'Video Game Decency Act' returns

Hmm...Maybe the guys who made 300 should have watched the movie the whole way through before giving it an R. No way it didn't get NC-17. It's way worse then most video games.

Man, I can't stand these guys, even when I don't live in the states. I mean, just look at their faces: "Douche". That's what comes to mind.

Why do they all look alike? Senator Lieberman, Jack thompson, this guy Upton, TV guy Bill O'Reily, Brownback, George Bush (both of them), some random reverend and Mel Gibson of course.

Not that I really like any game related law, but it can't hurt to make developers tell the truth about what's in their games.

Playing a game all the way through doesn't solve the problem of hidden content. Hidden content is stuff in the source code that can only be accessed via hacks and brought to life via mods. A company would theoretically have to submit their source code to be sowered over by the ESRB. This would drastically increase the time from finished product to available product, and could threaten the game industry.

And Hillary Clinton. She looks just like O'Reilly.

I know that the knee jerk reaction to gaming bills is "These guys are idiots; they don't know what they're talking about", but I have to say that I see nothing wrong with Upton's bill. The way I understand it is that it seeks to avoid another Hot Coffee incident, which fine by me. If it'll keep the press from hammering the gaming industry, I'm all for it.

The gaming community needs to learn to pick its battles. Are people really going to lash out about Upton's bill? I say give them something so they leave us alone for a while...

There is nothing decent about that man's toupee.

Hipple - The problem with that is that it turns over the regulatory capacity for judging what constitutes "hidden" unrated content in games to a bureaucratic, mindless entity which will be pressed to continually produce "results" (in the form of fines or prosecutions) to guarantee its future funding. Bureaucrats want future funding to secure their cushy jobs, so even questionable cases such as modded reskins by third parties - a minor reach from the mod that enabled "Hot Coffee" in the first place - fall back upon the games producers themselves.

It has chilling effects on the industry, most certainly in the sense that it could potentially render the very act of game-modding (which adds limitless content and thus value to most games which would otherwise grow stale) a developer-threatening and thus developer-restricted deed.

Isn't Brownback the same douchebag that hates gays and is trying to get a bunch of politicians to sign the "I hate gays" list in Washington?

8. Isn't Brownback the same douchebag that hates gays and is trying to get a bunch of politicians to sign the "I hate gays" list in Washington?

Posted at 11:33PM on Mar 20th 2007 by Zach
**************************************

i hear he also wears womens panties.... yup he's a panty wearer

Not a bad idea....
Oh wait, it's a fucking horrid idea.
1. If the proposed bill is saying what I think it's saying, then the video game producers would have to submit their code, which not only would delay the game, but would have the greater potential to have the game pirated by someone with a bit o knowledge on how to code.

2. Politicians are looking to get re-elected, and video games just happen to be the #1 target at home. The real people to get pissed at are the hyperprotective parents who buy a kid a video game without looking at the game's rating, reading what the game is about, or even (god forbid) playing the game themself before they let their kid play it.

3. As stated before, playing a game "all the way through" isn't at all indicative of what may be unlockable through achieving certain goals in game or through hacking.

Wow, some people need to just chill out a bit. He's proposing that companies get punished for trying to hide content which doesn't belong in the rating bracket they received.

Played the game through is a dumb idea, Brownback's an idiot, but making the company be honest is only fair.

I'm sure buried deep inside the legislation there's some things that I'll disagree with, but as for this main point, sounds fair to me.

If you buy your kid a game rated E, you expect everything in the game is truly rated E. You shouldn't be able to name your pokemon something special to be able to watch Ash and Mindy hump. (You usually have to pay extra for that sort of thing)

Oh noes! It's so awful that these people don't want other people to hide trash in games for their kiddies to find.

What's even worse, some people think that people who sell mature-rated titles to minors should be punished.

HOW TERRIBLE!!!!

Honestly I don't really care about this bill, I think this guy needs to have a better understanding of how games are made and how the "hot coffee" fiasco went down. But like some other posters have said already, there is nothing wrong with keeping developers honest regarding content in their games, hidden, unused, or otherwise.

I suppose my biggest issue is why parents don't have any issues allowing their kids to play one of the most violent games to date, not to mention the drug use and whatnot. But then are completely up in arms when it depicts two consenting adults having sex... does this seem at all backwards to anyone else? Why is it in America we are so scared about allowing our children to see nudity and sex, things that can be normal and healthy, but allow them to view depictions of murder, drugs use, and crime? Sorry to go off on a rant but as a former employee of a video game store I can honestly say this is how parents react! Parents would come in all the time to buy GTA for their kid and I would warn them about the violence and they would always be like "no big deal, they see that on tv, blah blah blah". But the second they found out they could pick up prostitutes, (which I obviously agree is bad as well, although it doesn't show a damn thing in game other than the car "rockin"), they freak out and say their kid can't play that garbage.

Anyways, representatives should bare in mind that video games deserve the same first amendment rights that every other form of media enjoys. /end rant

So whatever... and stuff! =P

Remember the major reason you don't see M rated games that often in America... Wal-Mart. They are the largest game retail outlet in America and have said that they will not stock games with an M rating. To me, I think this bill could push more games into the M rating, thus making them harder to sell, thus, less profitable, thus, companies will not make them.

I can see both sides of this. If I bought a Barbie type game for any of my young nieces (all under 10) and all of a sudden they unlock Uzi toting Barbie, or Crack Whore Barbie, I would be upset (as would their parents). Luckily, games pointed to very young children usually only go into potty humor in their risque parts. I would say that the games pointed to teens go into worse (drugs, death, and sex).

Speaking of those three, yes, most people get all in arms once sex is portrayed, especially homosexual sex (two same sex characters kissing for example which is just horrible, terrible, the end of existence as we know it of course unless it's lesbians because the straight white males in charge love lesbians... As a gay male, that is something that really pisses me off but that's another topic, I'm done ranting.) Anyway, sex in general is treated as the ultimate taboo and should never be spoken of or seen or heard or learned about or practiced. But, it's ok to take a chain saw and cut someone's head off while being covered in blood. That's good family fun. It's the same way in the movies (sex trumps violence) so I don't think it's going to change any time soon.

Ok, to wrap it up, if they pass this bill, they need to look at more than sex but look at violence as well and if this passes, I could see video game content converging into a "safe and boring" zone where they are mostly the same, taking few risks for fear of an M rating and banishment by Wal-Mart.

Ummm, I finally bought my copy of Manhunt from Walmart a few months ago...

So does the video game industry recieve so much bullshit from politicians because the [video game] companies don't make HUGE campagin contributions, like the movie industry does?

The only thing that's bad as politicians harping on dead horse-controversy is the journalists that get spun like tops.

This isn't a controversy. "Hot Coffee" wasn't an issue beyond reigniting some lame politicians swing vote constituency.

What's funny about this subject is that since it's hit the news feed on every video game and coin-op trade publication and website in the past month is that there isn't a single lobbying group to feel crossed by it. Why? Because there isn't any need to be. This bill is basically the same thing as laws against mail or wire fraud, which I believe the SEC is in charge of anyway. Why does the FTC need to be involved?

It's just got the charge of an anti-video game legislation to peacock it's appeal to voters. These politicians aren't in search of justice and wholesome values. They're about orchestrating witchhunts.

I'm no conspiracy theorist, but...who cares?

My apologies for any failed attribution of points previously stated.