Texas may require sex offenders to report gamertag
by Justin McElroy 
{ May 6th 2009 at 4:00PM }
The bill, HB 22, is next headed to the House of Representatives and (should it pass there) will move on to the Senate.
In other news, internet video game blog Joystiq.com was given a Golden Giraffe award for avoiding low-hanging fruit and writing the entirety of the "Texas may require sex offenders to report gamertag" post without a single cheap joke. They'd like to thank their mothers, and God.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mr Khan @ May 6th 2009 4:03PM
Doesn't the photoshop disqualify you from making that last claim, Justin?
Lekko @ May 6th 2009 4:04PM
8 year olds dude
Doombot (zuburi) @ May 6th 2009 4:09PM
Joo don fuck... With the Chessus.
Markez @ May 6th 2009 4:06PM
Bill HB22 authored and introduced on the house floor by Rep. xXHaXXoringUPedos42069Xx
carmaction @ May 6th 2009 4:11PM
Wait, I live in Texas. Crap.
Peter Moore @ May 6th 2009 4:16PM
Are... you a sex offender?
Markez @ May 6th 2009 4:19PM
He probably is. So if this passes that means that between the 2 of you, that'll be 2 less campers online in Halo matches.
The Artist formally known as Jesus @ May 6th 2009 4:22PM
I'm feeling nervous now, can all sex offenders please report themselves on Joystiq?
Josh @ May 6th 2009 4:42PM
Why?
xGeneral DEATHx @ May 6th 2009 4:50PM
Gotcha.
carmaction @ May 6th 2009 5:03PM
I play Killzone 2. Well, by 'play' I mean hang out and talk.
Saria the Cat @ May 6th 2009 9:54PM
Well, some people might call this much sexiness offensive.
Adam Archer @ May 6th 2009 10:26PM
A/S/L? :D
aristokrat @ May 7th 2009 11:59AM
I'm taking the 5th.
Erluti @ May 6th 2009 4:16PM
I feel like this is a good idea.
Jack @ May 6th 2009 4:58PM
A good concise argument. You have convinced me.
Erluti @ May 7th 2009 9:13AM
I wish my endorsement of an idea convinced more people of stuff!
Faar @ May 7th 2009 9:57AM
I suppose it's a great idea if you want a country where you never really pay off your debt to society, but rather continue and be punished on and on for the rest of your life for a past transgression.
Funny that the US considers a penis more dangerous than a gun. To my knowledge, nobody's ever suggested MURDERERS turn in their gamertags to the gov't, or be part of national databases, not be allowed to live in neighborhoods with potential victims and so on and so forth, like the law already requires sex offenders to do.
Apparantly, this is what happens in a morally constipated society...
Erluti @ May 8th 2009 10:14AM
I feel like molesting a child is a difficult "debt" to pay off?
Admittedly there are a lot of weird corner cases on the sex offender thing. Like how a streaker (don't get me wrong, they are being obscene) is in the same boat with a rapist. And we also live in a culture that endorses promiscuity and then blast an 18 year old for sleeping with a 16 year old.
And murderers who are intentional about murder (not crime of passion types) or people who murder regularly are usually locked up their whole lives, if not executed. I don't see the case where that guy gets to move back in as your neighbor. And if someone commited a crime of passion they are still locked up for a while. But when they are released they generally interact with adults who should be aware of people they spend time with and able to keep themselves from dangerous situations.
On the other hand... pedos don't get locked up nearly as long. And they prey on children, who may not know what they're getting into before it's too late. Also, the internet is easy street for pedophiles getting in contact with kids. And I think it's way important for parents to be involved in their children's life and be aware of what they are doing and with whom. That would involve tracking a kids online activities. And being able to check a screen name of someone in a pedophile database sounds like a useful parenting tool.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ May 6th 2009 4:16PM
good luck with that....its FAR to easy to create multiple online identities...
the only one that MIGHT work for is XBL cause they have to pay to have multiple Gold accounts...at the same time....some of the WORST offenders will spend hundreds of dollars on candy and ice cream so why not do the same with XBL accounts...
**Shakes Fists at TV** Curse you Law & Order: Special Victims Unit!!
Doombot (zuburi) @ May 6th 2009 4:29PM
Spend hundreds of dollars on candy and ice cream?
Are you insinuating that Gabe Newell is an online predator?
stupei ace defective @ May 6th 2009 4:37PM
Sure, it's really easy to come up with a new ID but if it becomes part of the LAW to identify yourself then anyone caught could theoretically be breaking the terms of their release, right? Kind of stupid to risk prison over a few cheap thrills on Live, but I guess thinking things through isn't something a sex offender would generally be known for.
THE Ezio Auditore de Firenze (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ May 6th 2009 5:30PM
that was the burn of the century. good job, zuburi.
jondastunna84 @ May 6th 2009 4:17PM
hmm I can actually see this law passing. What do ya think?
iusethisforjunkmail @ May 6th 2009 4:18PM
NO MORE QUINCYING FOR YOU!
jondastunna84 @ May 6th 2009 4:21PM
well on PSN that is easy to fix all you gotta do is do write down the serial number of the console and do routine checks on it and its accounts
Mike Santos @ May 6th 2009 4:28PM
This is the funniest caption ive seen in weeks
Candyman :-P @ May 6th 2009 4:29PM
This is silly. If sex offenders are so much of a concern to the point where they need to report of all things their gamertag, then just leave them in jail.
