Yesterday, long-time The Daily Show host Jon Stewart ran a news bit on the Supreme Court's recent decision to allow the sale of violent video games to minors.   
   
   

If you take anything Jon Stewart says on The Daily Show seriously, you don't understand the show.

@JeffGoldblum said:

If you take anything Jon Stewart says on The Daily Show seriously, you don't understand the show.

Although he does it in a comedic fashion, John Stewart's opinions are very much things he believes in.

One of the biggest failings in that segment is that Stewart doesn't acknowledge the ESRB, and the fact that the vast majority of retailers already don't sell mature rated games to minors. The industry regulates itself, and does a good job, it's not like the Supreme Court just said it was ok to sell those games to minors, just that the government shouldn't be responsible for regulating it, same as every other media industry except hardcore pornography.

Seriously?  Well, let me just say, I don't think you understand much of anything if that's how you take this.  That, or you're just a troll trying to get people riled up.

Isn't it like with movies? There's some really messed up stuff shown in some movies, but nobody rants about that. 
I don't get it. Yeah, it's more powerful because it's interactive, but as long as people are not suppose to sell this to minors, I really don't see the problem here.

@Siphillis said:

@JeffGoldblum: I've always found the beauty of the show is that Stewart can make somewhat serious points in a comedic fashion. Should it be a substitute news source? Of course not. Is it a news source? Yes.

Agreed, Stewart has the unique ability to nitpick stories to make actual commentary on them. But he definitely doesn't make actual commentary on every story.

If we don't intend on violent video games winding up in children's hands, why should we allow them to purchase said content in the absence of their parents or guardians?  How can parents be responsible over what their children purchase if they no longer need be present for them to purchase as they please.

Isn't it like with movies? There's some really messed up stuff shown in some movies, but nobody rants about that. I don't get it. Yeah, it's more powerful because it's interactive, but as long as people are not suppose to sell this to minors, I really don't see the problem here.

The clips he showed are violent and disturbing, and I don't think kids under the age of say.... 15, really need to play games with that much violence. Most stores already don't sell M rated games to minors though so I think thats enough.

@AgentofChaos said:

@Siphillis said:

@JeffGoldblum: I've always found the beauty of the show is that Stewart can make somewhat serious points in a comedic fashion. Should it be a substitute news source? Of course not. Is it a news source? Yes.

Agreed, Stewart has the unique ability to nitpick stories to make actual commentary on them. But he definitely doesn't make actual commentary on every story.

You can't be ignorant and watch his show though, you can't pick up satire on a topic you don't already know about without getting the wrong idea. That's the problem with the Daily show, I love it, but even I get the wrong idea sometimes when he makes jokes about a certain story I don't have previous knowledge of.

@Siphillis said:

If we don't intend on violent video games winding up in children's hands, why should we allow them to purchase said content in the absence of their parents or guardians?  How can parents be responsible over what their children purchase if they no longer need be present for them to purchase as they please.

But... But they do. Games are not sold to minors, and there was some study recently that showed the games industry has the best handle on this in contrast to other age-restricted content, with something like a 80-90% no-sell rate.

@AgentofChaos said:

@Siphillis said:

@JeffGoldblum: I've always found the beauty of the show is that Stewart can make somewhat serious points in a comedic fashion. Should it be a substitute news source? Of course not. Is it a news source? Yes.

Agreed, Stewart has the unique ability to nitpick stories to make actual commentary on them. But he definitely doesn't make actual commentary on every story.

How is that nitpicking? He's quoting Scalia verbatim and he presents both sides of the case.

Unless the world has changed drastically in 5 years I don't recall being able to purchase M rated games without my parents has that changed?

@Siphillis said:

@Akrid said:

@Siphillis said:

If we don't intend on violent video games winding up in children's hands, why should we allow them to purchase said content in the absence of their parents or guardians? How can parents be responsible over what their children purchase if they no longer need be present for them to purchase as they please.

But... But they do. Games are not sold to minors, and there was some study recently that showed the games industry has the best handle on this in contrast to other age-restricted content, with something like a 80-90% no-sell rate.

Good to know. Unfortunately, that's still 10-20%, and we're still asking corporations like GameStop to be morally responsible in place of parents. If the system works, more power to it, though.

No were asking both corporations like Gamestop and parents to be responsible.

How can parents be responsible over what their children purchase if they no longer need be present for them to purchase as they please.

@rebgav said:

@Siphillis said:

Video games are much more akin to DVD sales, as far as I'm concerned, and there's absolutely no regulation on the latter, to my knowledge.

