video game rating systems suckd

Mr. Crecente, Come out from behind the freedom of speech cloak and do something meaningful with your talents and imagination. What's next? -Gamers get points for raping their peers at school? Stand-up and take a bow. Your mother must be proud.

let me sum this up in my own words. the gaming industry makes games for whoever is interested in them. ESRB rates them and its the parent's responsiblity to decide wither or not the game is suitable for them. i think its just the whole McDonald's issue all over again, if they are fat then they should go on a diet and stop eating, like parents should start paying attention to the rating on the box, i mean thats what its there for isnt it? well its not good for the rest of us.

This stuff is seriously getting rediculous. We have policy makers and lobbyists using patently false information and half-truths to support arguments that fly in the face of everything we, as a nation, hold dear. Free speech is a constitutional right, not a privilege, and while I agree that certain materials should not be in the hands of children, that is certainly not a judgement call I am willing to make to apply to the whole of society. That is a decision to be made on a case-by-case basis by the parents of the child at hand, and if that parent is too stupid to know or care about what their children are doing, then that is their fault, and theirs alone. Pointing fingers and finding scapegoats has never truly solved any of society's problems, not once, so let us stop acting like idiots and focus on the real issue, some people are mentally disturbed and do really horrible things. Playing a video game is not going to change that, it is not going to trigger any sort of behavioral problems that are not already present in that individual. In conclusion, shut the f--- up and worry about something other than how much money this lawsuit is going to make you, or how famous you'll become as a "champion of moral values".

Blah blah blah Grand Theft Auto blah blah blah blah Manhunt blah blah.

"While A 10-yearold can, however, walk into a Wal-Mart and purchase an �M� rated game, no questions asked." That's retarded, what are you tlaking about a they check for ID at Wallmart and almost any store if you are buying an M rated game. Pfffft!

Poster 80 said all that needs to be said on the issue. In addition, most of these studies on videogames are ridiculously inadequate. They are all short term tests and this basis for an increase in aggression is based on what? How can they measure change in a human?There is no accurate measurement.

I support this petition.

This whole issue is ludicrous. If parents actually looked at the rating on the cover of the box, we wouldn’t even have this controversy. The problem is the rating system is not enforced. Film and television are. TV’s now come with a V-chip to block unsuitable content for children, no problem. You can’t rent or buy tickets to “R” movies unless you are over 17, no problem. You can’t buy “adult” books or magazines unless you are 18 or older, no problem. While A 10-yearold can, however, walk into a Wal-Mart and purchase an “M” rated game, no questions asked. Why doesn’t the government simply require age verification for video game purchasing? It’s in place for every other medium, even the internet. Hilary Clinton thinks we need to spend millions of dollars on studys to find the obvious. It’s just a case of irresponsible parenting and sales practice. A simple regulation to enforce the rating system would solve the whole issue.

I don't even LIKE the GTA series but when poor parenting threatens to take out the first amendment rights of my favorite industry, I get mad. People do not emulate what they see in videogames, I've never jumped on turtles ala mario, or ran through traffic like frogger. Never have I taken a shotgun to an alien zealot based on the destruction of humanity like one of my favorite shooters, Halo. I've killed dozens of cops and FBI agents in an attempt to get the army to show up so I could steal a tank (GTA). But I have eaten things in mass volumes like Kirby, although that was at Thanksgiving so it's all good. Maybe parents should, I dont know, DO THEIR JOB.

Like every generation before us, people will find a scapegoat to blame horrible events on, no matter how it really happened or it's reasons for happening. Like the old saying of an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters, given enough time and instances, you can find a way to blame anything on anything else. Heck, while they're at it, why not blame any drowning deaths from the mid-80's on Super Mario and his infinite lung capacity. Or maybe, just maybe, some real research could be done to find the true cause, rather than take the easy way out. But real research takes too much time and reports about "murder simulators" with more holes than a block of swiss cheese in them are easier for the general public to digest. Thankfully, we aren't the general public, the sheep, the uninformed. We are gamers, the 1337, the informed. To quote an old saying, "Evil only prevails when good men do nothing." In this case, Jack Thompson will only win if we, the gamers, are apathetic towards what is happening to what we hold dear in our lives.

I dont even own GTA but this whole thing pisses me off. I mean these politicians act like the companies force people to buy the game and the utterly lie about what is in it. Fact is that it tells you right on the back of the box. I mean I realize that reading those few simple words that say "hey I have violence, sexual themes, blood, gore and what not." is so hard. But come on banning this is ridiculous, how about you ban PDAs while your at it. I dont want my kids seeing that its trashy. Ohhh and as for the news we should just trash that all together, its full of blood, death, violence, sex, drugs, and everything they say they dont want children seeing. And if video games cause violence how about explaining the massive amounts of violence before video games, yeah violence is on the rise, due to poor parenting and a general lax in societys willingness to do anything about other than blame it on faceless corporations that "hand out manuals for violence in nice little celophane pakcages" come on that just stupid.

i haven't killed anyone else along with the masses of kids whome have played these games. Isolated cases need not be exploited. But that is the way of media. bah.

I agreee with signature 74. Change is so misunderstood and feared, people would rather destroy it than give it a chance.

Its the classic, people dislike change, hence older generations dislike what younger one do. People fear what they do not understand and so attack it.

Rather than making a long winded rant or statement, as all of my points are most likely covered below, I'd just like to say that the fact that we even have to do this is moronic.

As a person who is a supposedly under the influence of violece 24/7 because of video games, movies, TV and comic books, I'd like to tell to all of the people blaming such media for violence behavior to SHUT THE HELL UP!!! Personally i use these media so i don't get violent in real life. I mean as a child, most of the mean, violent kids i knew, were that way because they were brats or because they weren't loved enough by parents. It's ridiculus to blame the entertainment that kids participate in, when the blame should be put on the parents who let the kids get out of control in the first place. Hell even team sports such as hockey and football, which everyone wants to save, can have a violent influence, if the kid was never taught that you shouldn't hurt people. Just teach them right, give them some TLC ever so often, and the kid can turn out fine.

I work for a video game retailer and for every M rated sale, we have to have a parent present of the person has to be over 17 with a state ID. More often than not when the parent gets to the register, they are annoyed that they had to take 30 seconds away from standing in line at Cinnabon to see what their child is buying. When they are told that the game is made for adults, has excessive violence, language, etc., the most common response is "He's going to play it anyway", or "He's already played worse games". I know that growing up, that would have never been my mother's response. If I had a friend whose parents let me do things my mother wouldn't have allowed me to do, they would not have been my friend long if she had anything to do with it. The main problem is that many parents don't want to become involved until it's already too late for them to actually do any parenting. Another issue is the fact that many parents don't feel that violence is a big deal. When they are told that a game is rated M, they ask why; if I tell them it's because of blood, gore, and violence, they usually say, "I'm not worried about that, as long as there isn't any sex". What kind of stance is that to take, and what is that teaching their children? I used to worry about it and really try to convince the parents not to make such irresponsible purchases, but I have given up. I no longer take it as my duty to police their purchases. When a mother told me she was buying GTA Vice City for an 8 year old because she "heard it was a fun racing game" and that "he would never do any of the violent stuff because he's too young to understand" that was when I decided that I would be wasting my time and effort on a lost cause. Now whenever I see one of these watchdog groups decrying the evils of the video game ind

I support this petition.

It is a parents responsibility to keep games like GTA out of their children's hands until the eve of their 17th b-day. Retailers are already keeping most of these games out of a minor's hands but the minor;s will just find some person, parents included, to buy the game for them. Parent need to be held more accountable for their children's actions not the game makers.