Virginia Tech, Suicide And World Of Warcraft
By William on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 1:09 AM PST In Gamer Life, Games, World of Warcraft
Last month, a Virginia Tech student was found dead in the Target parking lot of the Christiansburg, Virginia store with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. His name was Daniel Kim, a 21-year old senior at the university. Unfortunately, some individuals have already started making assumptions that somehow his death was related to and possibly caused by gaming.
After doing a little research, I discovered that gaming is actually the one thing in his life that gave him a chance to live. Daniel was an avid Warcraft player who had developed numerous friendships playing the game over the past couple of years. The only warning signs that he was on the edge came in the form of emails sent to the university from various WoW players who were concerned for his safety. Unfortunately, little action was taken from the warnings and as we all know, Daniel Kim is now dead.
This was an unfortunate and probably preventable tragedy. It’s also unfortunate that some people will try to blame games when gaming may have been the only positive thing going on in his life. Online multiplayer games have a social aspect that the media simply does not understand. You create bonds with people you have never seen in real life. When it’s the middle of the night and there’s no one to talk to in person, there’s always a gamer somewhere online who will talk. When things are heavy on my mind, I often fire up the Xbox 360 and play some “big team battle” with my Halo 3 friends. I’ve never met any of them in real life, but I consider them true friends. I think one of the major problems with the media right now is that they simply do not see the overall kindness and generosity most gamers have in their hearts. As gamers, we do talk a lot of smack, but that’s honestly part of the fun. In the end, I truly believe that most hard-core gamers are good people with kind natures.
To be honest, I can’t objectively tackle the subject of video games and Virginia Tech at the same time. I was enraged that people such as Jack Thompson blamed the April 16 massacre on gaming when I was there and I saw what happened. I lost a good friend that day and I suppose that makes me take these media attacks personally. When you see large collections of lifeless bodies lying in pools of blood, you just don’t think of what to blame. There are more important issues at hand. Perhaps the media is simply too far detached from the reality of life to understand these tragedies. It did not surprise me that some people are voicing their opinions that gaming was somehow behind this recent suicide in the Hokie community.
Daniel Kim was an avid World of Warcraft player. He didn’t leave much behind in life. The only clues come from the traces of information from his instant messenger and Warcraft files. He left a cell phone behind with many numbers in them, but no one really knows what happened. I’m sure he’ll be missed by his WoW comrades. It was great that some of his Warcraft friends made attempts to contact the university asking for someone to help him. I think this situation shows how video game communities often care about each other more than we realize. It’s just a shame no one followed up on the emails the way they should have.
you know who I blame for articles like these?
video games.
We’d never have articles in defense of video games, if there weren’t any video games.
also, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.
yeah I guess that’s right. It really sucks that we have to defend video games, but it’s all part of the media game. I think the gaming media really needs to voice their opinions on the subject whenever possible. I really have no clue what the right answers are.. the media battle that takes place over almost every subject gets old after a while, but it has to be talked about.
In fact, Cho, according to the Washington Post, was an obsessive player of Counter-Strike in high school. The effects of these games are LONG-TERM, not just short-term, as the scientific evidence proves.
Also, the hard drive of Cho’s computer was never found, so you have no earthly basis for which to say that he didn’t continue to play violent games. None. His suite mates had no idea he had weapons in his room, either.
So you can be as enraged as you want about the link between violent video games and what Cho and others like him have done. Go rage at a full moon as well, convinced that it is Satan’s orb to raise the seas.
Next time, before you post such a silly set of assertions, actually read the medical, scientific, and law enforcement research. It establishes, irrefutably, the causal link between violent games and acts of violence.
So sue me. Jack Thompson
The link between violent games and acts of violence is extremely casual at best. The entire argument around gaming causes violence is pointless. The argument more or less is one that completely removes individual accountability from the factors. And believe me, I know more about the VT investigation than most of the public. I have also researched the topic to a great extent. There is not one single valid scientific study linking playing violent games to acts of violence.
