14 votes

Illinois rep. wants to ban ‘all violent video games’ to curb violence

10 comments

  1. [3]
    drannex
    Link
    Sorry everyone, Mario has been cancelled.

    violent video game is described as one that “allows a user or player to control a character within the video game that is encouraged to perpetuate human-on-human violence in which the player kills or otherwise causes serious physical or psychological harm to another human or an animal.”

    Sorry everyone, Mario has been cancelled.

    14 votes
    1. nukeman
      Link Parent
      Hell, even fucking Minecraft would be cancelled.

      Hell, even fucking Minecraft would be cancelled.

      11 votes
    2. PhantomBand
      Link Parent
      Mario is genocide propaganda!

      Mario is genocide propaganda!

      1 vote
  2. [4]
    Whom
    Link
    It'll be nice when silly shit like this has gone away so we can talk about the issues with violence in games without the instant association to this.

    It'll be nice when silly shit like this has gone away so we can talk about the issues with violence in games without the instant association to this.

    12 votes
    1. PhantomBand
      Link Parent
      I think there's no issues whatsoever at all with violence in games. The problem is the handful of insane people who take it as a source of inspiration, but those would still go crazy without games.

      I think there's no issues whatsoever at all with violence in games. The problem is the handful of insane people who take it as a source of inspiration, but those would still go crazy without games.

      3 votes
    2. [2]
      MimicSquid
      Link Parent
      What are the issues with violence in games that you're thinking of?

      What are the issues with violence in games that you're thinking of?

      1 vote
  3. Micycle_the_Bichael
    Link
    So I'm going to make an argument that might be similar to what @Whom is getting at. I want to say up front: I don't think if you play violent video games you are destined to be violent, or...

    So I'm going to make an argument that might be similar to what @Whom is getting at. I want to say up front: I don't think if you play violent video games you are destined to be violent, or necessarily that much more likely as an individual to commit acts of violence because you played games. I think this rep and people who make that argument are 99% wrong.

    One thing I want to push back a bit on that I see in almost all conversations around this is the idea of "there is no issues with violence at all in video games" because I don't think that that's strictly true. Again, I'm not saying it makes players into violent murderers, at least not nearly as directly as the people in these articles make it seem. But video games DO impact us and shape the way we think and view the world, and to say that it doesn't would be, in my opinion, wrong. Video games are a form of art. Like film, tv, painting, stories, etc, they all have messages that they send and they all influence individuals and cultures. In the same way you can break down the types of monsters common in horror movies to understand what are the things people in a culture fear and look at how those films exacerbated those fears, we can look at what kinds of themes and messages different genres and subgenres of games are making and think about how they reflect and influence the culture they exist in. They don't exist in a vacuum completely outside of the real world and have no impact on the people who play them or are exposed to them.

    Again, I want to stress here I am not arguing that violent games make people violent, but I am arguing against what I think is too much of a push in the opposite direction that they are "just video games" and don't impact or influence us at all and that we should completely ignore the direct and indirect messages that games expose players and the larger culture/community to.

    7 votes
  4. Hidegger
    Link
    Illinois should remember this idiot so he doesn't get elected again. Video games aren't the problem and even if you could make that link, this move would only negatively affect video game dealers...

    Illinois should remember this idiot so he doesn't get elected again. Video games aren't the problem and even if you could make that link, this move would only negatively affect video game dealers within the state. Everyone would still be able to purchase games online or have them shipped from out of state so it wouldn't prevent a single person from being able to play the games that they want to.

    5 votes
  5. snapxynith
    Link
    I feel this is a distraction bill. Evans told the Sun-Times “The bill would prohibit the sale of some of these games that promote the activities that we’re suffering from in our communities.”...

    I feel this is a distraction bill. Evans told the Sun-Times “The bill would prohibit the sale of some of these games that promote the activities that we’re suffering from in our communities.” Referring to the huge rise in car-jacking, CPD officers responded to 218 carjackings in January, in his area. So instead of promoting safety nets and support to lift his community out of the poverty that lead to actions like car-jacking, he wants to target a 7 year old game that happens to have car-jacking in it so people will come up with other ways to make money to live? Not only that but targeting a game instead of movies, books, or TV. Implying the crime is happening from demographics that specifically are interacting with the game instead of just a general rise in the inability to pay bills due to a pandemic.

    2 votes