I don't care if a woman is president, as long as she doesn't censor my video games.

[Smith_3]

There, I said it. I will vote for Hillary if she gets the nomination. But if she tries to take the blood out of my Counter Strike, I'm never ever going to forgive her.

[killbotfactory]

1. Too bad she can't sponsor a bill to take the blood out of the war she supported.

[whatchamacallit]

25. Love it!

:thumbsup:

[Solon]

2. It was really foul when Obama jumped on that Hillary/Lieberman bandwagon...

a fucking triumvirate from hell.

[NYCGirl]

8. Link? I thought it was just Hillary, Lieberman, Bayh and Brownback.

http://firedoglake.com/2007/12/10/hillary-clinton-joins-joe-lieberman-to-resurrect-the-culture-wars/

[Solon]

9. Dammit, wrong link!

http://gamepolitics.livejournal.com/268653.html

[NYCGirl]

17. And that's investigating or banning video games how? He just said "Lay off the games,

and TV kids, until you do your homework."

Geez, you are grasping at straws.

[Solon]

19. He pretty much has the same views as Hillary, Edwards, etc.

Its not even controversial. Here's his answer to this question:

To date, nearly 10 states have considered legislation to keep violent video games out of kids' hands. Would you support this type of legislation at the federal level? What other strategies would you support to keep the video game industry and other media companies from marketing and selling inappropriate content to children?

A: We need to give parents the tools and information they need to make choices about what programs their children are watching or what video games they are playing. As we move towards a digital environment, there is a golden opportunity for the industry to do this on their own—to use the latest in technology to give parents more information and more choice. For example, this technology could make it possible for parents to create their own family tier just by programming their television to block certain channels, block certain genres of programming like dramas, or block television at certain times of the day. The same can be said of video games, especially as we’re moving into an era when they can be downloaded as easily as today’s movies and television shows.

I would call upon the video game industry to give parents better information about programs and video games by improving the voluntary rating system we currently have. Broadcasters and video game producers should take it upon themselves to improve this system to include easier to find and easier to understand descriptions of exactly what kind of content is included. But if the industry fails to act, then my administration would.

And even if the industry does do some responsible self-policing, there’s still a role for the federal government to play. We need to understand the impact of these new media better. That’s why I supported federal funding to study the impact of video games on children’s cognitive development.


http://www.commonsensemedia.org/news/specials/question2

Emphasis is mine. The fact is that he isn't much better than any of the other candidates, so really, even on this issue, they are more or less clones of each other, policy wise.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. But she won't give you a pony.

Rosalynn Carter once said of Ronald Reagan; "He makes us comfortable with our predjudices".

Let me be the first to say that Obama makes us comfortable with our superficiality.

I'm sure the violence in your counterstrike game is below the radar, dude.

[kirby]

4. I imagine she would however...

Hasn't she been a supporter of censorship in the past, in the name of 'children'?

She introduced the 'Family Entertainment Protection Act'

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/news/specials/question2

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/the-candidates-tough-stances-on-tv/?hp

[Fresh_Start]

5. are you under 17? nt

nt

[Smith_3]

6. Nope. And as an adult I feel I am entitled to the gore in my games.

I played the german version of Half Life and they replaced all the soldiers with robots. It SUCKS.

[Fresh_Start]

7. and you should have that right

but as a parent, I should have the right to know that my pre-teen won't have access without my knowledge or control as well

[Smith_3]

10. Yup.

It will all be much easier once we reach the point where the old generation actually knows as much about computers as the young one does. Right now I guess most parents are not really able to be "online guides" as well. Thats what creates the whole fuss IMO. I wouldn't let my kid play that game, but I know that I will be able to stop it from doing so.

edit: by the time i have children, i bet there will be totally new things to make a fuss about, that i have no clue of :eyes:

[Solon]

11. Can't be enshrined in law though, unless you want a constitutional amendment that is. n/t

[winter999]

12. I don't think she was ever in favor of "censoring" (I could be wrong).

But it is a good idea to indicate the appropriate age of a any entertainment. You wouldn't want your 5-year-old to play Grand Theft Auto any more than you'd want them to watch Reservoir Dogs. I think that's all she's advocating. Let it fly, but inform the consumer.

[Smith_3]

13. That would be the reasonable approach. nt

[killbotfactory]

15. Here is what her website says

The Clinton-Lieberman-Bayh bill, the Family Entertainment Protection Act, prohibits any business from selling or renting a Mature, Adults-Only, or Ratings Pending game to a person who is younger than seventeen. On-site store managers would be subject to a fine of $1,000 or 100 hours of community service for the first offense; $5,000 or 500 hours of community service for each subsequent offense. The bill also requires an annual, independent analysis of game ratings and requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to conduct an investigation to determine whether hidden content like in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a pervasive problem and take appropriate action. In addition, the bill will help ensure that consumers have a mechanism to file complaints with the FTC and that the FTC will report these complaints to Congress. Finally, the bill authorizes the FTC to conduct an annual, random audit of retailers to monitor enforcement and report the findings to Congress.

http://www.senate.gov/~clinton/news/statements/details.cfm?id=249860

[Smith_3]

16. lol. it explicitly mentions Grand Theft Auto.

:)

[winter999]

18. well, it sure looks like it goes one step beyond warning labels on music.

