US Senator Introduces Legislation to Study Games, Violence Link
The senior United Stated Senator from West Virginia, Democrat Jay Rockefeller, introduced a bill Tuesday night that would instruct government bureaucracy to study links between games, media, and violent behavior in children.
Rockefeller said in a press release on Wednesday that the bill, if passed through both houses of the US Congress and signed by President Barack Obama, would direct the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a “comprehensive study and investigation of the connection between violent video games and violent video programming and harmful effects on children.”
“Recent court decisions demonstrate that some people still do not get it,” Rockefeller said in his statement. “They believe that violent video games are no more dangerous to young minds than classic literature or Saturday morning cartoons. Parents, pediatricians, and psychologists know better.”
As proposed, the NAS would have a year and a half to conduct the study and report its findings to Congress, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission. We should note the bill only orders the study, and does not appear to have any other legislative effect on regulating the video game industry or other media.
“With respect to violent video games, NAS must look at whether current or emerging aspects of games, like their interactive nature and the personal and vivid way violence is portrayed, have a unique impact on kids,” Rockefeller explained,
The Senator joins an increasing number of politicians seeking regulation of “violent” games and other media in response to the horrific elementary school shooting last week in Newtown, Connecticut. What’s more, reports indicate the National Rifle Association, one of Washington’s most powerful lobby organizations, intends to point a finger toward games and media in a press conference scheduled for Friday. For their part, the Entertainment Software Association, the lobby supporting the games industry, has not said a word since the mass shooting.
“Major corporations, including the video game industry, make billions on marketing and selling violent content to children,” Rockefeller argued. “They have a responsibility to protect our children. If they do not, you can count on the Congress to take a more aggressive role.”
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Um… Rockefeller? That mass shooting was done by an adult, not kids. There is a noticeable age difference.
Granted, there are violent kids out there, I’m sure. The solution? Tell ESRB to fix their idiot rating system!
Yay. Another pointless, idiotic, confirmation-bias riddled “survey”. What are they going to do when it becomes clear that no amount of confirmation bias will prove them right? Probably nothing, considering how obstinately ignorant they remain.
Hmmm
So the NRA wants to blame video games too…? “Guns don’t kill people, video games do!”
Honestly, I don’t know what Rockefeller intends to find in another one of these pointless video game studies. He is talking like video game companies are practically drug dealers and they are pushing crack onto young children… how much more regulation is the games industry going to have to go through? The ESRB may not be that effective, but it is in place, so if parents are really concerned about what games their children are playing… maybe they should read the box and, you know, be parents for a change.
@Gnat1
Because it’s just another proxy battle against video games as a whole hiding under the banner of protecting children, their dream is have them hidden away like porn. They also see the video game industry as a whipping boy to use to promote themselves to voters as caring about the family so it doesn’t matter to them that these laws never pass, despite being a billion dollar industry they have no balls and refuse to work together to combat these thugs making them easy targets.
@rriillyy
Video games and voice chat contrary to popular Internet Message Board belief did not invent homophobia and is imprinted on children at that age but their bigoted parents and spreads like a virus to their social groups in school. You also blame video games for a trait promoted by our very own government after 9/11, that trait is jingoism which many forms of media have exploited for decades.
And you should very much be considerate of this harming and censoring of a form of “art” because it would impact every form of media as a result in ways you can’t imagine. Wishing it to happen because you simply dislike these generic shooters is as petty as it gets. You aren’t crazy as much as you are probably terribly misinformed and close-minded.
Well well well…whadddya know…another Rockefeller using his money belt to shift his lawful weight around. Ya know…It looks to me like they’re gonna start treating the video game industry just like how they treat the Cigarette industry lmao….this should be rich. Lets see what these OVER PAID morons come up with this time. I have one maddening theory on this… Guess what folks…THE GOV’T JUST FOUND A NEW WAY TO PAY FOR THE NEVER ENDING DEBT CEILING!!!(TAX REVENUE) DOES ANYONE GET THE FEELING WE ARE BEING SET UP AT THE EXPENSE OF INNOCENT LIVES BEING LOST?