When it comes to individuals who commit horrible crimes like Cho did, there are hundreds of factors that helped push him over the edge. His family life, his mental illnesses and social factors had the biggest impact. If you want to talk about media influencing him, you can mention the Columbine coverage as a very big factor in his decisions, so are you going to blame the news for covering news?
The Washington Post articles on Cho are mostly misinformed. I was actually shocked at how off the press was with this entire event. The misinformation flying around was astounding.
To blame gaming for violence is like trying to blame cars for drunk driving. It makes no sense.
You really can’t base information on news reports fully these days anyway. I recall on the evening of April 16th when I finally got back to my apartment, numerous news shows were reporting that there was more than one shooter.
You really can’t trust the news these days. You have to go to numerous sources and sort out the facts.
To be honest, at this point there really haven’t been enough in-depth reports on this subject to claim that your point is valid. The few studies that have been done are extremely casual and not scientific.
Acts of violence tend to be brought on by dozens and hundreds of factors and games are not even close to being on the top half of the list.
Can someone provide links to these misleading press articles? I’ve never heard of the gaming connection with Kim until just now. (I heard he made friends through WoW, but nothing as stupid as a connection to the suicide.)
And, William, I remember the same thing from April 16; but it was the POLICE that were saying there may be more than one shooter.
the police never said that. It’s standard procedure for police to sweep for a second shooter whether there is one or not. The press just ran with misinformation.
Dear Neanderthals: The American Psychological Association has established a direct causal link between violent video games and aggression. What is your counter source, a Ouia Board?
Cho’s high school classmates said he was totally into Counter-Strike. Again, what is your counter source, his ghost? Grow up.
The APA has not established a direct casual link between violent video games and aggression. Their findings were a correlation link, not casual. Go back to high school science class and re-learn some things.
There is a huge difference between correlation and casual.
Causal basically means that one thing caused another. That has never and will never be established. There is a relatively minor correlation between video games and violence, but it’s at the tail end of a very long list of things.
I’m the “moron?” GamePolitics, which was lying about the APA’s only establishing a correlation, not causation, contacted the experts on the Commission that issued the report, and they confirmed that the link established was (are you ready?) “causal.” Honestly, if you gamers can’t read, then put down the controllers, step away from the game platforms, go back to school, and get a real education. The link established is causal, not correlationial.
Duh…
For every study that one side cites, there is another study that directly refutes it. There has been no proof of causality, only theoretical ‘connections.’ I doubt we’ll ever see a study that can definitively provide the answer one way or another.
Citing studies as your sole source of proof isn’t enough. I can commission a study that shows that everyone in the state of California would prefer to be turned into an eggplant, but that doesn’t make it fact.
It’s human nature for someone to look at something they think is horrible and make a imaginary link between that thing and something else horrible. Everything that we know so far about violence and violent video games are assumptions.
@Fake Jack Thompson it is also human nature to hide behind the guise of a more known entity. You are not Jack Thompson a real lawyer would not call his opposition Neanderthals and say duh.. to make a point. But i guess Jack Thompson is not a good lawyer.
i truly doubt the REAL Jack Thompson would appear here, but if you are, sir you are a real jackass who like most lawyers in this crooked world was trained to talk out his own ass!
Come on people! Don’t feed the Troll anymore!
Sadly, the true Thompson has been known to communicate via this site, and read it. And ‘bella’s advice is the best I’ve read in a while. LOL !
I like pie
Immediate News Release – January 24, 2008
Grand Theft Auto IV to Be Released April 29; Culture War Begins Now
The sociopaths who run Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., announced today that their Grand Theft Auto IV video game will be released April 29, 2008.
Take-Two shares have jumped approximately 12% today on this news. What the market is not factoring in, however, is the downside risk coming Take-Two’s way with the sale of this “Mature” game to kids, which is a murder simulator for violence against women, cops, and innocent bystanders. Brain scan studies at Harvard, Indiana, and Michigan State Universities prove kids process these games in a different part of the brain than do adults, and this neurobiological differential leads to copycatting behaviors, as the American Psychological Association found in 2005.