DVDs have ratings too, and stores have policies dealing with the sale of R-rated movies. Many stores don't even stock NC-17 or X-rated dvds, and the average "Unrated" DVD is typically derived from a PG-13 or R-rated movie. It's self-regulated, we don't need legislation to enforce that either.

I can confim that at least where I live. Like my story above I was carded when buying Hot Fuzz on DVD.

All I care about is that they're handled the same as books, comics and movies. If you can't sell games to minors, you should be able to sell any violent media to minors.

He doesn't even mention the self regulation within the industry, the ESRB. I'm not sure he fully understands the issue- I love him, but dude's getting old.

I hate how the mainstream media almost never acknowledge the ESRB. It's there for a reason, like the MPAA. To tell parents, and retailers, what is contained on the disc. It should be so simple yet people just don't think.

I'm guessing he's unaware of the ESRB or the fact that certain stores have to actually scan your ID before they can sell you an M game (Target). There are measures to prevent these kinds of things. If that's so, I can understand his point, its still not factually correct though. 
 
@RE_Player92 said:

That's why it's rated M and the retailer will card you or make sure you have the consent of the parent. He'll I bought a game at Walmart months ago while I was still rocking a beard and mustache and the clerk still carded me.

One of the biggest failings in that segment is that Stewart doesn't acknowledge the ESRB, and the fact that the vast majority of retailers already don't sell mature rated games to minors. The industry regulates itself, and does a good job, it's not like the Supreme Court just said it was ok to sell those games to minors, just that the government shouldn't be responsible for regulating it, same as every other media industry except hardcore pornography.

Tbh I think the age rating on the box should be the minimum age you are able to buy it.

I think you guys are missing the point. It wasn't just about "WHO WILL SAVE THE CHILDREN?" or the ESRB ratings but the hypocrisy of violence vs. sexual content. In Mortal Kombat, you can display Sonja Blade getting brutally ripped in half during Noob Saibot's fatality, blood spilling everywhere and it's okay to sell the game. However, if Sonja's top accidentally fell off during the fight then all of a sudden the game would not be found in any normal store.

I don't think that was Stewart's point at all - I think he was making fun of the strange dissonance in the decision to restrict sexual content but not violent content.

... Which I think is totally valid and pretty funny.

One of the biggest failings in that segment is that Stewart doesn't acknowledge the ESRB, and the fact that the vast majority of retailers already don't sell mature rated games to minors. The industry regulates itself, and does a good job, it's not like the Supreme Court just said it was ok to sell those games to minors, just that the government shouldn't be responsible for regulating it, same as every other media industry except hardcore pornography.

@DocHaus: There are a lot of videogames showing nipples or othesr sexual themes. The ESRB rate those as M games, and can't be purchased by minors

Stupid Americans and your stupid region locked videos.

@Siphillis said:

How can parents be responsible over what their children purchase if they no longer need be present for them to purchase as they please.

A good parent should know what their child is playing/watching/whatever, don't you agree?

Slap a 18+ sticker on games like Mortal Kombat and likewise.
Done.
 

I hate how the mainstream media almost never acknowledge the ESRB. It's there for a reason, like the MPAA. To tell parents, and retailers, what is contained on the disc. It should be so simple yet people just don't think.

The point of the segment wasn't to defend or attack video games. He was making fun of America's acceptance of violence and obsessive fear of sexual imagery, and just using the recent court decision to emphasize that.

We don't have to get super-defensive every time the mainstream talks about video games, guys. The ESRB was irrelevant to the point he was trying to make, and I'm sure most of his writing staff knows about the ESRB. The over-defensive reactions here are the equivalent of this thread being on Screened and them freaking out because he joked that Schwarzenegger made violent films that children watched, but didn't mention that those films were all rated R. Regulation wasn't the point of the segment, American hypocrisy was.

I saw that part of the show and when they showed Noob's fatality i was like awwwwww yeaaaahhhh cause Noob is my man

I saw that part of the show and when they showed Noob's fatality i was like awwwwww yeaaaahhhh cause Noob is my man

While I do understand the room to blame the Supreme Court's decision and the decision of retailers themselves, it's also not their jobs to do the parenting of your child. In the time that I worked at EB, never did I sell a minor a M rated game alone. Their parents, on the other hand, will always cave in because it's so much easier to just buy them the god damn game than to hear them scream, whine and complain about it for days.  
 
