Federal Judge Strikes Down Ban on Violent Games 80
CaptainEbo writes "A federal judge in Louisiana has issued a preliminary injunction blocking a statewide ban on violent video games. The judge's holding that 'depictions of violence are entitled to full constitutional protection' flies in the face of Louisiana's assertion that video games interactive nature make them inherently more likely to incite people to violence, and therefore requires reduced First Amendment protection. In rejecting the state's argument, the judge compared video games to literature. 'It is the interactive aspect of literature that makes it successful — 'draw[ing] the reader into the story, mak[ing] him identify with the characters, invit[ing] him to judge them and quarrel with them, to experience their joys and sufferings as the reader's own.'" GamePolitics also has reaction to the news from Louisiana political figures, as forwarded by Jack Thompson.
Meh. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Maybe they should spend their time at taking da fun out of fundamentalism?
Of course, they'd have to start with themselves first...
np: Autechre - Tilapia (Cichlisuite)
Re:Meh. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Meh. (obligatory Dodgeball movie quote) (Score:2)
From the movie Dodgeball: A True underdog Story
But remember, dodgeball is a sport of violence, exclusion and degradation. So, when you're picking players in gym class, remember to pick the
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I can think of at least one thing
Re:Meh. (Score:5, Funny)
if i was a kid in school now. i would just start stabing people and blame it on air to see if they would remove that too
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A 13 year old is fine, and they're at the age where they're going to be exposed to graphic violence from numerous places; from movies, tv, video games they play at their friend's houses, they're going to find gore gallary if that is what they want to find.
However, I think there
Biggest Problem is Stupid Parents (Score:4, Insightful)
Here's the deal, O stupid parent. THE WHOLE $%&*!@# WORLD IS NOT CHILDPROOFED. Nor should it be. Responsbile adults should get to have their fun too. Look at what you are buying for your kid. Take some and read about it on the internet or sit down and play through it yourself before you blindly hand it over to little Timmy. Just because he asks for it doesn't mean he ought to have it.
The PS2 , XBox, etc. is not a substitute for interacting with your child. I know that a lot of parents use the gaming console as a substitute baby-sitter. It keeps the kid quiet and occupied. However, just like the TV, you - stupid parent - need to be paying attention to what little Timmy is doing. Pull that head out of that double-wide behind and start looking around.
2 cents,
QueenB
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We're just about to start celebrate our son's first birthday (kai.sshnug.com) and I find your comments pretty lame.
> You - dear parent - are the one who decided to squeeze out a kid.
We didn't decide, well ok, we decided not to have an abortion (as we are in a stable relationship and environment, both financial and social), but the getting pregnant part was purely accidental.
> THE WHOLE $%&*!@# WORLD IS NOT CHILDPROOFED. Nor should it be.
No shit.
> Look at what you are buying for your kid.
No shit
is it an election year already!? (Score:5, Interesting)
Most kids end up thinking that it would never happen."
Seems normal enough, except that quote comes from an 11 year old [bbc.co.uk].
Still, I look forward to being old so I can start blaming the problems that have existed for millenia on the latest, greatest thing that I do not understand.
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Re:is it an election year already!? (Score:4, Funny)
Mall store naming?
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Video games don't make me violent (Score:5, Funny)
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Good judge! (Score:2, Funny)
Mainly because she's such a bitch, but still.
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Well, if you're into snuff porn, maybe it actually does... but then you must be some kind of sicko by nature. See the analogy with violent games?
Again? (Score:2, Funny)
Preliminary Injunction != Strikes down (Score:3, Informative)
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It's true that it isn't the end, but it definitely points to one side as the likely winner.
Pity the judges... or the judge's assisstants (Score:3, Funny)
Maybe the ESRB should help these guys out and provide a pre-written list of all the relevant citations so the judges can just copy/paste the list into the ruling.
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So really, I'd say pity the citizens, whose tax money is being wasted for political posturing. Let's not focus our efforts on stupid crap like healthcare and education, this latest moral crisis is much mor
Positive Effects of Video Games (Score:5, Funny)
Jack Thompson must be so steaming mad... (Score:2)
...that we ought to hook him up to a generator and power the country for about 50 years!
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Not a ban (Score:2, Informative)
Err... (Score:2)
I have talked to Guidry on this matter and express my disappointment of not getting everyone input before putting for the argument,
Hmm.
SB
Careful with that language, please. (Score:5, Funny)
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A good law would be... (Score:2)
It is illegal to allow a child under 17 to see an R-rated movie without a parent or guardian present.
It is illegal to allow a child under 18 to purchase pornographic materials.
Why not make it illegal to allow a child under 17 (or 18) to purchase an M (or AO) rated game?
It doesn't prevent the games from being sold. It doesn't make it illegal to have, or play, the games. It just requires that a parent must be willing to get i
Re:A good law would be... (Score:5, Informative)
In the USA, NO ratings on media are government enforced.
All ratings from videogames to TV shows to movies are self-imposed.
There is NO law that prevents minors from entering R rated movies.
Therefore to single out games would take an overwhelming amount of evidence that games were harmful.
Even things like "XXX" movies are not government rated. If someone is arrested for selling pornography to a minor, they first have to establish that the item in question is indeed pornography (sure in many cases this is trivial, but there have been several cases where comic books containing sexual material have been seized and the court cases have basically revolved around proving they were pornographic).
Moreover, the film industry has largely taken to circumventing their own rating system by releasing the film as PG-13 in US theaters and then come out with an "unrated edition" on DVD which they commonly advertise as containing more nudity and/or violence. Even if it were illegal for a store to sell a child an "R" rated film, how could it be illegal to sell a film which isn't even rated?
