Zero Punctuation: Video Game Voters Network

[bleese]

i cant really care about this because im not in america... and as far as i know, your not american born Yatzee... so i can only say this particular statement

"Halo reach review? when, and why not this week!"

Honoustly are people on the escapists getting more lazy, doralious and associates on only once in two weeks... zeropuntuation every second video is either a repeat or 2 mins long, or about a game nobody gives a flying hoot about.. Game dogs, utter fail, although wolverines was alright... everything else, fail...

Are we leaving the golden ages of the escapists, the ages when apocolypse lane was near end season, doralious and associates begins and zero punctuation were reviewing games people cared about!

 

[gmanyo]

I thought that selling M rated games to minors was already illegal. I also think that it should be, and that movies should be included in this as well.

 

[mr_rubino]

I thought that selling M rated games to minors was already illegal. I also think that it should be, and that movies should be included in this as well.

The question at the heart of this: Why should parents have the decision as to whether their 17 year old child is able to be exposed to something be taken away based on an arbitrary age? Because it might make a 5 year old cry?

 

[ALPHATT]

gman you seriously feel that before the age of 18 or 17 or w/e you were too emotionally fragile to play a game like mw2? Well you may have been but then again you still are.

 

[Tublerune]

Voice all wrong, new mic?

 

[inpachi]

I just sent a Thank You letter too Washington State Attorney General who opposed this plan.

Hell i just registered to vote like a month ago and i just turned 19...

So i guess every little bit counts i suppose...

 

[gmanyo]

The question at the heart of this: Why should parents have the decision as to whether their 17 year old child is able to be exposed to something be taken away based on an arbitrary age?

Because their 17 year old child is still under their control. I've met parents who would be horrified if their kids, who are in their late teens, played an M rated game. Also take note of certain games which really could affect kids, like the Silent Hill series; sure, I started playing Silent Hill when I was 14, but that doesn't mean everyone should. I know 18 year olds that would be affected by that game. To add to this, games are getting more and more sexual (see Duke Nukem Forever) and many parents don't want their kids being exposed to heavy sexuality (TITTIES).

I know it's strange to have some sort of age limit on maturity (are we unstable and immature at 17 but then mature as soon as we hit 18?) but this is really the only way to do it from a governing standpoint. The government cannot view every single person at every birthday and decide wether or not they're mature enough to start making their own decisions. So they just say "Well, we hope that by 18 you're mature enough to be independent of your family." This "maturity age" varies from culture to culture: in Japan, this age is 20; in Korea, it's 19; in Australia, it's 32 (source needed). The important thing is that there has to be some sort of standard.

gman you seriously feel that before the age of 18 or 17 or w/e you were too emotionally fragile to play a game like mw2?

No, but It wasn't up to me to make that decision, and my parents knew that I was emotionally stable enough to handle it.

At this point, both of you have noted that some games really aren't that bad (I left this out of mr_rubino's quote). Why is Halo rated M? I have no idea. This, however, is not a problem with the law but with the rating system, which is a related but different issue.

 

[ALPHATT]

you pretty much argued against yourself. Also, parents not wanting something for their children is a personal policy and not something that should be necc controlled by the law. I'm 100% against prudity, though and I'm also european so yeah.

 

[Stan Provost]

i am furious about this! im canadian, and i was wondering what i can do? i tried to sign up but it told me to piss off

 

[Stan Provost]

I think the point that is being missed here is the fact that when you turn 17, your not all of the sudden thrown these "emotionally damaging" games and forced to play, its the fact that you no longer need your parent or anyone else who is over 18 to tell you what you can and cannot handle. its not that they think whether or not you are ready to handle certain subject matter when you turn "of age" its that you should know enough by then to choose whether certain things such as gore or horror thrillers effect you so bad that it may cause harm. and leaving that decision up to the parents perhaps is a mistake on its own (not that any law could stop that) nearly every time i play Mod warfare2 i hear what sounds like 10 year olds playing a graphic bloody war game. i apologize to no one if you think i am a prude for being disgusted with this. regardless the right to decide for yourself should stay where it is, never mind 18. you can go to war but cant buy a video game?

 

[Megawizard]

Since when did Yahtzee care about stuff in the US? Usually he just bashes us to hell without knowing the entire story.

 

[zerobot]

"Copyright" was spelled wrong in the credits.

Since when did Yahtzee care about stuff in the US? Usually he just bashes us to hell without knowing the entire story.

The reason is known by several names; the most recent being called globalization, however, for quasi-humorous reasons, I will use the paranoid, red scare Cold War term: the Domino Effect.

You see, the theory goes that when one country adopts a practice, neighboring or associated countries will be inclined do the same. This can be seen with early democracies, popular culture (globalization), English (to a certain extent), and, of course, Communism. Once America stops making good video games, Canada will follow. Then France; England; Spain; Lichtenstein; Russia; until the WHOLE WORLD IS DEVOID OF FPSS, GTA, RTSS, MMORPGS, RPGS, FPRTSS, TPSS, OMGWTFBBQS, AND... Well, ANYTHING THAT IS FUN AND HAS AN ACRONYM!

"Bullshit!" You say? Well... Ok, yeah it sort of is, but think about this:
Video games are a business.
Businesses want to make money.
If a product can't be produced and shipped all over the world due to a regulation the company doesn't get money from there (see GM).
This makes said company change their products so they will fit the requirements of said regulations.
Making a game requires resources, many of which are limited.

In other words: no violent video games in US means the ratio of bloodless, "family friendly" games to violent, fun games being produced is higher meaning less fun for everyone.


It is my belief that people in the US tend to believe that all countries are separate entities that have nothing to do with each other, which isn't really true for economics (but is, for EVERYTHING ELSE). They also make a lot of generalizations. Now, how do I know this about Americans?

'CAUSE I'M AMERICAN, LIVING IN THE BESTEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. DUH.

[/insanity]

 

[Waif]

Already done, rights for games and gamers everywhere should not be so trivialized. Worse yet, both games and gamers are being misrepresented by the media, which is kinda predictable. Gamers are not in the minority, and this needs to be expressed.