Ah, so that's the latest evil conspiracy against videogames?
How do they keep coming up with this stuff?
How do they keep coming up with this stuff?
Connecticut State Senator Proposes Arcade Game Ban
- Thread starter StewShearerOld
- Start date
Sylveria said:
No, my comment is simply that these games exist in greater numbers than people give them credit for. If you read what I said, I said the guy was an idiot, but the people acting like he's out of touch with reality because there aren't many arcade machines out there are being fools. I was responding more to them than to the article, which I believe this should make fairly clear... though since your not the only person who didn't quite get it, probably because of my penchant for tangents, it's my fault I guess.
At the end of the day I think the guy is wrong about video games, and even if he was right, censorship is wrong, and games causing violence would be the lesser evil to the free speech controls needed to make a differance. Ultimatly my opinion is that it's a non-issue because even if it could ever be proven that games were responsible for violent behavior (the opposite has actually been proven) the basic human right to free speech and expression should put this outside of the goverment purview to control or limit.
I do not agree with him, but I DO understand where he's coming from. It's not a situation where lightgun games or kids being left for hours upon hours in arcades is not common, contrary to some of what the responders here seem to think.
That said, in response to a response you received about parents "needing all the help they can get" my opinion after long experience is that social services needs to take a more firm hand with things. The places where the greatest amounts of child neglect take place, like say casinos, where I've seen kids abandoned on the concourse or at the arcade for 18 hours plus, or put inside a bathroom stall and told to lock the door and "not open it until mommy comes back", is where social services needs to be. The Casino itself isn't going to do anything because at the end of the day it only gives a F@ck so far as it can make money and it's reputation isn't going to be hurt, it doesn't want kids being raped in stairwells, but at the same time it wants the parents to come in and drop as much money as possible (with kids not being allowed on the gaming floor due to agreements with the state gaming comission). As a result they make a show out of posting what parents are supposed to do, but otherwise ignore the problem, and leave departments like Security to act as unofficial nannies/child bodyguards while at the same time telling us it isn't expressly our job... (uh huh). Of course half the problem where I worked was the State getting a cut of the gambling profits, so it really didn't give a crap either, when something bad happened it just meant a scapegoat and pretending to give a crap for 15 minutes until everyone forgot about it again.
IMO at the end of the day the best "help" for parents and the kids has nothing to do with video games or anything else (if anything I think the violence comes from the way kids are treated and neglected). I think one day social services should just drive a couple of school buses up to say Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, load every unattended child they or security can find on board, and then wait and see how long it takes before any parents even notice the kids are gone. Truthfully I think sending a lot of kids to foster homes or orphanages is better than leaving them abandoned in places like this, and some are there pretty much every day.
Of course with the money involved I can't help but wonder if when it comes to violence in Connecticut in paticular, anyone will bother to wonder what role the casinos might have played in it. Some kid who spends 12 houra a day growing up on the Foxwoods concourse might just develop some psychological problems, combined with a healthy dose of paranoia, and abandonment issues.
Of course I'm rambling and going on tangents again.
I remember when the shooting games in the arcade on BC Ferries had a modification made. The obviously plastic blue handgun-shaped light guns were replaced with... a box with a button on top. That poor Time Crisis machine did not deserve such a fate. I do find it sad that people are willing to demonize fake guns with which to shoot monsters and zombies in games that have likely not been updated since 2005 (or maybe even earlier!), but defend real guns with so much insane fervour. For all of us who grew up in the 90's just before the crash of the arcade, we can probably attest that while shooting polygonial things in the game with a gun peripheral, we probably did not have a bloodthirsty urge to gun down innocent school children. Honestly I feel like the concerns of these politicians are simply raised so they can pretend to do work, instead of focusing on the real issues that leave people marginalized.
1. is arcades still a thing? it sort of never started here thanks to soviet union but i was under the impression they pretty much died with personal consoles.
2. Yay, more restrictions based on arbitrary structures in hopes of changing uncorrelated things. good job Connecticut, you work hard to keep your reputation.
2. Yay, more restrictions based on arbitrary structures in hopes of changing uncorrelated things. good job Connecticut, you work hard to keep your reputation.
Please, out of all the fake gun games in an arcade or amusement park only an air gun with metal pellets (and therefore recoil and non-electronic aiming) could even be considered a teacher for guns. Even then, an actual rifle holds a greater kick. Anyone who knows anything concrete about guns should be laughing at this display.
In the 2000s, I've never seen an arcade outside of a building that that didn't sell alcohol. This tells me that adults populate arcades.