72 Percent of Adults Support California Game Law - UPDATED

[Emilox The Great]

doesnt it just show that 72 percent of adults are completely retarded?


ahhh human incompetence it never gets old.

 

[SilverHammerMan]

Those questions seemed pretty biased, from the language (ultraviolent games) and the concern question had no distinction between somewhat and very concerned. Hello? there's a difference! And fair is the same as poor for how well the ESRB regulates things? I call bullshit.
Plus, "Sexually assaulting an image of a human being", what games have they been playing? The GTA hooker thing, that's not rape.... it's prostitution, big difference. Sexual assault isn't in any game that I know to be available via regular outlets.
And one more thing, violence against women gets it's own category? I demand equal rights when it comes to who I pretend-kill in a not-real-game.
This whole California Supreme Court thing is ridiculous, at least we know that in the years to come when gamers reach the age at which they actually control the country, that age being 45-70 approximately, our children's children will be able to play videogames in a reasonable environment.

I CALL SHENANIGANS ON THIS WHOLE THING!

EDIT: Oh yeah, and even if the Californians rule against videogames, I'm pretty confident that the real Supreme Court with overturn there incredibly stupid decision.

 

[Mrkittycat]

That is the most biased survey I've ever seen.

 

[The Lost Big Boss]

I am scared shitless of this becoming law. I have no power to prevent this, and it seems that the media is going to use misinformation to scare the shit that games are the antichrist.

Whats even more scary is that gamers have no idea what is going on, let alone what implications this is going to have on games. This isn't about selling games to minors, it's about what type of protection games should have in the eyes of the government.

In short, gaming as we know would be dead, no wait, gaming would be dead. Not having the first amendment for protection would render all controversy/questionable content dead. "This content could get this game banned, we have to remove it", this is going to be a regular occurrence if this passes, games will have to be watered down for twelve year olds.

This law would give the government the ability to govern the sale of video games. Games would be the equivalent to cigarettes or beer, a controlled substance. Can you imagine, games not being viewed as art (I know as it stands they aren't), but viewed as something that could harm some one or something?

 

[Uber Waddles]

Honestly not suprised. Depends on where they took the poll, all those things you can use to fudge a poll.

Its not the games industries job to keep kids on a leash, thats their parents job. Parents dont want kids to play violent games? DONT BUY THEM. Kids have friends with violent games? Dont let them go over to their house. Simple?

Its the same deal with every other industry. If I had a kid, and didnt want them to watch South Park, I wouldnt let them watch it and yell at Comedy Central. It was my fault.

When you have to government step in to protect kids from violent videogames, you get a repression of the games industry. Its an industry thats actually turning profit in the recession, derp.

Frankly, I dont care about Californias opinions. Im willing to bet they dont match the rest of the US, and thats if theyre even accurate. And if it does; Im sure the Supreme Court will say "LOL NO" and shoot this down. I hope... Im one of those few people who still have hope for this country...

 

[Ninonybox_v1legacy]

!!!THE INDUSTRY ISNT DOING ENOUGH TO PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN!!!....YOUR THE FUCKING PARENT....god i hate stupid parents.

 

[lukemdizzle]

this just in, a new study finds that 72% of adults in california are really stupid

 

[twaddle]

I have a wonderful solution for this. Lets have a campaign so we can beat the stupid out of these twits!!

You know what we have to do? Take Billboards and put in the largest most obnoxious print we have put....
"M" means Mature rating as in you little whinny brat should not be playing this shit because it has Blood, Bullets, and Tits!! So stop being complete and total wankers and look at the rating on the back of the box!! GOD!!

We have should also have a teli commercial that is as annoying as that "head on" commercial.

"M rated game. Has Blood bullets and Tits"
"M rated game. Has Blood bullets and Tits"
"M rated game. Has Blood bullets and Tits"
"M rated game. Has Blood bullets and Tits"
"Do you Understand Now Dammit!!!"

Given the ESRB rating, Halo: Reach is practically "T for teen" now. Starcraft and Uncharted 1 and 2(Both T games) have "worse" ratings.

i believe the blood has died down so much in the halo series....well there never was much blood in the halo series and very little gore so i kinda find a teen rating for halo games to be appropriate. I think prospect of enough blood as much as a nose bleed coming from the head is what they consider m rated. Though call of duty and other army games like that should have the m rating.