*I mistyped, I meant to say “are what’s causing the more violent tendencies in teenagers” and in the next part, it was supposed to read ” when it comes to the all of the violence behind all of the incidents more recently involving just children” what I meant by that is stuff like a teenager nearly killing his friend because he lost at some game.
RATINGS.
THE FREAKING ESRB RATINGS, DAMMIT.
HEY! GUYS! Listen, it’s completely unfair to rant on the government to do this! I mean, what they’re talking about is 110% legit!
I mean, it’s not like there’s an age rating on the cover of every single game for more than a decade! Pff…I mean, yeah right, like that ever existed, right guys?
Seriously, parents need to stop letting their kids play CoD at the age of 5. It’s irresponsible and stupid. Apparently, the gov. can’t realize that this is the only problem, not the games themselves…
I do love how the whole base of this argument is essentially, “The corporations have a responsibility to protect our children.” Oh, certainly it’s not a -parental responsibility-. It’s Hollywood’s responsibility to keep kids from seeing their R-rated flicks, it’s the magazine company’s responsibility to keep kids from seeking out their adult material, and thus, it’s the -gaming company’s- responsibility to keep kids from playing their games crafted specifically for people 18 and over. /I had no idea/.
Seriously, though, do people -ever- think about the words that come out of their mouths?
Finally, I will see the end to games promoting sleezy, diabolical content in them such as the Grand Theft Auto series that is the pinnacle of this garbage in today’s gaming market…
Opps! Did I just say something?
*Runs for cover from enraged, manical gamers who, unknown to them, are proving their point through their violent response*
@Hifihedgehog: I’m not saying that I support the content shown in games like Grand Theft Auto, but it’s not necessarily the games themselves that are the cause of the crap we see in the news nowadays. If parental figures and guardians are too lazy or stupid to check the age rating on the bottom of the damn box to make sure it’s appropriate for their kid(s) to play, then that’s not the fault of the company, it’s the fault of the person who bought the damn game.
None of this shit would have to happen if fucking 10 year olds didn’t play Call of Duty all day long. I’m fine with violent and gory video games but age ratings are there for a reason.
@Hifihedgehog
If you’re going to join the discussion and want whatever you say to actually matter then leave the stupid role play crap out of the comments
This has already been done before and it failed. It will most likely fail again.
But I will say this:
Say whatever happened to white people being insane? If this guy was black people would say if it was gang related, if he was arabic he would be a terrorist. Like this is seriously pissing me off! Why do we as a socity have to blame other random bullshit? Why do we have to blame it on video games, comic books or violent music?
I say ENOUGH of this bullshit! There is the ESRB, if you want to know if a game is violent then LOOK AT THE DAMN BOX!
For godness sakes the same thing happened to the comic book industry in the ’50s and it has still not fully recovered even today! So let’s stop this meaningless assinying shit! Let’s start blaming insane assholes that shoot people instead of random shit!
Man it felt good letting that out.
No, I know that most of the folks here do not fall in the category of those who play GTA because, of course, this is a Sonic the Hedgehog video game site. I hope that I did not hurt your feelings but games as this one need to be thrown into the dumpsters nationwide to avoid corrupting young minds. I do feel this way and do not change my stance on this position no matter how hurtful it may seem to you or anyone else on this site. Case closed.
However, I recognized that the underlying fault is in the home as I clearly explained in a random rant a few articles ago. I said that the breakdown of the family is the problem with our society as it has been throughout history in countless civilizations. I then drove home the fact that if families on their own accord–not from government intervention which would never make any meaningful progress on any level or in any degree–realize this and start taking responsibility for the rearing of their children, then these tragedies simply will not happen, but that it is very unlikely that most people will realize this until it is too late.
