How can anything in our political system pass when its reasons for existence are nothing but lies? Louisiana recently passed a bill, thanks to Rep. Roy Burrell, to keep video games out of the hands of minors. Obviously, the debate on whether or not that's our government's place is another issue entirely. The problem with this bill is how it passed.
Burrell brought in "ace" anti-video game attorney Jack Thompson to make part of his point, and this is where things begin to go wrong (no surprise to anyone who has followed this debate that has gone on for nearly fifteen years now). Thompson's absurd, ridiculous, and flat-out stupid discussion of the Playstation 2's Dual Shock controller was by far and away the biggest lie of the day:
[The controller] literally gives you a pleasurable jolt and vibration back into your hands every time you kill someone. When you take a car and you run over innocent virtual pedestrians in the game you get a pleasurable vibration as your wheels go over their skulls.
He went on to say that this was created by Rockstar and Sony, and this increases people's urge to kill. Not only has the technology been around since the Nintendo 64, Sony has even been sued over the technology and won't be using it on their next console. Worse yet, the vibration feature is used in nearly every game on every system. Sometimes it simulates a heartbeat in a tense situation (like a close 9th inning in a baseball game), a nudge in a racing game, or even when Mario plays a mini-game in the latest Mario Party game.
Thompson provided no facts, proof, or studies to show this has any extra effect on the person playing the game. His rant on Rockstar's upcoming Bully was likewise over-the-top, saying you could bludgeon teachers with a bat, when not even top-tier video game sites have anything of this nature in their coverage of the game. We know nothing of how it will play, but apparently Thompson snuck out some secret info on the game and decided to use it.
Article comments
1 - Jed Merrill
Someday, people may make their decision on which state to live in based on whether the state is "gamer" friendly. Louisiana apparently is not!
2 - Joey
Yet another reason to shun Louisiana as the idyllic spot to take up root.
3 - Mr. Real Estate
Politiciabs who won't ban guns will ban video games in the name of safety. How interesting...
4 - Jack Thompson
You're entitled to your opinions. You're not entitled to your own set of facts.
5 - Jason "Njiska" Westhaver
Exactly Jack, you're entitled to your opinions. You're not entitled to your own set of facts.
6 - Matt Paprocki
I don't need my own set of facts. You do Jack so you make some sense when you speak in public. Care to enlighten us on the "research" you did to learn that the Dual Shock is causing kids to be more violent? Care to tell us why you said Rockstar and Sony use this for this purpose and not the thousands of others? Care to tell us about any long term research that shows video games make people violent? Care to tell us why you didn't stop Burrell when he ranted about online flash games the bill has nothing to do with?
7 - -E
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