UK Censors ban videogame

[Mags 112]

It brings up an interesting question - is it reasonable to ban something such as a video game that typically, children have access to? Suppose a video game was made that involved raping women or children? Of course those acts are illegal in real life, but so is murder.

Again, this comes down to parenting. The parents SHOULD have control over their kids enough to say "no, you may NOT buy or play this game." I manage to do this with my son, I can't see why other parents can't do the same.

[homesick_american 1]

I think what worries me about video games of this caliber is the ratings and the blatant disregard some parents have for said system. If it says it is for 18s and over it REALLY is only for 18s and over. Don't let a 10 year old play it for goodness sake.

The ratings system works the same as the film classification system. You don't see 10 year olds in a cinema watching Saw3, so why would you let them play Manhunt?

It indicates extremely poor parenting to me.

I agree...but NuLab seems to think that parents are idiots and can't make any decisions by themselves, so they have to do their job for them.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I think what worries me about video games of this caliber is the ratings and the blatant disregard some parents have for said system. If it says it is for 18s and over it REALLY is only for 18s and over. Don't let a 10 year old play it for goodness sake.

The ratings system works the same as the film classification system. You don't see 10 year olds in a cinema watching Saw3, so why would you let them play Manhunt?

It indicates extremely poor parenting to me.

Even with the ratings though I still wonder who these things are being aimed at.

[Ban Hammer 13,340]

It brings up an interesting question - is it reasonable to ban something such as a video game that typically, children have access to? Suppose a video game was made that involved raping women or children? Of course those acts are illegal in real life, but so is murder.

Again, this comes down to parenting. The parents SHOULD have control over their kids enough to say "no, you may NOT buy or play this game." I manage to do this with my son, I can't see why other parents can't do the same.

but.....that means parents would have to be......parents!

[Mags 112]

I think what worries me about video games of this caliber is the ratings and the blatant disregard some parents have for said system. If it says it is for 18s and over it REALLY is only for 18s and over. Don't let a 10 year old play it for goodness sake.

The ratings system works the same as the film classification system. You don't see 10 year olds in a cinema watching Saw3, so why would you let them play Manhunt?

It indicates extremely poor parenting to me.

I agree...but NuLab seems to think that parents are idiots and can't make any decisions by themselves, so they have to do their job for them.

Some parents ARE idiots and they have no regard for their children's welfare. Perhaps the option to choose SHOULD be taken out of their hands...

A friend of my son's was given Grand Theft Auto for his 10th birthday. He was 10 for crying out loud and if you say something people just reply "it's just a video game!". Well, no it isn't. GTA is hardly Pac-Man or Hungry Horace...

I think what worries me about video games of this caliber is the ratings and the blatant disregard some parents have for said system. If it says it is for 18s and over it REALLY is only for 18s and over. Don't let a 10 year old play it for goodness sake.

The ratings system works the same as the film classification system. You don't see 10 year olds in a cinema watching Saw3, so why would you let them play Manhunt?

It indicates extremely poor parenting to me.

Even with the ratings though I still wonder who these things are being aimed at.

I agree to some extent. Young adult is the usual answer to questions like these but, more often than not, young teens are the ones playing it.

It brings up an interesting question - is it reasonable to ban something such as a video game that typically, children have access to? Suppose a video game was made that involved raping women or children? Of course those acts are illegal in real life, but so is murder.

Again, this comes down to parenting. The parents SHOULD have control over their kids enough to say "no, you may NOT buy or play this game." I manage to do this with my son, I can't see why other parents can't do the same.

but.....that means parents would have to be......parents!

Heaven forbid they have to do more than squeeze them out. To actually guide them and look after their welfare?

Noooooooo! You speak lies!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I don't agree with banning - but I do think that game is 'unrelentingly nasty' as described and therefore objectionable.

I deal with objectionable forms of entertainment by not buying them/participating in them/etc. I don't tell other people what they can and can't do.

I quite like the Grand Theft Auto series, but for all the immoral stuff you could do in the game (and which got the likes of Hillary Clinton trying to ban it) it at least had a sense of humour. This has none of that - and the draw appears to be in the number of ways that you can kill a person: including suffocating with plastic bags, cutting heads off with garotte wire, and hacking bodies to pieces with meat cleavers - there really isn't much objective to the game beyond that.

Got to wonder at what exactly the target audience for these games really is. I mean, are companies marketing to sadists now?

Clearly they think there's a market for it if they bothered to make it; either that or they're getting off on the publicity generated by the UK government's knee-jerk reaction.

There's a similarly disturbing trend in recent horror movies like Saw, Hostel and Turistas which abandon traditional shock horror in favour of a disturbed focus on torture and suffering. Turistas in particular features a scene where a woman is dissected while still alive with all the nauseating detail of a medical training school training video. I don't mind "horror" - its the torture I object to.

I'll have to take your word for that because I've never seen any of those films...never even heard of the last two...and since I haven't seen them I have no opinion of their contents.

I'm not saying that I like things like that, but I don't like the government telling me what I am and am not allowed to watch, read, listen to, etc.

The government shouldn't be mandating this stuff I agree, but I think we're at the balance of free-speech and social responsibilty here. I've seen a lot of very pedestrian by the numbers horror flicks, but this new trend really emphasises torture and suffering over everything else. The latest ones seem merely to be doing it cynically and simply because other films like Saw have done it before and feel a need to raise the bar.

If things continue like this, you've got to wonder if there will be any taboos left. I mean, once people are accustomed to this kind of thing, how will they 'shock' us next? By showing us graphic scenes of child abuse?

I like horror, but I have to draw a line at simulated snuff movies.

