Jack Thompson's bill approved

[DangerChimp]

This is hardly a barnburning issue. You advertise that you don't sell M- and R-rated stuff, and then you do so, so you get fined. Makes perfect sense. This is probably the only cogent and reasonable proposal that Thompson had ever been involved in.

If you want to criticize him, criticize him about his waste of taxpayer dollars by bringing spurious lawsuits and his unabashed attempts at censorship.

 

[Trivun]

Jack Thompson just needs to die....in a fire

Stop with the flame posts, OK?

Ha, just kidding. Sorry, couldn't resist.

With regards to this bill, I think it's a good idea. The problem is, stores still aren't going to accept it. They'll just be slightly more careful in how they go about their business. Normally I would disagree with Jack Thompson, since he just appears (to me at least) to just hate video games in general. I doubt e'd be happy if even Pacman and Donkey Kong were left standing - he'd say Pacman promotes drug abuse and Domkey Kong promotes violence in that a monkey throws barrels at someone. Oh, and kidnap. However, I find myself agreeing with Thompson's reasoning here. Anything to stop underage people from playing Mature (or here in the UK, 18-rated) games has to be a good thing. Now let's see if he can come up with a way to stop older people buying the games for minors...

One thing bothers me though. I had a look at the link to this bill on the first post, and followed a link with a video Jack Thompson had found on a sex site detailing the graphic sex and violence in GTA4. However, what the hell was he doing on a sex site in the first place?

 

[Adfest]

Fuck sakes... Of course It's my state that ends up embracing that asshole while everyone else shuns him for the douche that he is.

I'd blame the Mormons, but they don't really give a rats ass about violence in video games so long as it doesn't involve alcohol or coffee.

*goes to grab pitchfork*

 

[J.B]

Urrr...This guy is just...urrr....

Kids buying violent games is still the parents fault that give them the money to buy such games....

So if I gave you a fork, it's my fault if you thrust it into somebody's throat?

 

[Adfest]

As long as he doesn't enact his true plan to make all violent games illegal I am fairly okay with it

Baby steps.

 

[Lonan]

I agree entirely with the anti-GTA stance. That stuff really does put bad values in you, and I play games solely for the violence. Frankly, I hate everything from Rockstar.

 

[oliveira8]

Urrr...This guy is just...urrr....

Kids buying violent games is still the parents fault that give them the money to buy such games....

So if I gave you a fork, it's my fault if you thrust it into somebody's throat?

Not really no. Cause you bothered to teach your kid what to do with the fork. The same thing you cant say for a game that you bought to your hyperactive children that didnt shut up at the mall.

Most parents dont tell the diference from reality to a video game, and you end up with Halo Killers(But really if a kid kills someone and the fault was Halo there was something wrong during that kids education.) And yes kids can steal money from their parents. But as a parent its your job to see what your kid is doing during its free time, and at least explain what it is.

Then again I come from a generation of video games that didnt have realist visuals, and the violence in gaming most of the time was clouded under goofy looks or silly gameplay.

 

[DrHoboPHD]

Yep, dispite being disbarred, disgraced and ignorant of the actual content of the games he complains about, Jack Thompson's Utah bill was passed.

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/02/24/jack-thompson-bill-overwhelmingly-approved-utah-house-committee

To be honest this doesn't bother me too much, since the bill is only effective in Utah and is filled with massive flaws anyway.

Uh that isn't Jack Thompson winning, Jack Thompson wants these games banned completely, all of them not just M rated ones.

Sure he'll pretend this was some major victory on his part, he'll say "This just goes to show you god was on my side, and god always wins." Or something similarly retarded. The idea of fining establishments for selling M rated games to minors has been around for quite some time and has been supported by a lot more people than Jack Thompson (I am one of the people that supports it.)It won't make much difference anyway, most places already refuse to sell games to anybody under eighteen unless they have a parent with them.

What do you guys think?

 

[KeithA45]

I honestly don't see a problem with this. Unless I read it wrong, all they are doing is fining places that sell tickets to R-rated movies or M-rated games to minors. Isn't this just stopping the influx of children in games like Halo or Gears or CoD? Don't people always complain about how kids are the most annoying part of online play? With this law, the kid actually has to have their parent with them, and even then the store clerk will have to let the parent know exactly what it is they are buying. I see this as a good thing.

He's right. This is a good idea. Sure it screws over the 16 year old kid who wants to play Halo but his parents are over-protective to buy it for him, but it does prevent the psychotic 13 year-old with murder tenancies from buying a video game and people blaming the game for his inevitable breakdown/murders

 

[sirdanrhodes]

I am a gamer, I played GTA IV, not I am a genocidal murderer(!) Thompson was right(!)

