Curse

HawkofStorms · Jun 14, 2009, 07:12 PM // 19:12

I remember when the Virgina Tech shooting happened, there was a segment on FOX news about 2 hours after it occurred where people were speculating that the shooter was probably "one of those loner kids who played a lot of violent video games." They got the shooter's former roomate on and that was one of the first questions they asked him. The roommates response "no not really." Fox news pressed the issue "but he has played violent games in the past." Roomate's response "actually I don't think I've ever seen him play a video game."

headlesshobbs · Jun 14, 2009, 08:23 PM // 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow Kurd

Remember before video games. When there was no violence. Good times

I remember a funny thing about that. Videogames before people like Joe Lieberman and Jack Thompson made them selves known. I wish I could have those days back....

HuntMaster Avatar · Jun 14, 2009, 11:08 PM // 23:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bug John

And because some people shouldn't be playing video games, they have to be banned.

If you think the consequences you mentioned are caused by video games alone and banning them is the solution, you should consider rethinking your education.
You should never take something away form a child, you should teach him to leave it by himself, and understand why he did good...

Children are children and don't normally do things they don't want to just because its the right thing to do. Plenty of kids getting high or drunk before/during and after school shows this as 100% truth. Kids screaming at their parents because they don't want to come in for dinner and would rather stay outside/at the pc and play with their friends/play video games. Kids throwing fits because they don't want to go to bed. Its the parents jobs to filter and control what their children watch and participate in. Enough parents let their kids walk all over them/do whatever they want, and we see the result daily in the decline of manners, patience, education and socially functioning adults(ages 18-30).

-And if you re-read what I said, and take it in the correct context of the sentence, you will see I was pointing out that IF a child begins to show negative signs AFTER being expose to a video game, that it could be a factor and should be removed. Removing the game and giving the child time to adjust will show whether or not it was the game to begin with.

Taking things away from children is a punishment for wrong doing on the childs part. Negotiation does not work with kids most of the time if thats all a parent is doing. If a kid doesn't clean up his/her toys after using them, they lose them for a few days. If a kid doesn't do their homework or gets bad grades, no tv for a week or until grades improve.

Taking something away is about the only real punishment parents have left since spanking has been branded abusive and for those parents with no self control, spanking often is. But when a child loses what they enjoy the most, they learn. If they don't, they lose it again.

My education and my parenting skills are just fine. Better than most I'd say considering that most of the children I see these days are nothing more than immature thug wanna bes or spoiled crybabies. Their exposure to the common internet attitude and pop culture trends show in their development.

Many parents would agree with me, atleast those who give a damn about their kids. Whats fun isn't a priority in life when it comes to the development of children if that fun can in some way be harmful to the childs well being, mental or emotional stability. If its even a possibility of being harmful, its removed and an alternative is tried.

Those without children, or children themselves might not agree, but who cares? They are not in the same situation with the same responsibilies and until they are, they can just keep their ignorant opinions to themselves or spew their dribble online, as is so common.

Hyper.nl · Jun 16, 2009, 09:51 AM // 09:51

It's not gonna happen. WoW and GW are too big to ban altogether, banning all this kind of games will make too many people unhappy.

The measure will probably be mitigated or cancelled altogether.

Longasc · Jun 16, 2009, 12:40 PM // 12:40

Hyper, what German officials refer to as violent video games / killer games is NOT MMOs like World of Warcraft or Guild Wars.

It is almost exclusively limited to first person shooters, and Counter-Strike still is the primary example for a killer game to people who still believe that they are the source of evil.

Ghost Omel · Jun 16, 2009, 12:46 PM // 12:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Longasc

Hyper, what German officials refer to as violent video games / killer games is NOT MMOs like World of Warcraft or Guild Wars.

It is almost exclusively limited to first person shooters, and Counter-Strike still is the primary example for a killer game to people who still believe that they are the source of evil.

Dont you kill in Guild Wars and WoW.....not with Guns..but with swords arrows and such.....

Even if believeing that games cause violance (Which i completely disagree....well GTA Saints Row..those gansta gtames -_-) the reason kids/gamesrs use gun in the crimes..is because you dont need skill to use a firearm..especially a handgun that you can can get rather cheap and only wiht your drivers licence and state ID....unlike sowrds and bows in which you actually NEED skill an dUSE of a weapon to weild it correctly and efficently....so yeah just beacuse more crimes caused use firearms doesnt mean only games featuring said firearms cause this...

