Video game makers should be held responsible?

[Jessterw]

It's all Caine's fault.

[DGhost]

It's all Caine's fault.

GET HIM!

[mmp121]

Should a blacksmith be held responsible if someone uses the knife he made to kill someone?
Should car manufacturers be held responsible if someone uses their car to run over people?
Should the MURC admin be held responsible if Zokes spends too much time on MURC and not enough time working?
Should Einstein be held responsible for all those who died from an atomic bomb?

No
No
No
No

Should Hollywood be held responsible for movies that involve smoking, violence, sexual overtone. All of which "children" and impressionable youths take after?

No!

[ZokesPro]

No
No
No
No

Should Hollywood be held responsible for movies that involve smoking, violence, sexual overtone. All of which "children" and impressionable youths take after?

No!

I agree cause either way, holding someone responsible for such things doesn't sound like a solution that will help solve the problem.

[Dr Mordrid]

So is Mark Twain responsible for people using the word "nigger"

It's not the word, it's the context. Twains usage was in the context of showing how stupid racism is, not in encouraging or supporting it.

Dr. Mordrid

[Gurm]

It's not the word, it's the context. Twains usage was in the context of showing how stupid racism is, not in encouraging or supporting it.

Dr. Mordrid

Pffff. Yeah, ok. He was using it in the context which existed at the time - which is to say that it was socially acceptable. Nowadays we consider it to be socially UNacceptable (but don't get KvH started on how political correctness is anti-christian!).

My point remains - you can't start holding people responsible for what essentially amounts to a piece of entertainment. Otherwise you have book burnings and eventually PEOPLE burnings, and that is - last time I checked - BAD.

[DGhost]

she's a witch! burn her!

[schmosef]

(but don't get KvH started on how political correctness is anti-christian!)

LOL!

There's a liberal in the bush!

[RichL]

You can kill, maim, steal and run a childrens entertainment series that involves lots of big fat guys swearing and hitting each other with metal chairs and none of it will affect young impressionable viewing children.
Unless someone displays a nipple due to a faulty wardrobe...

[Ghostman]

ya know, for most of my life I been playing violent video games and music. I have never thought about killing people, stealing things or any of that. I distinguish between reality and a game or music. The victuims of people who do these stupid things want someone to blame so they turn to games and music. It BS!!! They are the ones to blame!!! Parents sit their kid in front of a tv to entertain them rather than teach with them and interact with them, those parents should have there kids taken away from them and given to someone else.
The whole blame games and music just sucks and makes me sick!!

[Nowhere]

I'd say it's just normal - probably makes you feel better when you find the reasons for problems in the outside world, not in yourself...

edit: btw, Official UK Playstation Magazine, from 98, the one which had review&demo of Resident Evil 2 (I won't tell you which number for sure because I bought the Polish edition, which was probably little late; somewhere around 5 or 6 though) had long and quite good for a gaming magazine article about the issue.

[KvHagedorn]

Parents who don't permit violent games or movies in their homes are the best defense against their kids becoming inured to violence. Any person will be influenced by his or her surroundings and experiences, moreso at younger ages.. that's just the way we are built. We learn to adapt to the world around us. If parents would give love and attention more than violent movies and games, that would help a lot.

[Gurm]

It's not even really the "don't expose them to violence" thing, as much as it is the "teaching limits" thing. Not that I think daily exposure to explosions and maimings is GOOD for a kid, mind you.

But inevitably, when some kid shoots up a school, and they interview the parents it turns out that those parents had NO idea what their kids did - ever. Didn't go in their room (bombs inside!), didn't ask where they were going (out to kill kittens!), never spent any time with them at all.

It's absentee parenting. Parenting by proxy. And it doesn't work out. If you can't be there for your kids, don't have any. Seriously. There's a REASON (other than the IT market downturn) that I've spent 3 years at home with Logan - because he needs parental involvement. The result? A polite, well-mannered little boy who knows that no means NO. Of course, he's now almost 4, so no has a tendency to mean "try to do it anyway and hope Daddy doesn't catch you but he will because he's smarter than you and tried this crap when he was 4 so you can spend some time in the corner now".

[xortam]

she's a witch! burn her!

[Wombat]

A polite, well-mannered little boy who knows that no means NO.

If Logan's polite and well-mannered, who's been raising him?