http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/eng ... eicestershire/6767623.stm

This is pretty silly IMO.

Adults should have the right to choose what they play and make informed decisions, and censorship is an unwelcome form of control as why should anyone else decide what I can do/view as long as what I do isn't illegal or causing harm?

The poor kid that got killed didn't die because the murderer played Manhunt, he died because the murderer ballsed up a robbery and just happened to have played the game in his free time. If he'd never played Manhunt, the killing still would have happened.

So am I right or wrong? Either way, I'm quite outraged as I thought society had evolved from primitively banning things and ridiculous censorship was something from the past.

Everyone should know by now games also have a positive effect on people. It's completely irrelevant, why are they even talking about that the murderer played that game, it has nothing to do with it.

I think terrorists watch the news too much.

I agree it is wrong to ban it.

They should be clamping down on the stores and the people that buy the game for under-age kids.

No my type of game or what i'd call entertainment but we should have the right to choose.

It should never be banned. How come artists, novelists and poets get freedom of expression but not software design houses . All censorship should be removed IMO.

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The poor kid that got killed didn't die because the murderer played Manhunt, he died because the murderer ballsed up a robbery and just happened to have played the game in his free time. If he'd never played Manhunt, the killing still would have happened.

The link is more stupid than that - the VICTIM had the copy of Manhunt IIRC.

What's also bad is that many historical simulations (MOH type games) are given 16+ certificates. IMO that sort of title should get a 3+ provided it has realistic or slightly exaggerated levels of gore - I'm sorry, but real life does have blood, guts, dead bodies etc.

@Duke: damn those parents dangling on the cowbell!

Where do you get the idea the murdered didn't have the game, but the boy? That would be totally funny really, in a black, sadistic maybe way.

I'm tired of those discussions about wether a game can be sold or not. There are horror movies which look AWFUL, they just put them on the top shelve. Only thing different is that you can choose what you do and how you do it. But if the shops would pay more attention to who's buying it, a lot would be solved already. Over here you need to be over 16 to buy cigs, show your ID, do the same to games!

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The original Manhunt game caused huge controversy and was blamed for the murder of Stefan Pakeerah.

In other news, a bed side lamp with mahogany upright parts was today prosecuted for inciting aegist violence. The lamp, referred to by the Judge as a callous individual who showed no regret for his actions, remained wooden faced in court whilst the verdict was read out.

Under questioning the lamp repeatedly claimed, "It seemed like a bright idea." but this did not strike a cord with the jurors who reached a unnanimous verdict against the 60 watt device.

Mr Violet Lampshade, 3, of Bedside Table Close was found guilty of 3 counts of inciting aegist violence and 1 count of 'being easily grabbed and throwable' when it's owners, Mr & Mrs Dim, ran into marital difficulties last year.

Sounds like a similar story that happened in the Atlanta area just a few days ago, some fool robbed a bank and happened to have a gun on hand, was running down some street and randomly shot some old person just walking all alone down this street.
Games never came in anywhere in the story, but robbers just.. shoot people when they feel like they are a threat.

The boy on the other hand is kind of random, but it happens EVERY single day, I can see why some games have been banned like "Postal," for extremely explicit content, but just because something similar happened in real life is purely a coincidence.

Anyone with common sense who plays GTA and Mafia and whatever else on their free time wouldn't go out and start shooting poeople "because they know how to." A person with common sense would know what would happen to them afterwards.

You can't put it on mafia or GTA vice city, they weren't in modern times, thus clearly not as realistic as let's say GTA San Andreas, now that one should be banned!

Let's all go back to 2D 8bit games, not enough realism to get sued for.

Quote from XCNuse :

Anyone with common sense who plays GTA and Mafia and whatever else on their free time wouldn't go out and start shooting poeople "because they know how to."

Well, they don't know how to... Sure, every kid can pull the trigger, but holding a gun, (re-)loading it, unlocking it, aiming with it and actually firing it (coping with recoil and so on) are things a game can't teach you... That you have to learn somewhere else (firing ranges, hunts, military service)...

Who wants to start a colony on the moon? No morons allowed. (I think that means only about 1000 of us can live there)

Glad that I'm not the only sensible person around here

Whoever said that the focus should not be on banning games but making sure game age limits were enforced is 100% right.

