Jeb Bush asks Jack Thompson to write anti-game law

[CptStern]

ya you remember it well because you were how old?

 

[gh0st]

ya you remember it well because you were how old?

well thank goodness the rest of the world uses your logic. thats probably why we dont study ancient rome or the revolutionary war, as our historians would have actually had to BE there to have any valid assertions.

 

[OCybrManO]

I'd look at the Jack Thompson situation more as what happened to comic books rather than the rantings against the newfangled music types. The comic book industry was nearly destroyed by the government. It only exists as a shell of its former self... with much of the variety not surviving the censorship. I don't want Jack Thompson and his followers to be able to do anything that to the video game industry.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

What happened to the comic book industry? I'm curious.

 

[OCybrManO]

Well, it really picked up steam in the 1950s when a man named Dr. Fredrick Wertham published a book called Seduction of the Innocent... claiming that comic books cause juvenile delinquency (for one thing, he only studied the bad kids... with no comparisons to normal ones). There were Senate hearings. Politicians finally had something to blame instead of the parents. The "Comics Code Authority" was formed to prevent them from being completely banned outright... but the censorship was too strict. It wasn't just a rating system like the ESRB or the MPAA where you could do practically anything you wanted but it would just get a bad rating and places like Wal-Mart wouldn't sell it... you just plain couldn't mention things, make certain activities look appealing, joke about divorce, etc... period. Even the industry giant EC Comics was all but put out of business. Basically, the comics that survived were the basic superhero comics... and other dumbed-down "moral" stories. The comic books became significantly watered down because parents and politicians used them as scapegoats. Their paranoia and quickness to place the blame on everyone but themselves nearly destroyed an entire industry/medium/art form/storytelling method.

Joel Grineau, in Origin of the Comics Code Authority. Comic Book Conundrum 12, writes that Wertham was convinced that all comic books, not just crime comic books, were “evil, that they contributed to the delinquency of minors and also to their sexual perversion” (Grineau).

Gabriel describes Wertham’s attitude toward comic books in Seduction as being “almost (a) demonical hatred.” He credits Wertham with “nearly succeed(ing) in destroying the industry”

Hmmm... who does that sound like?

This is a serious matter. It has already almost happened once or twice before in the gaming industry. Do you remember the Nintendo Seal of Approval? That was to tell parents that the game wasn't inappropriate (as well as the "quality" aspect). They worked on a system of trust... because the industry was starting to gather interest by people that thought it was harmful. That slowed down the opposition for a while. The next time games were being (or about to be) attacked, the ESRB was formed. Once again, it kept games from having censorship imposed on them... and it kept games from being banned. So far, that has worked. Jack Thompson, on the other hand, doesn't think it's good enough. He, like Fredrick Wertham, would like to destroy the entire industry. He's trying to impose a certain system of beliefs onto the entire country... to protect "good" Christians from being exposed to the evils of our hobby. He's using the same shitty logic used back in the 50s for his reasons to get rid of games. Once again, it's never the parents' fault that their child turned out to be a murderer... it's video games, or rock music, or rap music, or sex, or alcohol, or comic books, or movies, or TV, or novels, or radio shows... but never bad parenting.

 

[kirovman]

Yes, I mean it couldn't possibly come down to individual responsibility, could it?

I'm tired of people using scapegoats. They're drafting up laws without any backup from any kind of study at all? With no real data or evidence?

That's not what a democracy is about.

Let's ban freedom of speech because I believe it's morally wrong and causes premature death in 68% of people.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Lots.

Phew, I thought I was going to have to explain all that. :cheers:

Of course, with comics they managed to come back because the CCA only affected stuff sold on newstands, and with the onsent of the specialist comic shop the industry started up again. Now you get Transmetropolitan, 100 Bullets and Just A Pilgrim.

 

[Llama]

I do, seriously doubt that Thompson - anyone - has the power to shut down the games industry. It is just so enormous, it's cripple the worlds ecomony for a start.
Can you really imagine EA rolling over on it's side and accepting it's own forced death?
Can you hell

 

[Sulkdodds]

No. I can imagine them simply releasing millions of crappy, family-friendly games. Forever.

 

[Flyingdebris]

it would never work. If the big companies are forced to churn out family friendly drivel, those who would strive for more maturity (i use maturity here very loosly) would simply turn to more underground games and mods on the internet.

Of course that would mean quality would take a major nose dive and the industry would be set back years in terms of quality. But you wouldn't be able to stop games alltogether.

However i wouldn't want it to come to that cause that would really suck. We just have to make sure that we have politicians like that one video game advocate guy to beat back the paranoia of overambitious politicians and overbearing soccer moms.

 

[CptStern]

it would never work. If the big companies are forced to churn out family friendly drivel, those who would strive for more maturity (i use maturity here very loosly) would simply turn to more underground games and mods on the internet..

or they could simply distribute online ....Gabe was on to something when they created steam

 

[Bob_Marley]

Ah yes, the good old "blame something, anything, other than the parents" approcah. It must be somthing else, it couldnt possibly be the parents could it? Lets face it most of us have been exposed to violence for most of our lives (I cant remember a time when I didnt watch Tom & Jerry [and dont tell me a mouse using dynamite on a cat isnt violent]) and most of us turn out perfectly fine. Its just a few total idiots who have screwed up lives that makes them go nuts and start killing people. I watched Films like Full Metal Jacket and Universal Soldier before I was 10 and have being plaing violent computer games forever (or so it seems, I cant remember a time before Operation Wolf was on The amstrad) and I've never gone nuts and wasted people. Nor have I done silly things like brandish replica firearms in public (stay focused, this isnt about the VCRB *slaps self round face*). If anything, watching those kind of things (of course combined with good parenting) has made me even more sensible in my approach to anything that might cause harm to people, because I know that guns arnt a joke. Shoot some one and thats somthing that cant be undone. In real life there is no quick save or reset button. Everything is final.

In short, Children need to be taught about the dangers that things like firearms can pose to people (living on a farm with a number of shotguns and air rifles [all safely locked up] ment that at a very young age I was told that you never point a gun at someone, loaded or not, and why) Good parents dont turn out nut cases. neither do voilent computer games.