Congressman Wants Health Warning Labels For Games

[mattttherman3]

Go ahead put a warning label on it, it won't stop moron parents from buying their 8 year olds Fallout 3 or Gears of War or any other gory ass game. Make it illegal to sell to anyone unless they are the proper age, yeah i know it won't stop everyone, it won't stop most people, but it might stop those who are in the stoor with their kids!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

"WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent videogames and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior."

Apart from, you know, it hasn't. Or if it has, not half as much as being a Californian Congressman, hey Ahnuld?

"Meanwhile research continues to show a proven link between playing violent games and increased aggression in young people."

Citation needed! Or rather, extermination needed.

Oh wait, Health Warnings did so much to influence people not to eat meat, not drink McDonald's coffee straight away, not to go swimming in shark infested water...

And can someone tell me how a Congressman passes a LAW on his own?

 

[Iron Mal]

The only problem with placing a warning like that is that is isn't nessercarily true.

Almost all research in the past that has been done into the link between violence and media influence has either turned up inconclusive or has had enough theoretical and practical issues that their results should be considered invalid (Bandura's study with children and the Bobo the clown doll being a good example).

 

[Operation DUMBO]

Do people even have to read the Constitution before they take public office anymore? I know Sarah Palin thought the Vice President was in charge of the Senate but that's a basic misunderstanding compared to this stuff.

It's real easy. It's the very First Amendment on the list.

Im not too sure how this impeads freedom of speech, it just means if you make a game that is violent you need to put a sticker on the box. Sure it could be better phrased "this game is so violent itll fuck you up for life" then not only is it a warning but also a huge selling point.

You mean that the big fat "M" isn't enough? If people put a single minute of thought into purchasing violent games for their kids, the Industry would be respected, and gamers wouldn't be looked down upon as people on the verge of murdering their co-workers.

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

Can I please change this one bit for more comic effect:

"Meanwhile research continues to show a proven link between being human and increased aggression"

We'll have to tattoo it to every new baby's head.

 

[Cockroach]

I believe they're committing a fallacy, and confusing correlation with causation.

Besides, isn't it entirely possible that violent behavior is not a result of playing violent video games, but rather, an indicator of the sort of game such people like to play?

For the simplistic people that have difficulty understanding that: violent people like to play violent games. But that doesn't mean the game caused them to become violent.

Not to mention, the possibility that playing violent video games could actually serve to release anger, or consume the time of violent people so that they aren't out in the real world committing real acts of violence.

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

Does a politician honestly have nothing better to do than condemn video games? (and make them seem worse to the horribly uninformed public) "Baca's website describes him as a leading advocate in Congress against sex and violence in the media, WITH A PARTICULAR FOCUS ON VIDEO GAMES." Why don't you go save our country from something worthwhile?

If you don't want your tiny 10 year old playing something past his age, just don't get him anything rated above E (or if you're somewhat smarter, you can read the T label in the back and try to guess if your kid is mature enough) The parents that SOMEHOW let their kids play GTA just need to stop talking. They are either negligent, or just honestly stupid. The parents that have the SENSE to not let their kids play something based on what the ESRB label describes it as ON THE FREAKING BOX are to be applauded and all be called geniuses for actually using their brains for 10 seconds. You don't buy games for kids when it says "Extreme amounts of gore" and you don't buy movie tickets for your kids when it is widely known to be extremely violent and feature nudity. And I thought WE were the ones who were still in school. If school makes us dumber (I highly doubt that) then the world is going to hell. If not, then the world has already gone to hell because the still-learning have to teach the "already-been-taught-I-have-a-diploma-to-prove-it-see-see?" people. I'm sorry, but our parents are trying to protect us from violence while we've already lost them to idiocy.

 

[jamesc]

The fuck? Video-games have no effect on me! *cocks shotgun* Anyway, I'll see you all later, I'm gonna go visit California for a bit...

 

[dekkarax]

wait, everything is dangerous to peoples health; perhaps we should put a warning label on everything.

Perhaps we should even put warning labels on other people they're dangerous too, especially idiotic politicians.

 

[bad rider]

Wow this years shortlist for most retarded idea ever keeps expanding. First sea kittens now this.

 

[AceDiamond]

Ace, the thing with Massachusetts is that it's a much MUCH smaller state than most. Hell, it's smaller than Vancouver Island... So being so small, it takes much less time and effort to stamp out stupidity. Give Ghalifor-nya three hundred more years and they may actually catch up.

Fair enough. I just kinda wanted to randomly relate the story to the whole "real state" weirdness someone mentioned to me once. Don't get me wrong, California seems nice apart from the earthquakes and wildfires and stupid people (although they exist everywhere) and phoniness.

 

[NiceGurl_14]

I would like to point out that being a congressman who stands between gamers and their games is dangerous to your health.

Amen. Dude must have a death wish.

 

[ElephantGuts]

Well this guy doesn't sound like too much of an asshole to me, atleast not yet, and I do understand what he's trying to do. But I still don't think that playing videogames makes people any more violent than watching movies, so if movies don't need warning labels I don't think videogames should. And at the very least there should be some more concrete findings on the correlation between violence and videogames before they're forced by law to carry warning labels.

 

[Wyatt]

the US Millitary (specificaly the Army) have done some studys that weem to show that the act of using a video game gun to shoot targets on a screen break down mental barriers that most humans have to shooting someone over time. in other words the act of pulling a game trigger can translate into mentaly feeling no different from pulling a real trigger.

i know from personel experiance that this is true, i had my first experiance with real guns long before video games were even around and i was ....... not quite scared i guess, more like nervious around guns, this went on for a long time before i became comfortable just pulling the trigger and actualy shooting anything including paper targets. its an in-born thing in most humans. i grew up around guns and hunters and all that i know said more or less the same thing. after playing shooter games forever and a day now i dont feel any different pulling a game trigger than i do pulling a real trigger and i have totaly lost my nerviousness. i can actualy almost FEEL the recoil in game (on some of the more realistic shooters) due to having a mental connection between real life guns and games.

i KNOW there IS a connection on this level atleast, but the point for me isnt a question of whether or not games may provoke agressivness, im willing to admit they DO, the point is that games are no better nor worse than any one of a hundered OTHER things that provoke agression. wathching the 6 o'clock news on the night of 9/11 provoked much more of an agressive responce from me than any game ever COULD do, should we slap warning labels on the evning news?

once again the problem isnt the games , the problem is the shitty parents. just like most other things in life having to do with the 'poor innocent children'

 

[Lima]

That's like having a warning on things like ice cream saying....

CAUTION: MAY MAKE YOU FAT.

 

[Terazeal]

So why are this guy's statements specified to children?

 

[stompy]

Am I the only one who finds it funny that he wants a health warning on video games that aren't exactly for children?

That's my first thought. Immediately after, I remembered how hypocritical this is, since he, like many other politicians (**cough**MichaelAtkinson**cough**), doesn't seem to want to push the same thing for movies and literature.

Hopefully, these idiots will be out of power in my lifetime. I'd like to see a world where videogames are just another medium of expression.

 

[Vorpals]

While we're at it, let's put a warning label on television shows.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Lets make this more light hearted

What do a congressmen and a sperm have in common?

About one in every 450,000,000,000 has the chance to become a human.