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Remove limits and you invite "entertainment" involving paedophilia, rape and child abuse to be publicly available too. Yeah, let's remove all censorship and give Gary Glitter the game he's always wanted! Edit: On the subject of age limits, they can never be effectively enforced. Once it's in the household the entire family can see it.

I think you misread the point. The point is, games should have the same freedom as books and films. The point wasn't "let's remove all limits on everything". Re your edit, sure the whole family can see it, but the parents CAN prevent kids from playing it! A little bit of responsibility etc.

Sadly, you can bet your ass the Daily Hate... I mean, Daily Mail will be running this story on the front page tomorrow, with some beaming politician ass-hat ranting about the evils of videogames to win votes.

Quote from Clownpaint :

Remove limits and you invite "entertainment" involving paedophilia, rape and child abuse to be publicly available too. Yeah, let's remove all censorship and give Gary Glitter the game he's always wanted!

I'm sorry sir, but pedophilia, rape and child abuse are all crimes and have nothing to do with censorship.

Quote from bbman :

Well, they don't know how to... Sure, every kid can pull the trigger, but holding a gun, (re-)loading it, unlocking it, aiming with it and actually firing it (coping with recoil and so on) are things a game can't teach you... That you have to learn somewhere else (firing ranges, hunts, military service)...

I'm just saying no one in the right mind would go off on a killing spree. (that's what I meant atleast)

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I'm sorry sir, but pedophilia, rape and child abuse are all crimes and have nothing to do with censorship.

Quite right. Even with no censorship organisation at all, games couldn't show paedophilia, rape or child abuse because those are already rightly covered under obscenity laws AFAIK.

Crashgate: If it was banned for that reason, I'd be all for it!

It should be banned on the grounds that Manhunt was just a really, really piss-poor game.

I never understood this big cuffufle about killing people anyway.

Quote from Clownpaint :

Sadistic murders aren't a crime? The censorship of this game has nothing to do with the crimes it depicts?

So shouldn't we ban all media that contains violence, rather than just the odd computer game? Kids will find out how to murder people sooner or later anyway, it's not rocket science.

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Sadistic murders aren't a crime? The censorship of this game has nothing to do with the crimes it depicts?

Sorry, you missed the point again. SHOWING sadistic murders isn't illegal. SHOWING rape, paedophilia and child abuse is illegal.

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no point during reading a book, listening to a song or watching a film am I actually acting out the murder myself (through a joypad or whatever means), that is what differentiates "virtual reality" from pages of text or a cinema.

YOU weren't, but in a film the actors were. Does that make them sadistic too?

Quote from thisnameistaken :

So shouldn't we ban all media that contains violence?

no more roadrunner cartoons ?

Quote from thisnameistaken :

So shouldn't we ban all media that contains violence...

No more BBC, CNN or Bible for us either then.

I know, come to think about violence is in every day life whether you really think about it or not, violence is just a way of life we all endure each and every day, if there was no violence and complete peace, life would be.. nothing would be going on to be honest, to keep peace and there be no violence no one could act, you could think, but you'd be a sitting duck, you wouldn't be able to do anything or else it would destroy the peace.

We should go 'round to see the censors, bludgeon them to death with sports equipment. When they come to my house to arrest me and find my vast collection of My Little Pony DVDs they will be totally flummoxed.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

We should go 'round to see the censors, bludgeon them to death with sports equipment. When they come to my house to arrest me and find my vast collection of My Little Pony DVDs they will be totally flummoxed.

Rofl: http://youtube.com/watch?v=6DEcRtYLkt8

Quote from Crashgate3 :

It should be banned on the grounds that Manhunt was just a really, really piss-poor game.

Now that is a ban I could stand by.

Quote from XCNuse :

I know, come to think about violence is in every day life whether you really think about it or not, violence is just a way of life we all endure each and every day, if there was no violence and complete peace, life would be.. nothing would be going on to be honest, to keep peace and there be no violence no one could act, you could think, but you'd be a sitting duck, you wouldn't be able to do anything or else it would destroy the peace.

thats just utterly wrong in every way