Steven King might have been a young boy who loved Comic Books and seeing that the US Government portrayed Comic Books as the 'scum of society' back then might be the reason why Steven King is so in tune to how something that the politicians try to blame for the violence is really missing the real point to where the politicians SHOULD be talking about.

Also Steven King has used violence in many of his books but he himself is an ok guy.

So yeah, even though he never had played Videogames before, I still respect him and feel that his comments are really good, the best comments coming from a non gamer.

@Monkeypeaches

though not exactly a game, he wrote the story for a digital novel with a couple of minigames in it. can't remember the name though...

Nice statement by mr. King, good to see a famous non-gaming person on our side for a change. :)

I've never been a fan of Stephen King's books (not that I didn't respect him as an author) but by God he is making THE most sense of any non-gamer I've seen speaking out about this issue.

I know it brings nothing of value to the topic, but I think Stephen King is one scary-looking man.

Fucking good man!

I live a 5-minute walk away from his house. I'm tempted to shout "Thank you"

I always knew King was one of the smartest people on Earth.

About time someone prolific over the age of 55 told the truth.

i love the king.

Stephen King is now officialy my favorite author!

"But what makes me crazy is when politicians take it upon themselves to play surrogate parents. The results of that are usually disastrous. Not to mention undemocratic…"

I hope someone of importance reads these remarks and takes them into account, because it is very undemocratic, and the government need not play parent to people who should technically be allowed to play the game anyway.
Back off politicians!

"it allows legislators to ignore… the ever-deepening divide between the haves and have-nots… [also, there is] America’s almost pathological love of guns…"

12 year old shoots a 15 year old.. Blame a mythological based game! Oh, by the way, why did the 12 year old have a loaded gun? Oh, his gun-happy father left it out and brought him to shoot it at a gun range? How about we save guns for when Aliens, or Zombies rise up or when someone is attacking your loved ones, or home and for the love of god, lock and key, people!

I just fell in love.

god bless you kingXD

The man makes a lot of sense. However, it's the name of the man that gives this commentary more credit; people who play video games will always, to 'normal people,' be 'lost causes.' Now we have someone well known - famous, even - who's not a gamer speaking out against legislation. Could this be the beginning of something more?

I hope so.

yay Stephen King!

Hail to the king, baby!

To play devil's advocate for a moment, he does have something to lose in all this. Laws like this one might not immediately impact him as an author and screenwriter, but it's almost inevitable that it will. As he says, a teenager who would be unable to buy a video game would still be able to purchase equally violent or sexually explicit movies, books, and music.

The people behind this law will be effectively forced to expand the legislation to more and more media when the first ban neither solves the existing problems or protects The Children.

I'd like to see Stephen King debate our ol' buddy Jack on this topic. He's (King) always come across as a smart no nonsense kind of person. Having him debate Thompson instead of someone in the gaming community who Jack would think is just automatically biased or conspiring against him would be great.

Stephen King: You sir, just presented THE most well informed viewpoint of a non-gamer of above 50 i have heard in a LONG time. I applaud thee!

I never thought I'd see Stephen King anywhere here on gamepolitics, although I wonder how he knew about the string of failed similar legislation though.

Great man! I've been a fan of king's books since I was a kid and also a gamer. It's nice that not only is he showing that not every non-gamer is a raving idiot on this subject, but that he remind everyone about how cyclical this stuff is.

Comic books, rock 'n roll, horror movies, heavy metal, Garbage Pail Kids cards and about 1000 other things have taken the brunt of this type of bulls**t controversy over the years. Today it's video games, in 5 years time, who knows what will take the blame. But, the underlying problems with society remain undiscussed because there are groups of parents who don't want to do the parenting of their own kids.

I fear that the type of parent who respects King's work isn't going to be the type who fell for this crap in the first place but lets hope King's sage words manage to convince some people of what we've been saying here all along.

