What if Jack "The Ripper" Thompson won against games

[wootsniper]

Uhmm,
You cant just bann games :S

and i believe that in the western culture more then 50% of the people own games.
how are they going to take all those games and consoles from them?

and people could always make new games and put them on the internet :S

edit: he only wants to ban games for children right? so it will be just like cigarrets, booze and weed,
EPIC FAIL!

 

[Icehearted]

Game shops would become adults only, like bars, in which case I'd be just fine.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Europe would be pretty crowded, and finally get games first. Half of them move to Britain, and that's phase one complete.

 

[randomrob]

I would go insane, start foaming at the mouth and gradually asphyxiate. The i would make a snowman in hell.

 

[Scabadus]

Honestly I think if he won then games would be forced to move in a radically different and possibly more creative and original direction that in the long run might actually make things better. Not saying games suck now but I feel sometimes games try to make up for lack of creativity with other aspects like over the top violence.

Sorry, I can't help but point out the irony in you saying that pointless violence in fiction is, while not necciserally bad, not very good while having Richard as your avatar. No offence meant, in fact nothing meant, I'm just pointing it out.

 

[TheOnceandFutureKing]

Honestly I think if he won then games would be forced to move in a radically different and possibly more creative and original direction that in the long run might actually make things better. Not saying games suck now but I feel sometimes games try to make up for lack of creativity with other aspects like over the top violence.

Sorry, I can't help but point out the irony in you saying that pointless violence in fiction is, while not necciserally bad, not very good while having Richard as your avatar. No offence meant, in fact nothing meant, I'm just pointing it out.

fair enough now i love all that pointless violence but I still think it gets used to make up for lack of originality.

 

[Ghonzor]

What if Thompson won? The last of the seven seals would be broken, and hell would reign over the Earth.

Win

 

[tsolless]

Then the videogame industry would begin lobbying and eventually get the ban pulled back.

Money can win laws. That is one thing the game industry does not seem to be lacking.

 

[Rad Bracket]

I think if a ban was every passed it would be hard to reverse.

Increased censorchip would probably make its creator very popular. We forget that though we're a very vocal group with do represent a minority. A very large group of voters are against violence in video-games. Some servays state that almost 70% of voters think games are to violent (though not neseceraly in favour of cencership).

However the biggest blockers to that kind of legislation are the games companies themselfs. The indestry is now worth more than Music and Film combined and thats a very powerful lobby.

 

[Joa_Belgium]

It would lift.

And oh yeah: if games would get banned, Jack Thompson wouldn't make the evening alive.

 

[Mcface]

I would assume the ban would eventually be lifted, at least after some person (me) "trained" by Bad Company popped a sniper round from 200 meters away into Jack Thompson. There are few people that I would want to actually have beaten, and in Jack's case, I'd find someone that hates videos games and never played one, and have him beat up Jack. Just to prove games don't make people violent.

I honestly hope you dont think you know how to fire a weapon because you played a video game.

 

[Deleted]

I would keep playing my wii.

 

[Jonci]

I would assume the ban would eventually be lifted, at least after some person (me) "trained" by Bad Company popped a sniper round from 200 meters away into Jack Thompson. There are few people that I would want to actually have beaten, and in Jack's case, I'd find someone that hates videos games and never played one, and have him beat up Jack. Just to prove games don't make people violent.

I honestly hope you dont think you know how to fire a weapon because you played a video game.

I honestly hope you don't take everything people say seriously.

 

[Monkeytacoz]

i can tell you right now they would never ever find his body again if that happened

 

[Skratt]

Who is this guy ?
Sorry but people keep going on about him and I don't know...

My advice would be to do the research yourself. You'll get one sided answers here from people who demonize this guy.
I, personally, agree with much of the things he said. His methods might be suspect, and some things he's done I don't agree with, but I saw an interview with the guy and I agreed with everything he said. So if he 'won against games' (What a silly way to put it), then there would probably be far less underage kids playing violent games. Which I'm totally OK with.

Edit:

well... firstly i dont know, really i am not sure about this but, isn´t Jack not trying to "ban" videogames?? just trying to make them available only for mature audiences????

Exactly right.

I don't really understand how someone can hold this position. Understand I'm not trying to flame, I've just honestly never seen anyone defend ol' Jack.

Why do we need laws to replace parenting? Why is it not the parents responsibility to police what their kids watch, read or play? Why is the 'Rated M for Mature' not sufficient for parents to say "hey, that's probably not appropriate for my 8 year old.."

Please correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I know, it is not 'illegal' for a movie theater to let minors into R-rated films, but for the most part they don't let them in and it is as it should be. Why does it seem so hard for game stores to prevent sales of rated M to anyone under 17-18? I mean, wouldn't that make the games available for only mature audiences?

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

honestly i dont think even if smackywack had won, COD would be banned, since its all patriotic, and such.

Oh, and i'd murder him. slowly

I always thought it was appropriate his name was thompson, since was the furthest thing from accurate, and he's machine gunned his own career

 

[Baby Tea]

Why do we need laws to replace parenting? Why is it not the parents responsibility to police what their kids watch, read or play? Why is the 'Rated M for Mature' not sufficient for parents to say "hey, that's probably not appropriate for my 8 year old.."

Well I worked in an EB Games for about two years, and I'll tell you that we didn't sell M rated games to minors without either ID (If they just looked young) or without their parents present. I'm pretty sure it was simply a 'policy', but I'd love to see that become law.

Unfortunately, the parents will just buy the game for their kid anyways, like they did at our store. They don't give a shit what's in the game, they are just too lazy to actually parent their kid so they plop them in front of the TV with whatever game they bitched about wanting. Who cares what's in the game so long as they are out of your hair, right?

Lazy, shitty parenting.

 

[DazBurger]

Meh, the anti-games rage is close to non-existent in most of europe.
So never gonna happen... Well maybe in the states.

 

[Skratt]

Well I worked in an EB Games for about two years, and I'll tell you that we didn't sell M rated games to minors without either ID (If they just looked young) or without their parents present. I'm pretty sure it was simply a 'policy', but I'd love to see that become law.

Unfortunately, the parents will just buy the game for their kid anyways, like they did at our store. They don't give a shit what's in the game, they are just too lazy to actually parent their kid so they plop them in front of the TV with whatever game they bitched about wanting. Who cares what's in the game so long as they are out of your hair, right?

Lazy, shitty parenting.

Would the law you would you like to see be that you cannot sell a game to a minor, or that a parent cannot buy a game for a minor?

I can see where the first might look good on paper, but I call shenanigans on the whole slippery slope of "protecting the children". Even a partial law would begin to erode the right of a parent to judge what is appropriate for their children. There are so many different groups that find things inappropriate where other sections of the population are just fine with it. Besides, such a law is not any where near enforceable with services like Steam and Direct2Drive where you can buy game anonymously online.