December 22, 2006 -
Is peace between the video game industry and politicians breaking out on both sides of the Atlantic?That's not entirely clear, but MCV reports that Labour's Keith Vaz, a longtime critic of video game violence, is seeking a rapprochement of sorts with the U.K. game business.
According to MCV, prominent members of Parliament will hold meetings with parents and industry officials early in the new year, hoping to develop a new government policy to shield kids from game violence.
Included in the proposal are TV ads designed to educate parents about game ratings. Here in the United States Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) partnered with the game industry on just such a program. Their participation was especially notable because both have been longtime critics of the video game industry. Said the U.K.'s Vaz:
The campaign by Senator Clinton and Senator Lieberman is an excellent example of what can be achieved when there is consensus between legislators, the games industry and retailers.
This advertising campaign to educate parents should be replicated in the United Kingdom. Keeping parents informed is the best and most effective way to prevent explicit video games from getting into the hands of young children.
Comments
(15, UK (Wales) resident)
What I don't get is that the UK has a rating system that is pretty much universally understood; I doubt there's a single person out there who spends money on AV entertainment and doesn't know about the BBFC stickers. PEGI is less understood, but more detailed to those who care. Parents know that GTA is rated 18 and they know the sort of thing (game or movie) that gets an 18 rating. Every game shop I've been in recently had an "18+ only" reminder poster near the till too. There's not a lot more to do, is there? Remember that shops won't be too happy about introducing new systems designed to discourage purchases.
Yeah thats pretty much it. It's a case of parents just wanting something to keep the children busy and thinking "oh games are a good idea"; all the while either not realising that games have grown up as a medium along side them or simply not caring!
Question is... how could a parent look at THE SAME RATING on a game box and a dvd and think they're not the same? Has anyone seen the BBFC sticker on the front of most game boxes these days? They're the size of a 50P coin!!! How could parents not notice that?! It's surely a case of parental apathy rather than ineducation...
I agree with you 100%. When will the state of Florida wise up and take away his license to practice law? That time can't come too soon for me.
We don't need a government policy to "shield kids from video game violence", parents need to start taking responsibility for their own damn kids and stop waiting for someone else to bring their kids up for them and blaming video games and music etc when their kids do go off the rails.
kieth vaz is a tit, a bandwagon jumping moron, he was one of he ones who tried to get manhunt banned when it got linked to that kids murder and because of him we now have those stupidly large ratings on the boxes of computer games in the UK which were a pointless waste of time really.
How I would handle it: "Look at the bloody box you idiot! it says 18 in large letters, is your 4 year old 18? No! PAY ATTENTION!!"
I agree with you! Jack Thompson is not only the ones you describe, he is a racist, war supporter, ethnic cleanser, homophobic, jealous and proud of it. I only feel sorry for his child, Jack sir, if you don't want him to play video games, take him out to play outdoor games. And yes, he is a TURD!
Sure thing Daniel. I will vote for game supporters.
And hey Daniel, you are right about Jack Thompson trying to destroy Rockstar Games and Take Two's reputation, and here is a video of Jack Thompson in Nightline for everyone!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM7cwLTSnkQ
While I don't have all the answers, I know the main thing about politicians. They want to be re-elected. That's the bottom line. The reason why I'm posting things on this site is to convince gamers to vote. If we vote, we can make politicians realize that being against violent video games, and using them as scapegoats for every crime, is a minus, not a plus. They will stop doing it and stop listening to anti-game activists. That's our main problem. We aren't making our voices heard.
Anti-game activists are making their case uncontested and politicians side with them because they're going after the votes of the old people because they're registered to vote. We have to all register to vote. I registered as soon as I could. Voting isn't time consuming and it takes less time to vote than it does to get through one level in most games. We have to make politicians go after our votes and saying in their campaigns that they oppose violent video games is going to be a negative. Please help spread the word.
Our best chance to destroy the efforts of anti-game activists, like Joe Lieberman, is to vote. Let's all spread the word around on the internet VOTE GAMERS VOTE. Jotun, if you want to fight against the efforts of anti-game activists post things on the internet telling gamers to register to vote and not vote for anyone, who is an anti-game activist. Post things all over the place and make our voices heard and destroy the efforts of anti-game activists. We have to squash their efforts before they're successful. Jack Thompson even wants to destroy Rockstar Games and we can't let that happen.
You're welcome, Daniel sir. And I agree with you too, for I am not the crusader of freedom but I am a defender of it (Like you too and other gamers).
And sadly Joe Lieberman's anti-game not only is foolish, and also cost him his politicial position and the kiss between Joe and Bush has also cost him a lot too, well, serve him right though.
It's also funny that Lieberman even resorts to restrict freedom of speech and video games and never has any facts on how video games make children become killers. Being a simpleton or a fool are bad enough, but being both is one of the worst personality traits.
My two cents.
I totally agree with you about Joe Lieberman. He started the attack on violent video games with the Mortal Kombat series many years ago. He sucks and I read that he takes pride in being one of the first ones to attack violent video games. You hit the nail on the head with Joe Lieberman. I think it's awesome to have someone like you posting things on this site, who attacks anti-game fanatics like I do.
Joe not only restricts freedom, he even encourages Iraq War (see Iraq War Stance on your wiki)! War bring hate, discrimination and racism. It seems that Joe's stupidity has detoriated from stupidty to severe foolishness, and no! He even tries to ban zombie entertainment too!
Joe sir, you suck!
HA!
That was an awesome site full of videos making fun of Jack Thompson. I loved it. That site was a gamer's paradise and a great method of making fun of Jack Thompson. You can clearly see the inconsistencies in his lies and I hope people find them out. Our history, as a country, is full of violence and America has always been a very violent place, but the biggest argument I can think of that destroys his case and lies totally is that America is far less violent now than it was forty and fifty years ago.
Racism, and ricist violence, are dead and, as a result, America is far less violent. Also, back then, ther were no violent video games. The Ku Klux Klan wasn't inspired by those games. If he wants to make a case that America is violent today, he should study our history and he would quickly see that America was far more violent decades before violent games even existed. I read a book one time called, "Coming of Age in Mississippi". That book was full of cases where racist violence took place in the south during the Civil Rights Movement. If you want proof that America today isn't nearly as violent as America before violent video games, read that book. Everybody, who thinks that America is a violent country today, should read that book. It will quickly change anyone's mind. Thanks for the link to that awesome website.
He needs to lose his license to attack innocent video games and steal money from them. He is trying to steal from Rockstar Games by sueing them. He uses his lies as a legalized excuse to try to steal from an innocent company like Rockstar Games. This has to stop and my one wish for the coming year is that people realized that he's a fraud, stop listening to him and, most importantly of all, that the state of Florida will come to its senses and take away his lisence to practice law. I wish Rockstar Games the best of luck against Jack Thompson. In my opinion, that man shouldn't even be allowed to work at Mcdonald's. He should be in a mental institution and he needs psychiatric help to overcome his insanity. Florida, please take away his lisence to practice law.
Merry Christmas,
Daniel
Did we step into the twilight zone? Did it just occur to everyone that, yes, the system you were berating is actually effective?
This is such a weird 180 turn in the political spectrum. What we have now is the politicians and public figures who were vocally opposed to the concept of a independant ratings system, to suddenly stand aside with the likes of PEGI, ESRB, BBFC, etc.
Then again, he is following the steps of Hilary/Lieberman since both are prominent figures in the US. Monkey see, Monkey do?