The Federal Trade Commission and private groups have found that roughly 50% of the time Mature-rated games are sold to kids of all ages who want to buy them with no parent in sight in brick and mortar stores. Indeed Best Buy, Wal-Mart, GameStop, and even Toys R Us are this very day all selling Grand Theft Auto IV via the Internet to anyone of any age with no age verification whatsoever prior to its April 29 ship date.
Take-Two is in fact pre-selling Grand Theft Auto IV directly at its own web site today with no age verification to anyone of any age, despite what will be the game’s “Mature” rating.
Miami attorney and anti-violent video game activist Jack Thompson will, in the days and weeks ahead, be contacting state and federal officials to stop the improper sales of Grand Theft Auto IV to anyone under seventeen years of age, as any such sales violate state and federal fraudulent and deceptive trade practices statutes. Indeed, Thompson has today contacted Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who has supported Thompson’s efforts in the past.
Dude, please.
The amount of shit going on in the world that we can see and hear in the media, the amount of shit we can read in the papers and talk about with others, the amount of shit we experience as kids and adolescents is the root of evil. Dont just forget that and say “oh yeah, he played games. that is what killed him”.
It so short sighted to say such things and then expect others to accept and respect your opinion. The fact that you are a lawyer is even more of a concern, it means we live in a world where everyone can become everything without even being able to think logicaly for himself.
It’s pure ignorant of you to place a blame onto something you actually dont know, simply because the subject you’re talking about died with the person involved. If you didn’t speak with the case subject and debate the issue on all levels, than your opinion is biased at its best.
So, please, accept the hint the other poster said. Go back to school.
Thank you.
in FPS games when i am about to end a playing session i do about 5 suicides for kicks. like in oblivion i’ll kill everyone and aggro every guard there is, or in half life 2 i’ll jump off a cliff in front of alyx (OMG that’s so mean!).
but ah, i will never ever ever ever EVER off myself. video games don’t make me want to replicate what i’m doing in the virtual world. this is the real world. and there are real consequences. why can’t these damn conservatives leave people alone? if i ever become a billionaire, i’ll buy several islands for them to live on, far, far away from society. wouldn’t that be nice?
Wow. I love how ppl look at video games and see like cod4, OMG HE SHOT A GUY. get over it you know how many gamers there are and how many so called “related” deaths there are? That number is probably lower than many issues, how many drinkers and deaths are there, if u wana say video games are making violence and should be taken care of you are a freaking idiot. Look around you and stop pointing fingers at something that like many of us said, making assumptions and false statements about. We all have played CS or wow, are we now murderers and beat up old ppl? But now were frowned upon by the media cause were gamers and were so dangerous cause were now violent. Games dont bring on violence, if ur parrents beat u when u were little then ur going to be screwed up the rest of ur life. IF you play games later in life and then kill someone after being beaten, what does the finger get pointed at? I mean really its blantly obvious that games are entertainment and those who take them serious, are either biased or have mental illnesses.
As soon as one of you gets a Ph.D. in psychology and does a longitudinal study to rebut what the APA, the largest association of psychologists in the world found about the causal link between violent games and agression, let me know.
You e-tards here have gone from saying “There is no APA study” to saying “Oh, we don’t agree with it.” Make up your mind. And in the meantime, put down the games and do your homework. You might actually learn something useful instead of wasting your lives on games. How sad. Jack Thompson (I do know Jack and you don’t)
Are you really him or just some stupid fuck?
E-tards? Really? Bad choice of words……let the flames begin……
And if you are not him, you do a great impression of the ignorant fool…..
Wow, this Jack Thompson troll is really a dick!
So I assume he’s just a plant by the website to get conversation going right? No one could inadvertantly be that much of a cock bag. Excepting Ann Coulter of course.
