Proposed Bill to Criminalize Selling of Mature Games to Minors

Well, Mr. Government, I'd like to protect my own child, thank you. You just stay the F*** out of it.

? They are letting you protect your own child. Thats why they are wanting the legislation at the stores level, and punishing them rather than the parents.

Criminals criminalizing video games? That's just precious.

What's worse? The Government, or a Video game? You be the judge...

Alcohol is illegal to sell to minors, yet they still get it.

Ciggarettes are illegal to sell to minors, yet there are 12 year olds buying ciggarettes from people and smoking them.

Cocaine is illegal, and yet even high profile people in Hollywood seem to be able to get an ample supply.

Laws do nothing.

If someone wants something they will get it, regardless of how many laws are in place.

You will see 18 year old freshmen college students selling Grand Theft Auto X to school yard kids much as they do booze and cigarettes.

Kids will either trust and obey the rules their parents set forth, or break them completely...no law will stop them.

Anyone at any age, if u look the age can pass to get games, cigs, booze, etc. You just got 2 know the right place. I know a few liquor stores that sell booze n cigs to underage kids. Its how the business makes money. A lot more money then your average adults. As many have stated, laws can be in place, but everyone in the U.S knows these laws are like walls, yet every now and then you can break the wall and get away with it because the wall is ok with you breaking it down(Store associate)In the end its all about money. More money, better.

Given how successful the omnibus crime bill (with its midnight basketball) was at eliminating violent crime in the US, preventing kids from blasting virtual aliens and other googlies into oblivion will undoubtedly turn us into the utopian paradise that these facists envision!

perhaps if this were some sort of utopian society we would have time to worry about the various ways we entertain ourselves when we're bored. last i checked, we are not. we have criminals in the white house who have bogged us down in a war of choice. we have a tanking economy. education is getting worse not better. it goes on and on really. and politicians have the audacity to waste time and money on video games?! really? is that really the problem? video games?

This is absolutely STUPID. Don't they realize that usually the parents of the children buying M-rated games are RIGHT WITH THEM WHEN THEY ARE BUYING THEM!
How is this going to solve anything? Answer: It isn't, because most SANE people like myself know that there is no negative connection between playing violent video games and violence in real life.
In fact, the only connection I have seen is POSITIVE, where a person who plays a violent video game and gets rid of their negative impulses in that game, don't use them in reality.

This is absolutely STUPID. Don't they realize that usually the parents of the children buying M-rated games are RIGHT WITH THEM WHEN THEY ARE BUYING THEM!
How is this going to solve anything? Answer: It isn't, because most SANE people like myself know that there is no negative connection between playing violent video games and violence in real life.
In fact, the only connection I have seen is POSITIVE, where a person who plays a violent video game and gets rid of their negative impulses in that game, don't use them in reality.

This is absolutely STUPID. Don't they realize that usually the parents of the children buying M-rated games are RIGHT WITH THEM WHEN THEY ARE BUYING THEM!
How is this going to solve anything? Answer: It isn't, because most SANE people like myself know that there is no negative connection between playing violent video games and violence in real life.
In fact, the only connection I have seen is POSITIVE, where a person who plays a violent video game and gets rid of their negative impulses in that game, don't use them in reality.

Sorry for the triple posting.... stupid Firefox, which I used to post the above message, kept on telling me that "The page cannot be found!", making me think it wasn't posting my message.

Here is all the information about the represenative: http://www.statesurge.com/members/697

and here is all the information about the specific bill HR5990:
http://www.statesurge.com/bills/318716

Please make comments under the bill and the rep - StateSurge.com is a site that politicians and government affairs folks use to track legislation. Make our voices heard!!!

There is no harm in having this. For the people and parents that don't believe media effects the child this bill won't stop them from creating a couple more issues for the general public (its ok to steal cheat and kill so lets make it fun)cough! Christopher1 cough!. As for the children going to buy a mature game without a parent this would be a great law to assist a active parent who has these rules in house.

