Thai Government Turns Against Video Games
Thai Government Turns Against Video Games
September 3, 2008
Video game repression has surged in Thailand following last month's killing of a taxi driver by a 19-year-old man who told police he was re-enacting Grand Theft Auto.
Jesada Chandraprasert (left), who pens Cnet's Technology Thailand blog, reports this morning that five games have been officially banned by the Ministry of Culture:
- Hitman
- 300
- Killer Seven
- Hitman: Blood Money
- Fifty Cent: Bullet Proof
In a story broken by GamePolitics, Thailand stole its list of "dangerous" games from an outdated list offered by Detroit prosecutor Kym Worthy during the 2007 holiday season. The five banned games constitute half of the list.
Chandraprasert writes:
To say that Thailand's ministries are conservative is like saying the Pacific Ocean is a puddle. In their efforts to maintain a level of control and conformity... they issue laws and regulations faster than a geek can whip out his credit card at a Pantip going-out-of-business sale. Such is the case with video games and Internet cafes...
Their official press release at the Government's Web site clearly states that they see gaming as "a problem which is obsessive and has an (adverse) effect on the behavior of children and teens...".
Chandraprasert also reports on a recent government and law enforcement conference which was held to discuss the video game issue - with ominous overtones:
The conference, held at the Queen Sirikit Convention Center on August 21, had an audience of over 1,500 people, mostly public officials and the police. The main focus of this conference was to find solutions to unregistered gaming stores (basically an Internet cafe like a setup where people can go in and game all day long on computers, not the traditional arcade) and "dangerous games". Their aim is to eliminate the "dangers" associated with said problem within 90 days of the conference.
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Posted 02/09/10 at 03:51pm
DarkSaber: I think he just goes round the internet copy+pasting the same bollocks to get attention.
DarkSaber: I think he just goes round the internet copy+pasting the same bollocks to get attention.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:41pm
Valdearg: @DS: I have to admit, I chuckled when I saw the 4 Feb 2010 on that post.. >.<
Valdearg: @DS: I have to admit, I chuckled when I saw the 4 Feb 2010 on that post.. >.<
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:31pm
DarkSaber: Hm, Bioshock. Not that Zippy likes to beat the dead horse by ranting about it for TWO $&%£ING YEARS!
DarkSaber: Hm, Bioshock. Not that Zippy likes to beat the dead horse by ranting about it for TWO $&%£ING YEARS!
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:30pm
DarkSaber: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.173063-Bioshock-yet-another-zippy-rant
DarkSaber: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.173063-Bioshock-yet-another-zippy-rant
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:20pm
DarkSaber: Although, unsurprisingly, he's just being called an idiot alot and criticised for being as illegible as always.
DarkSaber: Although, unsurprisingly, he's just being called an idiot alot and criticised for being as illegible as always.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:18pm
DarkSaber: Oh good lord, I just found Zippy on The Escapist.
DarkSaber: Oh good lord, I just found Zippy on The Escapist.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:14pm
Valdearg: IE: Male body/Female Mind or Female Body/Male Mind.
Valdearg: IE: Male body/Female Mind or Female Body/Male Mind.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:13pm
Valdearg: @Zip: TG == Transgendered/Transsexual.
Valdearg: @Zip: TG == Transgendered/Transsexual.
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:09pm
DarkSaber: Forget it Zippy, it's an abbreviation of a big word and so would be wasted on you
DarkSaber: Forget it Zippy, it's an abbreviation of a big word and so would be wasted on you
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:07pm
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:....TG?
ZippyDSMlee: Vlag:....TG?
Posted 02/09/10 at 03:02pm
Valdearg: @DS: Im sure that's what they'd do if it wasn't legal to just tell Gays/TG's to "Screw off," just because they're who they are.
Valdearg: @DS: Im sure that's what they'd do if it wasn't legal to just tell Gays/TG's to "Screw off," just because they're who they are.
Posted 02/09/10 at 02:50pm
DarkSaber: Whoever told him/her/it that is dumb. They should have done like most companies and made-up some bullshit, yet legal, reason for it not getting the job.
DarkSaber: Whoever told him/her/it that is dumb. They should have done like most companies and made-up some bullshit, yet legal, reason for it not getting the job.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:16pm
Andrew Eisen: Shouldn't be. Spirit of anti-discrimination laws would seem to include sexual orientation (and eye color). Plus there's always equal protection and such. Never know until you try.