Sounds more like they're treating this material more like porn. I must laugh, because I work with a mother of an 6 and 8 year old, and has no problem with them watching slaughter and violence (LOTR, Spiderman, Resident Evil, etc.), but heaven forbid a titty.

[YOY]

20. Hey soccer moms! SHE CARES!

SHE'S THINKING ABOUT THE CHILDREN!



Not only does she have a vagina...but she cares enough about your vo...I mean the children to make you think that protecting your children from violent video games will make them less violent!


OH! She's a dream candidate!

[Jed Dilligan]

28. I only play flash games lately, but the thought of my money

being spent on this makes me want to :puke:

[joshcryer]

34. Most game journalists want this to happen, it will shut the idiots up.

So what if your game has sex in it, it'd be rated appropriately and kids can't buy it themselves.

[Iris]

14. Don't you think she'll have enough to keep her occupied - cleaning up after Bush?

[rodeodance]

22. ha ha--yes

[Marrah_G]

21. Err All she was asking for was a rating system- So kids can't buy them without a parent there.

[yardwork]

24. I know but gamers didn't like it one bit.

It mirrors the similarly outraged feelings an earlier generation had when Tipper Gore pushed for parental warnings on cds.

In my opinion, it is a Big Mistake for the Democrats to push these "family values" issues in an effort to look like Republicans. Apparently they are trying to appeal to the soccer moms. They don't seem to get the political reality, which is that people who vote Republican nowadays do so because they're told to do so, not because of some rational exercise in logic. Present-day Republican voters are authoritarians - they like people telling them what to do.

The Democratic Party is not an authoritarian party. It's a mistake for us to try to emulate "family values." We need to drop it. This goes for the gun issue, drug issue, and any kind of censorship. Let the Republicans own the fact that they have become Big Brother watching everyone and telling everyone how to live their lives.

Democrats, live free and breathe!

[Marrah_G]

26. No one is telling them what to do, except not to sell violent games to kids

This is such a no brainer.

I am a gamer. My boys are gamers. This proposal doesn't bother me one bit. It doesn't say I can't buy a game. It mearly says my underage boys cannot, without me there.

The same rules apply to my 17 year old daughter who can't get tatooed or pierced without me there. Or doesn't have access to a number of different things without my knowledge ( at least legally). She can't buy porn or cigarettes either.

Do your boys realize Obama feels the same way about the issue?

[Solon]

30. You do realize that every single law written like that has been ruled unconstitutional?

The same is true for laws governing movies and music as well. This has been settled case law in the United States for the past 30 years, at least. The government cannot set up or enforce rating systems for video games, movies, music, or even books. All such systems, where they exist, are voluntary only, not enshrined in any law. When the government does attempt to restrict access to any medium from these rating systems, the law violates the first amendment, and is struck down. Louisiana's video game law is a classic example of this.

[yardwork]

31. I agree with you and no, my boys don't recognize that Obama is about the same.

I'm reporting here.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

33. Rating systems are a form of censorship.

Just look at what they've done to movies.

You've got secret, corrupted rating's boards giving biased ratings to movies based on arbitrary conditions, stifling artistic concept. A heterosexual kiss, for example, gets PG ratings while equivalent homosexual acts get R's, so studios just cut out that content.

[joshcryer]

37. Should a kid be able to rent an NC17 movie?

[yardwork]

23. LOL! This is a real issue for a lot of young men.

I'm not laughing at you - believe me, my teenage sons feel very seriously about this. They got mad at Hillary several years ago about this issue. They haven't forgotten it. It definitely contributes to their positive feelings about Obama.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. This is a real issue for everybody who believes in the first amendment.

This is plain old fashioned book burning censorship. People should be ashamed this kind of nonsense exists in this day and age.

[yardwork]

32. See my post #24. I agree with you.

[joshcryer]

38. That's ridiculous.

It's like saying kids should have access to porn for first ammendment issues.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

40. No.

It's like saying we should put labels on Harry Potter novels so that parents can protect their kids from the corrupting influence of witchcraft.

[Meldread]

29. A lot of people might laugh, but...

...this is a serious issue for a lot of people who are under 40 years old. The gaming industry works hard to self-censor the games and promote them to age appropriate audiences to avoid government regulation. Gaming as a whole is seen as an electronic artform. I have little doubt that if Hillary made the attempt to do anything of the sort there would be a fierce and nasty legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court, as it does violate the First Amendment.

It's the same as her pandering with her flag burning amendment. It's issues like those that really gets under people's skin. No one wants the government telling them what they can or cannot do, purchase, view or play.

[Bucky]

35. Never forgive her EVER? My God, look how violent these video games have made you!

[joshcryer]

36. The editor of EGM is for this.

By making the rating system law, by mandating that stores can't sell mature games to minors, it allows for censorship to be *removed*. So what, you cut someone up alive and throw their guts on a table in a videogame. If a kid can't outright buy it with their own money, a lot of idiots will be shut up.

[Warren DeMontague]

39. I'm a gamer, too, and I think it's reasonable to place limits on what KIDS can buy.

Adults, different story.

But really- this and flag burning were pure Pandering, if you ask me. How about we stop the real war, before we worry about whether kids are playing it for pretend on their XBOX 360s?