Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games to be sold to minors

Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by yahelc on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:04PM (#2702020)

Agreeing with this decision doesn't mean that you believe that one's own 12 year old should be able to play the game. You can certainly believe that a decision about what games are appropriate can be left to parental discretion without believing that its the role of the state to act in loco parentis on video game selection and supersede parenting decisions.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by niels_olson on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:10PM (#2702045)

And you wonder why you can't hire enough good employees, and why there's a mismatch between skills and jobs. It takes a village to raise a child. The village can provide an invaluable service in reinforcing parenting decisions.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by encoderer on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:20PM (#2702086)

A village, perhaps.

But not a government.

We can raise our children just fine without a nanny state.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by lutorm on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:54PM (#2702234)

If a village decides that, yes, it is a good thing to prevent kids from this and you should all do your part to help, how is that different from a government?

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by mkr-hn on Monday June 27, 2011 @02:21PM (#2702379)

Everyone seems to have a personal cutoff point where "group of concerned citizens" becomes "government."

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by barry-cotter on Monday June 27, 2011 @02:34PM (#2702427)

When the only thing stopping them doing whatever they want is them.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by barry-cotter on Monday June 27, 2011 @02:33PM (#2702422)

You can tell the members of the village to piss off if you disagree with them but government are the men with guns who can make you do whatever they want.

Alternatively any group of humans above the Dunbar number will be constrained to use blunt rule based systems, but below that you can take the circumstances and the persons involved into account.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by nostromo on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:19PM (#2702083)

Some of the best coders I know grew up playing games like Mortal Kombat and Halo. I'm not sure I see the connection you're trying to make.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by niels_olson on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:33PM (#2702134)

I'm not terribly interested in their coding. I'm interested in their abilities to be leaders in your organization in 5-10 years.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by mkr-hn on Monday June 27, 2011 @02:23PM (#2702390)

All we have are conflicting studies and anecdotes. I don't like the idea of legislating away rights without some degree of consensus.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by jamesbritt on Monday June 27, 2011 @03:06PM (#2702535)

Ah. Two wolves and a sheep then.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by mkr-hn on Monday June 27, 2011 @03:18PM (#2702590)

It's more like a few wolves, some bears, a lion, several startled rhinoceros, and a very large tortoise.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by cheez on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:36PM (#2702151)

Leading as a goal in itself is troubling but explains your point of view.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by troutwine on Monday June 27, 2011 @02:21PM (#2702381)

Do elaborate, please.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by cheez on Monday June 27, 2011 @02:26PM (#2702402)

The purpose of "leadership" at the most basic level is simply social engineering.

Combine that with the coercion of government and you have a strong attraction for such "leaders".

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[deleted]

Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by troutwine on Monday June 27, 2011 @03:40PM (#2702681)

You are familiar with the intimate details of Mr. Zuckerberg's childhood habits and education?

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by jswinghammer on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:15PM (#2702065)

That's assuming that being a programmer or whatever you're referring to is related to education and not something that you're born able to do or not able to do.

I just interviewed a CS grad from a great school with 10 years experience who could barely write a line of code let alone do something useful for my company. The village didn't do him much good from where I sit.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by niels_olson on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:30PM (#2702127)

I'm less interested about his coding abilities, than his ability to lead a team in 3-5 years. Leadership requires a strong ability to do the right thing.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by jswinghammer on Monday June 27, 2011 @02:00PM (#2702271)

That's cool but I don't care about that at all. I wanted him to not waste my time in the interview.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by cheez on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:33PM (#2702139)

You shouldn't be a gray comment!

It fascinates me that people think the government is some kind of replacement for the village. I grew up in a community. The community gave me access to many things but never coerced me to participate. I chose what I wanted to do.

What kind of childhood did you have where you think the same people that require you to act a certain way at the threat of violence should be your saviours?

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by niels_olson on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:51PM (#2702220)

Let's say your community had a store. And the town council voted that your store shouldn't sell violent video games to the children. Is that wrong? Conversely, would it be wrong to dissent?

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by cheez on Monday June 27, 2011 @01:57PM (#2702257)

Yes, it's wrong to vote on someone else's commerce activities when they do no physical harm and themselves don't require coercion.

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by niels_olson on Monday June 27, 2011 @03:40PM (#2702679)

But, like alcohol, violent media does lead to physical injuries

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/108/5/1222.ful...

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Re:Supreme Court: first amendment allows mature video games ... by cheez on Monday June 27, 2011 @03:44PM (#2702702)

> American children between 2 and 18 years of age spend an average of 6 hours and 32 minutes each day using media

Violent media is not the problem.

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