Andrew Eisen: Shouldn't be. Spirit of anti-discrimination laws would seem to include sexual orientation (and eye color). Plus there's always equal protection and such. Never know until you try.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:10pm
Andrew Eisen: Should have sued (unless that wasn't an option given her financial situation or something). Might have won.
Andrew Eisen: Should have sued (unless that wasn't an option given her financial situation or something). Might have won.
Posted 02/09/10 at 01:00pm
Valdearg: Story about a Male to Female TG who was expressly told she wouldn't be given a job because she was TG. Its not the main point of the story, but explicit, perfectly legal discrimination like this exists.
Valdearg: Story about a Male to Female TG who was expressly told she wouldn't be given a job because she was TG. Its not the main point of the story, but explicit, perfectly legal discrimination like this exists.
Posted 02/09/10 at 12:53pm
Valdearg: Lol, I don't know. It may very well be legal to do so. Though that might able to fall under the "race" restriction, depending on how that point is argued.
Valdearg: Lol, I don't know. It may very well be legal to do so. Though that might able to fall under the "race" restriction, depending on how that point is argued.
Posted 02/09/10 at 12:51pm
Valdearg: I don't think they do have any legal recourse. I'll have to dig around, but I seriously believe that if the law doesn't specifically mention Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, they can still be discriminated against in those 29 states.
Valdearg: I don't think they do have any legal recourse. I'll have to dig around, but I seriously believe that if the law doesn't specifically mention Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, they can still be discriminated against in those 29 states.
Copyright © 2007 ECA. All rights reserved.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
Well Thailand has bigger problems than games right now. The Thai government certainly has bigger problems, and this smells of fiddling while Rome burns. Personally, I hope it doesn't turn nasty, not least because I've a friend there and I'm visiting the country soon.
Gift.
Why 300? What do they have against Spartans?
THIS IS MADNESS!!!
THIS IS THAILAND!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Remember kids, personal responsibility is for losers! For information on games and psychology, look up: Jonathan Freedman(2002)Block & Crain(2007) Just to name a few...
Gift: Thai Foreign Minister has resigned moments ago. I think it will come to a head soon, peacefully with luck.
Yes, I'm hoping matters resolve themselves quietly, especially as my friend lives in Bankok. :(
Gift.
Wait. A kid kills a cabbie reinacting GTA and GTA is not one of the banned games? How does that work?
E. Zachary Knight
http://www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
That's politics for you...
GTA was banned 3 days after the incident. This is a secondary list.
It's wierd though. Government and fast are not usually inclusive.
You would think that they would have bigger concerns than banning games, like trying to figure out the issue of the protestors in the PM's office.
Yes, it was almost like they planned it. And wasn't having the cab drivers killer happily pose for some 're-enactment' photos a little suspicious?
Actually, that's done all the time over here, not just with this case.
Hold on, hold on. Killer 7? The Gamecube game? I swear, we should be happy that we have people who don't know anything about Video Games in charge of trying to ban them. I've got three words for you. "Solder Of Fortune" That game had some of the most violent hit-models ever, and did it ever get mentioned? You could shoot a guy in the head with a shotgun, and leave half a bloody skull. Anywho...They can't ban violet games, because once they do, and violence still rises, what will they blame then? They need to keep it around so it's a handy target.
If you cannot best a man in argument, all is not lost. You can still call him vile names.
No when the violence rises they'll say games still need to be banned so that it doesn't get worse or some other crappy excuse. On a light note I hope those bastard are forced to retire or die from 'lead poisoning'.
All of those games are freakin' DATED, half of 'em aren't even all that great....
Talk about a waste of time and legislation.....
Jack (if your the jack ass himself or a fake), This is a government who has a much bigger problems than video games, example: prostitution, black market. IQ repression? People here make much more understandable and smarter claims than you. All I can say about your last comment, you wank off to every killing with GTA mentioned.....
And yes, this is where the irony begins..
You don't actually KILL people in any GTA game when stealing their cars.
Much less with a Knife, considering there has yet to be a bladed weapon in ANY GTA game released so far.
Whoaaaa, didn't think of that one, did you Jackieboy?
Thailand Government - Your case is busted.
Um, Jes? There's a knife in GTA IV. Just thought you might want to amend that.
