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unsensitiVe says,
I do not understand how they can compare video games and cigarettes. Games do not cause cancer, or any other illness.
Unless we're talking about Pac-Man World for ps2, Because I'm pretty sure that game gave me a tumor.
I can't wait to see how this pans out.
Article excerpt from usnews.com —
"> Video Game Regulation On The Way?
The video game industry has brushed off the recession. But can it escape the wrath of Washington (and state capitols) unscathed?
Michael Thompson at Ars Technica reports on the latest attempts to crack down on Video Games . Most notably, Congressman Joe Baca of California has introduced the Video...
Read the full article at usnews.com »
Read the full article at usnews.com »
Posted 3 years ago
1) How many people do you know that said "Hmm, I think I want to take up smoking. Wait, there's a warning here by the Surgeon General, maybe I shouldn't"
2) About 8 years ago, a kid playing EverQuest lost all his epic gear, then killed himself in real life. His distraught mother sued Sony, seeking a settlement of putting a warning label on the game boxes. Sony agreed, and put a warning on all EQ boxes that playing the game could be highly addictive. Sales skyrocketed. People WANTED to play an addictive game.
Perhaps the morons who insist on wrongly labeling these games will wind up making those games more popular in the long run.
2) About 8 years ago, a kid playing EverQuest lost all his epic gear, then killed himself in real life. His distraught mother sued Sony, seeking a settlement of putting a warning label on the game boxes. Sony agreed, and put a warning on all EQ boxes that playing the game could be highly addictive. Sales skyrocketed. People WANTED to play an addictive game.
Perhaps the morons who insist on wrongly labeling these games will wind up making those games more popular in the long run.
Posted 3 years ago
#1 isn't quite the way it works out in real life. What the labeling accomplishes are two things:
1. The companies use it to cover themselves somewhat in the case of lawsuits, emphasis on "somewhat".
2. The labels mean that the general public as a whole take it as conventional wisdom that cigarettes are bad for you, so this means *some* percentage of the population tries to keep their kids from smoking and to quit themselves. Compare this to the 50s when the conventional wisdom was that there's nothing at all wrong with it as a health risk. At least most pregnant women and people around them don't smoke now, for the most part. This is a distinct change since then, and labeling is some part of this.
Of course, the cigarette thing is *completely* and utterly unrelated and inapplicable to video games. I mean, they need to put a warning label on American Idol and Battlestar Galactica too then, because those things are dangerously addictive. (I've kicked the AI habit, but I'm still addicted to BSG.)
Not that the previous paragraph was actually a good defense of not having addiction labeling, since it didn't deconstruct the premise of labeling relevancy... It's just one of those things that seems so obvious that I can't even explain specifically why it's lame.
Back to work. :D
On an unrelated note, my captcha text was "um". Hilarious.
1. The companies use it to cover themselves somewhat in the case of lawsuits, emphasis on "somewhat".
2. The labels mean that the general public as a whole take it as conventional wisdom that cigarettes are bad for you, so this means *some* percentage of the population tries to keep their kids from smoking and to quit themselves. Compare this to the 50s when the conventional wisdom was that there's nothing at all wrong with it as a health risk. At least most pregnant women and people around them don't smoke now, for the most part. This is a distinct change since then, and labeling is some part of this.
Of course, the cigarette thing is *completely* and utterly unrelated and inapplicable to video games. I mean, they need to put a warning label on American Idol and Battlestar Galactica too then, because those things are dangerously addictive. (I've kicked the AI habit, but I'm still addicted to BSG.)
Not that the previous paragraph was actually a good defense of not having addiction labeling, since it didn't deconstruct the premise of labeling relevancy... It's just one of those things that seems so obvious that I can't even explain specifically why it's lame.
Back to work. :D
On an unrelated note, my captcha text was "um". Hilarious.
Posted 3 years ago
I think we need to worry about putting a warning on people, rather than games, movies, or CDs. Have everyone tested to the fullest extent, and then tat 'em with whatever we find.
"warning: this person is ignorant to the fact that this is just a game, and may attempt some things found within in real life. Please instruct this person to put GTA style game down, and direct them to the Wii games immediately."
"warning: this person is ignorant to the fact that this is just a game, and may attempt some things found within in real life. Please instruct this person to put GTA style game down, and direct them to the Wii games immediately."
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About unsensitiVe
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