Poll: What would you ban?

[KrabbiPatty]

I say ban nothing.

But thats cause i despise the dreaded gum disease Political Correctness.

Besides, name one instance when censorship worked? Go ahead try to name one. You make something taboo and every perv or freaky maladjusted nerd on Earth will try to find it.

 

[Frybird]

Although by personal opinion i would ban torture and rape-simulators, i officially would only ban games that actually not only inspire, but teach extreme violence and explicitly antisocial behaviour beyond "just" theft and murder.

I have not seen such a game yet (luckily), but if a game would, for example, teach the player how to build a bomb out of household materials to the point that he could actually build a real bomb simultaniously and then inspire him to get revenge on "his enemies", i would ban it.
Also, even if i would allow torture-simulators with my teeth grinding, i would probably ban them if they would explicitly suggest to apply "learnable" torture methods to real people.

I know making this distinction is a bit difficult (it's a bit like the whole "Do Shooters teach you how to use a gun"-debate), but i still hope that it is obvious wich games i would ban and what i would not

 

[Fire Daemon]

I think It isn't right to ban these things, after all if it was art or movies then it wouLd be different. But you have to ask yourself, would you want to play these games? I mean by the sound of it any game like those are just plainly fucked up. And besides many people have a bad view of games and by making a game with the things included in the poll then we could see much public outcry at gaming and news stories similar And prehaps worse) to the Mass Effect story on fox news could be published and be 100% correct.

Do you want gaming to be like that?

 

[Knight Templar]

I decided to go with the rape and sexual violence one. I think it's assuming that we're playing the main instigator here. I guess they're pointing the fingure at some of those Japanese 'dating' games.

I would have no problem with tortue. A FPS with scenes like Hostel or Wold Creek would be awesome, but the baby killing wouldn't be so flash. Unless it was funny, like a clown was doing it or something.

Purple i'm worried about you.


but you can only censor so much. manhunt is ileagl but if i wanted i could buy it.

 

[PurpleRain]

What?! Clowns are funny.

 

[DewMan001]

I went for the sexually explicit stuff. That's just disgusting and plain sexist.

 

[nightmare_gorilla]

i gotta be honest that all sounds like a good time to me, now don't get me wrong i don't condone date rape but lets face it if you've played a hentai game chances are you've orchestrated a date rape of some kind and it's kinda fun. plus i will admit i'd be first in line to play a game where your main weapon is your junk used a bludgening tool to crush the skulls of feminists and limp wristed theator queers.

baby killing: again, i wouldn't do it but hey beating kids is alotta fun in the digital world, make up for the lack of parents beating their kids into line by pounding several to within an inch of their lives.

as for bomb making and school shootings, eh, i don't think it'd make a fun game just too shallow of a concept, besides the difficulty curve of shooting highschoolers is siimilar to muhamid ali fighting a kid with brittle bones disease.

but seriously, it's the games that push the envelope tastefully that have been phenomonal, the same is true of movies and tv shows. i mean things that people are passionate about are what makes the world go round. fable allows you to beat and bluedgeon random citizens for pure enjoyment of it, like it or not i think we all have those dark urges from time to time and hey maybe it's more healthy to have an outlet for them than to bottle them up like they don't exist.

 

[Hey Joe]

Do I have to choose just one? I'd rather avoid extremes of all the categories.

I'd also like to ban overt chauvinistic content is games. I'm a fan of sexuality, but having virtual boobies bounce around the place in 1 Billion polygon glory for the sake of adolescent amusement is what I view as the most depraved in the attitudes it depicts and fuels toward women.

 

[shadow skill]

I wouldn't ban any of these things. Frankly I find it ironic that all of these things are fine to write about, but only become a problem when we start talking about games.

 

[Dectilon]

Banning them wouldn't change much I think. The audience is already limited as it is, and I don't even think a China-style block of search options etc would stop "enthusiasts" from getting ahold of them.

Granted, a game about a bomber would actually be sort of interesting : / GTA has some of that already, although with less sofistication. I dunno how it would play exactly. Maybe it would be a stealth game, where you sneak in somewhere and plant a bomb without being discovered. : /

 

[ZenMonkey47]

As long as we're not shoving these games into people's consoles and threatening them to beat them with iron pipes if they don't play it, I say ban nothing.

If you don't like it, don't buy it. If enough people don't buy it, then companies don't want to make more of it.

Creating a media stink just gives a game more exposure and gives politicians another vapid subject to rant and rave about. Heck, that's most of the reason there's a Mortal Kombat franchise.

 

[Dectilon]

I'd almost say adults are more in the risk zone when it comes to some stuff, because by the time you're an adult you think you're mature enough to know right from wrong

 

[Foss]

I wouldn't ban anything, either.