@Mootyslayer:

There are Stephen King videogames out there... kinda. He produced a CD-ROM puzzle thing called Stephen King's F13. There were also adventure games back in the day based on The Mist, The Dark Halfand probably a few others (check abandonware sites for most of these).

Yeah, it would kick ass to have a decent King game but considering Clive Barker's videogame efforts have been merely OK (not great but entertaining), I wouldn't get my hopes up if does decide to do one.

Read King's first sentence. What does that say?

Hehe I love when people rant about irrational scapegoats for two pages then trot out their own at the end.

FINALLY! A BIG NAME IS ON OUR SIDE!!! EPIC W00TN3SS!

The funny thing is, a lot of jr high and high school libraries have copies of King's books, and they sell them at book fairs. I distinctly remember reading Carrie, The Shining, and Cujo for the first time after checking them out from the school library, and I got a copy of Skeleton Crew from one of the school book fairs at my junior high.

So to highlight the stupidity of the situation, under the proposed legislation it would be legal for a kid to go out and buy King's books or the movies based on them, but if some game company made M rated games out of them, it would be illegal to sell them to a kid. Does that make sense?

King speaks the truth with his Hostel II comparison. Please pass this Massachussets and watch it get struck down for what the 10th time in a row? Does any state notice a pattern here or is just me? I am a huge fan of King and his novels, one of the best ficitional writers out there.

Personally I've never been a fan of kings work, I found it repetitive & tedious but I'm glad to see someone else take up the "If this was true, wouldn't there'd be a lot more psycho killers than there are?" argument. Also he has an excellent point on the guns, I've never understood the obsession. I mean they're cool and all but geez, if you want to play with them join the army, the police or the mafia...


@Rellik San
Actually there's been 3 major discworld games, you might have missed Discworld Noir which would be a shame since its the really GOOD one.

I've always enjoyed King's writing. His style is incredible and his stories are second-to-none. Even though his newer stuff is not as good as his older stuff, it's still enjoyable.

Honestly, I didn't even think he'd be this connected to the current popular culture scene, and it's nice to see that even if he doesn't 'get' gaming, he still appreciates it for what it is. Like art. I may not 'get' some pieces, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate art or the effort it took to create it.

Once again, he honestly shows how sharp his wit is and expresses himself so very well. I'd love to take one of his writing classes some day. That'd be amazing.

I agree with the games part but not with the gun part...

I came to USA from a country where we long ago banned guns, this was done just before Stalin killed some people, and today every criminal has every gun imaginable and the law abiding don't...

While I have never owned a gun I see them as part of that whole freedom package and not as part of some horrible problem... also statistics show that crime is less when guns are legal to own and more after they are banned...

@ Gavin,

I was gonna go "Data plz" but you beat me to it.

For guns, I recommend the swiss way. At home. Locked in a safe.

A "pathological love of guns". eh? Well, they do say that first step on the road to being cured is admitting that you have a problem in the first place...

@-Jes-

I agree that a total ban on guns would never be practical, even in the UK Guns aren't banned but there are very tight laws on who can have them and how they can keep them, and while gun crime isn't non-existant by any means in the UK it doesn't seem to be as prevelant as it would appear to be in America. Why can't similar strict gun laws work in the US?

I personally find gun ownership for use as self defence a slightly odd excuse for owning a gun. If you are worried about being attacked in your home then you can make your house more secure, if you're worried about being attacked on the street there are numerous non lethal but effective ways of protecting yourself.

UK has strict laws regarding free speech?

Since when?

@T5

I agree with Matriculated on not being aware of any particularly strict free speech laws in the UK, but that doesn't change the fact that if more strictly regulating the distribution and sales of guns reduced gun crime, then surely thats the right thing to do?

Also one thing i never quite got is quite how the gun lobby in America has the viewpoint "you can't tighten gun laws! It's in the Constitution!". Well it's in the 2nd AMENDMENT to the Constitution, and if the Constitution could be amended to allow the right to bear arms then it can be amended to not include it. The Constitution is Law, and laws can and do and SHOULD change if it helps protect people, like in the UK after Dunblane, handgun laws got tightened.