We need to do our homework and get a phd? Yo dickhead, why dont u get ur mind out of ur own ass cause thats where it seems to be. Why dont u actually pick up a game and play it and then tell us it makes u want to hurt someone. IT DOESNT. Go back in ur think tank u dumbass
DPK, no he’s not a plant.. he’s real.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(attorney)
the APA also has well-known studies implying that children are more aggressive after watching Sesame Street.
This so called cultural war against violent video games is nil. We do live in America and do not need the government regulating us any heavier than they already do. I firmly believe in keeping violent games away from young children, but it’s mostly adults playing. If kids are playing, it’s because their parents are buying it for them. That’s not our problem and shouldn’t be an industry problem. That’s a parenting issue.
@DPK: Wow, that’s a great idea. I wish we were witty enough to plant our own Jack Thompson, but as Shawn said, he is the real Jack Thompson
Also, I’m not sure if you have been to a GameStop, Wal-Mart or Target (the 3 places I tend to buy games) but when they scan M rated games, they are instructed to warn you that the game is rated M, etc. And they will not sell the game to children. I think the rating system we have is fine. If parents are going to buy it for their kids anyway, shouldn’t that be an issue with them and not with the rest of the responsible gaming world?
Jack Thompson is a fucking dickhead and needs to either learn about what he attacks, or go die in a hole.
Kind of funny Jack says don’t waste your time on video games when he clearly wastes his time with obstreperously asinine comments. I also fail to see why you are on this site, when you are a crusader against these video games. Either you seek attention for the hell hole you come secluded to, or just are just undoubtedly stubborn. How about you drop the mouse and make better use of your time. (e-tard, how silly.)
I never understood what’s Jack’s position is….does he want to prevent children from buying M-rated games, or ban M-rated games altogether?
To be honest, I’m all for keeping kids away from buying M-rated games, but to treat us all like unstable-minded people who can’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy, I have a BIG problem with that.
I just wish people would look at World of Warcraft and go “OMG HE STABBED A GUY!” (which by the way, is a far more violent crime than shooting..).
It’s the only game, in which I wish there was a real large boycott of, because it has been (by misuse of it’s users) a life destroying force for many people.
Perhaps video games, in some instances can cause violence, because if I had access to the WoW servers, I’d destroy them.
Kirby, his position is certainly confusing at times. Most of the conservative rights who are strongly against video games and other forms of media tend to use children as the excuse to go against things. It’s fairly well known that a majority of gamers are males in their mid to late 20s so I’m not sure how gaming is even an issue about kids. There are always cases of parents who purchase adult themed games and movies for their kids, but that really isn’t something we can control. Bad parenting is bad parenting.
There were mass shootings and violence long before games were invented. This is just an old debate that shifts it’s focus onto whatever the new hot topic is. It went from comic books to radio to movies to television and now the emphasis is on gaming.
So does thompson have a doctorate also ? Because if I need one to know that the games I’m playing are turning me into a savage killer, wouldn’t he need one to know that he’s not doing a very good job as a lawyer attacking law abiding citizens (gamers)? And who deemed the people at Take-Two as being sociopathic ? Thompson ? A friend of his ? The guy down the street ? You would think a lawyer would be wary of slandering people in a news release. This does nothing to instill a feeling of trust and credibility towards you jack. M games to kids isn’t right, but neither is attacking a community for the legal passtime it partakes in.
ok let’s end this jack Thompson Bull Shit.
he’s just trying to make a name for himself by using all this Anti-Video Games crap to get himself on the news, internet and any other form of information viewed by the public.
really the guys just trying to feed the Super massive Black Hole of an ego he has
just take heart in knowing that all the people like jack who didn’t grow up with video games and who don’t understand them and think there a threat are on there way out. and soon people like us, the gamers will be in the seats of power and all of this “games teach people to kill” nonsense will be gone. i believe that day is close at hand my friends so just wait.
our time will come.
goon165, Gamer for life
Dear Goon165:
First of all, nice name. It says it all.
Secondly, nobody, and I mean nobody, takes seriously nor should they take seriously, a bunch of cowards who rant and rave about this or any issue anonymously. The signers of the Declaration of Independence had the courage to put their names on the document. I use my name. You e-tards hide behind avatars because you are cowards, and cowards change nothing but their underwear.
