i have read another article on this topic (in a pc powerplay magazine) about (yet another) investigation into gamings benefits and risks
Quote: "the british government has launched what would be a landmark investigation of the possible risks to children from material on the internet and in video games. the independent Byron Review, named after it's lead researcher Dr Tanya Byron, has been formed with the aim of helping parents, government and society at large protect children from potentially harmful material"
(like we dont have this already!)
Quote: "the part of the investigation that will be of most interest to the games industry (and its critics even more so) it the review of evidence on the effects of "harmful or inappropriate material" in video games. most of the studies conducted on that issue so far have been highly contested, so a lot of people will be interested in Byrons report. The Review has launched an open call for evidence, and wants responses from those with knowledge of the games industry, as well as from parents and children"
(unless they have standards on the evidence, any old mum that is unhappy about their child playing games can say "he plays [violent game] and then he yells at me when i ask him to wash the dishes", it is good that they actually give the children and developers a fair say though)
Quote: "The Review comes at a time when the British classification board has upheld its ban of rockstar's manhunt 2 despite changes to the game that convinced America's ESRB to lower it's rating to M. whatever conclusions Dr. Byron presents at the end of the Review in march next year"
(2009 i think, cause the mag was published in 2007 but it was the january 2008 issue)
Quote: "her findings will be highly anticipated by many parties"
in my opinion, i agree with many of the others here on the fact that it is the parents that decide what games their kids play, not the government.
there was a similar situation going on with the dawn of heavy metal music (in the time of twisted sister and black sabbath, etc.) where Al Gores wife (forgot her name) launched a hearing to decide whether to place the censorship system on music. Dee Snider from twisted sister was invited to the hearing to represent the heavy metal industry Gores wife went on to talk about how one of TS's songs represented sadism and the like and Dee fought back saying that it was written as about one of the band members who had to have some surgery and that it can be interpreted many different ways and that its not his fault that "[al gores wife] has a dirty mind", so he pretty much wiped the floor with them but still the censorship system won.
the same situation can easily apply to games, if the people judging the game aren't gamers then how can they review it for classification in the context of how gamers think?
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