Please sign the gamer petition!

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This Spartan Life has been closely following the Schwarzenegger v. EMA case in California as it seems it will have far reaching effects on free speech issues regarding video games.

The ECA (Entertainment Consumers Association) has a Petition online that will be presented to the Supreme Court when they hear the case in November as to whether the current California law banning the sale of "violent video games" is constitutional. Please take a moment to look it over and sign if you agree that the law is overreaching and dangerous to free speech.

//Jeremy

PS. i felt like posting this because i found it to be quite important
 
Signed, and the word has been spread.

I feel particularly inspired by this petition, not just because I am a gamer and I believe games should be considered the next art form, but also because I watched a documentary called "Playing Columbine"--has anyone else seen it? It has a lot about video games as media for expression of ideas and talks about controversies of video games; I recommend it.
 
I signed even though I don't live in California..

I mean it's a GAME!!! not a ****-o....for pete's sake!
 
its the same over here in australia.. they wont rate games R or 18 they just take the 'gore and violence' out so they get rated at 15 or M.. they ruined left for dead 2 because of silly higher up people who dont believe people should see and be influenced by games..
its ridiculous really.
hope the petition works out for you guys i would have signed but i dont live in the us :/
 
absolutely agreed.

i cant tell you the amount of aliens, humans, terrorists, zombies, nazis, dinosaurs, etc etc etc ive killed in my video game career. but not once have i ever considered doing any of it in real life. except zombies. you have to kill zombies. no questions asked. costuming is the closest ive come to that, and all of the stuff is based on fiction! lol.

the responsibility lies with the parents or care takers. if kids think this stuff is real, then someone isnt doing their job. and its not any fault of the game developers. relating the responsibility of this stuff to video games and movies is the irresponsible part. not the games themselves. its easy to blame them because EVERYONE watches movies, and EVERYONE plays games. its the only constant factor in their situations except for the POOR PARENTING. i work in a game store and every time someone wants to blame this stuff on any sort of media i immediately have to shut them down. the ones that are actually going out and committing these crimes and whatever else would have been doing that even without games and movies. they already have an unstable thought process, and killing a zombie or jumping on a goomba wont change that at all.
 
signed. i agree to everything said above... PLUS i hate the parents who complain about a game that is bloody and violent and "oh what a bad influence this has on my child!!". if you're going to complain about a game that is rated "M" and specifically says "blood, violence, scenes not suitable for children under 13, 18+" or whatever the warning says, maybe you should have thought about that before buying the game for them. just a thought?
 
signed. i agree to everything said above... PLUS i hate the parents who complain about a game that is bloody and violent and "oh what a bad influence this has on my child!!". if you're going to complain about a game that is rated "M" and specifically says "blood, violence, scenes not suitable for children under 13, 18+" or whatever the warning says, maybe you should have thought about that before buying the game for them. just a thought?

DEFINITELY. the rating is posted on the front BECAUSE of these people! it was even ENLARGED after a couple of years of being in use, to further help parents out. they even break down the rating on the back. oh, whats that? still not sure about it being ok for your child? ask someone! i guarantee you theres an employee in the store youre shopping at that can help you out. sigh at parents.
 
its the same over here in australia.. they wont rate games R or 18 they just take the 'gore and violence' out so they get rated at 15 or M.. they ruined left for dead 2 because of silly higher up people who dont believe people should see and be influenced by games..
its ridiculous really.
hope the petition works out for you guys i would have signed but i dont live in the us :/

Idk if Left for Dead 2 is region locked otherwise I would send you guys some copies. In a large shipping container.
 
If video games had a profound effect on people, everyone older than 30 would be sitting in dark rooms, popping pills.

People just need a scapegoat. There are more violent movies than the video games out today. Before it was video games, it was those films people blamed. It's all about bad parenting. If you wanna blame something, blame the person who committed the murder.

Signed, then I got every member of my family to sign it.
 
Gonna sign in a minute. So Schwarzenegger, who acted in things like Predator which included exploding heads and arms being ripped off, who also acted in Expendables, Terminator, and a bunch of other movies where people get ripped to shreds... and he wants to get rid of violent games?!? It makes no sense.

People are probably over reacting about what happened to that kid....

(killed his mom and shot his dad because they took his xbox away... what an idiot!!!! I am not joking around)
 
People are probably over reacting about what happened to that kid....

