In Georgia, Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor is now making a bid for the top job. The Democrat is running TV spots promising to legislate video games.
It's the second ad we've seen in the last 24 hours that seems to equate the threat of violent video games with that posed by online predators. The other is from Ed Perlmutter (see following article) from Colorado.
Neo_DrKefka: That is correct in an At-Will state you or the employer can part ways at any time. However Florida also has laws on the books about "Wrongful combinations against workers" http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2012/448.04510/20/2014 - 10:07am
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james_fudge: he'd die if he couldn't talk about Wii U :)10/20/2014 - 9:16am
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Michael Chandra: By the way, I am not saying Andrew should stop talking about Wii-U. I find it quite nice. :)10/20/2014 - 8:53am
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Michael Chandra: 'How dare he ignore my wishes and my advice! I am his boss! I could have ordered him but I should be able to say it's advice rather than ordering him directly!'10/20/2014 - 8:52am
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Michael Chandra: If GP goes "EZK, do not talk about X publicly for a week, we're preparing a big article on it" and he still tweets about X, they'd have a legitimate reason to be pissed.10/20/2014 - 8:52am
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Michael Chandra: If GP tells Andrew "we'd kinda prefer it if you stopped talking about Wii-U for 1 week" and he'd tweet about it anyway, firing him for it would be idiotic.10/20/2014 - 8:51am
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Michael Chandra: Legal right, sure. But that doesn't make it any less pathetic of an excuse.10/20/2014 - 8:50am
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ZippyDSMlee: You mean right to fire states.10/20/2014 - 8:50am
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james_fudge: some states have "at will" employee laws10/20/2014 - 7:50am
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quiknkold: It says in the article that being in florida, you can get fired regardless if its a fireable offence10/20/2014 - 7:19am
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Michael Chandra: If your employee respectfully disagrees with your advice, that's not a fireable offense. If they ignore your order, THEN you have the right to be pissed.10/20/2014 - 6:49am
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Michael Chandra: I... Don't get one thing. If you do not want your employee to do X, why do you tell them it's advice or a wish? Give them a damn order.10/20/2014 - 6:48am
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james_fudge: A leak that had me worried about being swatted by Lizard Squad.10/20/2014 - 6:03am
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james_fudge: It should be noted that the author leaked the GJP group names online10/20/2014 - 6:03am
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MechaTama31: I mean, of the groups being bullied here, which of the two would you refer to collectively as "nerds"?10/19/2014 - 11:30pm
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MechaTama31: But that's the thing, it doesn't sound to me like he is advocating bullying, it sounds like he is accusing the SJWs of bullying the "nerds", who I can only assume refers to the GGers.10/19/2014 - 11:21pm
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Andrew Eisen: Interesting read. Unfortunately, too vague to form an opinion on but at least now I know what faefrost was talking about in James' editorial.10/19/2014 - 10:39pm
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Neo_DrKefka: Breaking GameJournoPros organized a blacklist of former Destructoid writer Allistar Pinsof for investigating fraud in IndieGoGo campaign http://blogjob.com/oneangrygamer/2014/10/gamergate-destructoid-corruption-and-ruined-careers/10/19/2014 - 8:57pm
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Neo_DrKefka: Only good thing I seen come out of the Biddle incident was the fact a professional fighter offered to give 10k to an anti bullying charity for a round in the ring with Biddle.10/19/2014 - 7:49pm
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Neo_DrKefka: Even after all the interviews she is still on twitter making fun of people with disabilities (Autism) yet she is a part of the crowd that is on the so called right side of history...10/19/2014 - 7:48pm
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Comments
uh, I do have a point aside from random stupidity:
I don't think he's trying to tell people that he's going to watch their kids... I think the fear he's playing off of is...
Parent watching comercial thinks "Now.. I know I watch my kid, and make sure Timmy isn't doing those bad things... but... that Ed down the street... his parents aren't even TRYING to raise him to be as good as my boy!... not that they could, because my kid pwnoz all other kids by +5)"
or something... I can't really say I know exactly what parents think... but from what I can tell... it's something to that degree
so then... the view they're taking isn't about the goverenment watching their children, it's they want the government to watch everyone else's children... which... from where I live now I can understand why... most parents do care and are active in their children's lives... some however see their children as little more then a pet (if even... :( ...) and so they don't watch their kid get into gangs and go around robbing people with guns that some older, irresposable kidult (*note a kidult is a kid who happens to have reached so many years on earth without dieing... they haven't really matured though, but they are afforded all sorts of new ways to be irresposable... saddly... kidults are everywhere... oh... and "kidult" isn't a real word... I just made it up now, so... yay?) has bought for them.
