'Over 30' Section For Games Stores? 220
A New York law introduced by Representative Keith Wright seeks just that, a section for gaming stores that keeps 'violent games' under lock and key, and is accessible only to people over 30. The law is one of two poorly-thought pieces of legislation being considered by New York state's legal system. From the 1up article: "The history of the courts striking down such legislation goes just about as far back as politicians who attempt to bolster their own image by capitalizing on the public fear and hysteria over the bogeyman of video gaming. It's interesting to note that recently, courts have begun penalizing entities who purposely waste their time with attempts at passing frivolous and unconstitutional anti-videogame legislation. You'd think might deter motions like [these] somewhat, wouldn't you?" Update: 01/19 04:10 GMT by Z : As ahecht points out in the comments 1up has things wrong here. There is only one bill, and it restricts violent games from being sold to those under 18 only. Line 5 of the bill's text is the section in question.
I would understand 21, but 30? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I would understand 21, but 30? (Score:5, Insightful)
Mod parent up, +1 insightful. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Mod parent up, +1 insightful. (Score:4, Funny)
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The reason for 30 (Score:4, Insightful)
Even though there are lots of gamers over 30, and the average age of gamers is quite high, the quantity of games played by a gamer decreases with age; as a guess I would say you probably buy/rent twice as many games at 15 as you do at 25, and you buy/rent twice as many games at 25 as you do at 35. If you could successfully prevent 66% of game sales from occuring in the age of the $20 Million game you will successfully prevent any company from attempting to make one of these games (because you simply can not be profitable).
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But aren't the over-30's more likely to pay for said games?
According to the ESA [theesa.com], parents of children under 18 are present 89% of the time when games are purchased or rented. Presumably most of these parents have dinged 30.
But this law is silly for all sorts of other reasons.
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When I saw the headline of this article, I thought it was talking about creating a section in stores featuring games that over-30s might want to play: not the adolescent splatterfests. The games they want to make over-30-only are precisely the games that appeal mostly to under-30s. Which is, of course, the point: to restrict these games from reaching their market.
it won't pass (Score:3, Insightful)
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Don't make the mistake of thinking the representatives will oppose this because it doesn't make sense, cause there's an awful lot of Christians who don't vote and contribute base
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Here's one good reason: There's a lot fewer gamers age 18-29 that vote and contribute monetary to politics than the sum of non-gamers and older people who do?
--
*Art
Re:I would understand 21, but 30? (Score:5, Informative)
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FTA, the first law mandates the creation of an "Adults Only" section in your local game store, where any game containing the above is kept under lock and key, accessible only to people over 30. I haven't read the actual law, but that is how the article descirbes it, and only 30-year-olds would be allowed in the section. The other law is about banning the sale of violent games to minors (under 18). The summary of
Re:I would understand 21, but 30? (Score:5, Informative)
http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A00547&sh=t [state.ny.us]
This bill reads:
The second bill is located at: http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A02024&sh=t [state.ny.us] This bill, surprisingly, also reads:
In fact, there aren't two separate bills putting video games under "concentrated fire", it's the same bill, but one was the prefiling of the bill on the 3rd, and the second is the actual filing on the 11th.
This is just sloppy reporting.
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TAG ARTICLE falsesummary (Score:3, Insightful)
Please, tag this article 'falsearticle' .
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"Yes, you're allowed to get drunk off your ass and purchase hardcore porno flicks, but you can't buy these video games"
Why do people continue to conflate sex and violence? One is about having fun and procreating, the other is about hurting people.
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That's not mature... (Score:2)
This is mature because we don't let kids have it. Our society apparently feels that frat boys are mature.
Thoughtful? Intellectual? We poke fun at those things. (Because we're mature.)
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Mod parent down: Bullshit. (Score:5, Informative)
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Well, they do, and they drink too. Drinking age in most of the world is 16. Sometimes only for beer, wine and cider, and 18 for spirits.
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I don't even understand 21. In theory, the reason we have an age limit of 21 for booze is because the brain is still developing up until age 21, so alcohol might stunt that growth.
No, the theory was nothing of the sort. The theory was that 18-21 year olds were not mature enough to handle the responsibilities of drinking (particularly where they intersect with driving), and that by making it illegal, 18-21 year olds would no longer drink--- an absurd leap of (il)logic, if you ask me. In truth, the push to pass the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 came from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, largely at the goading of insurance companies who were finding that they weren't making a
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Incorrect. I was alive (albeit only a kid) when the drinking age was raised to 21 here in Michigan, so I know the public argument for it first hand. The stated goal was to get alcohol out of high schools, because high school students weren't responsible enough to handle alcohol. When many 18-year-old high school seniors were old enough to buy alcohol, it
honestly (Score:4, Insightful)
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Shouldn't booze too then be left to parents? And porn? If my 16 year old by wants a playboy I wouldn't stand in his way. Really, with the internet nowadays porn is readily available anyway.
