Parents Television Council Calls Game Industry "Thugs" and "Bullies"

[Therumancer]

The issue is one that most people seem to miss.

On a lot of levels I have no real problem with keeping "M" rated games out of the hands of minors. That cause isn't a problem.

The issue here is that in order to accomplish this they want to give the goverment the power to regulate free speech and decide what is and is not acceptable for people. Simply by having this power, the First Amendment is violated.

A lot of people liken this to preventing kids from buying and smoking cigarettes, however the big differances is that cigarettes aren't a form of speech, but a paticular product. Cigarettes are not constitutionally protected, and free speech is.

A big concern with this is that it opens a door that needs to remain shut, because as soon as the goverment has the established abillity to limit free speech in any regard, it can justify expanding that right to other things. This WILL snowball.

My major concern here is that for all tough talking, I am worried that if this law passes most people will just say "this blows chips" and go along with it. I see this kind of regulation as being exactly what the "right to keep and bear arms" was intended for. If anything should cause riots and armed incidents, it is this law, but I just don't get that vibe.

Truthfully I think a lot of civil liberties defenses have succeeded because of the threat of violence, even non-violent protest has it's roots in violence being a show a potential force yield. I'm concerned that the lack of obvious danger in ignoring gamers and those concerned about free speech is going to actually hurt our cause.

I'm not saying that I want to see violence break out, I'd much rater see this atack on free speech fail. I would however feel our chances would be much better, and that we were being taken seriously if there was enough energy behind our side that the goverment was planning on having riot troops on standby just in case. That's at least a sign that someone takes you seriously, and that an issue isn't just going to end with some duelling bureaucrats.

 

[RaikuFA]

the ptc should rethink their issues. espesially with the fact that one of their most famous members is Christina Applegate, best known as the slutty kelly bundy on married with children. do you see the hypocrisy?

plus this group is also plagued with critical research failure

 

[RaikuFA]

Personally. I'd find the fucker who wrote this recent PCT artilce, wholesale attacking the entire games industry, and kick him square in the face. Not becuase i play violent vidoegames but because their artlice is so insulting to my and others intellegence as to be offencive in it's retardedness and pandering. Sheer balls out distortion of facts for an agenda like this makes me white hot with rage at the best of times, nevermind when it is inulting a medium the writer so obviously has never even bothered to exprience or attempt to understand.

I know internet rage is ten a penny but as an industry we are constantly growing and growing so fast we will one day outgrow petty puritian flasehood spinners like the PTC so fully we will be able to shit on them from a great hight just like they try and shit on us now.

The members of the PCT can sit in their glass houses built of victorian era ideals and 'values' and take pot shots at us but as a medium gaming is not going away and not going to shrink away just becuase some group of neo-cons and religious fanatics hiding behind a paper thin mask in the form of the banner of 'Family Values' says we should.

Where do these people come from? Did the 1960s just never happen in their minds? I honestly have no idea how anyone can spit such compleat lies in order to try and destory something that offends their false sensibilites. These are the fuckers who would have every refference to sex taken out of everything in order to keep us in some kind of puritain dark age where no one mentions they actually have genitals nevermind that sex is a natural part of existance. This kind of self-denial is the worst sort of half-cooked moralistic bullshit and they certainly shouldn't try and force their distorted world veiw onto multiple generations of people who shake their heads in disbeleif at their sheer prudish, fun wrecking, spiteful activties against every form of entertainment medium.

In short; fuck you.

like i said, they dont do their research. their only good thing was for getting nbc fined for the janet jackson incident

 

[imnot]

Deary me, what idiots, and trying to sell sex to our children, dont buy the game for them dipshit!

 

[Iandiaeufaieubfeuihfi]

This shows why some people need to go back to school and actually learn more.

 

[KaiRai]

When will they learn that games aren't sold to minors - it's asshole parents giving into whatever their spoilt kids want.

 

[Dfskelleton]

My reatcion in a nutshell.