Still to say that putting laws on video games will some how stop this... is just dumb... but hey, parents can't be bothered to think about that when their kid's safety is on the line! And then... to somehow throw child molestation in the same topic?
eh... who knows, I don't do politics... from what I've observed... I assume it's done by saying "Hey that thing thats in the news thats bad, I'm against it, and that other thing thats also in the news that is good, I'm for that" ... which if thats how one becomes a senator... I'm just waiting for my 35th birthday (you have to be 35 right?) ;D look for me in 11 years... I know exactly how to win votes.
finnaly I thank you all for the lovely quotes:
"I can’t believe the man who approved this ad is being allowed to wield a pencil. The ignorance is staggering"
and
"I fail to see any reason why i should spend money on a movie ticket or rental for a horror flick when i can be terrified out of my wits by the birds out my window-which according to Fox News- are going to kill me with the Avian Flu virus. There we are; I’m terrified and i didn’t even have to leave the couch. "
thank you also to the letter "e", without which I couldn't say "Shut Up!"... oh wait... yeah I could... ... but I still love you letter "e"
side note, I have a 164 IQ... and that means jack squat :p (though I totaly believed that other kid had 181 IQ... mostly because I couldn't care less about somone's IQ... as I've known many intelligent people with low scores, and vice versa... such as myself... 'genious' score, and I still have some of the worst spelling known to exist... though I could explain why... I still think that's unrelated to the lucky guessing I probably did on some IQ test(s) )
"woman moaning from computer"
Jeff: NO MOTHER
TV ad: with ABX broadband, you can access to the fastest internet connection, plus you can protect your child by blocking pornographic websites, and it is only $30 a month!! connect to ABX, connect with the world"
Jeff's mom: bahh, $30 a month, what a rip off.
----------------------------------------
Jeff 's mom: hey this guy will stop him buying violent video games!! I am so going to vote for him.
Jeff: my dear mother, I would like $30 dollars please, I need the money to buy a game.
Jeff's mom: here you go, knock yourself out.
--------------------------------------------
These issues are issues because you don't have to know ANYTHING about... well anything to vote. Ups and downs... up being that everyone is fair and equal (basis for America, right?)... and down being that... the vast majority of campaigning now is not to say candidate A is good, but rather to somehow trick the voters into votng for him.
When you think about it... the upper class is manipulating the facts to rally lower/middle class people behind them... so.... it's really not as free a democracy as we want to think.
Thats all really... just the fact that stupid people are allowed (pushed) to make a choice (vote) means that stupid choices (votes) will be made.
How to fix it? Hell if I know... you obviously can't force feed people information... you can't make them care...
(just to clear it up, I'm not suggesting people shouldn't be allowed to vote, and I'm not claiming to have the answer for deciding who is smart enough to earn that right.
I do however think that it's obserd that for every person who actually knows something about a topic, there are 5 more willing to believe the blatent lies about that topic... it's rediculous and we are winning elections in the same way people pick lotery tickets.
I'm guilty of it to, I do not vote... because my one voice, informed as it might be, counts for nothing. If you were required to do some sort of research on the topics yourself, or some sort of truthful information giving was in place and required before one was to vote, then I would attend such a thing and cast a vote. As for now... I'm just going to leave this country to the millions of voters who use a dartboard for their decision making.)
But no, obviously since the internet is such a big and important priority in kids lives, let's make it easier and safer for them to spend hours at the computer everyday. In the meantime, we'll keep scratching our heads over why so many people in a first world country are so unhealthy these days.
I can't believe that THIS is the priority of this guy.
What I'm trying to say is, there are people out there committing terrible murders and other crimes, that have never played a video game. I don't see why people automatically blame games for the things people do. Oh wait I do, they need an easy scapegoat so they (the parents) don't get blamed for not paying attention.
The fact is, is that the price of freedom will cause lives due to abusers and iresponsible people, it makes far more sense to target those people, instead of yell and blame the corporations, who clearly not to blame. People say that just because someone is irresponsible and they drink and drive, the rest of us shouldnt have to suffer by banning alchohol, so why is video games any different?
just think, you walk into a store. you cant buy halo,Half-Life? Far Cry? FEAR? Oblivion? Grand Theft Auto? God of War? Resident Evil? Devil May Cry? Metal Gear? SOCOM? SWAT? Splinter Cell? Gun? Quake? Doom? because morons point fingers without thinking.