Disclamer: i completely disagree with what i have said i didt it simply to show my opinion on somehtgin stated in the quote

KrisNaga · Jun 16, 2009, 01:27 PM // 13:27

This is probably a load of crap because if it goes to parliament it will directly contradict the freedom of speech act. Anyway if they do get banned then the sales of chipped X boxes will sky rocket and piracy will be at an all time high because if you tell someone they can't do something then they will try there hardest to do it just to spite you.

4thVariety · Jun 16, 2009, 02:01 PM // 14:01

I'd like to give you a few ideas about Germany so you can see how erratic and annoying all these things are in a larger context; as well as how they are likely to turn out. It is easy to bash on Germany when the government there gets restrictive. Mostly this is to counter the utter lack of any restrictions that exist on all the other levels of society. So buckle up for the decent into the madness that is Germany.

Alcohol: Beer if you are 16, Schnapps if you are 18. Drinking in public is not that much of an issue as long as you stay out of the inner city, except the inner city has been turned into a Beerfest. So if you are 16 and try to have a case of beer and a nice fire at the sea or the beach, expect the cops to ask you to stop the fire and binge in the dark. Cops might stay around to make sure people are safe, but not bother anybody as long a nothing is demolished.

Smoking: 16 again. You can imagine what that means. In a move of unprecedented hypocrisy the official statistic on smoking by the state of Bavaria lists the juvenile smoking rate at 20%. Juvenile means between 12 (!) and 17, so you can imagine what reality looks like. Cigarettes are bought from vending machines bolted to walls anywhere. In a city you hardly have to walk 100 yards to find the next one.

Games: Each game (or movie) is rated either 0-6-12-16-18-NOT Rated. Experts argue whether there should be a 14, but who cares. The thing is, titles rated 18 will usually require you to perform an ID check. Not Rated means the game is not allowed to advertise and game shop will be really serious about the ID check. You have to ask for the game at the counter as if it was porn, so Gamestop won't carry it because they are slackers. If you can't afford to have your game rated, then you are effectively barred from the market. The industry and big publishers send their regards.

The Age Effect:
Evil Dead and Hellraiser 2 were once the bane of German officials. Politicians raged and the movies got banned, banned, banned. Today the Saw series, Hostel or other movies receive regular 18 ratings, meaning that most teenagers will seen them before they are 18. They even have a genre name for that: Torture Porn. BTW, porn is the new cool, so if something is appealing to teenagers in Germany, they are compelled to call it "porn" (adjective). It's just to annoy old people really. What happened to 80ies horror is now happening to games. In a few years people won't care. To some degree, the fact of something being banned in Germany and deemed inappropriate for children will mean that it is especially tailored towards them really. Censored versions are bought because people know how to de-censor them. So if you want your blood in Left4Dead to be read, just don't install the game, just enter the code into Steam and set your language to English, you will download the version with red blood instead.

Gambling:
An ugly adult epidemic. Germany never really had arcades, mainly because the gambling industry has a huge lobby and they fought their competition hard and drove them to extinctions. The slot machine industry is one mighty foe. But they also show that with spending the right money in the right place you can have custom made laws ready to serve your every need. The gaming industry will have to learn from this industry for the future. Ah, I almost forgot, no reason to leave the state or go on some "native Germanic tribe reservation", slots are everywhere. State Lottery earn huge money and fights a relentless war against their arch enemy of sport betting companies that were founded with help of a legal loophole.

General Drugs:
Weed is probably biggest, followed by techno related amphetamines. Being the Chairman the Central Jewish Council of Germany while doing coke and prostitutes might get you booted from the job as Head of the European Jewish convention, but that only means you have to settle for a political talk show and scandals about your personal guard being active Neo-Nazis while writing your latest Doctoral thesis on the "Freedom of Will". Around 1300 people die from drugs each year, but those are only the overdoses.

