More on India's Video Game Censorship... Inspired by Manhunt 2?
More on India's Video Game Censorship... Inspired by Manhunt 2?
January 19, 2008
Recently, GamePolitics was the first Western news outlet to report that Indian government officials were considering a violent video game ban.Now, Televisionpoint, a site that reports on Indian broadcasting, offers additional information on the subcontinent's simmering video game debate:
Alarmed with the violent content of video games and the effect they have on children, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has decided to censor video games.
Televisionpoint adds that the Indian government seems likely to adopt a rating system as well as censorship powers over imported games:
Censor Board chief and former film star Sharmila Tagore (left) had recently submitted a proposal to the ministry seeking powers to ask video games manufacturers to delete objectionable portions in the games. If required, the board should also be able to ban a particular video game...
However, Indian game developer Siddharth Hegde opposes the prospect of government regulation:
Children are very clever... they can access the games on the Internet easily. [The video game industry in] India is just getting started and it does not bode well to have such restrictions...
Echoing a sentiment often heard in the U.S., psychologist, Dr. Vikram Prabhu argued against censorship and in favor of parental oversight:
In this mobile world everything is easily accessible. If a certain DVD is not within reach, they can get the same on the net. They can access them on their mobile phones. The need of the hour is for parents to be more involved and spend more time with the kids. They need to supervise what they see on TV and games.
GP: Sharmila Tagore, the government censor, would appear to be the mysterious "S" referred to by Indian site Game Guru, quoted in last Saturday's GP coverage. Readers may recall:
[Political figure] S has two grandchildren… So Grandma and Grandpa… let the 10 year old grandson pick a game of his choice. The grandson named Z has [played]Manhunt 2 on his friend’s console… He tells his grandparents that he wants the very same game…
Next morning there is an article in a newspaper… about this game being banned in the UK… Mommy S gets petrified and worried and calls a meeting… They decide to go on a banning spree and draft out a proposal that will regulate content of “official” games released in India.
An article in Desicritics specifically criticizes Tagore's role in video game censorship:
Since when have we let these Bollywood actors and socialites dictate what the citizens of India can or cannot do? Maybe it’s time Mrs Tagore sorted out her own house, paid more attention to the kind of games her grandkids played especially when the games have big letters saying MA printed on them instead of urging the government to baby sit the nation’s children at the expense of the tax payers hard earned money.
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Posted 11/08/09 at 09:02am
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
Posted 11/08/09 at 09:01am
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:53am
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:46am
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:31am
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
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Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
and all that time I thought it was religious extremists!
Forgive me for a bit of Pandraliskism here but how can the b/holes in power in india, who get there through the say so of a council of religious rulers call out videogames as corruptive to the youth, when in the same country, and for all we know, the same people, are brainwashing people and telling them to go and explode in some heavily populated area?
It just me and the disappeared pandralisk or are the indian government a group of worthless hypocrites?
wait, aren't all government types a group of worthless hypocrites?
thats it, I SUPPORT THE ANARCHIST MOVEMENT FROM HERE ON OUT!
and why is it "British Board of FILM Classification"? shouldn't it be BBMC "British Board of MEDIA Classification"?
just my two pence
Tell me loyal readers of GP...
Pray tell, why in the world are the Indian people burning effigies if random cricket players?, why are they angry at a tennis star for putting her feet up to relax?, why must they have the same drab showing on their movie screens?
The answer lies with videogames ofcourse...videogames existed in India..they are to blamed for the assassination of several politicians, they are to be blamed for the Indian poverty rate going up, they are to blamed for terrorist activities as well...
Apparently Ms Tagore shares the same view as i do....but im actually quite retarded...so she must be to.
Pandralisk was banned.
Maybe I just haven't been keeping up with the news and maybe my knowledge of eastern religions is a little rusty, but I don't remember suicide bombings being very popular with Hinduism and India and general, more specifically I remember only some interpretations of Islam held rewards for those who would martyr themselves in such a fashion.
governments have ways, and the seat of power for most of the world is to be found in india, just cleverly repositioned so it looks like it is in the hands of the UN
call me a conspiracy theorist, but the cleverly disguised dictatorships that the poor people live under are very similar to the discworld's "elected tyrant" system. Absolute power is not attained through application of force, it is having your victims believe that you have the abilty to apply that force, when you look at the culture of india, you would see it as either a land with amazing self control, or a societally backwards community, this would generally cause you to look away, thinking nothing of it, however my friends, family and acquaintances who have been in india for some time have confirmed that if you look a little harder, you see a land which is under the absolute control of a shadowy government, and the people happily submit to it!
Now ladies and gentlemen, do I sound at all like Lyndon Larouche, or am I still POed about losing a mate to that place?
Terry Pratchett is one of the best political scientists out there.
There is a muslim community in India, it was the cause for the Paskistan + Bangladesh / India split and there is still a large part of it in current India. The situation has cooled down a bit in the last months though. I wouln't trust that.
Anyway, the Desicritics guys have nailed it perfectly.
Perfectly, indeed. Who would bet on their success?
Linky linky. I demand satisfaction!
He was banned between December 29 and January 3, I forgot which article exactly. But it's not hard to find.
Dennis posted his "farewell speech" in the comments. But basically, he just call us names and calls Dennis a facist (If I remember well). I won't miss him. He was more obnoxious than any anti-game figure here.
Can't find it, could you find which one it is?
EZK: Actually Dennis Banned him. I only hold edit and delete powers.
Well said. Is it the duty of the taxpayer to babysit your children? Methinks not.
Just think, if this were to happen in the US, then those celebrities that whine about the government would have a strong influence on legislating our media. It's quite like the way Tom Cruise's wacky scientology ways mean that his children cannot watch anything on TV (but movies are okay with Cruise, how convenient is that?)
January 19th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
@Jesse Aaron Young
He was banned between December 29 and January 3, I forgot which article exactly. But it’s not hard to find.
Dennis posted his “farewell speech” in the comments. But basically, he just call us names and calls Dennis a facist (If I remember well). I won’t miss him. He was more obnoxious than any anti-game figure here.
But what i was going to say was omfg i agree 100% pandralisk shall not be missed
on another note
We have to deal with anti videogamer views because the world will always have stupid people,we have to prove to the majority that we are right without a doubt. Until we do i dont see this going away.
um, that would be no effect
People like Jack Thompson are the real danger of society because they try to give people an excuse to go kill other people by saying that entertainment like video games is the cause of the situation.
I think that Jack Thompson would cause more people to get hurt by putting blame on video games to give people an excuse.
The San Jose Mercury News' editor supports Leland Yee's censorship attempts, so anything is possible.
anyway, yes. its not hard to see that any government enforcing of censorship, merely drives these games out of their control.
the best method of protecting kids is parents. most children have them, and those that dont, most have at least some form of legal guardian.
teach these people about video games, get a ratings system and have it broad and flexible enough to categorise all games.
if you must, make the rating legally binding (if they're age based).
also, those children that dont have some form of parental figure... well, the government should be spending more time and money helping those children, than pushing paper, imho.