All the parents who say things like "video games ruined my kids lives" should be in no condition to complain. they should blame theirselves for buying their games, computers, consoles, and paying for their internet and WOW subscriptions, and raising their kid to be an idiot.
i swear, if they do ban those games, there WILL be more violence and school shootings.
ps: i have no objection to alchohol, i just used it as an example
Let's stop sale of violent games, and kill people at the same time.
When did child molesting become a greater crimer than murder, anyways?
I've read through a lot of this, and I agree with almost all of the comments.
I myself am an avid internet gamer, playing a lot of Counter-Strike and Starcraft, both games that can be considered violent. If a parent is too lazy to be responsible and watch over their children's behavior to make sure they're not doing something they'd disapprove of, like playing violent games are watching pornography, they shouldn't even HAVE those kids to begin with. I know that sounds harsh, but it's true. You're too occupied with other things to watch over them, so what's going to stop them from going out when they're a little older and partying to a dangerous extent? Doing drugs? Getting involved in other kinds of criminal activity? These parents that seek an easy way out such as voting for a politician that gives empty promises of reform need to mature and find out what REAL parenting is.
I'm not saying that violent video games and criminal activity have anything to do with each other. In my opinion they don't, since the majority of people can differenciate between simulated/fake violence and real violence occuring in the real world. I'll admit that I started playing Doom and Doom II when I was only around five or six years old. My parents let me play it without a care. It's not that they didn't care about my wellbeing, it's because they knew that even though I was young, I could tell the difference between a Cacodemon's guts being spilled onto the ground in a game and a grown man's head being cut off in front of me in real life.
Simply put, people need to actually parent their kids and take care of other parts of their life, and not expect some stupid Governor or President to solve their problems for them.
He's NOT pointing anything at the video games, you all need to understand that. Most of you are young teenagers (I can easily tell this by your writing style, name choices and grammer) and instantly place biases on anything that's Patriotic and/or Republican. These politicians aren't stupid people who are out to point fingers. You, atleast most of you here, would not even be effected by this law. When he says minors banned from excessivley violent and pornographic games. That's what he means. He never said "games were a contributor to colombine" So don't THINK he meant to say that.
I don't get you people, i'm a democrat but I can't understand why you all hold such strong anti-republican biases becase you think they are out to get at you. If you're not being effected by these video-games then get your parents to purchase them. If you aren't allowed to purchase pronographic games when you're under 18, well then don't purchase them. You don't need to get your fixes from electric projections. I'm a heavy gamer myself but I choose to play games selectivley and violent games often tire me because they aren't often indepth whatsoever and run off of theiir violent aspect.
Stop being so god damned biased and listen to what people have to say.
And you are also ignoring the fact that ITS FUKING DIFFICULT TO PROVE CHILD MOLESTORS ACTUALLY MOLSETED CHILDREN! most cases only have a childs claim to back the up, so you never know if you are convicting a guilty man. if someone gets targeted twice by prebubecent teenagers, or was unlucky, they would be killing an innocent man
Anyway, jokes aside, this man is a FOOL, associating fantasy violence and internet paedophilia is out of order, KILL HE! (just a joke of course ;p)
And stop swearing to make yourself seem like you are superior to me when you can't spell.
And it's not fair to ban all M-rated games. A title, such as the aforementioned Manhunt, is probably one of the most violent, gory, and brutal games I know; you are a serial killer, and the goal of the game is to escape a prison-town scott-free, killing your adversaries as violently as possible. On the other end of the spectrum is Halo; it has some cursing in it- MOSTLY words like "damn" or "asshole" and the occasional "shit"- and alien and human blood- but it's no worse than most war simulators, which stay at a steady T for Teen. Why is that?
Sometimes parents are bullied by their children to buy games, and they don't even know what it's about; there was a case when a mother was going to buy GTA: San Andreas for her son without even knowing anything about it. Once I told her, however, she immediately told him "No." And that was that; she left, thanking me for telling her. There are other parents who come in and buy GTA for their five-year-old, even after me telling them about the game. It's up to the parents' what game their child plays, and frankly, half the parents who some into my store are horrible parents and horrible people, who thinks the world revovles around them and passes that idea to their children.