As to my not knowing anything about video games because I have not played them: I have played them. And anyone with a brain and a moral compass is appalled by the sale of GTA to ten-year-olds.
That is my issue, because neurology proves that such young brains are more easily molded into more violence-disposed brains. If you can’t understand and won’t understand that, then the retardation induced by the games is obviously patent. You’re then Exhibit A.
Jack Thompson
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
January 25, 2008
Bill Gates, Chairman
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, Oregon Via Fax to (425) 93-MSFAX (936-7329)
Re: Full Corporate Responsibility
Dear Mr. Gates:
I have read with great interest your speech yesterday to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/wef/article3248455.ece .
As a Christian, I applaud your and your wife’s long-standing adherence to the Biblical imperative to provide for the poor.
Allow me to note another Biblical imperative from the mouth of Jesus Christ:
“If any of you should cause one of these little ones to stumble, then it would be better for you that a millstone be tied around your neck and that you be cast into the uttermost depths of the sea.”
Microsoft Corporation participates actively in the practice of marketing and selling “Mature” video games to kids under 17 years of age in the United States. Right this moment, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, GameStop, and even Toys R Us are selling your company’s Mature-rated Microsoft XBox 360 games at their Internet web sites to kids of all ages with no age verification whatsoever. Further, the United States Federal Trade Commission has proven that Mature games, including XBox 360 games, are being sold roughly half the time to kids of all ages in brick-and-mortar retail store chains across the United States.
Microsoft is a member of the Entertainment Software Association, which aggressively lobbies and litigates for your company’s alleged “right” to sell ESRB-rated “Mature” games directly to children with no parents involved in the transactions. This sleight of hand by which your company says it supports age restrictions on the sale of Mature games while at the same time flouting the age ID system, constitutes, in my and others’ legal opinion, a clear violation of state and federal “fraudulent and deceptive trade practice” statutes. I have alerted certain law enforcement officials to this fact.
At http://www.microsoft.com, you and your company proclaim your Corporate Responsibility:
“As an industry leader and the world’s largest software company, Microsoft has a responsibility to act as a good corporate citizen in every country around the world. Whether it is complying with local laws and regulations, demonstrating ethical business standards, mitigating risks to the environment, or protecting human rights, Microsoft is committed to being a global leader in corporate social responsibility. [emphases added]
Using your own above words, Microsoft has an obligation to be a good corporate citizen “in every country,” and that includes in the United States where an ESRB age game rating is supposed to mean something. “Complying with local laws” includes fraudulent and deceptive trade practices statutes that prohibit companies from saying one thing and then doing quite another in the marketing of their products. One of the “risks to the environment” includes the celebration of violence and misogyny in our pop culture environment that glamorizes killing cops, beating women, and killing innocent bystanders just for the fun of it. There can be pollution of kids’ minds as well as pollution of their water and air. “Columbine” is not just a school. Finally, one “human right” is the right of a parent not to have corporations, including yours, marketing and selling adult products to their kids behind their backs.
Why is all this important, as a matter of public health and safety, that Microsoft stop participating in the marketing and sale of adult video games to children? Because hard science—brain scan studies at Harvard, Indiana, and Michigan State Universities—shows that kids process violent games in the parts of the brain that lead to copycatting behaviors. This neurobiological differential between teen and adult brains is what undergirds, scientifically, the video game age-rating system that your own industry and your company routinely violate.
With great respect for all you have done for others but with an eye toward what you can and must yet do, I implore you, as Microsoft’s Chairman, to tell the video game industry that Microsoft will henceforth not tolerate industry practices that result in the sale of “Mature” XBox games to American kids under seventeen years of age. You can impose this stricture with the stroke of a pen. Any company that violates this stricture will be denied your products. This is not censorship. This is voluntary corporate responsibility.
Finally, I would humbly suggest that you cannot credibly fund international charity with corporate profits secured by harming children here at home.