Take GTA4 for example. Let's say I beat a hooker to death with a baseball bat and someone sees it. Now I have a 1 star rating and the cops start chasing me. I beat the hooker on a whim and didn't really plan my next course of action. Sure enough, there wasn't a car within range to jack so I had to kill the cops to take the car. Now my star rating has gone up again. There's a helicopter with a machine gun shooting at me. I'm driving pretty erratically because the damn helicopter is shooting at me and I start running over innocent bystanders on the sidewalks. Well not only does this cause my start rating to go up again, now I'm really in trouble, but it also starts to damage my car more than necessary and my engine starts to smoke. I know I have to ditch the car and I can't jump out here so I start heading for an underpass so the helicopter can't take me out. I make it to the underpass, but I'm driving a little too fast and hit a bump and roll my car over. I'm trying to turn my wheel back and forth and driving in forward and reverse trying to roll my car over to no avail and this has given the cops that I didn't kill time to park there cars and get out and start shooting at my car. It hits me that my car is really smoking bad at this point and I have to get out in a hurry before the car blows up and kills me. I exit the car with the triangle button and .... damn, there was a cop right there next to my car and I'm busted. Now I have to go to jail and I lose all of my guns and most of my cash.

The point of the story is education. How are kids going to know that they're supposed to beat a hooker to death with a baseball bat in an area when no when can see them so that they don't get a star? How are they going to learn to jack a new car when the old one starts smoking so that they don't get blown up in their car and have to go to the hospital and lose money?

If the law passes, will they fine the parent(s) for letting their under aged child or children playing these games? There are allot of of under aged kids playing these games on Xbox live as we speak.

Most kids know more about video games & computers then their parents will ever know & they think that the V-Chip or some game settings will prevent this from ever happening....Get real!

I bet the sponsors behind this bill don't even know how to enable the
V-Chip protection on their TV's..

This proposal is absurd!

I personally believe this law is a waste of time. No matter what I believe, it doesn't change the fact that if someone wants wants something, 99% of the time, they will get it. I believe that parents should look at the games that their kids play, whether or not it is the sole reason for teenage violence (which it isn't, but it does have an effect). There is a long list of reasons why kids become violence (lack of parental guidance, no positive mentor, their surroundings promote violence as the only solution, etc...)

In the end this law will not work (like most laws, since those that are needed can't even be enforced properly) and is a waste of time. The government should invest their time in find a solution to getting families together, instead.

Actually, KaiserZr, the only legitimate studies that have been done have shown that it does NOT have an effect at all. None in the slightest.

For *bleeps* sake..... the people who are 'violent' in our society today are CONSERVATIVE people by and large, who are NOT PLAYING THESE GAMES! That is just a fact that even my conservative aunt had to admit when we were arguing about this.

The bigger problem is that people are not teaching their children that violence is okay in fantasy but NOT in real life. The biggest issue, however, is that most of the people who are violent in real life have SEEN violence done to others in real life or have had it done to themselves by parents or strangers.
If there was some way to prevent that, then we would finally see the rates of violence in society go DOWN, because we would break that 'cycle of violence'.

If it's potential hazardous to my child either physically or mentally influentially, I'd just as soon be the one to make the purchase and decide if it's ok for my kid. I for one am GLAD they are cracking down and limiting what my child can and can't buy. Until my kid is 18, I make the decisions as to what is ok and not ok for them. Store clerks and software developers are not the ones I want to make decisions when it comes to raising my child. While I don't want the government telling me what I can and can't do, it's fine that they allow me, an ADULT, the FREEDOM to make decisions for my family. I appreciate this kind of legislature Uncle Sam. It's one of your few well-thought out ones.

If it's potential hazardous to my child either physically or mentally influentially, I'd just as soon be the one to make the purchase and decide if it's ok for my kid. I for one am GLAD they are cracking down and limiting what my child can and can't buy. Until my kid is 18, I make the decisions as to what is ok and not ok for them. Store clerks and software developers are not the ones I want to make decisions when it comes to raising my child. While I don't want the government telling me what I can and can't do, it's fine that they allow me, an ADULT, the FREEDOM to make decisions for my family. I appreciate this kind of legislature Uncle Sam. It's one of your few well-thought out ones.

If it's potential hazardous to my child either physically or mentally influentially, I'd just as soon be the one to make the purchase and decide if it's ok for my kid. I for one am GLAD they are cracking down and limiting what my child can and can't buy. Until my kid is 18, I make the decisions as to what is ok and not ok for them. Store clerks and software developers are not the ones I want to make decisions when it comes to raising my child. While I don't want the government telling me what I can and can't do, it's fine that they allow me, an ADULT, the FREEDOM to make decisions for my family. I appreciate this kind of legislature Uncle Sam. It's one of your few well-thought out ones.

If it is potentially hazardous to my child, either physically or mentally influentially, I'd just as soon be the one to make the purchase and decide if it's ok. I am GLAD they are cracking down and limiting what my child can and can't buy. Until my kid is 18, I decide what is ok and not ok for them. Store clerks and software developers are not the ones I want making these decisions when it comes to raising my child. While I don't want the government telling me what I can and can't do, it's fine that they allow me (an ADULT) the FREEDOM to make decisions for my family. I appreciate this kind of legislature Uncle Sam. It's one of your few worthwhile ones.