@Hifihedgehog: “Corrupting young minds” my ass. Like I said before, if parents allow their kids to get whatever game/movie/album/etc. they want regardless of if it is appropriate for their age range or even their mental state, then it’s the fault of the parent/guardian, not the company who made the game.
If another shooting massacre breaks out, God forbid, and people end up pointing fingers at, say GTA 5, then I’m going to call bullshit. The person who picked up the gun made a pre-meditated decision to go on a killing spree–he didn’t have to. Nor did he have to buy the “oh so violent vidya gaem” that people say pushed his berserk button.
I was about 9 when I started playing GTA. I am 20 now, and I never had any problems. I know right from wrong. I’m not going to go out and shoot a bunch of people, because I played GTA at a young age. My older sister loves GTA, other violent video games, and guns, now she’s a police officer. It’s not the video games, the guns, or the media that do these terrible things, it’s the people.
“They have a responsibility to protect our children”
Fuck. You. Protect your own goddamn children.
You are all proving my point. Yes, murder is as much of choice as it was anciently, its popularization in the media has been a cause of its exponential increase. I did not expect many people to side with my stance as I mentioned because this is more an age of moral relativism than any other where infringing on the basic inalienable rights is included in that scale. It just adds insult to injury to see the government using this as a chance to take away our right to bear arms little by little to meddle in civil morality and remove freedom from the people at large. Unfortunately, the people have chosen to entertain themselves with this form of behavior and then gradually and stagnately become unaware of the effects of this form of behavior on the group of murderers among them. Meanwhile, I do not see how we as a people can continue in safety when it condones crime in its entertainment, especially when its police force are even supporting it. Granted, so many variables are coming from so my moral issues, all downward from their safe and stable norms, that it right for us to be concerned yet confused.
To recap, the natural result of this modern madness is from (1) the failure of the familial unit of society and (2) the moral whirlpool of the media.
So we agree and disagree. lol
@Hifi
“games as this one need to be thrown into the dumpsters nationwide to avoid corrupting young minds”
By that logic, people shouldn’t be allowed to have sex, because a kid could walk in on it. People shouldn’t be allowed to own guns because a child might find it. People shouldn’t be allowed to use curse words because a child might hear it. Fucking please.
There are already established preventative measures for keeping kids away from adult content. If their lazy inattentive parents aren’t utilizing those measures and, you know, doing some actual goddamn parenting, that isn’t the game’s, developer’s, or soceity’s fault.
Whether you like that content or not, this “it’s for the children” mentality is complete and utter bullshit.
^ This. So very much.
@Amuro & ChaoticFox
Love you guys. I was coming in here to say pretty much the same things, keep fighting the good fight.
Also, whoever said the ESRB isn’t that effective (too lazy to look and see who), what more would you have them do? I mean the only thing they don’t do that the movie rating industry does is be regulated by the government (they regulate themselves). Hell, an AO game can’t even be made anymore because no storefront will sell them nor will any of the console manufacturers support it (I think they all have a policy to turn down AO games for license).
@Skai
What was kinda stupid about the AO rating in the first place was that it was 18+. M is 17+. A bit redundant.
I will skin the cat one section at a time by beginning with the idea that media and morals do have a correlation to each other and do have an effect on the society to which they pertain. As you state that a society’s choice of behavior is uneffected by its choice of games, you then mean that we both differ in philosophies of morality as far its roots of development are concerned. As stated, we both are well aware that family is important in that choice for which we do not need to reaffirm the position or else we are just beating a dead horse in that regard. However, I affirm the idea that anyone of any age who plays games that visually promote criminal behavior with elements of drug usage, blood, gore and so forth have a detrimental impact on their behavior in one form or another no matter how minor or major its impact. Because of this fundamental difference between you and me, we cannot continue this argument unless you have a strict moral system which, as your comments regarding drugs and violence suggest, is nonexistent in your case as in the case of most individuals. However, many as myself see that abstinence of some things in full, as drugs and violent video games, and self control in others, as sex until full legal marriage, as the only appropriate way to handle these matters and enjoy life without unnecessary weaknesses or restraints upon their thoughts and feelings.