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I've explained this fact to people, that movie ratings are only ever enforced by the video stores and theaters, and they often outright refuse to accept this as true, even w
Re:A good law would be... (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't blame the people who post or anything. Online they are frequently from England or other countries where the ratings are government enforced, so there's no reason why they should know US laws. However, it does indicate the power of the rhetoric that these lawmakers use. Quite often the lawmakers or anti-videogame activists will say, "The ratings are voluntary and enforced by the industry themselves!" without mentioning that film ratings are rated in the same manner.
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1) "England" has no ratings at all, just like Florida has no ratings laws. That's a countrywide matter.
2) Only about 10% of games have legal ratings in the UK.
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But the 10% of games that are not exempt from BBFC classification are specifically those that contain things like "human sexual activity", "acts of gross violence towards humans or animals", and "techniques likely to be useful in the commission of offences" (Video Recordings Act 1984).
So, despite your nitpicking, the outcome is effectively as described: the games we're actually talking about, games in series like the Doom, Quake, and Grand Theft Auto seri
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People much wiser than I am said,
"I'd rather have my son watch a film with 2 people making love
than 2 people trying to kill one another. I, of course, can agree. It is
a great sentence. I wish I knew who said it first. I agree with that but
I like to take it a step further. I'd like to substitute the word Fuck for
the word Kill in all of those movie cliches we grew up with. "Okay,
Sherrif, we're gonna Fuck you now, but we're gonna Fuck you slow.
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Headline should read "Judge upholds parenting". (Score:4, Insightful)
And those games by and large suck.
Pffft... dupe! (Score:3, Interesting)
Indianapolis [slashdot.org]
Missouri
Washington
Illinois [slashdot.org]
Michigan [slashdot.org]
California [slashdot.org]
When will the public realize that their politicians are NOT doing them good when they bring in these laws, but doing them harm? It is now so obvious to every district and federal court that these laws are unconstitutional, that the judges are making the states (i.e. tax-payers) pay the defendants' legal costs because they are knowingly WASTING THE COURTS' TIME.
Re:Pffft... dupe! (Score:4, Insightful)
The politicians are not stupid and they have advisors. They have lawyers to talk to. They're damn well aware that every time one of these laws gets passed it's going to get struck down.
Problem is, they don't care! It's all in the spin. "Ladies and gentlemen of this great state, I tried to pass a law allowing YOU to decide what kind of video games your children should be exposed to. A single liberal activist judge has decided he knows better..."
Sure, the people of the state lose. But the politician still wins. Politicians may be a lot of things, very few if any of those things good, and probably most of them can't even be said on the radio. But for the most part, they're not stupid. Nasty, cold, arrogant, vicious, cynical, uncaring, dishonest? Sure, and probably then some. But they are dangerous in these things precisely because they are -not- stupid-and we are not watching closely.
(Note before anyone's head explodes: All those not-so-nice things apply to politicians on BOTH sides of the aisle.)
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Irony (Score:1)
I am saddened.
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I've actually proposed a solution to that...every time any legislature (city, state, federal, what have you) meets, that government's founding document (the city's charter, the U.S. Constitution, whatever the case may be) should be read aloud, followed by the full text of every law passed by that body. I think we'd very quickly see shorter, more to-the-point laws.
I also tend to believe that laws at every level should have a mandatory sunset of 1 or 2 years. Every law, every time. Of course, it can be rene
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Missouri was particularly dracconian in the early 80s with arcades being told when they could operate, how close to schools, etc. One very amusing instance comes to mind. In 1983, Atari tried a brief attempt to take on Bally's (then) arcade empire with a series of arcades called "Atari Adventure". The first one was at Great America in San Jose - but the next one - for WHATEVER reason - was put in St. Louis.
No
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Then there's Arnold. (Score:5, Funny)
Schwarzenegger signs game-restriction bill [gamespot.com]. The concept of the guy who played the Terminator, Conan, etc. coming out against violent images is hysterical.
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Hmm (Score:1)
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Nope.
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Whether you think drugs are bad, should be illegal, or our government is doing the right (or successfuly) thing... the grandparent was focusing on "Drugs are being sold to our children in SCHOOL." Emphasis on school.
That is a real problem. Or do you think that drugs being sold to 10-year-olds on a playground is a good thing? OK, high schoolers can technically make decisions (good or bad) themselves. But elementary
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As someone who is using drugs at such a young age might be doing so to "help" or "deal" with larger issues or problems than using a chemical substance.
Of course there are also kids who try drugs because they are curious and might not have any other problems in their life, but for any reason it comes back to the level of interaction between a parent and child, not because "drugs are bad mmmkay".
absurd penalties too (Score:3, Insightful)
Now - if the same people pushing felony raps on game sellers want to put the hurt on Hollywood - then fine, I'll consider it. I'll also consider the massive entertainment value of all the lawyers in Hollywood being unleashed on those courtrooms being of the finest money can buy. Would make the RIAA attacks look like bullets compared to H-Bombs.
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And music stores
All media or none. That's the only constitutional way, and it's quite obvious that restrictions like that on all media aren't constitutional.
Risk (Score:2)
High priority in Louisiana? (Score:1)
I guess "for the children" legislation's just easier in an election year.
More of the same (Score:2)
Let's hope someone doesn't decide to submit a preliminary injunction blocking the preliminary injunction blocking the ban.
Second, paranoia is not exclusive to our 21-st century society.
You probably remember River Raid, a very kewl Atari 2600 game: images [google.com]
So anyway, this game was at the time banned because it makes the player "act in a coldblooded fashion and destroy their enemy without mercy, for s
Honestly (Score:2)