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The three main media formats are:
1: Newspapers, Books and magazines.
2: Film, Video, and TV.
3: Music.
If you study media in general (like me) there are 3 main areas of study and those are it, so then what has happened to computer games. I thought that would have been amongst them but quite frankly Computer games are often ignored. What effects does this have then? Well Computer games are getting away with murder, few upholds games certificates and only few governments take games into account when it come to censorship. Australia has banned GTA3 and other countries have banned Pokémon but other than that little has been done about what games are getting away with.
Evidence of game certificates not getting uphold came from a survey done on my website, I asked 100 American Conker gamers how old they were in an e-mail and 76% of them were 14 or under, now the game in America received a certificate of 17+ but somehow 76 people under that age managed to get hold of it. Another point out of the Conker factor is that the game received a 15+ Certificate over here? Why do American Gamers need to be older than European gamers in order to play a game? The certificate alteration is beside the point anyone can get hold of 18 + games no matter what.
What could be done? Well the age certificates on games are different to normal games some give the recommended age or the age group it should be supplied to, it might be better if a game uses the same system of films (some in fact do) and therefore the ratings might be enforced. The BC (British Colombia) has recently tabled a new legislation on games in America to help stop children get hold of violent computer games. These new legislation is as follows;
1) Video games rated as "mature" or "adult" will be subject to review by the B.C. Film Classification Office
2) Storeowners will also be required to display mature- and adult-rated games on a separate shelf, making it easier for parents to identify them
3) Video game distributors and renters will have to be licensed
4) Provincial age restrictions on renting games will be increased by a year – renters of teen-rated games will have to be at least 14 and renters of mature and adult-rated games will have to be 18.
Despite these new legislations there is heavy doubt weather they will pass and if they don’t the video game market may once again be ignored as a serious Media violence threat. If nothing is done soon then children will have no problem getting hold of adult titles. But is this a bad thing?
True game certificates should be upheld but some countries are very strict with computer games even more so than movies. Australia banned GTA3 for example whilst other countries let it pass, some countries even banned Pokémon! The fact is if games were seen as a serious threat then the governments may clamp down on them and games such as Resident Evil and GTA will have to be more careful as regards content which in turn effects us. At the moment developers have a relative free reign of what they can do in a game and whilst many ignore games as a major Media format it looks as if it may remain that way.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.
1: Newspapers, Books and magazines.
2: Film, Video, and TV.
3: Music.
If you study media in general (like me) there are 3 main areas of study and those are it, so then what has happened to computer games. I thought that would have been amongst them but quite frankly Computer games are often ignored. What effects does this have then? Well Computer games are getting away with murder, few upholds games certificates and only few governments take games into account when it come to censorship. Australia has banned GTA3 and other countries have banned Pokémon but other than that little has been done about what games are getting away with.
Evidence of game certificates not getting uphold came from a survey done on my website, I asked 100 American Conker gamers how old they were in an e-mail and 76% of them were 14 or under, now the game in America received a certificate of 17+ but somehow 76 people under that age managed to get hold of it. Another point out of the Conker factor is that the game received a 15+ Certificate over here? Why do American Gamers need to be older than European gamers in order to play a game? The certificate alteration is beside the point anyone can get hold of 18 + games no matter what.
What could be done? Well the age certificates on games are different to normal games some give the recommended age or the age group it should be supplied to, it might be better if a game uses the same system of films (some in fact do) and therefore the ratings might be enforced. The BC (British Colombia) has recently tabled a new legislation on games in America to help stop children get hold of violent computer games. These new legislation is as follows;
1) Video games rated as "mature" or "adult" will be subject to review by the B.C. Film Classification Office
2) Storeowners will also be required to display mature- and adult-rated games on a separate shelf, making it easier for parents to identify them
3) Video game distributors and renters will have to be licensed
4) Provincial age restrictions on renting games will be increased by a year – renters of teen-rated games will have to be at least 14 and renters of mature and adult-rated games will have to be 18.
Despite these new legislations there is heavy doubt weather they will pass and if they don’t the video game market may once again be ignored as a serious Media violence threat. If nothing is done soon then children will have no problem getting hold of adult titles. But is this a bad thing?
True game certificates should be upheld but some countries are very strict with computer games even more so than movies. Australia banned GTA3 for example whilst other countries let it pass, some countries even banned Pokémon! The fact is if games were seen as a serious threat then the governments may clamp down on them and games such as Resident Evil and GTA will have to be more careful as regards content which in turn effects us. At the moment developers have a relative free reign of what they can do in a game and whilst many ignore games as a major Media format it looks as if it may remain that way.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.
The three main media formats are:
1: Newspapers, Books and magazines.
2: Film, Video, and TV.
3: Music.
If you study media in general (like me) there are 3 main areas of study and those are it, so then what has happened to computer games. I thought that would have been amongst them but quite frankly Computer games are often ignored. What effects does this have then? Well Computer games are getting away with murder, few upholds games certificates and only few governments take games into account when it come to censorship. Australia has banned GTA3 and other countries have banned Pokémon but other than that little has been done about what games are getting away with.