So I offer a final comment that is worth reflecting: How has your choice of reading material, music, television, and Internet sites effected your thought process and emotional state from the beginning to now? If you have been lenient in any area of those and believe it has not had an effect on your clarity of mind and your relationships with other people, let me offer you a personal experiment: Go a month without one of those things which are traditionally and conservatively considered immoral, replace it with something which would logically take its place, and keep a daily journal of the results of a few key areas of measurement. For example, you could go without alcohol, replace it with water, milk and natural juice, and record your results such as your job evaluations or academic grades and the number of days without arguments and disagreements with your spouse, siblings or children. Then repeat it and measure the results with the original variable and see if there any positive or negative response to it. Besides that, there is no more to say…
@Hifihedgehog
Stop spouting bullshit, please.
Guys, I just need to say that arguing about this crap is completely pointless.
Everyone here has shown great points, but must we bash and argue with each other about a topic as childish as video games?
Come on, guys. Let’s face it. Most people will be laughing at you about this arguement.
Can we just get back to the topic?
Violent games SHOULDN’T BE A PROBLEM. Everyone get that?
A dude performed a freakin massacre at a elementary school. And the Government blames it on videogames.
Now, I’m no philosopher, but I’m sure violent games aren’t hypnotizing todays kids to go shoot people.
And now that I think about it, WHY THE HECK IS THIS ABOUT KIDS??? The guy who killed all those innocents was old enough to be an adult. Kids (and their videogames) shouldn’t be blamed for mass shootings.
There is a real solution: The school needed armed guards. Instead of bashing games, why don’t we just give our schools armed guards?
Trust me, if that school had armed guards, the only dead guy would be the dude who killed 20-some kids and teachers.
@Hifi
Everything affects your thought process. But violent media can still not affect your mind as much as talking to another person. Children learn the difference between fantasy and reality before they can talk. The concept banning or censoring violent media as a scapegoat to protect minors has happened numerous times in history.
In the 50s comics were seen as violent, disgusting material and most comics later were heavily censored. The medium did not rebel untill the mid 80s
In the 80s violent music was thought of as devil worshipping and was heavily fought against, luckily that industry was not damaged.
And now we have video games, has the argument changed? Nope it’s still the same bullshit argument that parents use so that they don’t have to parent.
@Hifihedgehog
Pretty high and mighty there aren’t we. You basically just said “If your morals are even slightly different than mine, you’re a devil worshipping heathen.” More people have been killed by overly pious and holier-than-thou thoughts like that any amount of ‘immorality’. You know, I live by pretty much those exact standards, yet nothing pisses me off more than people who demonize those who choose to live differently (within the law).
I like GTA.
We are in the age where we have no time for our family. We don’t have a time to prepare our meals, we will rather buy a ready-to-cook. We don’t have time for anything, we just want everything to be automated. So we believe, that raising and education of kids can be done automatically. Just send them in the school. Every day, they will be more educated in how to make friends, behave to each other, math, languages and so on. So we believe that if everything is taken care of, everything must be perfect, without risks.
“Go my kids, enjoy this show, I believe that you will be educated by it without my intervention. I will just read this paper… Oh god, this show is awful… my kids said a word they would never ever heard in their life if not for this show! I won’t sit idle while this garbage can get in the hands of my children!”
And that’s it. Parents think that we should create a world completely isolated from everything spoiled and this will allow them to no longer fear that they need to talk with their children about things they do not want to. We want to make the human development process so automatic, that we no longer care for the individualism.
It’s the same like in the past times. Don’t say that children never want to play Indians and Cowboys with guns. But back in those times, we had more time for them.
Uggh, this again? DX