Ex-Tory Leader Attacks Games

[EvmansRiggers]

Haha, as if I needed another reason to dislike the Tories.

If anything they'll crack down on the distribution of videogames, which doesn't affect me anymore as I'm 18

 

[ntw3001]

Is everyone getting worked up because he said GTA is violent and shouldn't be sold to children, but ends up being played by children anyway? This isn't some rant against the games industry in general; if people are going to take offence to things like this they should at least save it for statements that aren't completely correct. GTA, and any number of other games, are violent and age restrictions do get ignored. If he's inclined to make the rating system work better, that's a good thing for the industry's image.

 

[(whitty name here)]

Well at least he understands the 'nobody cares whats on the label' part.
I wouldn't mind some parents ignoring their children when they slam their heads against the wall until their ears bleed be caue they can't have MW2 and Gears of War.

10 YEAR OLDS STAY THE FUCK AWAY.
*ahem*
Even though I'm still technically considered not to be allowed to have these sorts of games(being 16), why can't the little pricks fucking understand that they have to be kept away from them because they are too fucking stupid to just shut the hell up and enjoy the game?
Hell, my 9 year old brother claimed he was a serial killer and shit hit the fan for him.

But the other mommies want to see baby happy, so they buy the game that they scream for.

CONTROL THE FUCKING KIDS.
Introduce 1 to them, and watch them play. judge if they can handle it and then react accordingly. Parents now just want to be left alone and they drop the game and run.

The guy has one thing right, and hes approaching it wrong.
Fix it. I don't care how, but keep the -13 year olds out and there owuldn't be such a problem.

I live in Canada, the country that laughs at others misfortunes in silence.

 

[Chumba]

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...

I let out a small sigh when I read that. Am I the only one who misses hearing about Jack's antics? I love watching him make a complete arse of himself pandering to mental right wing people on TV 'news' stations.

The closest we have in the UK is good old fat hitler Nick Griffin, and he hasn't come out against games yet as far as I know. Quick! Somebody tell him video games are designed by illegal asylum seekers or some such twaddle.

 

[TimeLord]

So my hit-list now contains:

Ian Duncan Smith
Michael Atkinson
Chuck Norris
God

 

[Treblaine]

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.

Who can resist such a beautiful airbushed face[/sarcasm]

I'm too worried that the Tories will just be that step closer to Australian Style media censorship. I mean mos of the liberties we take for granted in the UK have been opposed by the Conservatives and remember it was Labour Party favourite Tanya Byron who had her favourable report on Video Games and children. I can't see a Tory minister coming to such positive conclusions on video games.

It may seem strange but Labour is the pro-video games party.

 

[purplegothchick]

This is spreading, first Australia and now England will have a potentially anti-videogame politician, hopefully England has something simmilar to the good ol' first amendmant, which basically says its illegal to ban anything.

Nope. In the 1980s, they outright banned so-called 'video nasties' because they thought that they would have a warping effect on children and adults alike, thereby contributing to the very downfall of society. They also banned the BBC from playing any songs even remotely relating to war or violence during the Faulklands war in case they upset people. This list included 'Oliver's Army' by Elvis Costello, 'Rubber Bullets' by 10cc and 'In the Air Tonight' by Phil Collins. In other words, the government completely abuse their power at every possible opportunity by focusing on trivial matters of media, rather than focusing on important issues such as the rise in knife crime.

 

[mrF00bar]

If that ass hole fucks up games for me then I will personally skin him and set him on fire laughing the hole time. Gad damn controlling politician fuck wits.

 

[Little Duck]

I played GTA III when I was 12, watched blade when I was 8 and ate a lolipop when I was 20. It isn't about how violent a game or an entertainment medium is, rather it is about how developed the mind playing the game is. I'm not saying that my mind is the pinacle of maturity (believe me that lolipop nearly blew steam out of my ears) but I was capable of seeing that the game was just that. A game. No reflection on real life. Whilst me and my friends talked about how awesome it would be, we were also more interested in playing rugby on roller blades to care.