Sorry for the quadruple post. I didn't notice that it was posting it when it tells me "page not found" after I hit sumbit. Could someone maybe, fix that?

Keep my last post please, delete the first ones. The last one is edited.

Where are kids getting the money to buy these video games? It always comes down to the parents. Crappy parents breed the next generation of criminals and dysfunctional adults good parents breed the next generation of productive citizens capable of healthy social interaction.

It all comes down to parenting though. Society doesn't like to hear this because then it requires parents to look in the mirror and figure out how they f'd up. Most parents who breed criminals are the type of people who blame everyone but themselves for the problems in their lives.

I have no problems with them forcing stores to ID for games. I'm old enough to buy them anyway. And if it keeps them from censoring all violent games like they do in Germany then I'm all for it

This is a weak attempt to control the ever growing video game industry's overage of Adult games that are falling into the hands of young children. Unfortunately, these children are exposed to these games without the consent of their parents. However, in no way shape or form is it the governments job to decide what child gets to play what game at what age. This job is up to the parent/guardian of the child, plain and simple. Why is it that so much stock is put into such ridiculous things as 'violent video games' instead of things that could be more beneficial to this country and the communities that make it up.

Who the hell are they trying to protect. If they are concerned about the children then they need to educate the parents. Someone needs to recognise that video games are not now, nor have they ever been, a problem. The issue at hand--if there is any correlation between virtual and real crime--is the excessive exposure, especially at a young age. It is when you allow one thing to stay in the conscious mind that it narrows and distorts your perception. This is not a new or revolutionary concept. Well rounded individuals don't kill, bludgeon, steal, or whatever. Parents, moderate your childs activities and give them something wholesome to do once in a while. And everyone else in the backward world, stop trying to control everything and educate! You can't protect people from there own stupidity (not even yourself), but you can counteract ignorance with knowledge....."knowledge is power" *sorry, i had to say it =)*

Who the hell are they trying to protect. If they are concerned about the children then they need to educate the parents. Someone needs to recognise that video games are not now, nor have they ever been, a problem. The issue at hand--if there is any correlation between virtual and real crime--is the excessive exposure, especially at a young age. It is when you allow one thing to stay in the conscious mind that it narrows and distorts your perception. This is not a new or revolutionary concept. Well rounded individuals don't kill, bludgeon, steal, or whatever. Parents, moderate your childs activities and give them something wholesome to do once in a while. And everyone else in the backward world, stop trying to control everything and educate! You can't protect people from there own stupidity (not even yourself), but you can counteract ignorance with knowledge....."knowledge is power" *sorry, i had to say it =)*

I'm confused at some of the logic of commentors:

'It is the job of parents...' So, along those lines, I suppose there is no ID check needed for movies, cigarettes, alcohol, casinos, porn... as it is not [fill in the blank company/industry]'s job to prevent kids from accessing [fill in the blank]

Kids will get it anyway...love that logic... people can get handguns rather easily - why even bother with having a registration process? How about drugs? It's not a question of whether it can be got...

That said, the primary responsibility should lie with the parents, but clearly video game makers and retailers are targeting mature games at kids... while not exactly similar to tobacco companies advertising/targeting kids, should they not bear some responsibility or is it all about the buck/euro/peso/etc...?

"For *bleeps* sake..... the people who are 'violent' in our society today are CONSERVATIVE people by and large, who are NOT PLAYING THESE GAMES! -cristopher1"

Have you completely lost your mind? Conservative? Check your statistics. Blacks have an extremely high crime rate and they predominantly vote democrat. They are the majority in most of our prisons. You have no clue what you're talking about.

Can we have a law to legislate against the propaganda western children are fed on a daily basis?
News, entertainment, education..look where children are getting their morals these days. Look at the way they are taught to despise each other when, for instance, they are met with opposing views on topical issues such as war, immigration and foreign policy. Social engineering.

Yes, some computer games are violent but study after study has found them not to be as influencial as certain people proclaim. There has also been a policy in the west of banning things instead of making sure they only get into the hands of mature adults (look at Manhunt 2 in the UK).

I personally see a bigger problem with minds, young and old, being conditioned to believe what they are told by the corporate America in general. If parents are at fault here then the criticism should extend beyond games, because games are not the predominant influence and when you see a child getting their education from a box in the corner of the living room you begin to question what kind of a mind that child is going to develop, and whether they will be capable of putting into perspective what they are watching.