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[Northeastmonk]

This is untrue. The ESA is not as powerful a lobby on account of not being around as long, but they've fought this nonsense up the the Supreme Court before. It's already been ruled that they have protections under the first amendment.

It just isn't something a politician or even a president wakes up and thinks about. GameStop had free pamphlets at the counter (or at least they did back when I worked there) that went over the ratings board and what exactly the ESRB was. That's more informative than walking into a theater or a movie store. Theaters have 15 year olds selling tickets and guiding customers to their designated screen. As a teenager I snuck into a couple R rated films. I had to have my dad buy me Resident Evil at Babbages and Onimusha at Best Buy.

If truth be told we really have nothing to worry about. The ESA and various heads of the gaming industry know exactly what they're up against. I think it's hard to remind those who do care for video games that these claims aren't new and there's a logical reasoning behind it. It would be best if the news media brought up the infamous court cases versus blaming a video game outright.

 

[jrolson]

I remember when Columbine happened and they blamed music and Marilyn Mason.

Now it's movies and games....

 

[LaughingStock]

I remember when Columbine happened and they blamed music and Marilyn Mason.

Now it's movies and games....

They blamed the game Doom too iirc.

 

[rokkerkory]

Video games don't have something like NRA to protect them.

Thank goodness

 

[Northeastmonk]

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/08/5918...t-harshest-critics-in-another-made-for-tv-mee

I was just listening to a segment on NPR today coming home from work. Idk if anyone else did.

Also, (an update about these events) https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/8/17098056/trump-white-house-video-games-meeting

 

[dano1]

How about he does something about bad parenting.

 

[Zog]

How about he does something about bad parenting.

You think parents encourage their kids to shoot up schools?

 

[Petrae]

You think parents encourage their kids to shoot up schools?

Nah— but parents by and large do a shitty job of monitoring the content their children consume, which is one of the issues in play here. They largely ignore the ESRB rating system, which allows games not intended for young children to end up in their consoles anyway.

 

[iconmaster]

You think parents encourage their kids to shoot up schools?

Look, that was a bad day. I'm not proud of it.

 

[Zog]

Nah— but parents by and large do a shitty job of monitoring the content their children consume, which is one of the issues in play here. They largely ignore the ESRB rating system, which allows games not intended for young children to end up in their consoles anyway.

So you are saying that violent video games DO encourage violence.

 

[Dunki]

You think parents encourage their kids to shoot up schools?

I will be HONEST here. I believe that the behaviour of parents to their child (abuse/neglecting etc.) would lead much stronger to school shootings than video games.

 

[Petrae]

So you are saying that violent video games DO encourage violence.

What I said was that parents habitually fail to follow the ESRB rating system that the industry put into place to protect young children from such graphic imagery and acts of violence, much like the MPAA rating system for movies— which parents also habitually ignore.

 

[Zog]

I will be HONEST here. I believe that the behaviour of parents to their child (abuse/neglecting etc.) would lead much stronger to school shootings than video games.

I think it's kids that have no outlet to being bullied. These days, a fight at school could see the police and courts involved so kids may not risk standing up for themselves and eventually they boil over. https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/can-students-be-legally-prosecuted-for-school-fights

As a parent who has dealt with my kid being bullied, I saw first hand how toothless the school administration is.

 

[Zog]

What I said was that parents habitually fail to follow the ESRB rating system that the industry put into place to protect young children from such graphic imagery and acts of violence, much like the MPAA rating system for movies— which parents also habitually ignore.

Which is the same as saying that you believe violence in media does encourage violence. If that is your belief then own up to it.

 

[Petrae]

Which is the same as saying that you believe violence in media does encourage violence. If that is your belief then own up to it.

I believe that certain types of content are not appropriate for children, and I support rating systems.

I do believe that children who consume violent media are more at risk to act it out, but there are a lot of other variables in play— home life, social life at school, and other influences. That said, my belief is countered by studies that argue the opposite in their data.

The more likely outcome of violent— or any other— video game consumption in children is a lack of productivity, which I see daily in my occupation. Kids don’t get violent; instead, their academic drive and motivation are reduced. Sure, there are fights and there’s bullying that go on, but these have been happening in schools for decades... long before video games were even a thing.

 

[Zog]

I believe that certain types of content are not appropriate for children, and I support rating systems.

I do believe that children who consume violent media are more at risk to act it out, but there are a lot of other variables in play— home life, social life at school, and other influences. That said, my belief is countered by studies that argue the opposite in their data.

The more likely outcome of violent— or any other— video game consumption in children is a lack of productivity, which I see daily in my occupation. Kids don’t get violent; instead, their academic drive and motivation are reduced. Sure, there are fights and there’s bullying that go on, but these have been happening in schools for decades... long before video games were even a thing.

I think it's safe to say that most (if not all) mass shooters have consumed violent media, all of us have. What I want to know is: How many mass shooters were bullied? How many mass shooters were abused and/or neglected at home?