The child will always find new and more extreme ways to have fun. There will always be chairs thrown across rooms and guns thrown at faces when the idiot wielding it can't figure out how to use it. Games have no affect on that and saying they do is only gaining support from people who think the same rudy way.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

"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.

Agreed. I think stores shouldn't be selling 18A games to little teenies. It won't stop everyone but at least it might stop some of this singling out video games as being the most violent form of media. They ID people at movie theaters so why not at video game stores?

Heck if I ever have a kid I would NOT want them playing POSTAL.

 

[electric discordian]

To my mind I think we should ban particle physics, especially those dodgy protons!

Sorry I thought it was the week bald men make stupid pronouncements about things they will never understand. Tomorrow Patrick Stewart talks about the difficulties of being a single mother in the Bohpal area of India.

Usual twaddle from utterly stupid people.

 

[Distazo]

Actually it happened with literature also. I seem to recall in history class, the Catholic Church fighting like hell to keep people illiterate and stop the bible from being printed to the public.

 

[qbanknight]

shove it up your ass you old fart

you know what? i'm just wanna say that there is SOME truth in what anti-video game activists are saying. While yes, video games are just harmless fun, they are time consuming, using up time that kids should be using to study or go outside. and while they are not corrupting our children in to murdering machines, they are desensitizing them to violence. Obviously, we shouldn't place blame on video games, the blame should be re-directed towards the parents, for not "looking at the label" and for not placing strict rules for how long there child should play games. While you all have every right to be angry at video games constantly being a scapegoat, I don't find it right that see these people as total fools.

its conservatives, they are horribe ppl who dream of going back to the fantasy 50s of leave it to beaver

wow man, you sure do hate the right dontcha O.O

You just said it yourself what is the problem with kids and violent video games: its the parents own damn fault. A government has no place to censor these materials be it a game, book, or film. Games keep getting scapegoated because all these old farts think that video games are children's toys. As we all know this is no longer the case as it was 20 years ago when most games were kid-related or friendly. We need to keep ignoring assholes like this conservative dipshit (nothing against the right, there are plenty of tree-hugging hippies on the left who wish to censor games as well).

Games are an artistic medium, regardless of what Roger Ebert claims (though I respect his opinion on other matters). And as a medium it must be defended to preserve the freedom of speech, a basic human right be you in the US, UK, Australia, Iraq, Russia, China, Japan, etc. Those who censor art are evil, worse they claim they do it for a common good. But what good has ever come of telling people what they can or cannot create?

 

[MrDarkling]

oh look another person who's never picked up a controller in his life.
LETS LISTEN!

 

[Ancientgamer]

"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.

Unless things are radically different in the UK, no there isn't.

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.

 

[AnonymouZero]

Ex-Tory Leader Attacks Games

Iain Duncan Smith, a prominent member of the Conservative party, has attacked videogames this week.

Former leader of the UK Conservative Party Iain Duncan Smith has lashed out at videogames, saying that they are devastating to a young person's development. In an interview with the Times [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6998806.ece] where he spoke about the breakdown of British society, he said: "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."

To be fair to Mr. Duncan Smith, gaming was not the only thing that he said was wrong with British society, and cited 24 hour drinking and single parent families as other major problems, but to attack games over all other types of media, and to single out Grand Theft Auto when much more violent games exist suggests that his comments are not coming from a particularly well informed place.

What is more worrying however, is that Mr. Duncan Smith is very likely to be a part of the next UK government, and while it seems unlikely that games will be at the top of his list of 'problems', the next few years might be an interesting time for British gamers.

Source: via CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=232502]


Permalink

"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.

more like, the problem is moron parents who buy Mature stuff for kids.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

"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.

more like, the problem is moron parents who buy Mature stuff for kids.

