Presidential candidates talk video game violence
by Kyle Orland 
{ Dec 13th 2007 at 1:30PM }
Health care? Taxes? Immigration? Why do presidential candidates insist on wasting our time talking about such trivial issues? When will they address the questions we really care about -- the ones about video games? Well, actually, right now.Non-partisan, not-for-profit advocacy group Common Sense Media has quizzed some of the leading presidential candidates on a variety of media issues, video game violence legislation among them. Here's a quick summary of their views on proposed federal legislation limiting children's access to violent games:
- Senator John Edwards (D - NC): The ESRB and retailers are doing a pretty good job, but the FTC found that 42 percent of children under 17 can still purchase M-rated games, and that's too high. Publishers need to tone down the marketing of violent games to kids. If the industry isn't careful, the government "will need to consider further steps" to keep these games away from children
- Senator Barack Obama (D - IL): Video games should use technology to let parents restrict content [Note to Obama: they already do.] The rating system should be improved to make content information "easier to find and easier to understand. ... but if the industry fails to act, then my administration would." In any case, the government should spend money to study the problem.
- Governor Bill Richardson (D - NM): "I would consider this legislation," but it's really up to the parents. I'll give federal employees paid time off to spend with their kids.
- Fmr. Governor Mitt Romney (R - Mass.): I would enforce current obscenity laws to protect children from "a societal cesspool of filth, pornography, violence, sex, and perversion." I would "go after" retailers that sell violent games.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kassu @ Dec 13th 2007 1:39PM
Don't the god damn crackheads there realise that all they just have to make a few ads that say "Don't let your kid buy M rated games". All the parents would go ninja style on their kids and stop them from buying Manhunt 2 and stabbing a puppy after playing it.
Only guy who said anything reasonable was Richardson.
I am SO glad that no one here cares about the ratings.
NATO_Duke @ Dec 13th 2007 1:45PM
Oh yeah, he'll give fed employees time off to spend with their kids - that sure nails down a solution.
Any solution involving more legislation, spending fed (tax) moneys on lame rating systems, or any other plan are worthless - as is giving employees more time off. I fail to see how fed emplyees having a day off will change the games played by children in America.
Movies have rating systems, and games do too. We don't need further legislation on the issue.
Eric @ Dec 13th 2007 3:39PM
Richardson's response was decent, as long as you only read the first half.
"I'll give federal employees paid time off to spend with their kids."
WTF? Federal employees already get more paid holidays than pretty much anyone else. They also have, get this, the weekends, just like everyone else does, and... the evenings!
rv @ Dec 13th 2007 4:46PM
That wii article is really outdated- the revolution? Haven't heard that in a while...
gonk @ Dec 13th 2007 8:06PM
man i hope obama/edwards becomes the democratic ticket, the repubbies are fucking crazy
Aberu @ Dec 13th 2007 8:09PM
Yes, because spending MOAR money is sane. Wait no it's not. Vote Ron Paul IMO.
Sean @ Dec 13th 2007 1:41PM
And what is Dr. Ron Paul's stance on all of this?
LaughingTarget @ Dec 13th 2007 2:16PM
Just like everything else, Government has no business regulating video games. Waste to spend on it, especially when regulation of just about everything else produces nothing but expense.
pezman726 @ Dec 13th 2007 2:25PM
RON PAUL 2008!!!!!! He deserves more press coverage than he gets from the mainstream media!
Antonio @ Dec 13th 2007 1:43PM
Romney is typical, fearmongering conservative BS. But when the Pope sees gays as a threat to world peace, I guess it's not surprising.
Edwards and Obama sound pretty reasonable, as does Richardson, although his second sentence doesn't make sense. I'm sure Hillary can't wait to use video games as a punching bag to make her seem more centrist.
copa @ Dec 13th 2007 2:36PM
In related news, Rockstar Entertainment just announced their newest title.
Rockstar's Table Tennis: Societal Cesspool of Filth, Pornography, Violence, Sex, and Perversion Edition
Coming Holiday 2008 only on Wii.
Rated T for Teen.
Eric @ Dec 13th 2007 3:40PM
You're understanding of the candidates is amazing, somehow tying Romney to the Pope.
g.Park @ Dec 13th 2007 3:46PM
@Eric-
Both Christian nutjobs. What more is there to understand?
hvnlysoldr @ Dec 13th 2007 4:03PM
That technically the Pope who's the leader of the Catholics can't say he accepts the Church of Latter Day Saints, Mormonism.