Corporate responsibility, like charity, begins at home.
Regards, Jack Thompson
Copies: Media, others
What ever happened to parents being parents, it sounds like you want the government to change our diapers and feed us with a spoon. Hence the stores should follow the law on not selling mature games to minors, but it’s parents fault for not confiscating the game from the child if he did somehow bought or received a mature rated game. Also for your unnecessary avatar comment is the fact it’s common sense not to use your real name everywhere on the internet, I don’t think I have to explain to you why either.
Pft, those no-life nerds, I pity them. Get a life and stop killing yourselves!!!
Re parents being parents: Pay attention: The whole issue is whether stores should sell Mature games to kids when their parents are not there! I have a fifteen year old. I would be very upset if Best Buy sold GTA to my son without me there. Deal with it. That is the issue, not your silly fake issue of parental responsibility. We’re talking about corporate responsibility.
I applaud Jack Thompson, unlike FOX broadcasting he has hard facts and has an good understanding of what take place in these games. I also agree with the fact that games like manhunt, grand thief auto, counter-strike, and even halo should not be sold to minors at least without their parents presence. Corporations who profit off violent video games like manhunt, grand thief auto, counter-strike, and even halo, should take responsibility and require an ID check on games being sold to minors.
Now before any of you judge my opinion understand I am 21 years old, I have a 7 year old little brother who visits me on a semi-regular basis. I would not under any circumstance allow him to play Manhunt for example while under my watch. Manhunt is about “Snuff” films, films of people dieing for the sexual or otherwise pleasure of sick human beings, that alone is just cause for my little brother not to play that game. I’m sure put into my situation any of you with a moral state of mind would do the same. (Also for the record I do not own manhunt, but found it a good example due to the extremeness of the content counter-strike and halo would also be fine examples for other reasons.) Am I the bad guy for doing this?
Jack Thompson is right in his effort to stop the sales of these games to minors who don’t have the parental or otherwise protection from these types of games. Yes I think it should be the parents responsibility but time and time again we are shown that they do not pay attention to the games their children play, I’ve played with countless underage players on Gears of war alone and Gears of war is a fairly graphic game.
regards,
The Bad guy
Mr. Thompson,
I agree with your concerns regarding corporate responsibility but is regulation of commerce the only aspect of this fight you want to engage in? For this argument - against the exposure of young gamers to mature subject and content - to succeed you surely must see that it necessitates a two pronged attack. Have these games made harmful impressions on people who did not have the skills (regardless of physical age) to cope with the content and stimulation? Certainly. Reason says that is likely the case. Do the majority of consumers favor censorship of this content? Likely not as the market’s growth and positive sales trends say that the majority of buyers for games are not children, they tend to by young adults (male and female increasingly) who are turning to games of all sorts with the same love that past generations have embraced literature, radio and television as their entertainment form of choice. Are blind attacks against corporations and demands of censorship in keeping with the foundations of American liberty? Will demanding the sales of “objectionable” games not happen because the content could potentially be viewed or played by those inappropriate audiences? I’m not so sure.
Corporate education is a necessary step toward protecting our impressionable youth, and I won’t speak to the outlying societal issues related to other media here, but without parents involved and informed and doing their jobs to educate and direct their children this issue can not practically be resolved. Maybe companies have a responsibility to help parents make good decisions in their purchasing from a societal respect and maybe they have not done enough so far but I see that trend changing because of people like yourself who are crusading to make people aware that games are not strictly childs play.
However, you seem to be (and pardon me if I’m mischaracterizing your position here) placing all the imputus on the creators and vendors of these titles. The fact remains the consumers are also an issue and so long as we exist in a free market society where consumers can choose which products to buy, and continue to support products like these with their money then I dare say the market will provide them, possibly rightly so.
I think in your passion for your cause you may have mixed two very different goals together and diluted your results. You seek to protect our youth. I completely support that, but you also seem to attack those who enjoy the entertainment provided by these games, the general consumer, for supporting products containing content you disagree with - and I’m referring to those who should be allowed by the standards of our society to enjoy them.
