Senator Leland Yee Urges Parents to Avoid Violent Games at Christmas

[Andy Chalk]

I DO think that selling an M-rated game to a minor should be criminalized, just like porn.

But wouldn't it be simpler to make AO a viable and useful rating, rather than the censor's stamp it is now? Solves the problem so much more easily: No pesky First Amendment beefs, the ESRB can start using the rating more liberally because it's not an automatic kiss of death, designers get their free hand to make the games they want without worrying about being shut down before their games even hit the shelves, and adult gamers have access to adult games without all the fuss.

 

[LordOmnit]

Too bad nobody (that's going to be making the decisions mind ya) wants an everybody wins scenario. They want a they win scenario.

 

[Arbre]

The point of a correct campaign would be that bothered or not, they couldn't miss it.

It doesn't matter whether they miss it if they don't care about it in the first place, and I think you grossly underestimate both the ability of kids to effectively pressure their parents and the inherent willingness of parents to believe that their kids are smarter and more mature than the average and are therefore better equipped to handle the M stuff.

I wouldn't underestimate the parents' ability to forgive their kids and pander to their whinings. I see that happen everyday. Quite pisses me off a lot.
Mummyyyyy, I want that toy up there. I want it! I want it! I want it! Wah Wah Wah!
OK here's your toy, with a plastic gun and a fake vagina cause I really don't give a flying **** about what you play with.

We can't police people either.

What I'm talking about is that video games are a product of mass consumption, and the only way to strike parents is to intrude into their own life.
The magazines they read? I don't know. Moms read Vogue? Then put some eye catching ESRB ad in there.
The family watches the TV every night? Then put ads there too.
I mean, hell, there's plenty of campaigns about tabacco, alcohol, AIDS and road kills.
What's so alien about having information about games, really?

If they still don't care, then so be it, they couldn't say we didn't tell them.
The thing is, when the video game industry will have enough evidence that they have done their part of the job (information, sensibilisation, etc.), it will be even easier to dismiss unwarranted parental offuscations.
As long as the industry tried to make them aware of what they're buying, essentially, for their kids, it's their choice.
Now, that's the same story. Everybody needs to do something on his side.
As far as the AO rating is concerned, I look towards the console builders for the ridiculous situation they put the industry into. They don't know what they want. Reaching adults by preventing adult games from being sold.
Makes sense, doesn't it?

Yeah, I can't miss the hundreds of blue political signs that line every road in my city each election. It doesn't mean I care about them, or even read them.

They're hardly the same thing. They don't have the same goal. They don't even seek to give you the truth, but only what they want you to hear, or what you want to hear.
Ignoring information is not necessarily good either.

 

[strayjay]

But wouldn't it be simpler to make AO a viable and useful rating, rather than the censor's stamp it is now?

Well, we're really talking about the same thing here. Potato, Potahto.

I just think it's more viable to get one law passed than it is to get the ESRB and (nearly) every game retailer to change their attitude towards AO games.

 

[LordOmnit]

If they still don't care, then so be it, they couldn't say we didn't tell them.

Well, the point is is that they circumvent that point totally and fight against the premise and execution rather than the point most of us are trying to make in that people should consider the percieved consequences of their actions.
The problem with bringing this point to light is that it would basically be telling people how wrong they've been going about things, and nobody wants to hear that. Any politician that said that would have to be completely insane, he might as well be handing in his resignation slip at the same time.
And as for the political signs on the sides of the road, they are a bit different of a category, in that they give you the least amount of insight into what their point is, but something like a press interview, a forum, a debate, etc. is a much more reliable source of information than a sign on the side of the road.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I just think it's more viable to get one law passed than it is to get the ESRB and (nearly) every game retailer to change their attitude towards AO games.

I think getting the ESRB to change its attitude would be quite simple - make the rating viable. When the console manufacturers are willing to license AO games, and the major retailers are willing to sell them, I absolutely guarantee you the ESRB will start throwing the rating around like its going out of style. (Of course, there'd likely be a major overhaul of the current rating standards first to justify it.) If the US government seriously wants change, they're going after the wrong people.

 

[Lord_Sammael]

You know...
I live in Sweden and to say the least I've never ever seen a sales clerk sell a game to a minor that he shouldn't play. And clerks always ask if the parents actually know what they're buying for their kids.

I think the American government need to stop babysitting their people. So if a parent buys a violent video game for their kid. And then comes to complain or sues the store or game company all they have to say is: It is your damn responsibility, so start doing your job as a parent.

If someone brought a lawsuit against a game company in sweden for making a game that they bought for their kid, the judge would just laugh and tell them to get the f**** out of his courtroom.

So I believe that the responsibility is the parents and the parents alone no one elses. I don't see people buying alcohol and cigarettes for their kids so I don't understand what the damn problem is with people taking the responsibility they have to their own kids.

I sure hope it changes for the better.... which highly doubtfull

 

[LordOmnit]

Well good to know there are sane people *SOMEWHERE* in the world. >=P
With respect to certain issues that is.

 

[Arbre]

ESRB Unveils New Oklahoma Senator PSA [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16499].

At last.

Coupled to this:

Microsoft Launches Xbox 360 'Family Timer' For Parents [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16492].

 

[Darren Grey]

What I find very positive about Leland Yee's statement is that he actively encourages parents to buys games for their kids that are multi-player and that give you more choices than just killing. This is really great and insightful stuff - he seems to be really following his own advice of being familiar with the games.

 

[roo18]

May be I should ask for a nice doll for Christmas instead...

 

[Arbre]

May be I should ask for a nice doll for Christmas instead...

Yes, probably [http://www.quizlaw.com/blog/images/ChuckyColor.jpg].

 

[JDB15]

There is some bullshit in this, but at least he encourage parents to have common sense when buying games for their children (indicating that it is the parent's fault, something politicians rarely, if not never, do).