AoE @ Dec 13th 2007 4:28PM
hvnlysoldr, you're splitting hairs. For the non-religious, ALL organized religions have their share of fear-mongering nut jobs. Who cares if the Pope and Romney don't respect each other's flavor of fanaticism? Antonio's point is still valid either way.
jopojelly @ Dec 13th 2007 5:20PM
My goodness, don't normal people use the internet?
(not at you Antonio)
ruibing @ Dec 13th 2007 1:43PM
Hmm I wonder what Colbert would have said, maybe something along the lines of...
"It warps the minds of our children and weakens the resolves of our allies".
LOL.
raptor @ Dec 13th 2007 1:48PM
I think they should do AOT of research before sayen any thing! And correct me if I am wron but PARENTS ARE RESPONDABLE FOR THERE FREAKEN KIDS!!!!!!
IF MY KID IS 15 YEARS OLD I WOULD NOT GET THEM ANY GUNS!
And If my kid was thinking of killing people becasue playen a video game that involves killing people. Then don't you think if that was the case If they playen cooking mama they would start cooking more?!??!? FREAK THIS! Stop bring this topic up! Its old and stupid and a waste of my TAX MONEY!!!!!! GOD DAMN IT!!!!!
brandon_r87 @ Dec 13th 2007 2:04PM
Yes, there are lots of games involving the use of English and even some that train you in its use, but as you can see raptor hasn't been out there "learning" it.
JonFitt @ Dec 13th 2007 2:35PM
It is ultimately the responsibility of the parents, but in a civilised society we allow governments to put in place laws that help parents.
It is illegal in most places to SELL alcohol to minors. Now do we say that shops should be allowed to sell to anyone and parents should be responsible? No.
I don't think that it should be a crime to sell games to underage people, but a fine on the shop is perfectly reasonable, and would ensure shops requested ID for games sales.
Of course this all hinges on accepting the notion that there should be an age requirement on games sales in the first place. But we'll assume that, like movies, society has decided that certain things have certain age requirements.
A 16yr old child is probably out of their parents' sight a lot and has money and so could quite easily buy an M-rated game and play it without their knowledge. If preventing the sale in the first place helps this, what's the problem?
Shagittarius @ Dec 13th 2007 3:29PM
Fuck Parents
Once you have a child you shouldn't be allowed to participate in a democracy anymore.
AoE @ Dec 13th 2007 4:30PM
@Shagittarius, agreed.
Slaziman (B-B-BRUSHED WITH FAAAAME) @ Dec 13th 2007 1:49PM
What's so goddamn hard about the rating system? It says what age the game is for and on the back it says the specific elements of caution in the game. How could that get any easier and understandable?
Ghen @ Dec 13th 2007 1:50PM
All that needs to happen is for the government to pass a law making the ESRB ratings mandatory or face a fine. But no, they'll either not do anything or they'll do the exact opposite and want to take over the entire rating system as a government entity.
Nobody ever does hotpoints like this on middle ground, its either zero or 100% overhaul.
NeverSage @ Dec 13th 2007 1:54PM
How come not one of them knows what they're talking about? Is this scary to anyone else?
Squeek @ Dec 13th 2007 2:40PM
Welcome to the U.S. Government.
Shmil @ Dec 13th 2007 3:30PM
because there are so many other fucked up things that they need to fix that no one really cares about video game legislation at the moment
AoE @ Dec 13th 2007 4:32PM
if this freaks you out NeverSage... well I've got bad news; their lack of understanding of the video game ratings issue is the tip of the iceberg. Multiply it across all other issues, and you've got yourself a presidential candidate.
AW @ Dec 13th 2007 1:58PM
I think it's common knowledge that Hillary has teamed up with Liberman and the infamous JT in the past in her stance on games.
Brello @ Dec 13th 2007 1:58PM
So from this, I see some of them blame the parents (correct response) and some want to "go after" retailers. Congratulations Romney, you fail at the constitution and want to run for president. Hope that works out for you, moron.
The only thing I could see changing would be the ratings system. Instead of "M", why not make them Rated "R"? Parents know the movie system, why not just put it on games as well? It'd cut confusion by a lot, and maybe these fearmongers wouldn't have so much to chew on.
theJmtz @ Dec 15th 2007 11:49AM
Video games don't use R or PG because when the initially tried, the MPAA sued them. The video game industry HAD to come up with a different set of ratings. I think most people agree it would be better if they were all the same.
g.Park @ Dec 13th 2007 3:49PM
Parents can understand the TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-14, TV-MA, etc system just fine, so they should be able to understand the even simpler E, T, M, AO.