Stevie, you are my idol! I didn't use to be a King fan. I thought his books were mindless horror and senseless violence.

Then, I saw a couple of his movies and read a few of his books. Now I think he's one of the greatest novelist this country has ever seen. Now I'm seeing that open mindedness shown back toward gamers. Way to go, Steve.

Just wanted to point out here that Stephen King says he's no fan of videogames. Some people have interpreted that to mean that he doesn't like them because he thinks they are nasty or something. Actually, if you read the article in context, you will see that King simply doesn't like videogames because he never got very good at them and so he just stopped playing them. Of course, he first experienced videogames in the early era when videogames were designed to be near impossible to complete unless you were willing to dedicate a few years to mastering them.

nice to see my favorite author standing up against the insanity:) If i remember correctly, Mr. King himself is no stranger to this kind of thing, as one of his books was outright banned some years ago, simply because some people thought it was too close thematically to the columbine massacre.

@Monkeythumbs

My friend i see where you are coming from and I meant in no way to impugn the BBC or any other outlet, on the contrary the article I posted (and subsequently based my comment on) was that journalists could get into major trouble for libel as the burden of truth is on them to prove their innocence. It is in that respect that the freedom of press is curtailed.

Besides who watches TV news with the internet nowadays any way?Why i was just reading that Stephen King of all people was attacking gaming legislation.

Alright Mr. King! I knew there was a reason I always loved your books.

@shady8x:

Reminds me of the saying, "If you outlaw guns then only outlaws will have guns."

King spins a great yarn. I haven't read his works, but he knows his stuff. And as other people have pointed out, with no personal ties to video games, he's able to give an objective and informed opinion.

@Ragnaar
The outlaws and the government... the second to me seems a lot more scary...

This is exactly what is going on in Russia right now, EVERY criminal has any and all sorts of weapons imaginable...and so does the government...and as for the lawful citizens? well they learn how to duck and cover... and pray to god that the government doesn't repeat some things...

That is just one of the reasons why I agree with this radical NRA supporter:
"No free man shall ever be de-barred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain their right to keep and bear arms is as a last resort to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
~Thomas Jefferson

Let me start off by saying that I don't like Stephen King. The books I've read of his are, in my opinion, dreck. I know that a lot of people love his books, and I'll allow them that pleasure.

However, he does make sense here (some of his best work in fact :P). I think a lot more authors should start taking the stand for this. First, they will attack the video game legislation, then they will turn around and attack either books, or film or both, siting their immersive nature ("I felt as if I was there!"). Soon, you would be carded to buy a book. You think that is a major leap? All they need is their foot in the door, a single media type which they can legally censor. I'm not talking pornography here, as that is less a type, adn more of a subject or genre. They've done it with comic books, and thankfully it was undone.

@Shady8x

No one ever said that Cho bought the guns on the school property, he probably bought them legally and then went and shot 30 people. But that doesn't change the fact that he probably shouldn't have been able to buy them legally since he was clearly unhinged.

If making it harder to buy guns legally would have stopped him then I think that people who want to legally obtain guns for reasonable means making them wait longer or jump through a few more hoops to potentially make sure that they won't do something like Cho did, is a reasonable price to pay.

I know that a gun ban would never work in the US but I don't understand why tighter regulation is opposed? Make it harder for guns to be legally obtained, meaning less guns are around to be misused and put on the black market where criminals can get their hands on them.

Granted that is a VERY idealistic viewpoint that would have great difficulty working in practice but that still doesn't mean it shouldn't be aimed for. Just shrugging and letting things like Virginia Tech happen without trying to examine how he managed to obtain those guns, and stop people like him trying to get them again solves nothing.

Holy cow. That was a fantastic little tirade there from King. I am quite impressed.