I know sometimes cashiers ignore the policy to sell to minors, but honestly, even if it's made a law, they'll still ignore it. Some people in that company will do anything to make a sale, and there's not much you can do to monitor it more than it already is. The big executives don't care either, and passing a law will only cause them to find a way to duck around it.
If Mark Taylor TRULY wanted to fix the problem, he'd do one of three things:
1. Destroy every game under an E-rating.
2. Kill every child and run a screening test for every human being before allowing them to get pregnant.
3. Bring on Armageddon.
Besides that? Even a new law won't help. We'll just have more felons in this country than we already do.
And about the sexual offenders? I don't particularly have a standing on the death penalty, but a sexual offender officially includes an 18-year-old boy having sex with his 17-year-old girlfriend. Should he be killed for a stupid mistake?
Mark Taylor wants you to know he has all his priorities in order. He intends to fight for all the things that matter, mostly your kids. Stopping pedophiles, Killing child molestors, and stopping violent video games. Well who can argue with that? I mean...
You can't ban just a few. Then we're like Canada and Australia, and we're better than that.
While most of the posts on this particular topic were undoubtedly by teens, your grammar is not much better. He's implying that children have for TOO much access TO videogames. Instead of coagulate, you should've used something along the lines of reintegrate. Your spelling is also quite subpar (its disprove, not dissprove).
You imply that these people hate anything republican or patriotic, I AM BOTH, but these statements are still unacceptable, no matter what your political views.
And as for the reason why everyone is getting on this, its because to be honest, THIS MAY WELL BE THE GATEWAY INTO SOMETHING SO MUCH WORSE. If they pass this law, the fear is that it'll lead to outlawing all of a certain type of game (no GTA, it causes kids to go out and shoot things). It may well become the snowball effect, starting out as a tiny snowball and ending as an avalanche, with first the banning of one game series, one genre, one company, then the banning of another, till we're left with either no games or that 'edutainment' bullshit.
Why are video games the new scapegoat? Because Dungeons and Dragons got too old. Seriously though, its because when things like this happen, no one wants to take the blame. In Columbine, it couldn't be the parents fault, for not checking in on what their kids were doing in the garage (if my kid was to do such a thing and ask me not to come in the garage, he'd get a hearty 'fuck you son this is my house I'll go wherever I damn well please.' If my son got caught stealing a car, he wouldn't have to worry about what the cops would do, his bigger problem would be me.
When I was young, I played games like Wolfenstein 3d, Duke Nukem, and Doom. I have yet to kill a civilian, or to take out my frustrations on others in so violent a manner. I'm not gonna go into a school shooting because 'the jocks were mean to me'. Boo fucking hoo. I turned out fine, everyone I know turned out fine so could it be conceivable that these kids were just fucked up to begin with? I do not doubt that they were 'mentally unstable and in a fragile state, along with antisocial'.
To parents: PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR KIDS!
Spend time with them.
If they like to game, pick up a controller and play with them.
Some of my fondest memories of my family of late is of my father, my son, and my cousin all playing Guitar hero.
Look at what your kids are doing on the internet. It should not be the government's job to watch them! They're YOUR kids.
And sometimes, its good to just go out somewhere and do something with the kids. Take them out to the park, on a run. Take them out to a real shooting range. Spend time with them.
Don't let people like Taylor ruin our hobby.
Does it make ANY sense to blow up police cars and run away and NOT be caught? None of these people are saints, ANYWAY.
Torture Chamber: Syria Edition! Screw dumping people's heads in toilets in Bully, now you can half drown some terrorist suspect until he confesses!
Play the sounds of screams in another room and tell him you're killing his wife and kids! Cord him to a wall and hit him with bull whips! Beat him, strip him, humiliate him, and all in the name of national security!
Then deny that it was torture instead of if it happened. In fact, be PROUD of it. THAT'S a game I know our government would want shipped out to all children.
Next one: Pedophile 'Lectric Chair. Strap them to an electric chair, hang them, and burn them. Cruel and unusual is relative!
And why not every single kind of person that the government doesn't like? If games really affect psychological responses that much, then why don't they cut MORE out of education and start mass-producing these suckers? With HDR!
NOTE: Sarcasm ^
In all seriousness, why can't people like this leave their heads in their asses (reference to a political cartoon aired in MA that got thrown off the air for retardedness and indecency)? Then they couldn't talk to anyone. I seriously have doubts that any of them even believe the things they say. If they had any knowledge on the issues they dissemble endlessly on about, they're the biggest lying bastards that have ever been elected to office.
