“As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth’s final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.”

– Commissioner Pravin Lal, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, video game from 1999

Yes! Yes! YES!!

Apparently it’s from Fark. Funny, especially if you know the Pokémon games.

It begins with “You encountered McCain!”. If you catch it in the middle, just force a refresh of the page to see it from the beginning.

Inside the Mind of a Censor: Five Reasons Jack Thompson is Right

(hint: the title is provocative, but the article isn’t what it suggests)

But, surprisingly, the video games industry is fighting back. For a change. About time, IMO.

From the linked article:

The ESA argues that this bill is an effort to substitute the government’s judgment for parental supervision and turn retailers into surrogate parents. Lowenstein said that the industry’s products were being unreasonably and unfairly singled out. He contends that while there is no question that a few games have content that some audiences will find offensive, the same can be said for some content in TV, films, music, and books. Since the government does not regulate the sales of those entertainment industries, it should follow suit for the sale of video games. Ultimately, he concluded, parents, not government or industry, must be the gatekeepers of what comes in the home.

“In 2004, the average game buyer was 37 years old and the average game player was 30,” Lowenstein said. “Knowing this, our industry creates a wide range of content for a diverse consumer audience, just as other entertainment industries do. And, it’s illogical that video games would be treated more harshly than R-rated movies or music CDs with parental warning labels, both of which can be legally viewed and sold to minors. How can you treat a video game based on James Bond any different than a book or movie based on the same subject matter?”

But a certain ambulance-chasing parasite still plans to steal money from the entertainment industry while perpetuating a world in which no teenager or parent is responsible for their actions. Oh, and a world where rendered violence is worse than real thing, and a pixelated nipple is worse than the Apocalypse.

It amazes me that gaming companies feel so threatened by the current state of affairs that they don’t do the right thing: sue that bastard into oblivion for libel and extortion. Aren’t they aware that, unless they do something about it (and no, putting an end to mature games and thus restricting the media to young children isn’t the right idea), the extortion attempts will not only continue but increase?

For the last couple of decades, the media, sleazy lawyers (redundant, I know) and opportunistic politicians (there I go again…) have been, from time to time, creating media circuses because computer and video games are corrupting our children with gratuitous violence, blood, gore, disrespect for authority and, worst of all, nudity! That no scientific study (and there have been several) has ever linked real life violence with computer games is of no interest to these parasites – it is an opportunity to get richer (to a lawyer like the vermin above) and an opportunity to be seen as “protecting children” and “fighting for family values” (just check out Hillary Clinton, whom I had nothing against until now).

Why do these tactics work? Because parents want them. Parenting is hard work, and it’s much easier to let the government do it through legislation, instead of taking an active interest in educating your children, spending time with them (“time? impossible, I have to work!”), getting to know them, and having an idea of what their entertainment is about. So people claim for stricter laws, they call for the end of “mature” games, they demand strong censorship against violence and, worse, sex. Anything so that they don’t have to be parents, don’t have to take responsibility for anything their kids do, and don’t have to teach responsibility to the kids themselves.

And, so, if a child or teenager is violent or crazy, gets a gun and goes on a shooting spree at school, it was those damned video games that caused it. Let’s sue Rockstar or Electronic Arts or Sony, let’s lobby Congress to ban all videogames except those fit for 8-year olds – never mind that the mature games are clearly labeled as such, yet parents keep buying them for their children (“just to shut them up”, I guess).

“Personal responsibility” seems to be a forgotten concept, these days. We are all “victims of society”, and can’t be blamed for anything we do. It’s those dirty heavy metal bands and role-playing games… Ooops, sorry, wrong decade, that was in the 70s and 80s. It’s “video games” now. Yeah, that’s the ticket. I’ll just write a letter to my congressman demanding to ban video games (and violent movies, and violent books, and anything that could corrupt my kid (how old is he, anyway? I rarely see him at all…)), so I can be at the office for 10 hours a day and then go home to watch TV for hours, feeling safe with the knowledge that, whatever my kid is doing, he won’t see a drop of blood, a swear word or, horror of horrors, a nipple.