Evidence of game certificates not getting uphold came from a survey done on my website, I asked 100 American Conker gamers how old they were in an e-mail and 76% of them were 14 or under, now the game in America received a certificate of 17+ but somehow 76 people under that age managed to get hold of it. Another point out of the Conker factor is that the game received a 15+ Certificate over here? Why do American Gamers need to be older than European gamers in order to play a game? The certificate alteration is beside the point anyone can get hold of 18 + games no matter what.
What could be done? Well the age certificates on games are different to normal games some give the recommended age or the age group it should be supplied to, it might be better if a game uses the same system of films (some in fact do) and therefore the ratings might be enforced. The BC (British Colombia) has recently tabled a new legislation on games in America to help stop children get hold of violent computer games. These new legislation is as follows;
1) Video games rated as "mature" or "adult" will be subject to review by the B.C. Film Classification Office
2) Storeowners will also be required to display mature- and adult-rated games on a separate shelf, making it easier for parents to identify them
3) Video game distributors and renters will have to be licensed
4) Provincial age restrictions on renting games will be increased by a year – renters of teen-rated games will have to be at least 14 and renters of mature and adult-rated games will have to be 18.
Despite these new legislations there is heavy doubt weather they will pass and if they don’t the video game market may once again be ignored as a serious Media violence threat. If nothing is done soon then children will have no problem getting hold of adult titles. But is this a bad thing?
True game certificates should be upheld but some countries are very strict with computer games even more so than movies. Australia banned GTA3 for example whilst other countries let it pass, some countries even banned Pokémon! The fact is if games were seen as a serious threat then the governments may clamp down on them and games such as Resident Evil and GTA will have to be more careful as regards content which in turn effects us. At the moment developers have a relative free reign of what they can do in a game and whilst many ignore games as a major Media format it looks as if it may remain that way.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.
1: Newspapers, Books and magazines.
2: Film, Video, and TV.
3: Music.
If you study media in general (like me) there are 3 main areas of study and those are it, so then what has happened to computer games. I thought that would have been amongst them but quite frankly Computer games are often ignored. What effects does this have then? Well Computer games are getting away with murder, few upholds games certificates and only few governments take games into account when it come to censorship. Australia has banned GTA3 and other countries have banned Pokémon but other than that little has been done about what games are getting away with.
Evidence of game certificates not getting uphold came from a survey done on my website, I asked 100 American Conker gamers how old they were in an e-mail and 76% of them were 14 or under, now the game in America received a certificate of 17+ but somehow 76 people under that age managed to get hold of it. Another point out of the Conker factor is that the game received a 15+ Certificate over here? Why do American Gamers need to be older than European gamers in order to play a game? The certificate alteration is beside the point anyone can get hold of 18 + games no matter what.
What could be done? Well the age certificates on games are different to normal games some give the recommended age or the age group it should be supplied to, it might be better if a game uses the same system of films (some in fact do) and therefore the ratings might be enforced. The BC (British Colombia) has recently tabled a new legislation on games in America to help stop children get hold of violent computer games. These new legislation is as follows;
1) Video games rated as "mature" or "adult" will be subject to review by the B.C. Film Classification Office
2) Storeowners will also be required to display mature- and adult-rated games on a separate shelf, making it easier for parents to identify them
3) Video game distributors and renters will have to be licensed
4) Provincial age restrictions on renting games will be increased by a year – renters of teen-rated games will have to be at least 14 and renters of mature and adult-rated games will have to be 18.
Despite these new legislations there is heavy doubt weather they will pass and if they don’t the video game market may once again be ignored as a serious Media violence threat. If nothing is done soon then children will have no problem getting hold of adult titles. But is this a bad thing?
True game certificates should be upheld but some countries are very strict with computer games even more so than movies. Australia banned GTA3 for example whilst other countries let it pass, some countries even banned Pokémon! The fact is if games were seen as a serious threat then the governments may clamp down on them and games such as Resident Evil and GTA will have to be more careful as regards content which in turn effects us. At the moment developers have a relative free reign of what they can do in a game and whilst many ignore games as a major Media format it looks as if it may remain that way.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.
I actually think that if there is that violence in a person, it will come out anyway, so if it is not the game that is the spark, then it will be something else.
I hope games do not come under this type of scrutiny and have age restrictions for everything. Then we'll get designers just trying to get a game with the lowest possible rating, and maybe comprimising what the game was supposed to be.
Surely games are a main form of media. The games industry is worth three times that of films.
The games industry, in 2000 made Ł964 million. Compared to last years Ł1.6 billion. It's (doesn't know word) four times bigger then the film industry now.
The video game industry isn't seen as a major media format nor is movies, TV, Newspapers and Music is sorry to say it but it is generally ignored as a major threat...
Lets keep it that way!
*Dringo reminds everyone that he studies Media *
Lets keep it that way!
*Dringo reminds everyone that he studies Media *
And to think they ignored you, dont worry i love ya still :D