 

[DarthFennec]

I can't wait until all of this is over, I lose a lot of sleep over this court case -.-

I see where these people are coming from: they don't care for the games their kids are apparently playing (which makes sense), they're used to taking anything they don't like as a legal matter (because a lot of it is) and they're not looking at this problem beyond the initial issue (which is perfectly understandable). Sure, there's no immediate loss of free speech with this, it's just the government regulating whether children can buy violent and sexually explicit games. But these parents don't understand the industry like we do, and they don't get that our big game publishers really fucking like to play it safe, and that they depend on that steady market, so if this passes, it'll snowball into everything our culture is. Not that change is necessarily a bad thing, but somehow I don't think this specific change would be too positive. And another thing that these parents don't see (or care about), is that if this passes, it does technically take games out of first amendment protection. Sure, this law wouldn't change what can and can't be sold by the industry, but it would set a supreme court precedent which would make it extremely easy for someone to fuck that over later. But these parents don't see all that, they just see the wonderful helpful government trying to keep their kids from buying porn and gore from the evil game industry.

Personally though, I think these parents should start doing their own job, instead of wasting all this time trying to push it onto the government. Really, it's not that difficult to monitor what games your child plays. You don't need the fucking feds to keep your children from buying Mature rated games, you should do that yourselves and the ratings are even there specifically to help you. The way I see it, if you don't want your little kids to go out and buy $60 worth of shooting and gore, you should not be giving them the $60 in the first place. Go learn how to parent, don't go and try to make the government do it for you. Christ - -

Oh, one more thing. I love how shipping "Senator Yee broken video game controllers" is considered to be a "vicious attack." Maybe they think `broken' means `infected with ebola' or `liable to explode' or something.

 

[SideburnsPuppy]

These guys should quit trolling and watch <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1961-Free-Speech>Extra Credits.

 

[Lullabye]

You can tell this one never played a damn video game in his life from(besides the obvious stuff) the way he compareed "viscious attacks" in videogames, to those made by people in real life.
Think for a moment.
God of War 3: Ripping of Apollos head, bloody murdering everything in sight=To mailing controllers to a man with the phrase "II support teh First Ammendment" scrawled on them.

I don't know if its a good thing or not that they don't play the games. On one hand, it gives them potential fodder, on the other, it gives them insight(hopefully)
Cthulu help us if them find out about "Duke Nukem Forever"

 

[LtFerret]

So how can people take the time and effort to create idotic groups like this but can't take more then 5 minutes out of their day to set up a parental lock on the console.

It just boggles the mind...like seriously, i think i'm going to pop a blood vessel over how stupid this is.

 

[blindthrall]

PTC: Let the government raise your children so you don't have to. Wanna bet there'd be a rating for "seditious propaganda"?

This is where the conservatives in America stand now. Fuck, talk about forgetting your roots.

 

[tkioz]

Am I the only one who thinks the human race would be better off if we reproduced by cloning fully grown adults? There problem fixed, no more bloody kids with their bloody parents ruining everything for the rest of us.

If you can't be bothered to monitor your spawn, maybe you should have thought about that before you popped them out. I don't have kids, I don't want kids, I hate kids, and I am sick to death of the moronic twits who want to "purify" the world so their little darlings wont be exposed to anything remotely questionable, never mind doing so massively curtails the rights of the adults of the world.

 

[sylekage]

This is horseshit, plain and simple. Why is it that when something happens, everyone blames anything and everything except the goddamned parents?! It's not the industries fault that moronic parents buy mature games filled with violence and little sexual content? (Shut up Grand Theft Auto.)

There are rules for this kind of shit. The ESRB, rules in stores, and LAWS for Christs sake. But no. These parents' little gifts of pure hearted angels ***** and moan until they finally buy the game for them, not looking up any reviews, videos, ratings, anything, and then bitching cuz, hey, there's blood in this game!!!1!

No. This industry is not gonna fall this way. Not to morons like this. The Television council? You mean the people who "monitor" everything on t.v. from the news, to MTV, and all these stupid reality shows that can screw over any child's perception of the real world? Those people? They are not allowed to have any say in what happens here.

The constitution is something that needs to be followed to let anything live in this country. The gaming industry is not young, but it's not old either. It's gonna be around for a long time, but it will be worth nothing if this goes through.

