Comments on: Politicians lash out at video game industry

Some call for greater action by companies to prevent explicit content from getting into minors' hands.

[Batotahell]

Who will protect us from Government numbskulls?

At what point did the Government decide that video games are more dangerous than hurricanes which have destroyed a city, or terrorists which have destroyed lives? This is just one more example of how out of touch our supposed "representatives" really are. Parents should be responsible for monitoring what our children have access to. As a parent I choose what my son sees and plays. I do not rely on a government full of people who cannot govern their own lives, much less the well-being of our country, to decide what my son will be exposed to.

[RGarrard]

Welcome to the nanny state

I get real tired of people telling me what to do "for my own good".

Citizens need to lash out at politicians

These folks just throwing up anything to get reelected this Fall.

http://www.techknowcafe.com/content/view/484/42/

Citizens need to lash out at politicians

These folks will support anything to get reelected.

http://www.techknowcafe.com/content/view/484/42/

[unknown unknown]

They have nothing better to do...

than try to be the parents of America's kids and create a nanny state from the twisted visions in their heads. Of course I suspect this is little more than an attempt to make themselves look good for elections.

[crayton3]

Elections Ploy

This is simply an ploy for congressmen to get there name in the paper for being "against the corruption of our youth" through violent videogames. This is also an attempt to get on the good side of older voters and parents who may not be familiar with videogames, and scare them with talk of Grand Theft Auto and other games. If you actually look at the issue, video games has by far the best rating system out of any entertainment industry. If there needs to be more legislation on entertainment it should be violent movies first, as opposed to violent video games.

[Axiomatic13]

Hypocrites

These politicians are HYPOCRITES. If any one of them has read a fiction book or gone to a summer blockbuster movie, they are just as guilty as us gamers. Violence in movies and video games is an escape. Its the viewers chance to experience something they would not normally do in the real world or is too dangerous to actually do in the real world.

I agree with the other posters, this is election time grandstanding and needs to be categorized as such.

I've written my letters to my congressman, have you? Get on it!

[C.Schroeder]

Deeper issue

The entire enterainment industry (not just game developers) needs to take to heart the suggestion that violence in entertainment (whether it be active in a game or passive in a movie or song lyric) can cross the line from free speech to hate speech. We need to be asking ourselves WHY is it desirable to virtually experience "something they would not normally do in the real world" for some types of activities? One can reasonably argue there are some experiences that if you find them desirable, virtual or not, it probably indicates your personal moral/ethical compass is distinctly out of alignment. Persons with a strong religious grounding refer to these desires as "sins."

It is because the enterainment industry is not addressing this question itself that politicians are getting spooled up. I agree that heavy-handed government regulation is not a good answer. That said, I also believe producing an entertainment product of dubious character and stamping it "mature" is not a good answer either.

[cocob2]

Why just games ?

By these arguments, they should also make it illegal to sell an R rated movie to children under 17 as well. Let's see how that flies with the movie industry. The ratings are already there. Make the parents do their freaking job