Pixplz.
'Cause I've completed the game and have yet to see one.
Umm... Dardan attacks you with one about 3 missions into the game, you have to disarm him and use it against him, if you dont get one then, you can buy one from little jacob later.
But that's beside the point, the point is, you never use one during a robbery in-game, and it's extremely impractical to use one in a fight in-game, which makes Thailand's point utterly full of BS
...There was a mission called "Amphibious Assault" where you lost all of your weapons and had to use a knife. Later on you got to have a katana fight with a Chinese slave driver.
-Remember kids, personal responsibility is for losers! For information on games and psychology, look up: Jonathan Freedman(2002)Block & Crain(2007) Just to name a few...
Actually, there've been several knives and the sort in GTA games, but that doesn't still mean that Jack Thompson isn't a moron, cause he is.
Also, I believe in GTA San Andreas, if you had a gun equipped when car jacking somebody, on occasion your character would shoot them before pulling them out of the car. Ultimately though, it's still not stabbing.
Umm, no? The only time you shot someone to where you could take their vehicle was if you shot them through the windshield first, then they'd fall out.
Knife, Chain saw, Katana.
All have made an appearance in a GTA game.
Still not used when carjacking
JT is an idiot
Your point?
Don't you mean turned?
Whoo! Fifty Cent was banned!
I could enjoy this more if it were banned because it was terrible, not just because it was violent, though...
Anyone really surprised by this? To be honest, I'm surprised that this didn't go into effect quicker. Thailand is in such a political sh*tstorm right now that the government will do anything to try and deflect the issues. Yeah, all governments do that to an extent but Thailand's is desperate right now.
And leave poor Jackie boy alone. Since he destroyed his own career and life he's got nothing better to do than troll internet forums. He's like a 13 year old boy staying home for the summer...with the intellectual maturity to match it.
I thought Jack's hearing was this week?
Love the "IQ Repression" quip. I bet if he had the stones to post his here, damn near everyone here would beat him.
On topic: do they actually have any evidence these games are "dangerous", or is it business as usual, and they're just scapegoating innocent hobbies?
Come now.. 13 years old? You are giving Thompson to much credit.. I think he is more around the 6 year old mark...
As for the Thai government, well ofcourse they want to control the media, because that helps control the population.. How else will a despotic government operate? It just takes an excuse for them to go into action.. Random kid stabs a random cabbie? Stage it up to involve GTA.. that's a popular game right? Then we can shift blame for societys ills onto digital media and ban the hell out of it. Keep the population stupid and complacient.. imprison or kill subversives.
And this is what happens when you jump to conclusions without evidence to back it up. You look like an idiot to everyone else.
GJ Thailand
Dennis, every time you delete one of my rebuttal posts, as you did in this thread today, the ESA's hole gets deeper. Jack Thompson
Are you sure he deleted it? Maybe your just paranoid and it didn't get posted for another reason. Or maybe it got deleted because you violated the guidelines for posting here like you do so often. Some people actually follow laws and guidelines, things you choose to ignore to meet your own ends.
Yeah Jack, if you keep bending and breaking rules and flagrantly abusing the law, you might wind up in front of the Florida Bar.
Oh wait.
M. Carusi
Capitol Gaming
http://capitolgaming.blogspot.com
Too late....
What was the rebuttal, Jack? Another conspiracy theory or another threat against the "gamers"?
He wants to go after the ESA? Ummm go ahead...
By the way Jack, did you prove yet the gays of the bar are secretly channeling money in a RICO style manuever from the Florida Bar yet? Are all the Judges lacking valid 'we will fight the commies on the beaches...' oaths? Have you "figuratively" turned the Florida Bar into the remains of Hiroshima? Successfully brought Hal Harpin and Dennis McCauley, majority of lawyers and politicians, all media outlets (with the exception of religious twits and Fox), video game companies, and most people with common sense to realize you are bat-sh!t crazy for basically calling your bluffs and acknowledging you are a douche bag? Sued the US Marshalls and the FBI for telling you to buzz off? Proved the Bush Administration has it in for you? That Janet Reno is secretly putting homosexual training videos in schools, and majority of the women back in the Clinton administration were practicing Wicca? Proven that Muslims are all pirates and want to kill the jews?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm the conspiracy grows deeper Jack! Your foes are cunning indeed!