 

[subject_87]

Those are leading questions if ever I've seen them. My friend and I regularly mock Common Sense Media for fearmongering, overzealousness and completely missing the forest for the trees on things like Half-Life 2 and To Kill a Mockingbird. I think someone else used this metaphor, but this is like starting off a discussion on drugs by showing Reefer Madness.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

This poll clearly shows once again, parents giving more control to the government, because they refuse to be parents. Grow up, it's not the government, or societies job to make sure your kids acquiesce to your rules. That's your job.

this. if you dont know what your kids are buying or where they are, because obviously they are still kids if you are that worried about them, then you should be the one to blame, not the game companies, for not knowing what your kid is buying and how they are buying it.

and honestly, the poll is a little unfair, they put fair/poor in the same category, when it easily should have been 3 choices, i garuntee it would've knocked that number down a good chunk

 

[godofallu]

Fuck yes, get those kids out of my fucking online lobbies!

Lets be honest, the vast majority of parents fail hard. So we need the government to keep those dipshit parents from letting their kids join games i'm in.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

Which is pretty much what this law does. Whether the law passes or not, nothing is really going to change, contrary to what Chicken Little Gamer says. The decision in this case will result in a philosophical distinction, not a practical one. That distinction being between treating video games like film, regulations being voluntary, or treating video games like tobacco, regulations being mandatory. Either way, children won't be able to obtain M-rated games without parental consent, adults still will, and M-rated games will still be produced like normal.

Originally I was entirely in favor of the law(though I did see it as unconstitutional) because it would be something to put in the face of whiny parents when they start bitching about their little child playing a violent video game. Making the parents legally responsible, as opposed to pointing at a corporate policy, is a stronger argument. However, I got tired of appealing to the lowest common denominator and said "fuck 'em." If they don't understand their responsibility, it's their own fault.

The problem is the full ramifications of the miller test (the legal concept the law is based upon) can, on it's own, remove the first amendment protections of video games. If any game trips the miller test, all games are subject to being treated like controlled substances.

Meaning rather than deal with the bullshit associated with it, most retailers will simply not carry any game that trips this law. The same way they refuse to carry AO games. With retailers giving very clear definitions of what they will and will not carry, publishers stop commissioning anything that might fall into that criteria.

As much as I'd like to see mainstream gaming crash and burn, this is not right.

 

[Psydney]

Here we go again with the "ultra-violence," "ultra-sexual." Translation: someone's back to getting their knickers in a bunch over Postal, a game that almost nobody played, and hentai, which isn't easily available in the United States. /sigh.

On the hentai part, you obviously haven't looked hard enough on the net, and please, keep your voice down about it, I'd rather Obama not go looking in that particular direction.

Hah - although you still can't just pick it up at Best Buy

 

[ProfessorLayton]

News like this doesn't surprise me anymore, but damn is it ever depressing being continually reminded how astronomically stupid people are.

News flash to parents! Don't want your children playing "ultra-violent video games"? Don't buy them!

Seriously, this isn't hard.

But... but... logic scares me! Keep it away! Seriously, this makes so much sense. I explained my hatred for this idea and why I feel this way, despite wanting a bigger government. See, getting to government to regulate gaming decisions is like getting a gamer to regulate government decisions. Parents need to step up and do their job as parents and understand that banning everything doesn't work.

But nothing I can say hasn't been said better by the following video.

 

[zombays]

This poll clearly shows once again, parents giving more control to the government, because they refuse to be parents. Grow up, it's not the government, or societies job to make sure your kids acquiesce to your rules. That's your job.

Aww, you stole my line! But yeah, I agree, the parents never want to be blamed so they sue, go figure.

 

[Xorph]

So, Let me get this straight. They want to ban the sale of ultra-violent video games to minors despite the fact that stores like Gamestop already require an id check or a parent present when buying an M rated game? What exactly will this law do besides further enforce that rule?

 

[Saboten]

This reminds me of the South Park song "Blame Canada". It's the same exact situation, dumb parents not censoring their children, expecting the government to. The rating is there for a reason... You would take your children to a rated R movie, would you?

 

[ark123]

Ridiculous. There's never been anything in gaming even remotely as gory as the Saw movies and you don't see these fuckwits protesting the 132 sequels that movie got.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I love reading that updated stuff... it's like people expect people who make games to do the parenting for people as well.