Princess Skittles @ Dec 13th 2007 2:05PM
The problem is that M rated games are generally MADE FOR KIDS (teenagers, I mean). The rating is simply a CYA measure. If they start enforcing the ratings, a lot of these M rated games lose their target demographic.
LAWLS @ Dec 13th 2007 3:44PM
I don't see how most M games are made for teens. The only recent one I can think of is Halo 3. Plus, 17 is the cut off for the M rating which puts kids buying them juniors in high school. Where a kid gets $50+ to buy the games, other than his family, is going to be a job which they need to be 16 for. The parent is going to know what kind of games the kid plays by either them buying it for him, him talking about it, or just the parent "knowing"
JonFitt @ Dec 13th 2007 2:08PM
All I want for Christmas is MS to somehow come up with a system to refuse to play M rated games if you're under 17.
Halo/CoD4 would become a blissful squeaky-voiced-free paradise.
Purple Haze 619 @ Jan 27th 2008 10:30PM
HELL YES!!!
GRANTED @ Dec 13th 2007 2:16PM
Im leaning Barack 08, and this is a good example of why--well fleshed-out answers to questions. He can afford to describe his plans in detail because they ARE LOGICAL.
raptor @ Dec 13th 2007 2:20PM
Hey brandon_r87,
Tough guy over the internet. But I bet your mommy doesn't let you play with games does she?
But Hey its not about us here. Its about rating system and your losing your rights as an American and not knowing it. "And I hope it feels so good to be right, to point out the short comings of others. Is there?"
{Clerks}
sicsided @ Dec 13th 2007 2:40PM
I believe he was responding to your post as it was ironic that you talk about research and going over things yet you didn't go over your own comment to check for spelling.
JonFitt @ Dec 13th 2007 2:40PM
Please try reading your comments back to yourself in your head before posting.
Think: does this actually make any sense?
Korova @ Dec 13th 2007 2:24PM
Edwards FTW. He basically said this is a non-issue, but if called on, he is going to do something reasonable.
Romney is just scary, like an out of control ignorant a-hole scary.
Mr Khan @ Dec 13th 2007 4:38PM
Another edwards supporter, i presume?
It always seems like he's the only sane guy in a pool of idiots (ok, huckabee is sane too, but among the pool of democrats)
ForcedSterilizationsForAll @ Dec 13th 2007 5:21PM
Huckleberry sane? Are you sure you're talking about the correct Huckleberry? This guy is crazier than Romney. Hell, I'd rather live under a Cuban dictator than Huckleberry.
Synner @ Dec 13th 2007 6:08PM
Yeah, don't forget that edwards once channeled a dead baby through himself in a court of law. The hallmarks of any sane person.
ozzzy @ Dec 13th 2007 2:37PM
The ESRB has been spot on for almost a decade now even on GTA San Andreas; the back of the box says "Strong sexual content." The thing is it's up to the parents to decide if their kid is "Mature" enough to handle a game, not the government.
All current-gen consoles restrict usage based on the ESRB, PEGI, BBFC, USK and other ratings boards. If anyone cared about what their kids played they'd RTFM or not purchase the game to begin with. For those under the age limit if you can buy the game with your own money, then you are mature enough to handle M rated content.
Ron Paul is the only candidate so far that hasn't bashed video games for political points. He's got my vote.
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 13th 2007 2:59PM
I love the idea of Ron Paul's policies. I just know that, even if he got elected, none of them would ever get implemented. Ron Paul as president would rack up the most Veto's of any president in history, because the house and senate would constantly be wanting to spend money, and he'd constantly block it.
The only way to get libertarian measures passed is to vote for libertarian CONGRESSMEN. Its the house and Senate that make law, the executive has little to do with it.
Synner @ Dec 13th 2007 6:10PM
It's too bad libertarians have the whole "fringe" stigma. People are too afraid voting for anyone but the douchebag republicans or socialist democrats will be wasting their vote.
JonFitt @ Dec 13th 2007 2:47PM
I agree. Edwards has a reasoned response backed up with some data (accuracy unknown). It seems he actually knew what he was talking about!
I'm glad Romney said what he said though. It helps me single him out as a Thompson-esque lunatic who all gamers should pray never holds any political power.
Gangsta Smurf @ Dec 13th 2007 2:50PM
pLOLitics
Raptor @ Dec 13th 2007 2:54PM
Whatever Kids....Sorry I don't feel like proof reading.
Ok Kids...I have to go back to work now. Enough of this bull. If you feel the need to make fun of people take it to kids site. Not Important topics like losing your rights. But what do you care. You get every thing handed to you by mommmy and daddy.