It's not a popular opinion to say that you believe that violence in media encourages real life violence but if that's what you believe and you admit it, I won't hassle you over it. I would question if you believe it is limited to children.

Edit: This forum software is buggy, it often duplicates posts temporarily.

 

[Petrae]

I think it's safe to say that most (if not all) mass shooters have consumed violent media, all of us have. What I want to know is: How many mass shooters were bullied? How many mass shooters were abused and/or neglected at home?

It's not a popular opinion to say that you believe that violence in media encourages real life violence but if that's what you believe and you admit it, I won't hassle you over it. I would question if you believe it is limited to children.

Edit: This forum software is buggy, it often duplicates posts temporarily.

All fair points. As I mentioned, I don’t believe people just go out and ape what they see in a violent video game just because. There’s more going on, as you said. Is the person being bullied or treated poorly? Is there something going on within the family unit? Stress from a job or at school that pushes a button? It’s hard to point to an individual catalyst.

I don’t think it’s limited to minors; data shows that more adults play games than children these days. Ratings, of course, don’t apply to adults— and I can see why this would poke holes in my belief about the (lack of) enforcement in rating systems for kids as it really can’t— or perhaps should not— protect everyone.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Parents can get their kids Fallout, Skyrim, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six and the kid can have a quiet time questing or playing team death match.

MW2 was 2008. How many CoD's have we had since then? A large majority of gamers already finished those games and moved on with their life. Trump's son was close to being a year old when most of us played the No Russian mission.

We have not necessarily seen the negative effects of violent games. Many people who played MK at the arcades and DOOM have lived long healthy lives, successful careers and they have families. Some of us finished all these games years ago.

Who are these kids that we are trying to protect? The ones signing up for GameStop membership cards? Are they the kids at the mall with their mom?

I saw a mom and her son at GameStop a few days ago. The mom was commenting on the price. "All these games you want are $60", she said. The kid was quiet and he didn't argue back. What's wrong with that kid wanting Call of Duty or Doom? If he keeps his grades up, sure, buy it for him. But I'm not his parent. Maybe the kid just wanted to play like all of us do. He probably doesn't want to harm anyone.

Another example: a lady at my work bought her son the Skyrim VR bundle. She was excited that she got one for him. Did she talk about the violence? Nope.

 

[Terrible_Majesty]

No one tell him that the rest of the world has violent video games, too.

And yet we're still the only country that has this problem.

Except they aren’t. There are 10 countries with more gun related deaths per capita. Don’t believe the MSM is here to simply inform or educate the masses. They have an agenda to push and that current agenda is to focus on America’s gun control problem and gun related deaths.

Meanwhile countries like Venezuela have almost six times as many gun related deaths per 100,000 people but you don’t hear international press promoting stories on the need for gun control in Venezuela, Brazil, Jamaica or even Mexico (these are some of the countries with more gun related deaths than America). Because it doesn’t fit their narrative.

Edit: upon further examination, another interesting statistic is the ratio of gun related deaths compared to the number of gun owners per capita. That tells a different story altogether.

America’s ratio is 1:10.
United Kingdom around the same 1:10
Italy is a little bit higher than 1:10
Mexico’s is a little over 7:10
Jamaica 3:1
Swaziland 6:1

After going through the list below, there are over 40 countries that have a greater ratio/odds of gun related deaths to number of gun owners than America.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

 

[Randall365]

Yes - it is video games to blame - not the fact that a teenager managed to get hold of an assault rifle ffs.

If teenagers in the UK had assault rifles at home this type of shit would happen every week.

It is faintly ludicrous that some Americans can’t see the link between the number of mass shootings and the availability of military grade weaponry.

As for comparing the US with Brazil, Mexico and Jamaica - in the UK we would consider the US a far more appealing holiday destination. Surely you have got to aspire to being much safer than those places?

 

[Neo 007]

Just thankfull I live in Australia with gun laws the way they are here......just sayin...

 

[frAntic_Frog]

maybe the VG industry should form a lobbying group and start buying off every Senator/Congressman.......then this industry should be able to throw its weight around, NRA-style!

 

[Zog]

maybe the VG industry should form a lobbying group and start buying off every Senator/Congressman.......then this industry should be able to throw its weight around, NRA-style!

WIth the anti-consumer things the game industry has done, I don't want it have that kind of influence over politicians.

 

[EtherMagic]

One of the things i love about Trump is his old School Reaganesque thinking, but this one just screams "been there done that". This is more of the old School Democrats way of thinking... I remember very clearly when Democrat Joseph Lieberman led a push in the early 90's to take violence out of video games (hence a big reason the 1st MK on SNES had no blood and diifferent fatalities). What ended up happening was a huge backlash and it backfired on the democrats at the time, and MK 2 was released a year later with blood and all!

No need to worry, no one is touching our games fellas.