The only time, in something like 2 years of working there, did a parent ever pay attention was when I warned a mom that she really shouldn't let her kids play Saints Row 2. Even I was turned off by the immature bullshit that game peddled and I suggested she sit down with her kids while they played the first 20 minutes. Sure enough, she came back about an hour later asking if she could exchange it for something else because the game was way too extreme for them.  
 
Every time this kind of argument breaks out I always feel like the finger is being pointed solely on one target when there's many more to blame. This wouldn't be an issue because parents should actually be parents and pay attention to what their kids want to play. The fact that my dad sat down with me, played games with me and knew to teach me that what I saw in games was just for fun made me did wonders to both my childhood and affection for gaming. It pains me to see that parents now would rather just dump Call of Duty and a headset at their kids and go do something else for several hours, then proceed to blame the government, retailers and developers when they actually find out that the game is about shooting dudes in the head for hours on end.

@kingclaw said:

@DocHaus: There are a lot of videogames showing nipples or othesr sexual themes. The ESRB rate those as M games, and can't be purchased by minors

Gears of War and Halo don't, and they receive the same M-rating.

  However, if Sonja's top accidentally fell off during the fight then all of a sudden the game would not be found in any normal store.

@kingclaw said:

@Siphillis said:

@kingclaw said:

@DocHaus: There are a lot of videogames showing nipples or othesr sexual themes. The ESRB rate those as M games, and can't be purchased by minors

Gears of War and Halo don't, and they receive the same M-rating.

Yes. I was replying to DocHaus how say that if MK @DocHaus said:

However, if Sonja's top accidentally fell off during the fight then all of a sudden the game would not be found in any normal store.

ESRB regulate sex and violence for equal in videogames. And there are a lot of M rated games with sexual themes in them being selled in any normal store.

Can you name any T rated games with nudity or sexual content in them? I can name a bunch of violent T-rated games. Doesn't sound all that "equal".

We're getting there at least. I mean, games can actually have full on nudity now and not draw controversy.

That was really funny. And he's right, hyperbolic as he may be, that its ridiculous that sex elicits regulation while violence doesn't.

@Evilsbane said:

Unless the world has changed drastically in 5 years I don't recall being able to purchase M rated games without my parents has that changed?

I bought a 15 rated game a few weeks ago and got ID'ed for it. I'm 23. So it doesn't seem like it...

Thing is, that the people making the 'kids shouldn't be playing these games' argument don't realise that no-one is saying kids should be allowed to play these games. Hence the ratings and fines for shops not adhering to them.

Ohh American news the scum of the earth

@kingclaw said:

@Siphillis said:

@kingclaw said:

@DocHaus: There are a lot of videogames showing nipples or othesr sexual themes. The ESRB rate those as M games, and can't be purchased by minors

Gears of War and Halo don't, and they receive the same M-rating.

Yes. I was replying to DocHaus how say that if MK @DocHaus said:

However, if Sonja's top accidentally fell off during the fight then all of a sudden the game would not be found in any normal store.

ESRB regulate sex and violence for equal in videogames. And there are a lot of M rated games with sexual themes in them being selled in any normal store.

Can you name any T rated games with nudity or sexual content in them? I can name a bunch of violent T-rated games. Doesn't sound all that "equal".

Why do people want the government to have a part in raising their children?  Are they too lazy to keep a check on the games they play and teach their children right from wrong that they need the government to flat-out outlaw the sale of things they personally see unfit for a minor to minors?  It's ridiculous.  Stores already do a great job at not selling M-rated games to minors.  I thought there was a fine as well for selling kids M-rated games if you are caught, but I could be wrong.  I heard some lady that worked at a GameStop say that anyways, don't know how true it is.  The biggest thing about this is that it would have opened the door to start making more anti-game laws.
 
Edit:  This isn't towards Jon Stewart, more to supporters of this bill.  I agree that sex (a natural function) being considered more heinous than violence in America is fucking dumb.

@kingclaw said:

@Siphillis said:

@kingclaw said:

@DocHaus: There are a lot of videogames showing nipples or othesr sexual themes. The ESRB rate those as M games, and can't be purchased by minors

Gears of War and Halo don't, and they receive the same M-rating.

Yes. I was replying to DocHaus how say that if MK @DocHaus said:

However, if Sonja's top accidentally fell off during the fight then all of a sudden the game would not be found in any normal store.

ESRB regulate sex and violence for equal in videogames. And there are a lot of M rated games with sexual themes in them being selled in any normal store.

Can you name any T rated games with nudity or sexual content in them? I can name a bunch of violent T-rated games. Doesn't sound all that "equal".