- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Posted by: TUI_Obi_Wan
I thought American children didn't have the same rights as an American adult? Seems to me from the way you worded your post that banning alcohol for people under 21 would be unconstitutional for example...I used to work at a 7-11, and if I were caught selling cigarettes to a minor, that would earn me a $5000 fine, and $50,000 fine for the company. So we were vigorously encouraged to ask for I.D. whenever a young looking person asked for smokes.
I think the problem with videogames is that they are being treated as quasi-hallucinogens, in the sense that they offer an alternate form of interactive reality. However, the truth is that videogames are more of a form of entertainment than drug. Now tying back to what you said, the Bill of Rights applies to everyone no matter their age, as does the Constitution of the United States. To limit a game developer's free speech is an infringement on their rights, in the most fundamental degree. The only way that it would be legally accepted to ban the sales of games(Mature rated, etc) to minors is if there exists concrete indisputable evidence to show the harm that videogames have and could cause.
Cigarettes and alcholic beverages are proven to be health risks to our "younger citizens," as they could deform a young childs brain, so that they would be no more intelligent than a fruitcup, and destroy their internal organs, so that their lungs would be the color of my GameCube (Jet Black...not purple). The threat of lung cancer, over intoxication, and ultimately death, are the primary reasons for the age restrictions for buying those products.
If you wanted to be the Jack Thompson of the debate, and argue that there exists evidence that links select mentally disturbed gamers with occasional episodes of insanity and violence, then your "evidence" would be highly disputed. It was once believed that if you played games that raised your blood pressure, you would be more prone to inflict violence on others. Unfortunately while Gears of War and GTA fall into these categories, so do Tetris and Pacman (and I would like for Jack Thompson to associate the violence of eating a flashing blue ghost and a pixelated strawberry, with crazy students who are overstressed and psychologically disturbed.)
If the employees at Wal-Mart, Futureshop, or wherever the hell people buy videogames faced big time fines and termination, they'd be a lot less willing to sell Gears of War to a 9 year old.
No doubt. Which is why parents should take an active role in restricting such games from..."immature" (for lack of a better term) children, who should not be playing these games. The problem is two-fold, where on one-side you have parents and associations who need something to blame all of their children's short-comings on, and on the other side you have the government wanting to take a more active role. Stores such as Wal-Mart and Gamestop should be legally protected from the ridiculous lawsuits, as they are not drug-dealers when they sell M-rated games, but rather the sellers of generally accepted entertainment. When the parents come home and see their child playing Condemned: Blood Somethin-er-other, do they just go, "We should sue Gamestop" or should they go "Maybe we should reevaluate our positions as parents with significant influence and moral authority over our child." I find the whole debate quite fascinating, but at the end of the day, I have to side with gamers on this one.
It's interesting to see that we have something in common, what did you think of Clancys latest book "The Teeth of the Tiger"? Frankly I found it wasn't up to par with some of his other works like "Debt of Honor" and "Rainbow Six". Hell, even "The Sum of All Fears" was better, and I can barely force myself through that book. I actually just started it this morning.
I was lucky enough to read an excerpt of the Teeth of the Tiger, and it seemed pretty good from those few twenty pages. I haven't had the chance to actually sit down and read many books that aren't on the curriculum, but I did manage to read Rainbow Six, Hunt for Red October and the more recent Red Rabbit. They were of course, nothing short of awesome. I also enjoyed Splinter Cell (which was written by David Michaels though) and Ops Center: State of Siege. In short, I'm a fan. If you can drag yourself through the first 300 pages, you'll find your reward in the last 300. Lol, in the mean time, I'm trapped reading "Waiting for Godot".
-Recoton007
P.S. Damn this post is long.
[Edited on 04.07.2008 5:42 PM PDT]