(translation: Quit accusing people of your own incompetentcy. You lost, take it like a man and just shoo. Go.)
Tick Tock Jack. Almost time to grab yourself an application for Wal-Mart.
That said, the ESA was wrong about you. They said you were in their rearview mirror. You are in fact, so far out of any SERIOUS video game scope that it's no wonder that you manage to fail so often and so brutally. Enjoy your disbarment. Maybe it'll give you time to reflect on the general waste your career has been.
Jack at Wal-Mart....I got this mental image of Family Guy, where Dick Cheney was a Wal-Mart greeter now.
"The world if full of stupid people....watch out."
This post is classed POINTLESS
I haven't seen anything. Also, we delete quite a few of your posts because they are simply you spamming letters and court documents. But I haven't seen andy of those today either.
If you would like, you could repost your rebuttal. But if I know you, you are simply lying like you did about the misspelling of grammar.
E. Zachary Knight
http://www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
Hey John, I just finished browsing every filing you've done as an attorney and as a party in the SCOFL. Isn't it funny how, even when you involve yourself in other people's cases you can't seem to get it correct? Everything I saw was either denied because you didn't get someone else to sign it or denied because you didn't do it right. Read that last part again. YOU DIDN'T DO IT RIGHT. Story of your life man.
First gay porn, now an obsession with how deep the ESA's hole is....
LOL
He should know about deep holes...he's dug himself into one
What does Dennis have to do with the ESA again?
If you don't answer by tomorrow I'll know your answer.
Then again even fi you do answer it won't be true.
Also ,some websites have soemthign called a spam filter, meant to make sure peopel can't come in here advertising porn sites. Oh, wait, yo uhad a gay porn link to share? That may explain it.
looks like you failed English, Jack. Dennis is with the ECA, not the ESA.
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
Wait, there is a law against off topic drivel being deleted from an internet blog?
Wait! There isn't. Maybe if you knew better you wouldn't be losing your license to practice law now would you love?
Fake or real, admins?
So if the cabbie killings continue, is the Thai government going to add more violent games to their blacklist? What happens when they run out of violent games? Do they go for sports and puzzle games?
The fact that Thailand has a Culture-related body in its government shows how much of a police state it really is. It's very contrived for a government to direct the future course of a country's culture when culture is the collective result of the entire population.
BAN CURRENCY! It's money's fault that that cab driver got killed!
-Remember kids, personal responsibility is for losers!
For information on games and psychology, look up: Jonathan Freedman(2002)Block & Crain(2007) Just to name a few...
I think the country is doing its good on the ban..let alone there is more to moral panic than to put the blame of human hands,thoughts or actions,LET alone since the country itself did have problems before with a storm,The rationality of Thailand had never ceased to amaze me to their ban,This youth instead should have been sutdying and joining to help the poor, But NO he spent playing "serial killer in a box" and mock muay-thai martial arts and kill an innocent man, Let alone crimes in thailand are slowly coming at a halt as we speak with the nation doing a good job on the ban, And this ban will even stop the "guerrulla fighters" that is the thai youth whose mind is poisoned and destablizied by video games and violent entertainment, from terrorizing the country.
And welcome back Mr.Thompson, Im very happy to see you for the first time.
Go away troll...
Hilarious post.
The bit about this ban suddenly stopping violent crime really had me in stitches
he may be right on that one... if forced prostitution isn't illegal there.
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
Earth to Idiot: Not all videogames are violent.
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
Kudos to you, I don't think I could write a more stupid post if I tried.
PLease do not feed the trolls...especially when one follows the biggest troll in human history...
I don't mean to be rude, but your grammar makes it incredibly difficult to understand what you're saying. You've left out entire words from sentences, y'know?
Anyway though, the guerilla fighters have been around since before there was even television. They're fighting to knock out the corrupt Thai government because of it's encroachments on freedom (like this).
Also, if this 19 year old cabbie killer was playing the game and practicing Muay Thai martial arts specifically so he could rob people, how is that the games fault? After all, he's the one who chose to use the game and his martial arts training for that purpose.
-Remember kids, personal responsibility is for losers! For information on games and psychology, look up: Jonathan Freedman(2002)Block & Crain(2007) Just to name a few...
Muay-thai is a tradition, it's their version of "Boxing" but involves kicks, knees, elbows, and much more head trauma.