The reason we have these controls in place is because some parents are truly incompetent and don't parent when they should, and the rest of society pays a price for these parents incompetance.
A parent can still go into an adults only section in a video game store
Featuring the new EA Title (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Featuring the new EA Title (Score:5, Funny)
Punks gain EXP for tagging houses and retirement centers.
Gramps characters get EXP for filling punks' asses with high velocity rock salt.
I like! Who wants to join the development team?
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Re:Featuring the new EA Title (Score:4, Funny)
There should be a punishment (Score:5, Insightful)
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Of course, 99% of the added voters will be TV-addicted sheep, so I'd rather that not happen. I'd much rather have 50k intelligent people vote than a hundred million morons.
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If the constitution is changed the courts can't though the change out as unconstitutional.
I think by definition you can't make an unconstitutional change to the constitution. Sure, you could make an amendment stating that the first amendment is no longer valid, but all you've done is change the constitution. For this reason, the constitution is intentionally very difficult to change. Its purpose is to specify a framework under which the government should operate and specify the basic rights of the citizens the government is tasked with protecting. We don't need a new constitution that take
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Fear a wholesale rewriting of your constitution. Just think of all the stuff that could get in there in the current political climate in most western nations.
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Legislators serve the people. So many of them forget that.
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The bigger issue here hasn't really been addressed by anyone in the general media or the gaming specific media. The issue is that most of the people in office haven't played many of the modern video games they are demonizing and seeking to legislate. Should laws like this (the correctly cited version that is) pass? I don't see why not, there is no added burden beyond having to look at someone's ID. Besides, the kids will just get their parents to buy the games for them, therefore circumventing the law.
T
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Or perhaps, instead of trying to win over an appease the lawmakers, to be pleasant masters... we could remove their extra constitution censoring powers?
I favour a three strikes rule (Score:2)
Remember... (Score:2, Insightful)
Also, why 30? Why not 21? 18? It's one thing if the government regulates what can be sold to minors without their parent's permission, but what exactly gives them the right to arbitrarily block adults from something?
Damn hypocrites. Keith Wright, feel free to exercise your right to bite me.
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Yo ho, yo ho...
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No, just 1up thinks that. If you read the actual bill, it's restricting mature games from those under 18 (same as those laws in those other states that got overturned). Someone misread the part about carding people who look under 30 (like they card for alcohol and cigarettes). So don't worry, even if it passes (whi
Re:Remember... (Score:4, Interesting)
Exception for the developers & testers? (Score:2, Insightful)
Small, dirty room behind the beaded curtain (Score:5, Funny)
Prostate Kong
Ligament Hunter
Early Bird Buffet 2142
Need For Slow: Cataract
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Just great... (Score:2)
Related jokes:
Oh, violent games? I thought you were talking about Brain Age, Sudoku, etc.
Or
A PC game shelf with over 30 games on it in stores these days - that's quite an improvement!
Or
Yes! Finally! I can discover that the immature jerks playing games are NOT actually just angsty teens, and can be further disappointed by humanity! It's like a whole new flavor of misanthropy!
Thanks! Good night - I
"Over 30"? Uhh, no. (Score:5, Informative)
This is KIND of an important point, might mod up? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This is KIND of an important point, might mod u (Score:2)
"Okay then. After tax, that'll be $52.74"
Yeah, TFS sucked, but I still hate how the concept is worded, even if I can understand what they're getting at. A lot of stores already enforce this policy, at least to some extent, even if it's not law. I was once carded for buying a video game, although mind you I only look about fourteen or fifteen at age nineteen. I do think it's a bit annoying, but on the other hand, I support anything that means parents have to act as *gasp* parents and sho
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That's a pretty all-encompassing list -- especially the first and last entries. Rep. Wright's law also mandates the creation of an "Adults Only" section in your local game store, where any game containing the above is kept under lock and key, accessible only to people over 30.
Now if you read into the links in the article you find
Rep. Wright's bill also calls for the equivalent of an "adults only" section for such games. Retailers would be required to check I.D. for buyers who appear to be 30 or under. The bill has been referred to the Assembly's Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection.
So its not that the summary of the article is incorrect, the writers of the article can't even cite their sources correctly... You can't just read an article these days, you have to read their sources...
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Age is not a measure of moral maturity (Score:2)
30- America's Army (Score:3, Insightful)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America's_Army [wikipedia.org]
Or are they going to have to modify the game so nobody gets killed?
I can see it now... (Score:2)
All right! (Score:4, Insightful)
Now I can look for those Sega Genesis games in one convienent place!
I was expecting the "over 30" section to have the intelligent games, not the violent ones. Sheesh, what a let-down.
And get off of my yard, you punk kids!