For me, if one controversial issue isn't open for use in a video game, then I don't think any should. The magnitude of the issue involved shouldn't really affect the basic principle.

So nothing should be banned, in my opinion.

Anyway, I don't really mind that stuff in a video game, you know? I mean, it's a game. It's for doing stuff you can't or wouldn't do in real life (except for sports games, I guess. Which is why I don't play sports games. Cos you can do it in real life).

I don't really have a problem with any of it (in a game, that is).

 

[[HD]Rob Inglis]

Rape is always wrong. I'm sorry, I just don't believe that it's good to SIMULATE. If it's a part of the story, maybe, else it should never be simulated.

 

[Foss]

"Rape is always wrong. I'm sorry, I just don't believe that it's good to SIMULATE. If it's a part of the story, maybe, else it should never be simulated."

So you'd say rape was worse than murder? Not killing, but murder?

I personally don't see that.

Oh yeah, I should mention; I think if you're going to be including this stuff in a game, it needs to be thoroughly rooted in the story. Not just "do you want to torture the baby? Y/N".

Brutality for brutality's sake? No.

Brutality for a reason? Sure.

 

[Terramax]

I haven't chosen one for the same reason as The_tralfalmadorian.

All I can say is computer games do influence bad behaviour in many people. But so do books.

I don't think anything should be banned. I think we should set up a better education system both in schools and after giving the public a greater awareness of the effects of all media.

Personally I think the rascism and one-sided views of the tabloids are responsible for more deaths and ruined lives than any computer game could hope to achieve. Everyone *knows* you shouldn't believe what you read in the papers yet people still pay their .35p or whatever and would still believe The Sun if they gave an exclusive story titled 'Kate Moss gives birth to a three-eyed gremlin'.

 

[Sylic]

They let movies show most of this content, I don't see why video games can't show the same images.

 

[Foss]

I always figured Kate Moss was a mythical figure anyway.

Nothing that screwed up can exist in the real world.

 

[Alphavillain]

If you are going to be influened by a video game to kill/rape/take drugs/dress like a character from a JRPG then you are probably an extremely twisted individual in any case with or without Merssrs Sony and Microsoft. Most people that do terrible thing do not play video games: they're too busy to play...doing terrible things.

 

[propertyofcobra]

I wouldn't ban any of these, really.
For the "sexually explicit and depraved" material, I wouldn't ban this any more than I would ban all books with erotic scenes, or all nude paintings, or even porn flicks for that matter.
For "Exceptionally extreme violence", I believe that it has it's place. The original Soldier of Fortune acted to me in many cases as a chanelling device for rage, not all that unlike beating up inflatable clowns. And if YOU'RE not the one doing it, I believe torture and infanticide can truly bring your blood to a boil, and make victory all the sweeter when you gut the sick freak who did it.
For the "Politically insensitive content", I'm not even gonna bother mentioning how that would involve banning all RTS games where you could ever concievably attack your enemy because they have more of a resource than you do. And of course, banning Warcraft 2 and 3, (And Serious Sam 1 and 2, and Command And Conquer Generals...And every Mario game with bob-ombs) for having suicide units!

Out there stuff has a place. I'm not saying every game should involve graphic decapitation of American Soldiers as you defend Iraq's honor, followed by rough over-the-top onscreen multi-position intercourse with one of your many virgins in the afterlife.
I'm saying that these games need to be CAPABLE of existing. (I definitely would dislike, and never buy, the above mentioned game. But I should be allowed to make it if I really want to. Sure, I'd have to sell it over the internet only, but so what?)

"Rape Sims" and "Murder Sims" have a place, the first with certain scorned and angry men (generally Japanese ones), the second with anyone who has ever proverbially seen red and mused (without any real intent of ever carrying out) bloody murder to make themselves feel better.
If a game lets me graphically slaughter an opponent, great. It might be tasteless, but if I ever feel white hot rage for whatever reason, playing that for a while is a far less destructive way of venting than, say, headbutting walls or punting expensive objects of art.

Controversial games need to exist, but not so that you can feel the thrill of being a suicide bomber, or the sheer joy of shooting high school kids.
But to bring these subjects to light in a different way.

Seeing as most of us live in countries of freedom of expression, you can happily and blissfully ignore games, books, movies and pictures that you dislike (unlike, say, protest rallies to declare Adolf Hitler's birthday a national holiday, or spittle being projectiled in your general direction because of race/sexual orientation), but NOBODY should have a right to say "nobody could ever make this, ever" if it ultimately doesn't hurt anyone at all.