"And this ban will even stop the 'guerrulla fighters' that is the thai youth whose mind is poisoned and destablizied by video games and violent entertainment, from terrorizing the country."
Stop the "guerrulla fighers"? Please, try stopping the protesters outside the Prime Minister's Office. Also, the "thai youth" are just disposable pawns in that playing field.
"Let alone crimes in thailand are slowly coming at a halt as we speak with the nation"
Where have you been?
The youth has been studying academics, much more than most Americans. At least, the ones who can afford it that is.
Check.
This facade of yours stopped being funny... umm...
wait... it was never funny.
Actually, I hope that Jack falls for this guy and it becomes a ploy to lead him to believe he has some online support here. And then it will blow up in his face when it's revealed to be all fake. Like the way the MAMAV organization is fake.
GP: deleted the trolling
Please do not feed the trolls...
Seconded. It's getting tedious and the signal to noise ratio is dropping :(
No no, keep feeding them! This one was even less intelligble than the first one, so the next one will probably type complete gibberish. Not that they've said anything intelligent so far anyway--you kinda need to have some evidence to make claims--but at least their posts resembled English.
Censoring and destroying media isn't "restoring America", it's destroying it.
And I believe the french revoluition, a rather messy rebellion, happened cat least close to a century before television, as well as the Aemerican Revolutionary War and the American Civil War.
Explain this connection.
Also, not ONCE in my years of watching Japanese animation have I see n Americans portrayed as fat and stpid unless it was as a JOKE. Most of the time Americans in there are portrayed as just normal people.
Also, a troll is someone who posts comments liek your's o nthe internet to incite a reaction, and you are makign such posts to incite negative reactions so you can log the posts and show them to peopel to prove your point, making you a troll.
You lose, good day sir.
Hmm, re read that. Truthful ways? Hah, that's even funnier than crime in Thailand suddenly going down.
Something's going down in Thailand.....and it's not crime....
What the fuck? Was that a single sentence?
I noticed that too, someone managed to use a comma as a full-stop and still capitalise 'and' repeatedly.
If this is the level of the people who oppose us, no wonder they fail so spectacuarly ;)
Hello, nameless troll no one cares about that i'm talking to because i'm bored out of my skull.
Learn to spell. That is all.
hate to break it to you, but the Andy Griffin show was on TV, which according to you, gave rise to the "corrupt rebels"
many American shows portray Americans as fat, moronic, and violent. Also, "animé" is simply an abbreviation of the word "animation"
No media is more violent than the Bible, which Jack Thompson ironically promotes in his "crusade against violence".
Check, and mate
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
"many American shows portray Americans as fat, moronic, and violent"
Alot of things come to mind now.
VNS, GG.
Hey!!! Spike Seigel is not fat or moronic....Vash the Stampede, yes, he's moronic.
I find the trolls views and JT are all wrong in this
When Life gives you lemons, you find a new god.
Get back to me when they finally decide it's not okay to fuck kids.
OOOOOOOOhhhhhh! SNAP, SON! SNAP!!!!!!!
-Remember kids, personal responsibility is for losers! For information on games and psychology, look up: Jonathan Freedman(2002)Block & Crain(2007) Just to name a few...
Holy crap. Sir you win teh internets.
oooh epic kudos to you!
but everyone knows its because of the evil child molesting video games making them do it. they need to ban them too
So let me get this straight. One man committs a murder and the whole Thai government goes crazy and wants to ban video games?
Also, why the heck is the first Hitman on there? Do these idiots even know which video games are popular these days?
There was a case of a shootout between the police and a guy with an AK74 a while back, makes you wonder why they didn't ban the game back then eh?
Yeah seems they were all prepared and were waiting for a violent crime to occur to move into action. No government will act on a ban or a want to ban, unless Thailand has the most efficient government in history! (*chortle*)
It's been addressed already, but let me just reiterate that Thailand is indeed Jack's version of paradise. They're banning video games, but child rape is still ok.
Cracking down child porn is not at easy as banning video games. Child porn is NOT ok but you hear about it less often because news about it is harder to come by...
That's a shame. I hear all those sex tourists like to relax with Killer 7 after sleeping with 8 year olds.
oh come on everybody knows thai cabbies are rip offs! and the worse are tuk tuk drivers! come on stop blaming videogames puh leaseeee :O
This post makes no sense to me
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