/Rant.
Good God that got me worked up...

 

[MercurySteam]

These guys have obviously never watched any Extra Credits [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1961-Free-Speech] before.

Sad. Just too sad.

 

[RelexCryo]

Parents Television Council Calls Game Industry "Thugs" and "Bullies"

The Parents Television Council [http://www.parentstv.org/] says the videogame industry and its supporters are "thugs" and "bullies" for daring to stand up for their First Amendment rights at the Supreme Court.

The Parents Television Council, a conservative watchdog group dedicated to restoring "responsibility and decency to the entertainment industry," has Harassment and Half-Truth [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/76851-Parents-Television-Council-Supports-Schwarzenegger-Appeal]" is a bit harsh.

"Like the violent thugs which populate so many of the games it sells, the videogame industry has responded to the ongoing court case with vicious attacks," the editorial states. "California State Senator Leland Yee, who introduced the law, has been personally targeted by the videogame industry and various groups they fund."

Senator Yee, as you may recall, was "targeted" by a mail them to the Senator [http://www.videogamevoters.org/] to remind him that they won't stand idly by while he attempts to control their media consumption. This "hate mail," as the PTC desrcribed it, "is simply the industry throwing a temper tantrum and trying to intimidate someone who dares to hold them to the standards the gaming industry itself allegedly endorses."

"The videogame industry and those who support them are bullies, plain and simple," it continues. "The PTC urges its members to stand up to the billionaire game companies that profit from selling sex and violence to children."

There's an undeniable irony in the PTC's claim that the videogame industry has "resorted to half-truths to try to make its point," which is rendered somewhat less amusing by the fact that these people may actually get their way, and that in an unprecedented assault on the sanctity of the First Amendment an entire medium may be muzzled, not for what it does, but simply for what it is. Someday, hopefully, we'll be able to look back on this and laugh, but right now it's really not very funny at all.

Oral arguments in Schwarzenegger v. EMA/ESA are scheduled to take place on November 2.

via: GamePolitics [http://gamepolitics.com/2010/10/18/ptc-compares-game-industry-groups-thugs]


Permalink

Three words: Comics Code Authority. So it isn't really unprecedented.

Moreover, with regards to what was said by The Parent's Television Council, calling the act of mailing video game controllers an act of intimidation...is not so much a half truth as a blatant lie. How is getting video game controllers in your mail intimidating? Do they have a phobia of television remote controls too? They are calling a non-violent demonstration of support intimidation. That is just blatant lies.

 

[RelexCryo]

This is horseshit, plain and simple. Why is it that when something happens, everyone blames anything and everything except the goddamned parents?! It's not the industries fault that moronic parents buy mature games filled with violence and little sexual content? (Shut up Grand Theft Auto.)

There are rules for this kind of shit. The ESRB, rules in stores, and LAWS for Christs sake. But no. These parents' little gifts of pure hearted angels ***** and moan until they finally buy the game for them, not looking up any reviews, videos, ratings, anything, and then bitching cuz, hey, there's blood in this game!!!1!

No. This industry is not gonna fall this way. Not to morons like this. The Television council? You mean the people who "monitor" everything on t.v. from the news, to MTV, and all these stupid reality shows that can screw over any child's perception of the real world? Those people? They are not allowed to have any say in what happens here.

The constitution is something that needs to be followed to let anything live in this country. The gaming industry is not young, but it's not old either. It's gonna be around for a long time, but it will be worth nothing if this goes through.

/Rant.
Good God that got me worked up...

I agree. This is also how I feel about manga/comics/internet censorship and the right to bear arms...people keep trying to take away human rights rather than fixing social conditions...and they keep automatically assuming that having violent video games or guns results in more crime, without looking at actual statistics. The murder rate has steadily declined the past few years. As videogames became more widely available, there was less crime. And as more states adopted right to carry laws, there was less crime... But I am digressing horribly here.

Anyways, nice rant.

 

[Snor]

Finally we get the street cred we deserve! we have like airplanes flying between columbia and mexico to distribute illegally imported games and we are getting young people addicted on our dlc all over the globe

anyway that was my first thought...