Taken from PC.IGN.COM:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Are videogames fueling the new McCarthyism against violence? Retailers take a new hard stand.
September 7, 2000
Montgomery Wards and Sears Roebuck & Co. already have banned the sale of videogames that are rated M (mature). Now, after pressure from eight senators (including Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Lieberman), Kmart and Wal-Mart have agreed to enact a less severe policy.
Starting in October 2000 at Kmart, when the barcode scanner scans a videogame rated M a note on the register will instruct the cashier to check for ID before allowing the sale to continue. Shortly after Kmart announced their policy, Wal-Mart followed. Toys R Us has stated it already has the policy in place. Wal-Mart representatives were not sure when the new policy would go into effect.
Republican Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions approves of these policies, but he still would prefer retail stores to simply ban the sale of rated M games like Wards and Sears have done.
Despite a lack of evidence to support such claims, many politicians still believe that exposure to violent videogames will create violent people.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan has said, "Common sense should tell us that positively reinforcing sadistic behavior, as these games do, cannot be good for our children. We cannot expect that the hours spent in school will mold and instruct a child's mind but that hours spent playing violent games will not."
Next week the Federal Trade Commission will release a report on whether mature or violent games are marketed toward kids. Brownback has said that the Senate Commerce Committee will examine the results when available.
"If this is true -- and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that it is -- this is a scandal and an outrage," said Brownback.
(Ed note: Take note young readers, these over-reactive congressmen are full of horseradish. Hey, Senators! Make sure not to let your kids watch Saturday morning TV, see anything at movie theaters -- or especially look at newsmagazines or even standard everyday newspapers, where they'll see how violent people are in real life. That's the real outrage. Now go back to doing what you were hired to do, which is what the people really want -- to take guns off the streets, and out of kids' hands. That's how the violence will stop.}[/quote]
-Keiichi
http://www.geocities.com/morisato_81/
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Are videogames fueling the new McCarthyism against violence? Retailers take a new hard stand.
September 7, 2000
Montgomery Wards and Sears Roebuck & Co. already have banned the sale of videogames that are rated M (mature). Now, after pressure from eight senators (including Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Lieberman), Kmart and Wal-Mart have agreed to enact a less severe policy.
Starting in October 2000 at Kmart, when the barcode scanner scans a videogame rated M a note on the register will instruct the cashier to check for ID before allowing the sale to continue. Shortly after Kmart announced their policy, Wal-Mart followed. Toys R Us has stated it already has the policy in place. Wal-Mart representatives were not sure when the new policy would go into effect.
Republican Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions approves of these policies, but he still would prefer retail stores to simply ban the sale of rated M games like Wards and Sears have done.
Despite a lack of evidence to support such claims, many politicians still believe that exposure to violent videogames will create violent people.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan has said, "Common sense should tell us that positively reinforcing sadistic behavior, as these games do, cannot be good for our children. We cannot expect that the hours spent in school will mold and instruct a child's mind but that hours spent playing violent games will not."
Next week the Federal Trade Commission will release a report on whether mature or violent games are marketed toward kids. Brownback has said that the Senate Commerce Committee will examine the results when available.
"If this is true -- and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that it is -- this is a scandal and an outrage," said Brownback.
(Ed note: Take note young readers, these over-reactive congressmen are full of horseradish. Hey, Senators! Make sure not to let your kids watch Saturday morning TV, see anything at movie theaters -- or especially look at newsmagazines or even standard everyday newspapers, where they'll see how violent people are in real life. That's the real outrage. Now go back to doing what you were hired to do, which is what the people really want -- to take guns off the streets, and out of kids' hands. That's how the violence will stop.}[/quote]
-Keiichi
http://www.geocities.com/morisato_81/
