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CAOS Weekly Philosophy Question--Censorship of Video Games to Protect Children

Started by Brad Nunnally, 2005-02-15T17:08:34-06:00 (Tuesday)

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Brad Nunnally

Round two for our form of philosophy. I renamed it to Philosophy of CAOS because I figured since they are our ideas it should be named after us.
Here we go:

The past decade games have been attacked by a wide range of people. From soccer moms to the green eyed monsters in Washington. As gaming systems get more and more advanced and more visual, in a sense they become more real. It is a matter of time before so form of virtual reality gaming becomes mainstream. Already there are some VR gaming machines out there, thought you won't find them in very many places. As the gaming technology comes closer and closer to home based virtual reality, some of the problems of the past may pop up again.

This past friday Dr. Weinberg brought up the guy who killed himself after playing so much EQ. Sadly, there are alot of people out there who have a certain mental disposition toward disorder like this guy had.

With VR giving you the chance to pretty much escape reality completely, what kind of guideline should be put in place to protect these people? Should there be any at all? If there should be any guide lines, what kind of games should be allowed to be played, or even made?

Please feel free to expand on anything I might have missed, and let us know your thoughts.

Brad Ty Nunnally :king:
CAOS Vice-Pres.

"Wisdom begins in Wonder."
Socrates
Brad Ty Nunnally
Business & Usabilty Consultant at Perficent
Former CAOS Hooligan

Tyler

This is much wider than just games.  People constantly want to blame tv, music, movies, VIDEO GAMES, etc, for all of the problems with their children.

The stem of this problem is not so much from the obvious change is standards, but more so the lower level of involvement of parents in the raising of their children.  Parents are constantly looking for ways they can do less and this leaves more and more avenues for children to be raised by other means.  Parents need to take a more active role in raising their children and realize that they (the children) get most of their morals and values from their parents.

I grew up watching movies by Steven Segal, Arnold Swarzenegger (?), Van Damn, Snipes, etc.  These movies are all quite violent--people die left and right.  But somehow I do not kill people or kill myself.

Some people just can't handle certain things.  Maybe seeing a fork would make them want to kill someone.  Who knows.  I do know one thing, however.  If people want to start censoring games and movies to make up for their lack of parenting skills, they sure better attack CSI, the news, ER, etc.  Those are full of graphic dead people.
Retired CAOS Officer/Overachiever
SIUE Alumni Class of 2005

Brad Nunnally

I agree completely with Tyler. I am as sick as anyone of parents trying to be lack on their responsibilities by blaming stuff that they control.

Given time though I am sure that the green eyed monsters from D.C. will get it in their head once again that games and movies are the root of all evil. The ESRB (http://www.esrb.org) does an amazing job keeping the man of our backs. They change their way of rating all the time so that the government can't come in a say that they are doing a bad job.
However, I understand that with the way games are today and the way they will be tomorrow kind of opens Pandora’s Box for those with certain disorders, or the possibility of developing those disorders. Those are the ones that worry me that they might let the gaming reality become their reality and do a little life like GTA.

I personally don't believe on crazy censorship, but I do see how some is ok. If the ESRB can head off some of the problem that could arise in the future, then more power to them as long as I get the games I want.

Brad Ty Nunnally
CAOS Vice-Pres

P.S. I use games as a prime example because they are bigger target than movies most of the time.

"I don't have any of the answers, just questions." ?
Brad Ty Nunnally
Business & Usabilty Consultant at Perficent
Former CAOS Hooligan

Josh

In the information age, people have so much access to everything especially kids. Back say in the 20-30 yrs ago you didn't have ultra-violent movie and of course no video games. Parents of today do have more responsible then before. Therefore we should offer some slack...
I think the current rating system is the best solution, we just need to educate parents on how to enforce it. If the parents don't look at what there kids are playing they should be blamed for an ill behavior. It has to be case by case...some kids have no problems play M games. I as an adult want to kill hookers and steal cars in my free time--in the virtual world of course. And the government shouldn't and stop me.
Josh Cunningham
"I am a hunter of peace..."--Vash, Trigun......

