Michael Atkinson Once Again Dismisses Gamers

[Lord Beautiful]

Give us more cruel sex and extreme violence!

Would he mind citing the sources demanding "cruel sex?" I can't imagine many gamers asking for cruel sex. A few, perhaps, but not many.

This man is so impeccably free from rationale, it's scary.

 

[Eldarion]

Guys, you were doing just fine before violent games came out, get the fuck over it. What do you want out of games, nightmare simulators?

What is wrong with you?

Allot of games that would earn the R-18 rating are really good games.

Your argument is basically, "Your freedom to play what you want doesn't matter because we didn't used to have games like today" really?????

Welcome to 2008. The issue at hand is an issue of freedom. If we want to play our games or let our children play games it is our business.

Wait are you being sarcastic? It tends to go over my head.

 

[Ericb]

Just out of curiosity, what is he like as a politician in general? Completely disregarding his stance on gaming, what are his other policies like? I don't live in Australia so I have no knowledge about this chap.

Is it just his stance on gaming that's upsetting people or does he have other controversial policies as well? Or is he perhaps a really good politician with a dislike for gaming?

That's also my question. His arguments relating to videogames are pathetic, but if he rose to such a position, he must have at least convinced voters of some administrative quality of his, be that quality real or virtual, to use his own words.

All I know is that he is from the Australian Labor Party and a right-leaning christian, so you can figure who his constituency is. Or not.

A lot of them must be gamers also, who knows...

What do you want out of games, nightmare simulators?

I recommend one of the Silent Hill games. Those pretty much fit this definition. Especially the first three.

 

[FinalGamer]

Well to be fair, parents don't do anything about disciplining their kids nowadays with not letting them have stuff above their age rating. APPARENTLY.

Hell you hear it enough times in the USA, this man and parents have themselves to blame. And then we wait for the eventual day some lousy kid unable to unleash stress with good ol' virtual gangsta fantasies goes apeshit.

Again.

 

[MattRooney06]

Wow. I love this guy. It is true as proven in the US that ratings do not work. People just buy their kids whatever they want and everyone thinks that kids have the right to play whatever. So no, parents do not take care of their kids. They just give them whatever they want to shut them up.
Basically it comes down to this. It is the law. Shut up and deal with it or leave.
You do not see pedos or other criminals trying to state the laws are stupid. (well except for stoners but who gives a feth what they think.)

(Of course it helps that I am in New Zealand. A sane country where ratings exist and are enforced as well as such things can be. Plus this is amusing as hell.)

...Speaking as someone whose parents actually did a pretty good job of trying to keep me from playing M-rated games until I became 17 I am appalled that you would suggest they were incapable of raising me. Then again you are in New Zealand and odds are you're just a sheep with a keyboard rather than an actual person.

See I can make wild conjectures too.


The first comment is a little flawed....the ratings are for perants if a perant looks at the rating and goes "hmm 18 rated oh well what 12 year old kid wants 12 ywaer old kid gets" then it is there fault not the gaming companys
The point is that anybody who says that only they have the ability to properly raise the youth of any country is a dangerous and deluded individual who should not be holding power. Especially because what he has said here is "guess what parents, you don't have to try and be responsible for your children anymore." That is not the right message whatsoever.

 

[eels05]

Does this guy lose sleep over the fact kids can watch 'R' dvds with ease?
What a hypocrite.
Parental controls dished out by law..cause everyones forgoten how to parent.

 

[Darth Pope]

"It is important that you do not confuse the classification rating of a game with the game's sophistication, or the challenge or interest to the player,"

Seems to me like this man could stand to heed his own advice.

 

[Chunko]

This guy needs to retire.

 

[traceur_]

Welcome to 2008. The issue at hand is an issue of freedom. If we want to play our games or let our children play games it is our business.

Is it also just your business to let your kids watch hardcore porn?

Is it also just your business to let your kids watch Saw?

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

parents cannot prevent their children from playing adult videogames in the home

They could not buy their children adult rated games.

I am baffled and worried about why proponents of R18+ games are putting up their hands and saying, 'Give us more cruel sex and extreme violence!

Because it's entertaining? Because it can be used to tell a story? Because we're all colossal perverts?

State-enforced safeguards could exist to prevent R18+ games being bought by households with children

There shouldn't be any. Slap a rating on the box, educate parents, the parents can then decide what is and is not suitable to purchase for their children.

"I think you will find this issue has little traction with my constituents who are more concerned with real-life issues than home entertainment in imaginary worlds."

A multi-billion [monetary unit] industry is a real-life issue, last I checked.

This...

And I hope he finds out very soon how important Not pissing off voters can be when he realizes how many adults play video games. Oh and IGNORING your constituents and dismissing their desires when your job DEPENDS ON IT is a real life issue, for him.

 

[tehbeard]

Dear god how that image made me laugh.
I feel sorry for yahtzee. This git just ruins everyones fun.

 

[Doug]

So basically his argument boils down to "Parents can't take care of children. Only I can". Why exactly is this man in a position of power?

Because he doesn't word it like that. And I'm guessing he has more jobs than just being a dickhead towards Gamers that I'm guessing he does well enough for the average voter to want to keep him around.

 

[are.you.the.god.its.me.vader]

Jerk.

I can't think of anything more to say...

 

[Xandre]

Dude, hiding things from minors isn't hard. High place, out of reach, near the wall. I didn't know my parenths had 7th guest or 11th hour until I was ten or twelve. We'd had the games for a good couple of years before that. He's just an idiot who can't deal with change. And some of the things he's saying means this will hopefully be his last state. If not, I say we all chip in for a little project to remove him from power

 

[Scumpernickle]

So Australia has no majority vote rule thing on these decisions? What a broken political system. What about checks and balances? This one man has too much power!

 

[Evil Raccoon]

And why are it always the lawyers who whine about video games
Thompson, Atkinson. I'm starting to see a patern here...

 

[VicunaBlue]

I guess I'm kind of sympathizing with him here, but YOU WILL NEVER,EVER KEEP TEENAGERS FROM SEEING MATURE CONTENT.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

So basically his argument boils down to "Parents can't take care of children. Only I can". Why exactly is this man in a position of power?

Oddly enough, positions of power seem to attract sociopaths. What we really should be asking is why Australia let him be in charge of a position of power.

Pretty sure he's just some old guy with grandkids who are turning into little violent shits. Sociopath? And some other **** said he'd spit on his grave?

The fuck is wrong you all?

I don't personally hate the man or want him dead or anything like that. What I don't like, however, is people trying to censor the shit out of anything that so much as upsets them slightly- "IF I DON'T ENJOY THIS THEN YOU LITTLE MONSTERS SHOULDN'T EITHER"- or anything that they think they have the power to get rid of.

See, gamers don't want 'nightmare simulators' per se. We just want to have people like Jack Thompson and Atkinson trying to abuse the censoring process and making people miserable simply because we don't share their views.

[hr]

"There is perhaps no phenomenon which contains so much destructive feeling as moral indignation, which permits envy or hate to be acted out under the guise of virtue."

-Erich Fromm​

 

[The 11th Plauge]

well, from your canadian friends, may I just say that I (and others) support your battle against the Austrailian jack thompson.