BigKid.com.au

I haven’t read the article, but doesn’t it simply imply better classification of games? I don’t recall what rating xXx had but one of the things games lack is an R rating.

I’m not talking about censorship I’m talking about Rating. There’s a big and important difference.

Finally, a question:

Do you believe that something active should be "rated" more harshly than something passive?

Active? Passive? In what context?

It is just about ratings, by the looks of it. But it seems to be a new thing to make it illegal, at least in the ‘States. And you’re correct that there’s a difference. But it does still imply that violent games ‘create’ violent kids.

I’m guessing by active/passive you mean games vs movies/books. I don’t believe something active should be rated more harshly. The impact that cinema and TV can have is vast, as it’s more pervasive and cinema is certainly more intense.

My niece was terrified during certain parts of Toy Story, but can quite happily play a game of the same level, and not be at all freaked out. The volume and size of cinema makes it have a big impact. Even if a game is very violent, it’s usually more about the objectives and mechanics than the violence itself.

What I meant was:

"If you can actively participate in that violence should that lead to a stricter rating regime?" NOT censorship, but rating.

My answer: Depends. The context must be considered. Eg, Is it realistic or is it Martian Soldiers fighting Little Green guys, etc…

Eg, Resident Evil on Gamecube. It’s terrifying. It’s very realistic (apart from the Zombies ;)). It’s MA I assume (or whatever the highest game rating is). But if it were set in the Mario universe the exact same game would be rated lower.

I think that’s what you were getting at bruce. I agree.

I guess I’m still undecided. *I* can tell it’s just a game. But at 26 I’m hardly the best judge of what a 6 year old will be able to tell. The games I had as a kid were all comic book side scrollers, breakout or space invader clones, not even remotely realistic. Now we have FPS’s that look like movies (eg, Doom III).

I’m tired. Cya.

PS. X-Men 2 was pretty damn cool.