Just when you thought you were safe anyway:
Some even weirder things happen

Now imagine being the guy crying for a ban of all "Killergames" amongst all this. German developers will have no problem moving 'abroad'. Strasbourg is such a nice place to live. I hope that when it comes to developing an information industry, politicians remember that citizens showing little nationalism have even less problems with simply leaving their country when their business is threatened by the state. Crytec won't make Teletubbies games, the simply leave Frankfurt as the left Coburg, when officials were treating them badly there.

kazi_saki · Jun 16, 2009, 03:03 PM // 15:03

Damn man, Hitler must've played too much Wolfenstein. That's why he's so angry. Or maybe he just kept losing at Monopoly whenever he plays against his jewish classmates lol.

What a funny suggestion, ban videogames lol. Funny germans.

Rocky Raccoon · Jun 16, 2009, 05:08 PM // 17:08

Some food for thought:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31387876...me_and_courts/

Ghost Omel · Jun 16, 2009, 05:19 PM // 17:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Risky Ranger

Some food for thought:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31387876...me_and_courts/

Oh noes.. i Play Halo 3 regularly..........can i kill my mom 2 -_-

No No in all seriousness.. we dont have all the details to start blaming games for it.. For all we know he could have had a mental disorder...sudden rage doesnt come from no were...

Ok ok i spaz out in rage.. but not over a game.. Usualy its over College payment, or college tuition that id idnt get that i should have gotten..go nuts couse Ny is *****state full of****** governemnt officials that cut already low tuition help in half...not over grades....

There could have also been other reason for the spazzing out of this case....

No who should we blame for the father who did not lock his weapon like he should....Or maybe a mother that most likely over reacted.....

Halo matches dont last longer then 10 mins -_-..

From a point of view of a gamer......id put father in jail along with his son....and if mother be alive id put her into some psychic hospital for ove rreacting....

I dont have numbers or facts but from what i read and saw on new.. half of'crimes" like this happen because the child is treated bad.....bad relation ship problems....or complete and total nutcase.....Discuss =)

Rocky Raccoon · Jun 16, 2009, 05:35 PM // 17:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghost Omel

Oh noes.. i Play Halo 3 regularly..........can i kill my mom 2 -_-

No No in all seriousness.. we dont have all the details to start blaming games for it.. For all we know he could have had a mental disorder...sudden rage doesnt come from no were...

Ok ok i spaz out in rage.. but not over a game.. Usualy its over College payment, or college tuition that id idnt get that i should have gotten..go nuts couse Ny is *****state full of****** governemnt officials that cut already low tuition help in half...not over grades....

There could have also been other reason for the spazzing out of this case....

No who should we blame for the father who did not lock his weapon like he should....Or maybe a mother that most likely over reacted.....

Halo matches dont last longer then 10 mins -_-..

From a point of view of a gamer......id put father in jail along with his son....and if mother be alive id put her into some psychic hospital for ove rreacting....

I dont have numbers or facts but from what i read and saw on new.. half of'crimes" like this happen because the child is treated bad.....bad relation ship problems....or complete and total nutcase.....Discuss =)

I am sure the problems run much deeper than taking his game away, but it is this type of story that will bring out the ban the games people.

Ghost Omel · Jun 16, 2009, 05:40 PM // 17:40

Yep...thats why all these..co called "cases' should go under thurough mental check up before even going to court as well as background check on the parents and their relationship between child and themselves..as well as cheking the childs school behavior etc......

Not to discredidt that some games hsould be thrown down the garbage ..

The article.. to me anyway seems like simple form of anti-gaming Propaganda.. thats all it is

enter_the_zone · Jun 16, 2009, 07:41 PM // 19:41

Man, before they had games, they blamed TV, and before that movies and before that books, and before that they'd say "he had the devil in him".

It's the pathetically weak who are always looking for something to blame when these kinds of things happen. It could never be that maybe he was a bit insane and he just wanted to see how the wall looked decorated with his mothers brains, oh no, that's far too logical. It must have been something else, something outside him....because if it wasn't, then it was him....and if it was him, well then it could be anybody...and that terrifies them utterly.

KrisNaga · Jun 17, 2009, 01:13 AM // 01:13

As someone who has played games all my life and not once ever committed a crime I can say I despise people who blame games for violence. The people who use it as an excuse are what make me angry and there the ones who make me want to go on a violent rampage and kill them all.
However I can just take my rage out on my game and forget all about them, you ban games and just watch the crime rate rise.