Ordeith @ May 6th 2009 4:39PM
You can end up a sex offender for streaking.
Or urinating in public.
Among other things.
Some are dangerous, some are not.
The law is too broad IMHO.
The Dark Wayne @ May 6th 2009 5:41PM
that's true ordeith, I saw a TV show one time, oddly enough I think it was a sitcom, where the new neighbor was a sex offender and the whole neighborhood was afraid of him and his wife until the main characters went and talked to them and found he the guy had just had sex with his girlfriend (now his wife) on his 18th birthday when she was 17
Saria the Cat @ May 6th 2009 10:25PM
Well, I'm one to argue that it's not so ridiculously easy to become a sex offender that the majority of them are harmless people. That said, there obviously has to be a better line drawn between dangerous sex offenders and the obviously harmless ones.
Kevin @ May 7th 2009 2:37PM
I have a friend who ended up on the sex offender registry - he was 18 or 19 and slept with his 16 year old girlfriend, at his girlfriend's house, with his girlfriend's mother's blessing. Maybe questionable decision making by the girl's mother, but still you'd think this wasn't a problem. The girl ended up pregnant, and when her father found out he had my friend arrested. He's been on the registry for years because of it.
No Kills @ May 6th 2009 4:38PM
"Hey you sound cute. Send a pic"
*Received*
"Oh god."
"By the the state of Texas, I live in Texas and my gamer tag is No Kill Tayler. And I'm a sex offender."
This is a joke if you don't catch it.
Mr. L @ May 6th 2009 4:41PM
I can just see it now. To Catch A Predator is gonna be taking things online in the future. Chris Hansen is going to be setting up rooms and sending out party invites left and right. Sex offenders, beware invites from xXTCAPXx!!!!
xGeneral DEATHx @ May 6th 2009 4:53PM
Time for Mr. ESC to break out his Chris Hansen avatar again.
butaneko @ May 6th 2009 4:55PM
It would be pretty rough if they banned them from all online networks. Just disabling their voice and text communications would be good enough? But I guess Sex Offenders have friends too. I know, friend codes!
uncle jesse @ May 6th 2009 5:05PM
Yeah, that would be rough. They should really go easier on convicted sex offenders.
AirIntake @ May 6th 2009 6:19PM
They should, because the list of offenses that can make someone a sex offender is hilarious and overly broad.
dubbfoolio @ May 6th 2009 5:00PM
mmm... texas justice!
Dragod @ May 6th 2009 5:17PM
Because it's totally hard to get a new gamertag, especially one of the three free 1-month trials that come with each new Xbox... This is an amazing idea.
In A World (XBL) @ May 6th 2009 5:22PM
What if you just rape people in Gears of War 2? Can we ban those people? Pleeeeeaaaaase? I'm tired of getting raped.
JAmerican @ May 6th 2009 6:51PM
Xbox Live will have a File Complaint (Got PWNED/RAPED!) section now.
tenor77 @ May 6th 2009 5:22PM
I believe Chuck Norris is the answer to all of our problems
PJags @ May 6th 2009 5:26PM
We so need another Predator..
I mean the movie Predator...
Michael @ May 6th 2009 5:32PM
If they try and ban them how exactly do they intend to enforce this? It would mean working with the console makers to embed code into their systems that connects to the offenders database in Texas and bans them. Why would a console maker want to link their database to a government database for this purpose? I'd tell Texas to screw off if asked to do this. Registering with the state all their id's is easy though, it is just an alias.
Mr Khan @ May 6th 2009 5:46PM
Not even that complicated, really. They just call up Microsoft, tell 'em who they are, and have them banned. Surely LIVE has some sort of system for reporting users, and i would imagine that the police would have special access to Microsoft anyway
They could automate it, sure, but doing it on an ad-hoc basis is cheaper, and probably easier (since we all know how SNAFU this sort of thing can be, accidental bans resulting from errors accessing the sex offender database, and whatnot)
Slayer @ May 6th 2009 6:09PM
Sounds like a good idea to me.
Garp @ May 6th 2009 6:30PM
This is a horrible idea... We still haven't managed to create levels for sex offenders as we have for other crimes. For example, both a trespasser and a murderer are are criminal offenders, but there is a significant difference between a felony and a misdemeanor. I'm all for going after pedophiles and rapists, but as long as statutory rapists and people who get drunk and take their pants off in a street one night are included with required registries, I'm opposed to moves such as this or marking the houses on Halloween.
Spartan @ May 6th 2009 6:30PM
And what about their Wii accounts?!!
Who will monitor the Wii accounts?!!!
ManekiNeko @ May 6th 2009 8:21PM
The Ped Scare strikes again. You want to crack down on sexual predators? Leave them in prison longer. How hard is this to figure out? A rapist can't offend as long as he's in prison. A rapist on a sex offender registry becomes a pariah, can't find a job or housing, develops a burning rage for the society that rejected him, and becomes a more determined and brutal rapist. Congratulations! You just made a bad problem worse.