I see so many parallels here between this and the Comic Book Code Authority movement in the 50’s and the anti-rock-n-roll movement as well. This is a new entertainment form within our society and we have to find a level at which we can ensure the basic freedoms of the consumer while defending those society decides are not yet ready to be exposed to it.
I know you are walking into a lion’s den every time you post on a forum like this or do an interview with an audience that are staunchly pro-games. I respect that you don’t expect to be heard fairly or reasonably by some members of these game communities but I think you’d find that many of us agree with your principal argument (if I got it right), just maybe not your approach or your methods.
A recent poll done by the ESA itself, which was inadvertently released to the public, found that 65% of the American people want the federal government to criminalize the sale of mature video games minors.
I have won the fight for the hearts of the American people, and your side has lost.
It’s extremely rare for a store to sell a MA game to a minor. When it happens, the store should be brought up on charges. The kids who are playing the MA games have someone of legal age purchase them, and that’s not really something that can be taken care of easily unless you want police departments to set up sting operations in every little town and honestly the police have bigger things to worry about.
It’s kind of like beer and cigarettes. There will always be a few adults who purchase those items for kids, but you can’t punish the rest of us for the deeds of a few derelicts.
I agree with Shawn’s comment about the fact that it’s not right to attack the typical consumer. I’m all for keeping MA products out of the hands of kids, but regulation simply will not solve the problem. The games are already rated.
JT, I have no problem with criminalizing the sale of MA material to minors. I actually support that myself, but I do not support the notion that video games cause violence.
Criminalizing the sale of ‘M’ rated video games to minors is an unnecessary interference by the government in the free market. As Shawn said, there IS a market for these games, and therefore they will continue to be made. We all know that retailers are doing an increasingly better job of regulating the sale of these games; however, the onus is not on the retailer.
The vast majority of ‘M’ rated games that end up in the hands of minors are purchased for them by their parents. The same is also true of ‘R’ rated movies, the big screen counterpart to the Mature rated game. Why is this the case? Simple. Many parents today are not aware of the content of these game,s because they simply don’t play games, or don’t follow them that closely.
When little Johnny comes home and tells his mom he wants a new game, in many cases she’ll go buy it for him. After all, the Playstation (or XBox) is a great babysitter. Then, once Mom sees the content of the game she’s bought (think Manhunt) she’s outraged, and wants someone to blame. The unfortunate truth is that she can’t see that the only blame in this situation rests squarely on her own shoulders.
Luckily, retailers (at least game specific retailers) are learning this, and are encouraging their employees to point out ratings and what they mean to parents purchasing games. That’s the beauty of a free market - it regulates itself. Don’t we have better things for our tax dollars to be used for than to help prop up the ego of a parent that made a bad decision? I think we do.
Tell your libertarian fantasies to Ron Paul while you’re both high on marijuana.
@Jack: Is that really your rebuttal Mr. Thompson? No wonder Judges don’t take you serious. If you want to discuss topics of Mature games, then I would at least expect you to act like an adult who can handle mature topics.
BTW: Marijuana is an illegal substance. So for you to condone the use of an illegal substance really makes me question your credibility sir.
Dear Moron: Of course it’s an illegal substance. Adult entertainment material sold to minors is done so illegally as well. That’s he point, e-tard, which is why libertarians like you are irrelevant.
Jack, why are you on this site about gaming and bashing Take-Two? I thought the lawsuit brought against you by Take-Two makes you unable to insult or try to discourage people from buying their products? Right there in your post about Take-Two, you call the people who work there sociopaths, what’s that for? They have done nothing to be called sociopaths, the people who work there have no choice to work on the game they are assigned to work on. Though the question I would like you to answer is why Grand Theft Auto? Out of all the games that are out right now why this one particular game?
Also you should answer quickly because 6 news posts from now and this topic will not be on the front page, how about you create a forum thread to continue this discussion?