DaleDoe

They used to have violent shoot 'em up movies back when my grandpa was young--just the special effects weren't as good.  The difference now is that some kids are so surrounded with that stuff that they are no longer grounded in reality.

It used to be that kids had to do a bunch of chores around the house and spent a great deal of time with adults.  Now they spend about half their time in school, surrounded by other kids with minimal supervision. Many of them spend the rest of their time submersed in some sort of alternate reality such as TV, video/computer games, etc.  Consequently, they have no sense of the real world and they often start to perceive the world as though they were in their virtual world.

That said, fixing the problem is the parents' responsibility, not the government.  Parents should stop worrying so much about making a few extra dollars so they can trade their 3 year old Grand Am and spend some quality time and effort on their kids.  But we can all see what most parents' priorities are.

:ranting: That's my rant for the day.  (I love that smiley)
"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." -James Madison

raptor

I am most definately with all of you in saying that parents need to take a larger role in raising their children these days.  My little brother bought GTA 3 the other day and my mom had no idea what it was about.  My brother said it was just "a car game". After about 5 minutes of game play, 32 deaths, and 4 hookers in the back seat, the game was on its way back to the store.
President of CAOS
Software Engineer NASA Nspires/Roses Grant

Tyler

Slashdot just posted an article about blaming GTA for a kid killing two cops and a dispatcher.  The shootings happened in 2003, but I guess the lawsuit is just starting.

Story http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/17/1340222&from=rss">here
Retired CAOS Officer/Overachiever
SIUE Alumni Class of 2005

Jonathan Birch

I generally subscribe to a classical liberalist philosophy where law is concerned, so, in most cases, I believe that law should only regulate the actions of a person in situations where that person would be harming society or another individual.

Following this, I don't think there should legal be restrictions on the sorts of video games adults can play. I do believe that there are situations where it might be morally wrong for adults to engage in a game, but I think its better to leave the choice up to the individuals in question.

Children are a different matter. Its generally accepted in our culture that children don't have the experience or reasoning capabilities to make good decisions for themselves, so we bind them to the choices of their parents. It makes sense to place restrictions on the sorts of games children can buy. The ESRB seems like a good start in this direction. Although its easy to manipulate the rating that will be assigned for a game, most software companies seem to be playing fair. I'm not aware of any games with blatantly misleading ratings.

The idea of game software being potentially harmful will probably persist for a while though. I've heard it said before that the newest form of media is always viewed as dangerous until something else comes along.
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Brad Nunnally

Quotetfizzle wrote:
Slashdot just posted an article about blaming GTA for a kid killing two cops and a dispatcher.  The shootings happened in 2003, but I guess the lawsuit is just starting.

I remember this case when it first happen and since it recently popped up again I read the actually lawsuit. The parents are suing both Take 2 and Walmart and Gamestop.
I do not agree with them suing Take 2 at all, the game has a M rating for a reason. Walmart and gamestop I can understand. Most retailers don't really pay attention to who buys games which makes the rating system kind of useless. I mean they get into trouble if they sell alcohol or cigarettes to underage kids. The same should apply in this case.

Brad Ty Nunnally
CAOS Vice-Pres.

"The common cold is our only true punisment from god" Me.
P.S. I am have a cold I should know  :-D
Brad Ty Nunnally
Business & Usabilty Consultant at Perficent
Former CAOS Hooligan

Jerry

I have a slight different take on protecting people in the computer game is about FPS games that implement personalized skins.

Should there be laws protecting a person's image from being used in these games?  And when VR gets better or we invent the Holideck should there be laws that prevent Will Crusher from having his way with virtual Diana Troy.

There are already 3D photo booths that create digital skins for FPS's, so what if someone gets ahold of my skin and puts me in, well, in situations that bring question to my character, should I be able to sue? Should there be criminal prosecution?
"Make a Little Bird House in Your Soul" - TMBG...