[Ban Hammer 13,340]

It brings up an interesting question - is it reasonable to ban something such as a video game that typically, children have access to? Suppose a video game was made that involved raping women or children? Of course those acts are illegal in real life, but so is murder.

Again, this comes down to parenting. The parents SHOULD have control over their kids enough to say "no, you may NOT buy or play this game." I manage to do this with my son, I can't see why other parents can't do the same.

but.....that means parents would have to be......parents!

Heaven forbid they have to do more than squeeze them out. To actually guide them and look after their welfare?

Noooooooo! You speak lies!

i think you're asking way too much

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It brings up an interesting question - is it reasonable to ban something such as a video game that typically, children have access to? Suppose a video game was made that involved raping women or children? Of course those acts are illegal in real life, but so is murder.

Again, this comes down to parenting. The parents SHOULD have control over their kids enough to say "no, you may NOT buy or play this game." I manage to do this with my son, I can't see why other parents can't do the same.

In general, I agree with that notion - the ratings system's purpose is to help inform parents. The problem is access. As a parent, you may have a handle on what video games your child plays in your house, but not in your neighbors. Instead of banning though, I'd be in favor of possible fines to adults who knowingly and blatantly allow access to minors, material that is adult in content. That gives parents added support without censorship. It means that if your neighbor exposes your child to such material, they are held liable.

[homesick_american 1]

I don't agree with banning - but I do think that game is 'unrelentingly nasty' as described and therefore objectionable.

I deal with objectionable forms of entertainment by not buying them/participating in them/etc. I don't tell other people what they can and can't do.

I quite like the Grand Theft Auto series, but for all the immoral stuff you could do in the game (and which got the likes of Hillary Clinton trying to ban it) it at least had a sense of humour. This has none of that - and the draw appears to be in the number of ways that you can kill a person: including suffocating with plastic bags, cutting heads off with garotte wire, and hacking bodies to pieces with meat cleavers - there really isn't much objective to the game beyond that.

Got to wonder at what exactly the target audience for these games really is. I mean, are companies marketing to sadists now?

Clearly they think there's a market for it if they bothered to make it; either that or they're getting off on the publicity generated by the UK government's knee-jerk reaction.

There's a similarly disturbing trend in recent horror movies like Saw, Hostel and Turistas which abandon traditional shock horror in favour of a disturbed focus on torture and suffering. Turistas in particular features a scene where a woman is dissected while still alive with all the nauseating detail of a medical training school training video. I don't mind "horror" - its the torture I object to.

I'll have to take your word for that because I've never seen any of those films...never even heard of the last two...and since I haven't seen them I have no opinion of their contents.

I'm not saying that I like things like that, but I don't like the government telling me what I am and am not allowed to watch, read, listen to, etc.

The government shouldn't be mandating this stuff I agree, but I think we're at the balance of free-speech and social responsibilty here. I've seen a lot of very pedestrian by the numbers horror flicks, but this new trend really emphasises torture and suffering over everything else. The latest ones seem merely to be doing it cynically and simply because other films like Saw have done it before and feel a need to raise the bar.

If things continue like this, you've got to wonder if there will be any taboos left. I mean, once people are accustomed to this kind of thing, how will they 'shock' us next? By showing us graphic scenes of child abuse?

I like horror, but I have to draw a line at simulated snuff movies.

There's a lot more than that that I find objectionable; I don't like all the swearing on UK TV or the innuendo, I don't like the violence on American TV where people are tortured and blown up on prime-time TV...I HATE pornography because it's so trashy and degrading, and I hate gangsta rap and the glorification of drugs and violence. I really hate that sh!t...all of it.

However...I don't feel that it's the government's job to ban something. If shops themselves made individual decisions to not carry a product I wouldn't mind so much but the government can kiss my rosy-red, law-abiding #######.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The BBFC are irrelevant IMO as their judgements are purely subjective and inconsistently applied. Hence Manhunt 2 is deemed unacceptable, but they pass Hostel and Turistas get through with minimal (if any) cuts. They also make some truly bizarre decisions - for one thing they have a bugbear for headbutts, consistently cutting them out of even PG-rated movies or insisting that the age classification be increased to compensate. Goldeneye was almost given a 15 rating, until the film-makers caved and cut out a brief, blink and you'll miss it woman-on-woman headbutt.

The original UK DVD edition of the Matrix was knackered up by those cuts - there was an option on the disc where you could watch the movie with the just the film score playing and the rest of the sound muted. Of course, cutting out that footage mean't that the soundtrack now played out of synch - which pretty much buggered up that feature.

[almaty 19]

wow..next they will be banning.."leisure suit larry"

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

wow..next they will be banning.."leisure suit larry"

I think that was one of the first video games to get some sort of age rating. But that had sleazy humour on its side - Manhunt doesn't have that. The character you play is a cross between Chopper and Hannibal Lecter.

[almaty 19]

wow..next they will be banning.."leisure suit larry"

I think that was one of the first video games to get some sort of age rating. But that had sleazy humour on its side - Manhunt doesn't have that. The character you play is a cross between Chopper and Hannibal Lecter.

wow, that chopf##k..i do not believe in banning though

[pedroh 21]

oh man that game's gonna pwn!

is it gonna have the same feature of Manhunt 1? that if u wear the usb headphones and mic set for the ps.. the enemies can actually hear ur breathing, and if u yell, they hear you! OMG !

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

oh man that game's gonna pwn!

is it gonna have the same feature of Manhunt 1? that if u wear the usb headphones and mic set for the ps.. the enemies can actually hear ur breathing, and if u yell, they hear you! OMG !

I'll skip it and probably go straight to GTA-4.