Ralph Nader: game companies are 'electronic child molesters'

[idlewildered]

We already have a rating system.



I'm not really sure how their rating system is for video games. But if it's anything like their movie rating system; were edits can be forced, and movies can be out right banned...then I don't want it. And it doesn't matter if nothing has been banned, the fact that things can be banned is the problem.

I could care less if some parent lets there kids play 18/M rated video games, if they're ok with it, that's there business. It's hard for me to fell any kind of outrage about that kind of thing when I grew up playing Mortal Kombat in arcades. Video Game rating are also some of the most sensitive rating systems around, Itchy & Scratchy shit would get you a M rating in the world of video games.

films are extremely rarely banned here and games even less. It just doesn't happen.

I couldn't name a film in two decades banned in the UK that was everywhere else.

[Alex]

Stores are getting really obsessive about that. 26, full beard, slightly balding, are you sure I'm old enough to play Lollipop Chainsaw? Just put it in the bag dammit. The machines actually flash and warning with M Games and R Movies, and won't go through until they have the cashiers OK.

I know why they have to do it, but i shouldn't have to show my id to buy a game.
It happened once with my kid too, my kid almost 3.
How many 17 year old fathers bring their kids with them to walmart at 1 in the morning on a tuesday to buy air filters and a videogame?

[Simbob4000]

films are extremely rarely banned here and games even less. It just doesn't happen.

I couldn't name a film in two decades banned in the UK that was everywhere else.

I know The Human Centipede 2 was banned before it had cuts forced on it. I also there are a lot of older movies that have just beed released over there in the past ten years. Looking at wikipedia I see the already edited version of The Punisher had to be edited further before they would classify it.

[Mike Pothier]

Who? Oh, you mean that old dinosaur that tried to run for president and was ignored completely? Allow me to turn on my universal translator:

*click* I"M STILL RELEVANT! LISTEN TO ME! ANYBODY?!

[idlewildered]

I know The Human Centipede 2 was banned before it had cuts forced on it. I also there are a lot of older movies that have just beed released over there in the past ten years. Looking at wikipedia I see the already edited version of The Punisher had to be edited further before they would classify it.

Sounds like UK censors have an issue with really bad films more than anything else............

[jesse_custer]

Nader's comments are insensitive and dumb, but why should anyone care? He has little power at this point.

[Simbob4000]

Sounds like UK censors have an issue with really bad films more than anything else............

Who cares how bad the movie is or isn't? The UK's rating bored is ultimately a censorship board, it's a shit system. I don't want a rating board that has the power to ban things if they so choose.

[Sonofspam]

I have lost all respect i ever had for that crazy old fuck.

[Alex]

Who? Oh, you mean that old dinosaur that tried to run for president and was ignored completely? Allow me to turn on my universal translator:

*click* I"M STILL RELEVANT! LISTEN TO ME! ANYBODY?!

Well, it wasn't his fault he was ignored, it was the fault of the american media for feeding into the two party system because it makes it easier for candidates to ignore actual issues.
But fair enough, it is a bit of an attention grab.

[Shikidum]

Second that. Obama could had been ignored too if he does not get into bed with the right people.

[StreetFighterRyu]

There are other root problems here and it isn't the games, the movies, etc. I have no clue what that problem is but there are plenty of people smarter than me. Maybe they can figure it out before the ranters and ravers win out.

The simple answer would be parents. Buying them games, movies, not teaching them this is wrong, and other stuff.

[ShadowsofBirds]

So.. as someone that feels like more of a spectator on the issue than a proponent of either side..

Firearms are a thing.
Realistic simulated violence is a thing.

The combination of these two things has been in existence for maybe five years?.. maybe a decade if you want to push the term "realistic".

That means that this combination of psychological stimuli and technology is literally unprecedented.
We have no empirical data as to how a human being will develop or behave in this psychological environment.

What is the basis for believing that video games aren't potentially damaging to the human psyche?


I always see knee jerk reactions to this sort of thing, but I rarely get the impression gamers have actually thought about it in an objective way.
If you believe that what we experience shapes our world view at all then you've got to at least see where these people are coming from.
I don't have strong feelings on the subject one way or the other..

[benfromcanada]

I still like Nader, even though he's wrong here

[CenturianSpy]

What is the basis for believing that video games aren't potentially damaging to the human psyche?

Not knowing of ANY study that can show damage to the human psyche, most legal rulings would have to be based on a preponderance of anecdotal evidence. The next "logical" step will be the US Congress forcing the Video Game Industry to conduct (or pay for) studies on this subject. What will probably happen, mainly because the Gaming Industry won't want to set a precedent like that of the Tobacco Industry (which proved causation), will be an agreement of stronger regulations on who the games can be sold to. This is a light form of censorship. It is also one that has already been decided by rulings of what type of films can be shown to minors.

[Sonofspam]

Ironically the more you put a censor on something the more kids want it.