Prime Minister to study new rules for games

not good news altho to be honest if they start banning games ill just start to download them from the US i know im not going to kill anyone or hang around on street corners so F@@|< them

Sheesh.

Seems games are a good scapegoat again. Why am I not surprised? But then, games don't have big lobby groups like music and movies to pressure politicians into allowing 'xyz whatever'.

Originally Posted by yakyb
not good news altho to be honest if they start banning games ill just start to download them from the US i know im not going to kill anyone or hang around on street corners so F@@|< them

would be interesting to see what copyright laws would say to that...

since a legal purchase would be impossible the actual damage for the industry would be 0...

so what happened now? another teenager shot someone 2 years after he played Manhunt, and he had a copy of the game in his bedroom?

Welcome to the nanny state.... :(

Mr Gordon Brown has been reading the Daily Mail too much me thinks :(

Originally Posted by Gordon Brown
...whether we need new rules for the advertising and sale of these products to children and young people...

If all he means by that is adult games are only advertised after the watershed and actually legally enforcing the age rating on games i don't think we have much to worry about.

Yet children/teens can log on to the internet and look at all sorts of violent/pornographic stuff, it's called the world wide web.

I'm not going to list sites, but i've seen some pretty horrendus stuff on the internet and all with no way of blocking minors.

have you ever seen bit-tech.net!

Holy cow! There is **** on there that you wouldn't like anyone to see!

Originally Posted by will.
have you ever seen bit-tech.net!

Holy cow! There is **** on there that you wouldn't like anyone to see!

true...

all the links to articles about politicians trying to ban games can make even the strongest man sick

/sarcasm off ohh.. wait.. i didnt even mean it as sarcasm

Instead of reporting the sensationalist Daily Mirror story, perhaps you should have looked at his entire speech

bbc

Originally Posted by Mr Brown
The first citizens jury will be held later this week on children: how to ensure that every child can be safe, secure and successful at school; how parents can get the support and advice they need as they bring up their children; and how we can ensure that our education system reaches the very highest standards.

I know too that parents are concerned about whether children are exposed to harmful violence and sexual imagery in video and computer games and on the internet.

So as we launch the consultation on our children's plan we will be looking at all the evidence on the effects of this material; whether we need new rules on the advertising and sale of these products to children and young people; and what more can be done to help parents regulate access to inappropriate material on the internet.

No mention of banning anything, more that he is setting up citizen's jurys to discuss with the population the concerns of the population

Originally Posted by Mr Brown
The members of these juries will be chosen independently.

Participants will be given facts and figures that are independently verified.

They will look at real issues and solutions - just as a jury examines a case.

And whenever these citizens juries are held the intention is to bring people together to explore where common ground exists

Stop reporting like a tabloid rag it gets annoying :p

Originally Posted by will.
have you ever seen bit-tech.net!

Holy cow! There is **** on there that you wouldn't like anyone to see!

You've read the tit-tech haiku thread then

Originally Posted by whisperwolf
Instead of reporting the sensationalist Daily Mirror story, perhaps you should have looked at his entire speech

bbc

No mention of banning anything, more that he is setting up citizen's jurys to discuss with the population the concerns of the population

Stop reporting like a tabloid rag it gets annoying :p

I have to agree with whisperwolf here, reporting the facts would be much more desirable.

I think stopping kids buying 18 rated games is a good idea, I didnt even know they could at the moment.

Originally Posted by LeMaltor
I think stopping kids buying 18 rated games is a good idea, I didnt even know they could at the moment.

the shops make money by selling the products.. so everyone can buy the stuff...

its the same as with alcohol, cigarettes, porn... the shops say there are almost no controls, so they just sell it.

^ I can remember it being difficult to buy 18-rated games when I was younger. I went to almost every shop in my town to find one that would let me buy GTAIII when it first came out (thankyou Virgin :D).

Seriously, there isn't any problem with the system at the moment. The BBFC do a good job. If the kids get hold of the inappropriate games, then it's because the parents bought it for them.

sod new rules, i'm an adult and i can make my own choices, i dont need a fat **** to tell me what games i can and cant play! i'm sure that the donkey would not even know what a xbox360, wii or ps was, even if the git sat on it.

i wish he would go and have some sex!!! he needs something to do other that piss a load of gamers off. first the tories, now labour, me thinks lib debs might be a better vote this time around, if they still exist!

Originally Posted by AngelOfRage
Yet children/teens can log on to the internet and look at all sorts of violent/pornographic stuff, it's called the world wide web.

I'm not going to list sites, but i've seen some pretty horrendus stuff on the internet and all with no way of blocking minors.

yeah i love how utterly pointless those Enter or Exit screens are. if you are 18 and over you may enter, under 18 please press exit, umm yeah like anyones gonna press exit

and the ones that ask for your DOB, those are even worse, you can pretend your 54 or something.

Originally Posted by otispunkmeyer
yeah i love how utterly pointless those Enter or Exit screens are. if you are 18 and over you may enter, under 18 please press exit, umm yeah like anyones gonna press exit

and the ones that ask for your DOB, those are even worse, you can pretend your 54 or something.

