Opinions Needed..Should Violent Video Games Be Banned?

[Metallover]

I've been thinking about this throughout the day.

It all comes down to the parents letting their kid play what games they think are acceptable for their children. Bad parenting is the cause of all the social problems which may be related to video games. It it up to the judgment of the parent to decide how much is too much time gaming. They need to decide if the games are hurting their grades or social lives. The parents need to push their kid to get a job and/or participate in extracurricular activities.

Legally, an age ban won't work. Kids will always be able to get games from older friends, siblings, and parents who play themselves or just don't care. Banning the games outright is one of the stupidest things I can think of doing. It would be like banning skateboarding everywhere because it is associated with drugs. And then if violent games are banned, you get the problem of enforcing it. Impossible. There will be a black market, like jerry said. There will be tax dollars going into enforcing the ban.

The economy would probably take a hit from the giant video game industry being crippled. A majority of gamers play first person shooters on major consoles, and I bet a majority of them would stop gaming.

About banning the games from adults,,, It's a pathetic idea. I'm liking the libertarian party's views more and more the more I learn about them. People should be able to do whatever the hell they want. If a 22 year old man would rather play video games than get a wife, so be it. There's a 4 year old boy smoking 4 packs a day in Idea and he's not hurting anyone but himself. My friend plays video games online with a drug dealer from New York who plays all day long in between sales. That is his choice.

[rant]
It pisses me off how the government and our politicians think they should control everything. They don't really care about the issue they just do what their supporters and party want. All they care about is satisfying their greed. How politicians can justify spending tax dollars on useless crap like bridges to nowhere and moth research museums dumbfounds me. National debt. What a ridiculous thing. "We don't have any money for our useless programs, lets lower taxes. While we're at it, lets start a long war and, instead of raising taxes, lets lower taxes even more! That's what we promised to get elected by the way.." Well before we get into high school, we learn somewhere along the line that you can only spend money if you have it and earn it. Our politicians, and the People in america, must have forgotten that somewhere along the lines. Darwin's theory isn't working fast enough, the dumb people have ruined the country.

An idiot could realized social security and medicare aren't going to work much longer and should be ended asap. Furthermore our government is corrupt with extreme partisanship. The republican party nominates the most conservative candidate and the democrats nominate the most liberal candidate. This has made our two parties polar opposites so they can't get anything done.
[/rant]

Back on the subject of games, I was playing Battlefield for a couple hours today after I cleaned all of the black Friday packaging out of my room. My dad said I should get out of the house, yet he didn't make me. I ended up taking an e-bike ride as snow will be on the ground soon. I think what he did is a good parenting strategy. He has expectations of me. If I would have spent the whole day on the computer, he would become more strict about how long I play. I have earned privileges through good behavior and video games is one of them.

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by Metallover

People should be able to do whatever the hell they want. If a 22 year old man would rather play video games than get a wife, so be it. There's a 4 year old boy smoking 4 packs a day in Idea and he's not hurting anyone but himself. My friend plays video games online with a drug dealer from New York who plays all day long in between sales. That is his choice.

Could care less about the guy with no wife.

Asscociating with drug dealers in any way is a bad idea... Unless you really need the drugs.

As for the 4yr old smoking, well he is polluting the air and that does affect others. Personally I would like to see him eat the 4 packs a day, and then be sealed into a small box (pot-o-gold?) and pushed down a mountain, like everest. Now that would be a good you-tube vid. I suggest we get organised to do this. I will have the pot-o-gold people deliver a porta-john to the smokers house, then arrange to have it air lifted to everest. All we have to do is force the kid to eat all of the smokes, nom,nom...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Metallover]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

Could care less about the guy with no wife.

Asscociating with drug dealers in any way is a bad idea... Unless you really need the drugs.

As for the 4yr old smoking, well he is polluting the air and that does affect others. Personally I would like to see him eat the 4 packs a day, and then be sealed into a small box (pot-o-gold?) and pushed down a mountain, like everest. Now that would be a good you-tube vid. I suggest we get organised to do this. I will have the pot-o-gold people deliver a porta-john to the smokers house, then arrange to have it air lifted to everest. All we have to do is force the kid to eat all of the smokes, nom,nom...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

That's great!

The ban won't stop violence. There has always been violent crime and there always will be. The ban could also make more violence,, Instead of Mexican drug cartels we'll have Blizzard, DICE, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch start an illegal violent game trade here in America causing substantial killings and deaths. That'll show the politicians who's boss.

[JThiessen]

Just a few random (rambling)thoughs:

1) Desensitization: Its real, and its been happening since the advent of media. In some regards its been an important part of our society, in others not so much. Do we as a society need to draw the line somewhere?

2) Parenting: Back in the 70's and 80's we heard the same things in regards to music and TV "Need better parenting, not more control". Now in 2010, I can see partial nudity on prime time TV, discussion of sexual acts that my parents would have no idea existed, and quite a few words that I would be appaled if my grand children used them (not that I'm an angel...). Children look at adults and watch what we do more than they listen to what we say (this is a lesson I learned firsthand, too late, from my own kids). Example: Our 18 yr old recently started dropping the F-Bomb with great frequency, while conversing with me. I told her to stop talking like that in front of us. Her response was why doesnt it bother me if her mother talks like that (wifey darling can talk like a trucker at times...).

3) It takes a village to raise a child. Yes, it does. The standards of society greatly influence how effective a parent can be. If underage drinking were considered an acceptible activity where you live, how hard would it be for you to keep you kids from doing it... Every different area has its own little "standards of living" that children/young adults quickly adapt to, and it is extremely difficult as a parent to guide them away from things you deem undesireable in that environment. I'd also like to know how many of you that state that "its bad parenting" have actually raised a child or two through their teenage years??? I'd bet I'm one of two on this forum. What I hear there (and in other instances where that is said) is that its not my responsibility to do anything here, somebody else fix this problem. I dont disagree with this in general, but at some point, we as a "village" must put our foot down and say enough is enough.

4) Censorship: Bad, Bad, Bad. But....Age restrictions do work in general. Generally speaking, you dont find many 12 year olds with an adult video library, or a beer fridge in the closet. So to say that age bans arent effective is short sighted.

5) I agree with Jerry on games being a general waste of time. We didn't have them in the house until I bought the PS3 for playing bluerays. I'll raise my hand when asked if I have also spent too much time on them. Its waaaayyyy to easy to find yourself sitting in the same chair after 5 hours straight (or more). I really like the approach the Wii brought to the gaming front - hopefully more family interaction and activity will help.

6) What did you all think of the recent bans on that "Loco" energy drink saturated with alcohol? Dont really care? Is that because it wasnt something you didn't care for anyway? Hmmmmm......food for thought there........
(ps. I have a personal connection to that recent situation)...

no, they should not be banned.


and to all the parents who think the video games are ruining their kids minds...umm yea please stop relying on letting the video games be the babysitter and assert yourself and learn to say NO