Why do Canadians want to ban EVERYTHING?

Fascist EUtopias allways turn out bad.

It might be a bit different if it only effected the player. The main effects aren't only the perpetrator (although you can argue for their "victimhood" as well) but the trail of shattered lives and futures they trail behind them. The victims of violence never chose any of it.
So all the sorry parents out there have circumvented the age restriction policy the industry set up. Short of sterilizing and storing gametes for later invitro fertilization after said parents have graduated from parenting school; what, if anything can we do to limit the effect on preteens and early teens?

We can continue to make and sell games that people want to play, and the GTA series has been wildly popular and there's been what? A handful of cases that allege that GTA is behind it all? How many MILLIONS of people own and play those games daily without ever having these "homicidal tendencies"?

Conservatives often times like to let the single bad apple spoil the entire bunch. What I mean by this is of course, those few exceptional people who just can't hack it in society are held up as the examples as to why the other millions of people enjoying the same experience can no longer do so because "they can go postal at any moment!"

I hear people talk about "the game industry being responsible for minimizing possible triggering scenarios that games may create". I happen to live in America and believe whole-heartedly in the right to freedom of speech as it applies to any and all things. Of course, an industry-wide standard would not technically count as censorship, unless you consider the fact that it won't be the actual game studios accepting these standards, it will be the publishers who oppress those games and studios that do not fit their paradigm by stifling their ability to actually put the games on shelves. So what we're left with is a bunch of Disney and Harry Potter (oh no wait, magic's bad too I forgot!), okay, so a bunch of Disney games lining the shelves, afterall, even such games as the CSI series depict graphic crimes that could be seen as possibly suggesting a method for would-be criminals to attempt to commit "the perfect crime".

I agree whole-heartedly with the others here who have said, as I said when this post was still just a litte, one-pager and I the second to respond, games can only unleash something that's already within the person. If they are 16 or 18 and you people actually believe them when they make a claim like "the video game (devil) made me do it!", well, who's the real fool? Them, for believing that what they saw in a video game could be real in the real world? Or you for actually buying such a load of crap and actually turning a sympathetic ear to their cries of the evil game-industry!

I think the answer here is clear, that's my two cents, something to chew on,

Vopisk

I also don't understand the application of zero tolerance and selective observation, especially as it applies with scapegoating video games. Isolated incidents get treated like they're an epidemic waiting to happen, and a lot of scare and paranoia follow. Well, zero tolerance implies 100% flawlessness, and as humans we cannot achieve that. Really, how can we expect to follow zero tolerance laws? We get frivolous lawsuits because of human error, well frivolous lawsuits themselves are a human error...in reasoning. Banning products for a trivial cause is a lazy way to cover up human error.

Banning is pretty much ineffective. I don't care how low the drek, there will always be someone producing it and another someones buying it. I'm reminded of the "games" the aryan brotherhood once made available on their website.
Can something within the game be done to discourage taking it into the real world? There are all kinds of disclaimers etc on the wrappers but is there something that could be worked into the game itself and still retain the overall entertainment quality?

I think any "in-game" reminder of the fact that the people are playing a game, will be as ignored as the FBI copyright law warning. It may get read the first few times, but after that, it's a nuisance. Of course, there may be something there, seeing as I know darn well it's highly illegal and stiffly punishable if I do go and make blackmarket dvds/vhs tapes and sell them to people.

Perhaps that is what is necessary, a few seconds of annoyance is really not all the bad IMHO if it keeps the debased stupid people from doing the stupid things that they're likely to do anyway.

My two cents, something to chew on,

Vopisk

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Original post by Vopisk Perhaps that is what is necessary, a few seconds of annoyance is really not all the bad

Alright, so we have an immediate assumption that there is no in-game way of discouraging undesirable behavior that won't be annoying? We've got a whole community of would-be game designers here, could we perhaps try to do better than that? Can we discourage undesirable behavior in a non-annoying fashion that doesn't break the player's immersion or disrupt the gameplay experience?

Would more realistically showing the effects of actions perhaps be a method worth exploring? What if I can see the distraught family of the boy I just gunned down? How about having similar things happen to characters that have been friendly to the PC throughout the game; if you seem to be acting too violently would seeing a 'friend' be victim to such behavior potentially help to give the issue more perspective?

I'm sure there are plenty of potentially viable methods, the trick is thinking them up, and deciding when and where they're appropriate.

Movies have, for decades, shown violent characters who are traumatized by their actions. (For recent examples, see Munich - excellent portrayal of this.) Why not do the same in games? In real life, most people who commit a violent act (usually a "crime of passion" as they're called) are powerfully haunted by it for the rest of their lives. Reflecting this in a game setting could have some interesting effects.

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Original post by ROBERTREAD1 Why do Canadians want to ban EVERYTHING? Fascist EUtopias allways turn out bad.

What an utterly stupid comment. But, I'll excuse your ignorance based on your low rating.

It doesn't matter what country you're in... in fact, I heard America has more lawyers and activists who hate these games more than any other country in the world. I don't know if that's true, it's just what I heard.

How ironic, last night on the news it stated a horrible car crash that killed a man. This car crash was caused by two drivers (young men) who did a street race. Funny thing, on the main suspect's carseat was a videogame! Need For Speed. There are a lot of idiots out in the world who get too warped by things. That's why I'm making my point how games are a trigger. They might not... well, generally cause it all, but they surely are a huge trigger.

We could compare ourselves to the great Roman empire. I think we've come a long way from throwing people into a pit and forcing them to fight to the death to fulfill our bloodthirsty desires. Now we just press the 'ON' button...