[...] And speaking of violent video games, Stephen King has come out against the proposed Massachusetts law that would lump violent games in with pornography as being “harmful to minors.” Indeed, he even namechecks RE4. This further supports my long-held suspicion that Stephen King is completely awesome. [...]

Wow. Mr. King you win the Internets! Have a cookie!

More people in media need to speak out as he has. With intelligence.

guns don't kill people, people kill people, guns just help them do it faster.

I only read one story written by King. That was the play "Sorry, Right Number" if the author line saying "by Stephen King" wasn't lying. I also saw the movie version of "The Shining" which was good IMO.

I am indifferent to the fact that King is not a gamer, but when I read that he disliked the MA video game law, my respect for him rose rather far up.

@Gavin
"That doesn’t change the fact that he probably shouldn’t have been able to buy them legally since he was clearly unhinged."
@Gavin

Because of privacy laws it was impossible to find out, perhaps privacy laws should be changed so the government could know about what dreams you have at night and how your dad or uncle molested you but since the government tends to sell info it collects to corporations and doesn't always use the info it keeps the best way, this may not be a good solution...

@Gavin
"If making it harder to buy guns legally would have stopped him then I think that people who want to legally obtain guns for reasonable means making them wait longer or jump through a few more hoops to potentially make sure that they won’t do something like Cho did, is a reasonable price to pay."
@Gavin

Before Virginia Tech I would have agreed 100% with you... but since then I have looked through the studies of the 20,000 gun control laws in this country, not a single one has managed to lower crime rates... and everywhere a ban was paced like in Washington dc, the crime rate rose drastically...
While I still agree in principal to gun control laws I now think that more gun controls won't help anyone... especially since most criminals seem to buy their guns illegally... and even though Cho got his guns legally, he actually did pass the background checks that gun control people want in place...

@Gavin
"I know that a gun ban would never work in the US but I don’t understand why tighter regulation is opposed? Make it harder for guns to be legally obtained, meaning less guns are around to be misused and put on the black market where criminals can get their hands on them."
@Gavin

80,000,000-100,000,000 Americans own guns and there is a huge amount on the black market... making it harder to obtain guns would clean up the black market in about 50 years... and with new manufacturing technologies coming out, 50 is probably wishful thinking...
In the mean time criminals will have a much easier time committing crime...

I suggest you watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_YTM_eAWnQ
it is more interesting at the end...

@Gavin
"Granted that is a VERY idealistic viewpoint that would have great difficulty working in practice but that still doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be aimed for. Just shrugging and letting things like Virginia Tech happen without trying to examine how he managed to obtain those guns, and stop people like him trying to get them again solves nothing."
@Gavin

I prefer realistic viewpoint based on the evidence, and if presented with evidence to the contrary i will gladly change my point of view because I prefer feeling safe and having more guns doesn't make me feel safe even though apparently it does make me more safe...

That is why guns should be allowed on campuses for those that manage to go through the much more intense restrictions on concealed carry permits... then when some crazy comes along to kill some people they will get shot before they kill a lot of people...

There has never been any problems with guns in any school that allows them and some ordinary citizens have stopped school shootings themselves with their guns long before the police arrived...

Oh by the way, the police is not legally obligated to protect you here in US, if you ask them to save your life they don't even have to respond...
Almost all the times when people sued them for not protecting them(or even trying) after those people called the police for help, have ended up with police being found not guilty of any wrong doing and all the ones the succeeded where settled out of court...so they don't count as far as the law is concerned...

@Shadow Darkman

"I only read one story written by King. That was the play “Sorry, Right Number” if the author line saying “by Stephen King” wasn’t lying. I also saw the movie version of “The Shining” which was good IMO.

I am indifferent to the fact that King is not a gamer, but when I read that he disliked the MA video game law, my respect for him rose rather far up."

EDIT: The term is "rose considerably." Heh heh... My bad.

Stephen King the best writer in our time, stands up against HB 1423, because it would outright ban violent video games for everyone.