Ex-Tory Leader Attacks Games

[Nuclear Pancake]

Think about it whats the difference between violent movies and video games, besides you can directly interact video games.

I could get my mum to by me an 18 film, just as easy as an 18 game.

Im rather more worryed about those guys that go around and STAB PEOPLE.

But i'll still vote Tory when im old enough.

 

[Lord George]

Hmm he appears to not be a raving looney and has actually send something quasi sensible regarding games, its true that children shouldn't be able to get hold of games with an 18 label for the same reasons you don't show a child porn or gory films. He also seemed able to tell the fact that you can't lump all games under one banner "some games are violent".

To be honest the only thing gamers have a right to be upset about is the stealing childhood comment but then again the tories say that about everything drink, drugs, tv ect. They'll only be happy when were back to good old british values like football violence hitting our wives and hating minority groups.

Still gonna vote for them though, mainly becuase I can look at Cameron on my Tv for slightly longer then I can stare at Brown.

 

[Erana]

Anyone actually read the article? He was making sense to me.
People don't pay enough attention to the ratings on games, for one. He was talking about how the government should manipulate taxes to encourage families to stay together, and try to lessen substance abuse.
I agree that we, as an international culture, are messing up the nature of childhood- kids can't play outside anymore, they're encouraged to have cell phones and are force-fed the media, which psychologically breeds dissatisfaction with oneself.

Personally, I don't think kids need to be sheltered; when I asked my mother if getting a shot would hurt, she didn't lie. I do believe, however, that kids don't need to be exposed to such loud, violent and shocking stuff that fills our media. Its just numbing overstimulation. Just like manners and honesty, we should practice what we preach to kids by spending more time in calm and peace.
When was the last time you weren't staring at some sort of screen in your free time?

 

[Woodsey]

1) If people think their children are old enough to play a game its up to them, but ratings should still be enforced in shops.

2) My Mum was a single parent for a few years and I'm fine (and so are the rest of my friends who had single-parents) so the pompous prick should probably get in-touch with society a little more.

 

[Cousin_IT]

Ignore the Cons. They're just on one of their "zomg something involving children happened & Labour didn't save the day, vote Tory" drives following the conviction of two kids of torturing two other kids. It's all rhetoric which will promptly be forgotten after an election, if not before.

 

[Treblaine]

"They are meant to be 18 but nobody cares what it says on the label."

No Mr Smith, it seems it is only YOU who is ignoring it. There are laws with harsh punishments to whoever sells 18 rated games to anyone who is even one day younger than 18 years.

If parents buy games and give them to their kids... well, do you REALLY want to be lecture parents about how to raise their own children? Because that is political suicide.

/thread

I suppose the further debate is if the conservatives get into power... could be see Atkinson like censorship? I know he's an ex-leader but this has made my decision final on at least which party I Definitely WON'T vote for!

 

[FightThePower]

"They are meant to be 18 but nobody cares what it says on the label."

Blame the idiot parents who buy them for their kids then.

Another day, another person who hasn't touched a videogame slagging them off.

 

[Sion_Barzahd]

tory work at its best... The bunch of twats.
Let the old people fear our modern technology, and use it as a scapegoat for the change in our society.

They'll wither and rot with their already decaying hearts. All in good time.

 

[Simalacrum]

oh noes, looks like we gamers have yet another enemy to contend with... and this time he comes from my own country! Eeeeek!

 

[FreeMarketMyArse]

He himself is barely worth bothering with. It's the rest of his party who DO have a chance of governance who surreptitiously agree with his stances on single-parent couples that are my issue. I think there's a tendancy for the middle-class to think of working-class single-parents as Vicky Pollard off Little Britain, juggling a 3 litre bottle of cider and four kids in her arms. My mam raises my brothers and sister alone following my the death of my dad. They're not tearaways or anti-social. I accept that a two-parent family would be the ideal structure for raising kids, but this isn't always possible, and so people like this hopeless sod shouldn't be so quick to demonise single-parents or their children, nor to blame them for the woes of an ostensibly 'broken' society.

 

[Archemetis]

Oh fantastic...
Now the stupidity is spreading to my country?...
Fuck this noise I'm going to Canada...
At least their money has beavers on it...

 

[The Great JT]

Actually, a lot of people care about the ratings. It's just that most people don't notice.

 

[Crimsane]

Meh. It was a minor talking point, filler for a gap in his speech. Two, three lines. Not exactly signs of any impending war against gaming.

 

[DSEZ]

Dammit Britain, I need a place to go after America gets screwed over. Don't let me down now!

go to japan you dont hear about this shit goin down in japan

OT:i have no problem with him attacking video games that shit happens everyday
BUT!
when you attack single parents that pisses me off im being raised by a single parent and there is nothing wrong with me

 

[Nurb]

Geez, seems to be that the US (for now) is going to be the last bastion of freedom of expression in the western world

go on about.

One politician says 18 rated games getting into the hands of kids is a bad thing and suddenly we're all oppressed and don't have freedom of expression? Please, try commenting on things you actually have experience of in future instead of screeching about FREEEDOMZZZZ!! the second you hear someone say something negative about a subject.

Read the original article, it is two sentences in an entire interview, talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill.

I'm going by the censorship if "unpleasant" or "extreme" subjects on the internet, which is filtered by English ISPs. Such as the blocking of wikipedia or it's pages because of a music group's album cover, or the fact some cartoons can land people in jail there (something I mentioned in a previous post in this thread), and restriction of speech which gets one in trouble with the law or deported depedning on the situaion. So yes, freedom of expression is in worse shape there than other places. I've heard plenty of English folks complaining about the growing nanny state

Also: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/23/cctv-sky-police-plan-drones

 

[LTK_70]

Does the Escapist really need to report every instance of some dumbass politician spewing prejudice about game(r)s? I'm getting a bit tired of it.

 

[Chumba]

I hope that David Cameron tries to toady up to gamers now after IDS has said his usual drivel. He's already been hugging hoodys and trying to bring these ex-Etonian arseholes more central in political ideology. I can imagine the next bit of Tory spin.

"David: Yeah so like, I'm a bit of a gamer myself. When I'm not fighting for our ideology in Commons, I'm like, totally, playing Nintendo Wii whilst listening to The Killers, remember, my favourite band?"

 

[The Heik]

His generation will die out soon enough.

Thank the Holy AI Director!

 

[TheDoctor455]

"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.

No, not so much the distribution of games as much as lazy ass parents who can't even be bothered to read a ratings label. It only takes about two seconds at the most.

And since he's singled out GTA... I'm guessing that he's getting his info straight from Jack Thompson, who seems to have some sort of personal vendetta against that game...

 

[Plurralbles]

and no body with a brain cares what those 1's and 0's are making!