and think banning this just makes it more high profile. On the other hand, we're dealing with a phenomenon where the cartels have more power than the legitimate police, and most corruption is at an all time high. People are getting shot constantly, and its popular locally to pay homage to an invented "Saint Narcos," which is essentially making it hip and religiously acceptable to be part of the regional culture of crime in the region. Because of things like this, I can at least understand why the government in Juarez is loathe to watch a detailed game seemingly glorifying (theoretically, I really don't know anything about it yet) the culture of crime in the region.

My only hope is that these guys spend too much time playing the game to go out and shoot each other IRL. It seems to work here, maybe it will work there? Probably not, unfortunately. I think there's a culture clash going on that frankly is not going to be helped by this game.

 

[Blue Musician]

Actually the game has already been banned in Chihuahua, the place where I live.

 

[zehydra]

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

Yeah, because telling kids what not to do always seems to work.

OT: You know what, I'm particularly all for this. I think the producers/developers should discontinue this game. It would be like... making a Gabrielle Giffords murder simulator the month after she was shot.

It's just poor decency that these people are basing this game off, and a total controversy sell out.

Maybe its the fact that I live relatively close to these things that are going on, but making a game about something that is very very real is just totally bad taste.

It doesn't always work, but that doesn't mean that we should still try and enforce the ratings system! If parents actually did their job we wouldn't have people all riled up that their kids are playing such violent and gory games.

 

[Jezzy54]

I think the real issue is more that making a game exploiting a real place with an abundance of violence is probably in bad taste, rather than the usual "This game will make kids kill people!" bull.

 

[The Big Eye]

"Does Faranheit 451 promote book burning?" Oh god, if you're gonna say that, please spell it right...

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

It sounded like a legitimate reason to not want the game around, until they pulled ye olde 'think of the children!' card from the deck of tired propaganda.

They should have stuck with the case that it's still a modern problem that shouldn't be 'exploited' like that 6 days in Falujah (or whatever the title was). I'd still disagree with the call for a ban, but I'd at least feel more sympathetic.

 

[Omikron009]

I see here what looks like a ton of knee-jerk reactions to defend the game without thinking about where the ban is coming from. Thousands of people have been murdered in a relatively short timespan in Juarez, and when a foreign company comes along and wants to turn that into entertainment, it's bound to upset people. Yes, we know that games don't turn people into drug criminals, but maybe that's not why they want it banned. Perhaps they find the idea of their immense pain and suffering being used as a form of entertainment distasteful. I can only speculate, and I think it's perfectly reasonable to defend the right to free expression through video games, but maybe we need to think a little more before completely condemning this ban.

 

[[zonking great]]

What is Faranheit 451? I do know Fahrenheit 451, but no Faranheit.

 

[Aisaku]

The Congressman's argument is the old faulty 'videogames desensitize children, videogames make children commit violent acts' that doesn't have a leg to stand on.


STILL, I agree that the game's purpose is questionable and if not banned, rethought. Look at this from Mexico's perspective. This is a game that glorifies a grim reality people throught the country face. In the past year drug cartel violence has escalated to an unprecedented level. Shootouts, criminals holding cities hostage, daily executions and worse. People don't want to have their nightmares turned into a game.

It's distasteful, exploitative and just wrong.

 

[Bobbity]

That last paragraph was uncalled for, and it's perfectly reasonable for the city of Juarez not to want this game played.
Also, I found it annoying that you referred to this game as a piece of art. Just because games can be art, it doesn't mean that they have to be. Otherwise, you might as well consider Twilight a work of art.

/edit
It's not as if they're against all violent video games; it's just that this particular one concerns them, and they may not want to see people experiencing a charicature of their particular community. Just because it's most likely accurate doesn't make it right, and I can sympathize with that.

 

[Ulixes Dimon]

The Congressman's argument is the old faulty 'videogames desensitize children, videogames make children commit violent acts' that doesn't have a leg to stand on.


STILL, I agree that the game's purpose is questionable and if not banned, rethought. Look at this from Mexico's perspective. This is a game that glorifies a grim reality people throught the country face. In the past year drug cartel violence has escalated to an unprecedented level. Shootouts, criminals holding cities hostage, daily executions and worse. People don't want to have their nightmares turned into a game.

It's distasteful, exploitative and just wrong.

How do you know that it glorifies these things? That sir is an assumption.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

An awful lot of gamers in here with their heads stuck up their goddamn asses.

Yes, censorship is terrible and impeding on art is a waste, and politically-charged debate is always helpful when considering topics like this one. But for god's sake, please at least try to go about it with an air of humility, instead of just blindly going along with the "gaems r art" opinion because you're afraid without justification, your hobby will be subject to scrutiny.

 

[Hookman]

6000 people dead in two years, and this is what they are bothered out? Really, Juarez?

 

[Kanlic]

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]

Yea I remember that. I have been living in El Paso all my life, so I know a thing or two about people's sentiments about this kind of stuff. For one, I am surprised to hear that someone who lives in Juarez actually has a TV, let alone a video game system. They are about as poor as you can be; most people down there are just barely getting by.

The notion that the game will cause further harm to Juarez is like saying taking a piss in the ocean is polluting. People from Juarez don't have the time or the patience to give a shit about this sensational media roused up by the press, and the people (most who are Mexican) I know who do play games, gravitate towards GTA and the Call of Duty games. If you were to ask them why, they would tell you that they like to kill people. They obviously don't mean it literally, but the idea is there.

By the way, we would would always get excited when a game featured El Paso and/or Juarez as a killing ground in a game. Then when GRAW 2 came out, we learned it was shit and moved on with our lives because no one cares. I am interested to check this game out though.

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.

+1 to that.
This game is in bad taste to say the least

To be honest, I know about 20 kids in my school are part of that number that were killed, including my uncle, and my barber. To say that Juarez is a killing field is an understatement, warzone is a much more apt description. It is a constant part of discussion around town, but beyond that, we are just waiting for the whole situation to reach its natural conclusion.

That being said, I am sure most people who can even afford video game consoles, which pretty much excludes anybody living in Juarez, is already desensitized to video game violence and what have you. What I am saying is that people living in the town aren't going to play the game, so it won't effect them this way or that, and the people that do have access to the game, such as those that live in El Paso, will already have been prepped for it.

Most people in my town or Juarez won't know of the games existence, and a majority of the people who do know of it won't care. That leaves a minority of a minority that will feel offended, and to that I say "the world ain't out to get you. The developer's goal was not to piss you off, it was to make a good game based off of real events. Real events that were started by your people, and perpetuated by your people. Don't cry foul if no lies or misrepresentations were made. Besides, depending on how the game is crafted, it could make a valid statement about the violence that is going on down there. It is art."

 

[TiefBlau]

Yes, this game most certainly poses a threat to the city of Juarez. If the children of Juarez begin learning to become violent, it's going to make them that much harder to kidnap, rape, and kill. For the sake of all the drug cartels, serial rapists, inhumane factories and corrupt government officials in Juarez, stop corrupting their youth before it's too late!

God, how can they even complain about a video game portraying a lack of values? Juarez is nothing if not completely devoid of values.

Spoiler: For this forum's hispanohablantes