It's more of a liability/legal requirement thing so that they can say they weren't providing porn to minors, as for all intents and purposes, they thought stated they were an adult.

If he wants to complain about kids getting their hands on inappropriate material in games he should be examining parents. A lot of games are designed for adults, a huge number of games really.

It is not easy for kids to get their hands on higher age rated games on the high street. Most of the time they have to do it via their parents, in which case it is the responsibility of the parent to find out what they are getting.

You wouldn't go out and buy a porn film for your 8 year old because he asked for it, why would you get an 18 rated game with heavy violence and sexual content?

It is bloody stupid.

Originally Posted by Tyr
If he wants to complain about kids getting their hands on inappropriate material in games he should be examining parents. A lot of games are designed for adults, a huge number of games really.

It is not easy for kids to get their hands on higher age rated games on the high street. Most of the time they have to do it via their parents, in which case it is the responsibility of the parent to find out what they are getting.

You wouldn't go out and buy a porn film for your 8 year old because he asked for it, why would you get an 18 rated game with heavy violence and sexual content?

It is bloody stupid.

Umm QFT basically, this is so true, well said :)

He has far more important problems than games, namley real people dying in some pointless war. Why can't we have an inquirey into that instead :( (actualy a fair inquiry would result in most of the govenment been imprisonsed so that will never happen.)

The main issue is with the older generation that is buying the games, ie parents, is that they see the word "Game" and think "Hello Kitty Island Adventure" rather than "Manhunt". Labelling anything as a "Game" seems to make it the current generation of parents (those with children around the 5-15yr olds) somewhat blind to the content held within.

Those of us that are in the younger generation, even parents like myself, that have grown up with PCs, Xboxes & Playstations (even the Wii) tend to understand the the word game doesn't mean it's something that children should have access to.

Mr Brown et all, are of the generation which "Game" means the former, therefore they will find it harder to understand that in todays world, where adults work hard & play hard, a "Game" is the escape from reality that is needed after spending all day slaving away to pay the taxes that keep the country running.

I for one, will be very much clued up when my daughter comes of age and wants me to buy her the latest "Manhunt"/"GTA" and the answer from my mouth will be a strong NO.

In the meantime, I foresee I tough time ahead for the Games Industry, where they may have to rebrand their product as Adult Entertainment rather than a kiddy friendly virtual expreience. That and educating the parents that buy the games for there kids, only to launch an attack on the industry when they discover what they bought isn't what they thought. Come to think of it, eaching these "Adults" to read, and understand the contents of the box should be the first step. Afterall, I'm sure most 3yr olds are more intelligent than thier parents these days, I know mine is!!

ill just make a quick knee jerk prediction on this one. if the citizens in the UK don't stand up and fight for their rights no matter what they are this will end up like your incredibly invasive gun laws.

no matter what you think the government should be; this particular issue lies in the hands of the parents. it is the parents responsibility to make sure that their kids are playing and watching appropriate games/tv shows/movies. there is no legislation that could even come close to what good parenting can do. so for good sake get a freaking spine and PARENT YOUR KIDS!

Originally Posted by IccleD

In the meantime, I foresee I tough time ahead for the Games Industry, where they may have to rebrand their product as Adult Entertainment rather than a kiddy friendly virtual expreience. That and educating the parents that buy the games for there kids, only to launch an attack on the industry when they discover what they bought isn't what they thought. Come to think of it, eaching these "Adults" to read, and understand the contents of the box should be the first step. Afterall, I'm sure most 3yr olds are more intelligent than thier parents these days, I know mine is!!

Couldn't agree more with you. Unfortunatly the term "Adult Entertainment" will most likely cause a plummet in sales as that phrase will turn a lot of people off (and others on for some reason).

What is the current labling like in the UK? Having never been there I can't comment on the current standards used but I'd be interested to see how they compare to what I see everyday plastered all over DVDs, games and even TV shows. Anyone have a link to the standards website?

current ratings for 29 eurpean nations including the Uk is PEGI The Pan-European Game Information age rating system,

Wiki guide here as I find the PEGI webpage quite slow for some reason

Of course this rating is not legaly enforcable in the uk it's an advisory only, ratings given by the BBFC are legaly enforcable here and they only rate some of the games

To be honest, I really don't see the point in this anymore. Kids can still get easy access to DVDs that are rated 18, music with "Parental Advisory" labels on them, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, etc. What difference will a focused discussion and consortium on video game content & imagery do? Nothing is the short answer. It's merely an exhaustive, over-spending folly by the govt to be able to stand back and hold their hands up and say, "A Columbine here in the UK? Oops! No our fault! We sanctioned a study into video games, see?"

Trouble is, 90% of the politicos learn about the content of games at second hand, usually after some real life gruesome gang slaying, there's a write up by some lousy journo, who creates a flimsy link to a game for sensationalism. For example, if you described Bioshock's content to most politicians they'd decry it as sounding bloody disgusting and call for a ban . In other words the reality of content is virtually always a lot more timid than the description of it.

Originally Posted by whisperwolf
Stop reporting like a tabloid rag it gets annoying :p

Hear hear!