 

[vivadelkitty]

It's only Utah. They're not a state.

I feel like I should be offended by this since I live in Utah, but honestly, our state politics scares the crap out of me. On election day, apparently several hundred thousand Utahns tried to vote in favor of Proposition 8, even though said proposition was occuring in California. We're a messed-up state at times.

 

[Velocirapture07]

*raucous laughter* Holy shit....Thompson won something! I don't believe it...I can't...breath...too much laughter... But seriously folks Thompson couldn't win something if his life depended on it (in fact studies show he may have lost at life). This is simply a bill that means nothing to a state full of kids whose parents probably wouldn't let them play violent video games anyway (sorry to the couple of people who would). As a non-minor I'm obliged not to give a damn about this bill. Eventually he'll drop off the map completely and we won't have to hear about ol' Jack anymore.

 

[Slayer_2]

We already have this in Michigan, so... =|. I dont see the big deal, other than being 16 and I still have to take my mom to the store just to buy a game.

I feel your pain man. nevermind that I played Quake 2 when I was 11 and that I bought UT 2004 when I was 12, now if I want UT3 at the age of 16, I need my parents to get it for me. It doesn't help that I never go anywhere with my parents. Oh well, only one more year, actually only a few more months.

Something I find funny is that I can drive (got my L) before I can buy GTA. Right now driving is very stressful for me as I can't help but think of all the ways I could screw up. I guess games are more deadly then a motor vehicle.

 

[Travisa]

Oh my God, those testimonies are filled with the most ignorant, biased and pathetic drivel I have read in a very long time. My faith in humanity fell just that little bit more after reading those.

 

[Cowabungaa]

We already have this in Michigan, so... =|. I dont see the big deal, other than being 16 and I still have to take my mom to the store just to buy a game.

I feel your pain man. nevermind that I played Quake 2 when I was 11 and that I bought UT 2004 when I was 12, now if I want UT3 at the age of 16, I need my parents to get it for me. It doesn't help that I never go anywhere with my parents. Oh well, only one more year, actually only a few more months.

Something I find funny is that I can drive (got my L) before I can buy GTA. Right now driving is very stressful for me as I can't help but think of all the ways I could screw up. I guess games are more deadly then a motor vehicle.

My 15 year old brother is playing Ninja Gaiden 2, GTA4, BioShock, the gory lot of them but didn't change into a raving kiddo unable to distinguise between fact and reality. Heck, he's FAR more sensible then most kids I see of his age (sure he goes out, but he barely drinks, and if he does he knows when to stop, now THAT'S rare ). If he wants M/18+ rated games, I'll just get them for him, it really doesn't matter.
But yea, it is wierd that you can pilot a metal deathtrap that can travel with 120 km/hour, but you can't play a silly game. Yay for the morality police!

But on the bill itself: well, tbh it isn't that wierd, if there is an age rating it should indeed be properly enforced. Sure my little bro can play those games without any problem, but at least I knów that before I buy an M rated game for him, game shops don't.

 

[nathan-dts]

I honestly don't see a problem with this. Unless I read it wrong, all they are doing is fining places that sell tickets to R-rated movies or M-rated games to minors. Isn't this just stopping the influx of children in games like Halo or Gears or CoD? Don't people always complain about how kids are the most annoying part of online play? With this law, the kid actually has to have their parent with them, and even then the store clerk will have to let the parent know exactly what it is they are buying. I see this as a good thing.

The UK has had that law for years.

 

[Bofus Teefus]

I agree entirely with the anti-GTA stance. That stuff really does put bad values in you, and I play games solely for the violence. Frankly, I hate everything from Rockstar.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my little mind around this. The GTA series features violence, hookers, snarky comments from the talk radio stations, curse words, drunk driving, and more violence. I would think that the violence would be the first thing people would get hung up on. For you, is it the hookers and profanity? Do you also not like Manhunt simply because it's made by Rockstar? That game is over-the-top violent, but doesn't have the other seemingly bad points of GTA games. I guess that I'm first confused by which bad values you think people are taking from GTA, since you're ok with and play games solely for violence.

Secondly, I'll offer up myself as someone who loves killing in GTA, as well as the other features. I'll get a hooker, and kill her after I'm done! I'm just plain raw in GTA. When I'm done playing in GTA (playing = killing/hookers/profanity/etc), I'll go volunteer and help people who can't afford the 360. Serious, on top of school and work, I still put about 4 hours a week into a free clinic downtown. Obviously, I didn't pick this up from GTA. This is because I, like most, do not act out what I do in a game. My values are unaffected by gameplay, and I'm not an exception. Those who act out what they do in a game are the exception, and should be treated as such.