Bill actually only bans sales to minors (under 18) (Score:5, Informative)
1UP misread the article when they summarized it from the original article [gamepolitics.com]
From the text [state.ny.us] of bill:
S 391-Q. SALE OF CERTAIN VIDEO GAMES TO MINORS PROHIBITED. 1. NO PERSON, PARTNERSHIP OR CORPORATION SHALL SELL OR RENT OR OFFER TO SELL OR RENT TO ANY PERSON UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN YEARS ANY VIDEO GAME THAT HAS A MATURE OR VIOLENT RATING.... SALE OR RENTAL OF ANY VIDEO GAME ... [as described] TO AN INDIVIDUAL
WHO DEMONSTRATES, THROUGH [some sort of ID ]... AT LEAST EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE.
SUCH IDENTIFICATION NEED NOT BE REQUIRED OF ANY INDIVIDUAL WHO REASONABLY
APPEARS TO BE AT LEAST THIRTY YEARS OF AGE,...
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Re:Bill actually only bans sales to minors (under (Score:2)
Incorrect article (Score:2, Insightful)
According to this link [gamepolitics.com] cited in the article, it's not that "violent" games would only be "accessible" to customers over 30, it's that retailers would be required "to check I.D. for buyers" who wanted to browse that section and "who appear to be 30 or under." It's more like the policy of checking IDs when serving alcohol than the nonsense the article and summary suggest.
Incidentally, if they were accurate, it would (comically) mean that someone could run for and win a seat in the House of Representatives
Look at the bright side.. (Score:3, Funny)
The headline tricked me (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, now I'll need a fake (Score:5, Funny)
I think it's a good idea (Score:2)
That's what I thought, too (Score:2)
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What are your pouring on those games? I think most stores would kick you out if you started pouring any substance on their games.
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When I first saw the headline, I guessed that it would be about special sections in video game stores geared towards games that aren't either cartoon-spinoff games for 8-year-olds, or same-shooter-game-but-with-more-entrails games that appeal to teenagers. I'd love to have a store where they seperate the interesting games from the kiddie or flashy ones.
Instead, I find that it's really about seperating all of the blood and guts games out. Lame.
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I would like to encourage as many people as possible to follow this line of thinking. That way, on March 30, my chances of getting hold of a copy of Super Mario Galaxy will be maximised. I'll put it alongside Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario 64 and New Super Mario Bros. on my shelf of 'Games That Will Be Relinquished Over My Cold Dead Hands'.
I think you guys are missing the big picture (Score:3, Insightful)
(assuming that the law is 18+, not 30+ as the summary says.)
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In politics, you never take the most extreme position possible, you constantly push the moderate position in a certain direction.
So, at first, you support carding video game buyers. Then you support a government oversight board to regulate game ratings. Then you attack the companies, claiming that their advertising is aimed at kids (like Joe Camel, you need to show ID to buy smokes too). You attack on a number of fronts, slowing increasing and increasing the restrictions unt
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Yes, you are correct, things get banned little by little until the ban is complete. I'm sure that some of the people supporting this law have the intention of banning violent video games completely. I agree with the law, but for different reasons.
Tighter controls can actually lead to more liberty. A bar can hang a poster of a topless chick, use naked lady coasters on the counter and even have a cigarette vending machine!
"Over 30" department with no childlish stuff! (Score:3, Interesting)
I would love a single game that is worth playing even if you need to choose between a) working more hours with good extra money, b) spending more time with your beloved kids/spouse, c) exercising/sports d) any other entertainment or e) playing games.
I would love just one game that is not a glorified, graphically decorated 3-D board game/puzzle/Pac-Man with almost non-existent emotional impact, except "I found the secret way/key/lever" or "I was fast/clever enough to manouver my opponent".
Good! (Score:2)
This is obviously a ploy... (Score:2)
Huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
NY: The Nanny State (Score:2)
It's getting positively ridiculous. I'm so flustered that this is about the most coherent response I can come up with now. (Or maybe all the trans fats I ingested at dinner are just interfering with my brain chemistry).
Remember when conservatives where for small government?
I will admt that 30 is too old. (Score:3, Insightful)
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I paid taxes at 16, when I got my first (legal) job. And yet I didn't have any of the rights of most of the citizens. The truth is, the government takes advantage of kids in a lot of ways under the guise of "protect the children!" The reason it stays that way is because they don't have the right to vote, so not too many people have the incentive to give them other rights. Also, by the time you can vote (and drink, smoke, watch porn, etc.) everyone forgets how much it sucks
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When my kid is 28, my responsibility for his behavior is pretty much zero.
I could sort of not mind a law like this too much, but the age can't be 30.
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Also, your post is what people would wave infront of people as a reason to ban games, and as proof that they are harmfull.
Watch what you say.
in short: STFU
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