Ex-Tory Leader Attacks Games

[kingbigpete]

argument is simplified but the point is valid i guess (certainly put in more than my fair share of long WoW sessions before i stopped chasing the virtual dragon) and children are obviously going to be more susceptible to an addictive video game because they're not fully aware of A: the importance of taking a break and B: the separation of what they can do on a screen and what's acceptable in real life.

on the other hand the point being made is that games like GTA that are aimed at adults are not meant to be played by children. Parents are required either to monitor and stop they're children playing games they don't find acceptable or at the very least explain to the child why the actions in the game aren't acceptable outside the virtual world. I realise that this simplifies a parents job massively but is it that much more difficult than stopping a child from watching a violent film or porn?

 

[purplegothchick]

Fuck him, nothing wrong with single parents.

Umm, single parents are terrible, it may not be their fault, and they themselves may be fine people and parents, but it's still a terrible thing for the kid.


Everything he said was reasonable, but that won't stop people from acting like jackasses anyway.

I resent that statement. My mum is a single parent. Not her fault and she's a good mum to both me and my brother. She can't help or change the fact that my dad died when I was 10, so while it was awful for me and my brother to have to go through that, we were just fine being raised by a single parent. I find your generalisation very offensive, whatever your implication may have been, as it was worded in a rather offensive way.

 

[MessiahElephant]

I couldn't care less about what he says about games, because in today's society politicans are almost obligated to target gaming in one way or another. People like him are going to die off eventually, buried under six feet of dirt and a pile of Michael Atkinson comparisons.

While I agree with the 24-hour drinking thing the only true problem I have with this douche is that he says single-parent families are bad. I come from a single-parent family! Two single parent families, if you count both of my parents and my childhood hasn't been ruined (except for high-school)! What the fuck does this guy know?

 

[VoidProphet]

This is such bullshit. Video game violence transferring into real life... I mean, I'm driving around, I see a gas truck, do I do anything? No.

Sure, in my head I'm thinking "SHOOT FOR BONUS POINT! SHOOT FOR BONUS POINTS!" but do I? No. So is any violence transferred? I think not.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

Oh dear, I must be some sort of societal detritus, then. Seeing as my mum's dead, I've drunk in most of the twenty-four hours of a day, and I play video games, I'm three-for-three on his list of things that are wrong with youth.

I'm pretty sure he's got 'Ex' in his title for a reason.

 

[MercurySteam]

Michael Atkinson's long lost brother! You can tell because they both make stupid claims and they both also look douche-bags.

 

[Eatbrainz]

*sigh* its been too long since people have had a good revolution and killed politicians like him...

 

[ckam]

You know what they say, "Ignorant people are the only you can learn from."

 

[Cosplay Horatio]

It all depends on the parents. Ex-Tory Iain Duncan Smith is just trolling.

 

[StarStruckStrumpets]

"We are driving children to lose their childhood, and some video games are incredibly violent, like Grand Theft Auto. They are meant to be 18 but nobody cares what it says on the label."

Right there.

The problem isn't games. It's the distribution of games. And stupid parents who buy them these games.

I feel like a bit of a hypocrit here, I agree, but I'm only 14, and I enjoyed playing GTA. But only because I abused the physics engine. Am I in the clear now?

This is actually true, the games aren't the problem, it is who gets hold of them. The certificates are there for a reason, and they should be followed. I'd say probably give/take a year. Finally someone who doesn't just slate games totally.

 

[Firebane]

"We are driving children to lose their childhood, and some video games are incredibly violent, like Grand Theft Auto. They are meant to be 18 but nobody cares what it says on the label."

Right there.

The problem isn't games. It's the distribution of games. And stupid parents who buy them these games.

It's not the parents' fault for buying 18 rated games for there mentally unstable 12 year old who they teach important life lessons via a console and a TV screen, nor is it the childs' fault when he goes on the murderous rampage due to aforementioned Mental instability, it's the games fault because it's turning all the players into instable maniacs.

I would personally believe any parent looking into violent video games look at several factors,

A) There's a god damn Age certificate for a reason, if you buy your kid and 18 rated game and go "here son, shoot some commies for me" then that isn't the game companies fault, it's yours.

B) Compare the statistics, if games such as Manhunt truly made people mass murdering psychopaths then there'd be a lot more mass murderin' goin' down in this here world, not just the odd 1 or 2 cases from people with mental instability who were never taught that fantasy and reality are different, I read HP Lovecraft stories I don't wake up in the morning and list off my things to do as: Brush Teeth, go to college, sacrifice virgin to ancient squid, play some Modern Warfare, eat at some point.

C) People are stupid, and stupid creatures do stupid things, and blaming an entire culture for something one stupid creature did is like murdering every dog on earth because one bit a kid.

Also, Every year more people are killed by vending machines then game related psychopaths, I don't see any rush to censor the Vending Machine industry. Games haven't been a predominantly childish thing for years now in fact modern games tend to lean more towards the adult side of things but most people don't see it that way, let's say there's a sex scene in a 15 rated game then you get "controversial" if an 18 game were to have the same sex scene I'm betting there would be a quick call to hang the developers by the mothers and fathers who bought there 12 year old an 18 rated game.

 

[Me55enger]

Being British by birth and Bastard by nature, i believe Mr. smith here needs a medical examination to determine which orifice at which end of his body his vocal cords are connected to, as it all sounds like flatulence to me.

For anyone not keeping up: he's talking out of his Arse.

There is an entire list as long as some of my ego-inflated limbs as to why he is completely unjustified in what he is saying, most of them you three intellectuals reading this will get.

Still, as it has been mentioned by posters to this thread: his generation will die soon.

Sooner rather than later.

Now rather than sooner.

The irony of my violent outbursts is hilarious.

 

[RelexCryo]

Well, the Tory party banned handguns in the UK, as I recall. So this doesn't really surprise me. Fun Fact: the crime rate is STILL higher than it was before handguns were banned.

 

[Therumancer]

Video games are simply the current boogie man to blame problems that have always existed on. That and a good way for goverments to try and get some precedent to get around those pesky "free speech" laws.

That said, until game companies start using their resources to fuel some political activism nothing is going to change. Message board whiners are almost the sum total defense gaming has right now since nobody with the resources to do so is willing to properly mobilize that sentiment.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I think it basically comes down to:

Games are to blame instead of alcohol, because the government makes more tax money from alcohol than games. Chuck an extra £5-10 tax on the price of videogames and Manhunt 2 would be on the school curriculum and a requirement to pass your exams. If alcohol was tax free, it'd be lager's fault.

 

[Dexomega]

"but nobody cares what it says on the label"

WHO'S FAULT IS THAT?

 

[Owain Thomas Davies Ellis]

Oh.
Shit.

 

[The Fork of Truth]

Just another reason not to vote Conservative, in my opinion.

 

[Hallow'sEve]

YAY FOR THE US!
And don't even think that this could happen in America, because Jack Thompson got DISBARRED BABY!!