Oh, and Canadian? When he said they weren't actually buying those games, he meant that it was friggin' staged. And what he's actually saying is not important since it's a sound bite, designed to get people's attention about how righteous and holy he is. He's condeming video games and he's condeming pedophiles. Yes, in the same comercial, thus linking them. Why is he doing that? Probably to seem like a hardass to his majority Republican voters.
Ayuh, it's true, by the way: ESRB is voluntary. But since no self-respecting store will sell any lacking such a rating, and since all those stores are now refusing sale to anyone under eighteen of all M video games (never understood the difference between M and AO, since an eighteen year old can buy either but anyone under can't) ever since parents started suing the stores after they stopped paying attention to their kids and the kid played some horribly gruesome game like Half-Life 2. We don't NEED legislation about video games since the industry is already VERY hard on itself about these issues. Harder, in fact, than most movies are (watch A History of Violence or Underworld: Evolution and don't tell me that they'd be M rated, the equivalent of R. They'd not even make AO; No producer would make them). On the other hand, plenty of eight year olds happily go to watch those movies. Probably unescorted by parents, just like they were when buying Gun. And, of course, nobody cares about movies since they've been around for such a long time. I mean, both of those had sex, swearing, nudity, intense violence, gore, and varying levels of mortality (Violence had fewer people dying but much more graphic depictions; Underworld's worst was either a werewolf's jaw being ripped off, a man's head being cut apart, a werewolf's head being ripped in two, or Marcus being torn up by a helicopter's blades (fully shown, not like Indianna Jones at all)
Parents should look after their kids;
If the game industry is regulating itself, what's the need for a law?
Mr. Taylor is, in fact, working on the paranoia and fear (redundancy? Not always) of the older people, who know next to nothing about video games to make his majority vote.
We are, as a group, tired of being maligned by politicians in order to make their cases.
And yes, many of us are poor spellers. I blame the public schooling systems in place in our respective countries (I personally hail from Alberta, Canada, and hope Mr. Canadian is referring to the NDP when he says he's a Canadian Democrat).
Pertaining to my last point, many of us seem to feel that there are more important issues at stake than video games, be they either education or economic reforms/tweaking.
Interestingly enough, it seems that Mr. Taylor is lumping gamers in with repeat sex offenders.
Personally, if it's a question of whether or not to kill repeat sex offenders, I'm in, IF (and that's a big if), someone can prove that their sex offences were malicious in nature, and that they actually happened. I'm reminded of a former teacher I once knew, who was accused of sexual assault on a young student when her grades were lower than she wanted. She later recanted, but he still can't teach due to a record of sex-related offence.
The slippery slope arguement is a compelling one. What happens ten years from now, when Timmy can't get access to novels, magazines, games, etc. without clearance from the government?
When you get right down to it, there is NO causal relationship noted to my knowledge between video games and behaviour (not a spelling error, Canadian spelling descends closely from the British spelling) whatsoever. Until such a causal relationship is found, all you have is a base correlation, which means, ladies and gentlemen (to say it all again), that people who ARE more violent will tend to play video games which depict graphic scenes of violence. Of course, to put that in perspective, so does the quiet-as-a-mouse caretaker of my apartment building.
All of that having been said, and in the knowledge that I'm not a moderator or other official person in charge of your behaviour, could we please quit swearing? It emphasizes your point when you speak it, but in typing it just makes us, and our point of view, look weaker.
What it really boils down to, in my opinion, is that as someone said in an earlier post, WE need to educate the people around us about games. Ask the parent who sounds off in the PTA if they have ever played the games they talk about. If not, tell them what it's like. Tell your non-gamer acquaintances about games on the market; send the link to this discussion to people you know, who might want to know more. make it a big deal in our lives, and it might make it's way into the minds of the currently ignorant people who really do mean well, but who don't have a clue.
Take it easy.
statistics show that 1-6 girls will be molested before age 18. if we were
to create a law to have child molesters killed. we would be creating mass
genocide. including cops, the government would be sending there own
police to death. I saw on tv were a cop hade charges filed against him
for child molestation. Americans need to rise up and get some balls and put
pressure on the government to stop creating such crazy laws. there are
millions of child molesters out there. and we need to sue the government
for even trying to create such laws. I mean what next are they gonna be
dreaming up? public executions for parents that spank there kids for
doing something they shouldnt do?