72 Percent of Adults Support California Game Law - UPDATED

[scotth266]

Snip.

I love how that video has a section on "Racial Stereotypes", but the first thing that comes up is the 50 Cent game ENDORSED/MADE WITH/BY 50 CENT. Who, y'know, might just happen to be black.

Then they attempt to claim that GTA: San Andreas promotes racial stereotypes (which it does, but they ignore the fact that half the bad guys ARE WHITE.) The little clip of the carjacking at the end is even MORE hilarious, given that GTA 3, Vice City, and 4 all feature WHITE GUYS jacking cars.

Hypocrisy is a lovely thing.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

You know who is thinking about the children?

The gaming industry that has so kindly made a very strict rating system, have stores that demand an ID to by a M rated game anyway (way to make an entirely pointless law California), and put parental controls into their consoles.

Why is this still an issue again?

Oh, that is right, people are morons.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

You're right, but as I said before, it's not something I want to happen.
And why would Wal-Mart not carry a M for Mature game? As I said before the highest demographic of gamers are age 25-40.
I'm not saying I want this to happen and my first bit about "Yay adulthood" was a joke. Sheesh.

The same reason they don't carry AO games.

 

[Nukey]

Isn't there already laws against the sale of these games to minors?

I mean, whenever I go to Gamestop, they check me (and everyone else) for an ID whenever purchasing rated M games, meaning I need my dad to come with me whenever I want to pick something up (as I am still 16. >_>). Does this mean that they don't already do that in California? If so, why not?
[sup]I live in New York, by the way.[/sup]
Also, that video is incredibly biased, most rated M games are nowhere near as violent or distasteful as those shown.

 

[Macgyvercas]

While it may seem like common sense that parents would be the ones to decide to what their kids play, a 13 year old will figure out a way to play "KillingAndMurder 3". Kids are resourceful bastards, I know this because I used to be one.

Thanks for the article Andy. I hope to God, Yahweh, Allah, Odin, Vishnu, and Zeus that we win this case.

You forgot about the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Pray there aren't any consequences.

Okay, let's ask the Flying Spagetti Monster and the Invisible Pink Unicorn for help too. And the Silver Flame and the Sovereign Host, while we're at it.

Pardon me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the norm? I got ID'ed to buy Mafia 2 the other day because the cashier didn't think I was 17 (I'm 21, lol). Isn't it already illegal to sell these games to minors? Isn't that why there's a rating system in the first place?

What will this Californian law change?

It is not illegal in the US. The industry self-imposes and self-enforces age ratings, but there is not currently any legal requirement for them to do so. If this law survives the supreme court, games will be considered a controlled substance, like cigarettes or alcohol, and not art or media, like film or literature.

This law is a big fucking deal.

-m

Can I ask you something? What do you think the odds of us winning are?

 

[The Imp]

Doesn't effect me. Yay adulthood!

Yes, it does.

The law operates on the miller test. The miller test is, basically, finding a random person and asking them if the material offends them, is pornographic by their definition, and lacks any value. Which means any and every game could potentially be removed from every shelf.

WOW! So the rumors are true, the general population in the USA is apeshit crazy. Everything that's deemed obscene lacks any value is like taking the bible literally.
Don't you guys over there have any form of vote to reform the "Miller Test"?

 

[Twad]

Parent should take responsability, since they are buying the games, and information is very easilly accessed. My guess is that they use the game as babysitters, and dont talk about games to their kids much.

edit; oh yeah,and what about the methodology of the poll? is the questionner reliable? what weere the questions? what is the age category, education ect of the people? If we dont have access to this information,the poll have no value, since they can make up any "fact" they want.

How that 72% is distributed? 60 support strongly-12% so-so? Or 1% strongly and 71% support a bit?

 

[Sach]

I do understand why gamers are against this and agree that parents should care for there kids.

But I dont see it having that much of an impact. In the UK you cannot sell games to minors if its age rated. if it 18 rated it cant be sold to anyone under the age of 18 without ID. And for the thats common sense. Its the same as alcohol and ciggaretts.

The problem is that video games shouldn't be put in the same league as alcohol and cigarettes. Video games are art, akin to music and cinema, not some vice to be looked down upon.

I don't really understand what more the ESRB could be doing... They put the ratings on the front of the game, they list the reasons they gave the game the rating on the back, and fine retailers who are caught distributing these games to minors. What else do you want from them?

 

[Sakurazaki1023]

Yet another case of parents blaming anyone but themselves for the things that their kids get exposed to. If you buy your child an M-Rated game, it is your fault they were exposed to it.

It's this kind of news that continues to decrease my impression of human intelligence and decency.

 

[joshthor]

i agree that minors should not be allowed purchase of games rated "M" or over. while it is a parents job to help stop thier kids from playing these, kids are sneaky. how many of you had porn magazines hidden that your parents didnt know about? how many of you snuck into an R rated movie your parents told you not to go to?

there is a reason this law is being supported and its not because people are necessarily bad parents (though im sure some are) its because kids are dicks, and they will do anything to get what they want.

 

[syltman]

Imo it certainly isn't easy at all for the parent to restrict their kids from certain games as they hardly got any control of what they do on their computer.

 

[Aureli]

Seriously. It isn't a videogame company's job to police what kind of game a kid is playing. If you don't want you kid to play a mature game, then don't buy it for them, plain and simple.

 

[OceanRunner]

Steyer continued. "What we've learned from this poll is that parents want to be the ones who decide which games their kids play, not the videogame industry."

I'm pretty sure this 'evidence' shows the opposite, parents don't want to take an active interest in what their children are doing but when they do something wrong it's everyone else's fault.
If you don't want your kid playing GTA than don't buy it for him/her.

If parents really did want to decide what games were suitable for their kids, then this issue wouldn't have arose.

 

[Nazz3]

Its been here for a while now.

I wouldnt mind but it sucks since half of the video games are rated 18 nowadays.. It used to be pretty much just GTA.

 

[Seydaman]

Steyer continued. "What we've learned from this poll is that parents want to be the ones who decide which games their kids play, not the videogame industry."

Lolwhut That's exactly how it is now.