That's kinda what I meant.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

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

What? I've never come across cencorship of extreme subjects on the internet. Wikipedia? You mean the Scorpions Virgin killer? I'm in the UK and I can see it on Wikipedia perfectly. It was unblocked after 4 days, when people told them they were a bunch of fuckwits. Viewing ED isn't a problem for me either. Or extreme porn...um, not that I watch that sort of stuff... sites like rotten.com are perfectly accessible in the UK.

The Internet Watch Foundation provides a list of potential problem sites, but it's a charity with advisory status only, ISP's don't have to pay them any attention.

I think the problem is that you see media scare stories about potential changes to the law that don't get through, or irrelevant twats that make comments or calls for stuff to be banned but then get told to stop being such dicks by the rest of the population, and you think that it ends up as law.

Ive commented on the planes in the thread involved.http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/18.170625.4671224
Cheaper alternative to police helicopters. If it wasn't for the fact that I do some naughty things myself I'd be welcoming them.

Cartoons can land people in jail? Really? Which cartoons? Anything like the guy in the US that got 20 years for owning gay hentai?

That cartoon you mentioned earlier in the thread was in Edmonton in Canada I assume, seeing as there are no Comic shops in Edmonton London AFAIK.

Please, which restrictions on speech are these? You mean the laws that allow us to deport people who come to Britain preaching Jihad or violence against Jews? That's a bloody good idea if you ask me.

I've heard plenty of American folks complaining that the US is going down the tubes now that Obama's in power. Doesn't mean they're right. People like to complain, Brit's especially, it's what we do.

Really, there's very little difference between the US and the UK in terms of freedom. Some things are more restricted in the US and others are more restricted in the UK, but it basically balances out. I seem to recall a little document called the Patriot Act that you guys passed a little while back...like I said in the other thread your politicians are quite happy to have you pointing and laughing at how 'bad' things are in other countries because it distracts you from all the stuff that's going on in your own back yard.

EDIT:
Oh, one question...I suspect this is an urban myth, but there was a story going round that there was this guy in the US that was overheard talking to his buddy in a bar saying that he knew that "God would talk to the world through a burning bush" a day before the president was due to tour through the town and he was arrested for threatening the life of the president and sentenced to 7 years. I didn't want to bring that up in my main reply as I have no reputable source for it but I just wanted to ask if anyone had heard about that and knew if it was true.

 

[Chumba]

I think stores shouldn't be selling 18A games to little teenies. It won't stop everyone but at least it might stop some of this singling out video games as being the most violent form of media. They ID people at movie theaters so why not at video game stores?

Heck if I ever have a kid I would NOT want them playing POSTAL.

I used to work in PC World, whose policy was to never sell rated games to minors. Even PEGI related ones, which are technically not a legal responsibility. The main reason for this is to avoid huge PR blunders, they had enough with that and Gary Glitter (amongst it's pish customer service reputation). In fact I remember having to remove all the Manhunt copies we had in stock when Keith Vag-err Vaz started shouting his mouth off during that tragic incident with the murder of that poor kid over the game.

Most big chain stores I've seen the staff properly ID younger looking customers. The issue is the smaller stores who play fast and loose with the law, if it is a big problem at all.

Frankly, it's the same with alcohol. My local corner shop when it was run under it's former owner frequently sold buckfast to underagers, then again these are the kinds of kids whose main hobbies are pretty much GTA but in real life. The guy had to do it otherwise the fuckers would turn feral, but also cause he also had to compete with the supermarket chain up the road.

As far as I'm led to believe also, it's the individual responsible for selling the age restricted products (referring here to both booze and games) gets into trouble. Not the company they work for. If I sold a 17 year old a copy of Manhunt (shitey game), or a pint of Tennents (shitey beer) it's my arse that face prosecution.

 

[Credge]

I now see why non-Americans hate conservatives from their countries (Australia is the same) and imagine it's the same in the U.S. Of course, the United States is all sorts of different from the rest of the world.

Edit to clarify:

Things like the ESRB and FCC were pushed for by Democrats (of course, a democrat back when the FCC was pushed for is what a republican is today) and the democrats of the past 30-40 years have been extremely liberal.

But people don't seem to see it that way I suppose.