(killed his mom and shot his dad because they took his xbox away... what an idiot!!!! I am not joking around)

thats just one person out of many. and chances are that kid had some sort of psychological problem to begin with. the parents either dont know or dont want to believe and, like stated before, just needed a scapegoat so, like everyone this petition is trying to prove wrong, they blamed the video games. sick. just sick.
 
Yeah! Like Arin "Egoraptor" said...
Violent kids will play violent video games and will at leased take out the violence in the game instead of real life which is a GOOD thing. If you try to stop them they get more and more violent.
 
I would sign it, but I don't live in the US and I agree, blame the parents for bad parenting instead of the video game or video game company. Every case of that sickness uses video games/movies/music as a scapegoat. Those two kids somewhere a few years ago? It was blamed on Marylin Manson because they wore the t-shirts when they commited those acts. That Virginia Tech three years ago? Blamed on videogames. It's always like this.
 
Signed. If the american revolution would have taken place 224 years later, there would have been 11 parts to the bill of rights, #11 being the right to keep and play video games. Nuff said.
 
/signed

Might as well ban the filming of violent movies, the writing of violent lyrics and books, and the drawing of violent graphic novels.

The point isn't that "video games allow you to act on violent impulses."
It's that ALL violent media desensitizes people to it.

Heck, when I was reading Chuck Palahniuk's books back in the day I remember my mood being affected at work. I was more cynical about everyone and everything. Dark times, but I still love his work! People are effected by any form of art in their own way. These game-haters don't know what they're talking about.

And human beings are inherently violent, so I don't see what the politicians have such a hard time understanding.

"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man."
 
I would sign it, but I don't live in the US and I agree, blame the parents for bad parenting instead of the video game or video game company. Every case of that sickness uses video games/movies/music as a scapegoat. Those two kids somewhere a few years ago? It was blamed on Marylin Manson because they wore the t-shirts when they commited those acts. That Virginia Tech three years ago? Blamed on videogames. It's always like this.

Actually, they blamed Marilyn Manson because he was someone recognizable. They listened to KMFDM and Rammstein, bands which the media had never heard of, so they picked something they figured was similar, and so it stuck.

And in Playing Columbine, they talk about how when Kim Veer Gill (or however you spell it)'s shooting spree was blamed on video games, including the RPG that the documentary was inspired by. Then it was with Cho Seung Hui who had his stuff blamed on the movie Oldboy. Scapegoating, awaaaaay!!!!

Rhinoc, thank you for pointing out the irony of Schwarzenegger. I had a chuckle at that. And Trebek, I agree with you on the scapegoating thing. Correlation does not equal causation--just because a kid who committed violence often played violent video games does not mean the video games made him commit the violence. He could have been messed up in the head already, and perhaps people messed up in the head have a stronger inclination to play violent video games, trick their parents into thinking they are decent kids, lull them into a sleepy sense of trust and allow the parent to buy them violent video games, despite evidence to the contrary. Sociopaths can do this, you know...and they are the ones who would kill people anyway, since they don't feel for people. So ban sociopaths or something. I dunno. Just saying...

Hugh, I do agree with you though, to some degree. While I don't think humans are "inherently violent" (I believe humans have the potential to be violent, good, evil--anything--we have potential, but we are inherently nothing), I do understand how media can change one's emotions. In the same way that feel-good movies or books or video games can make people feel inspired and happy, or allow them to connect with the characters, or in that sad media can make people cry, I think violence in media can make people feel pumped and ready to kick butt or whatever, as well as give people naturally inclined to be violent a chance to connect with that side of their personality. Whether they go and kill people is on their consciences alone. A video game can not make you get up, buy/find a gun, and pull the trigger.

Although, the opponents would say otherwise. "...If we believe everyone who hears Manson tonight will go out and commit violent acts--the answer is no. But does everybody who watches a Lexus ad go and buy a Lexus? No, but a few do." And regardless of evidence that says these few people are crazy enough to begin with, they are willing to punish the majority of healthy-minded individuals who play video games because they are different and scary. Ooooohooo. Remember when radio was going to corrupt people? Yeah. Totally did, didn't it? Or how about moving pictures? I guess they kind of forgot about that.
 
music... radio... tv... movies... now video games... i cant WAIT until the next form of entertainment comes out. i bet everyone will be getting killimanjaros left and right. maybe THATS what is going to happen at the end of 2012.
 
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