Rhode Island Representative calls for "special tax" on video games....

[Bananasplit_00]

how about taxing the gunns more? no?

[Eaglerino]

lol, back to video games causing mass shootings. Thought we left that behind in 2006

[Zando_]

If a kid is playing a violent/mature video game like GTA V, DOOM, COD, or any other realistic sims/shooters at an young enough age to be influenced by them, then it's a parenting problem, not the games. A kid should know where the boundary is between characters in games and IRL. 

[Sauron]

7 minutes ago, ravenshrike said:

Point of order, while the idea that violent media is connected to the rise of school shootings is absurd(Of course, so is the idea that guns are responsible since this thing never really happened when teenagers on a fairly regular basis took guns to school up till the early 80's, hell my high school had a pistol range in the basement) there are PLENTY of kids playing mature rated games. Most of the parents I've met can't be fucking bothered to screen what their kids do.

Again, there is a difference between something like CoD and something like Bioshock or Outlast. Generally kids tend to play the former and not the latter, if for no other reason than they're just not into that sort of game. This may have changed a bit recently with let's players going through every latest horror title just to scream in front of a camera, but in general kids look more for multiplayer games they can enjoy with their friends or more advanture-like titles such as assassin's creed, none of which are particularly shocking.

 

Of course, there is also a difference between an 8 year old and a 16 year old "kid". Both are technically below the M rating, but they have drastically different tastes and cognitive capacity.

[suicidalfranco]

/r/Politics?

There is only one place for political discourse on the internet and that's

Spoiler

/pol/

 

[dalekphalm]

36 minutes ago, Zodiark1593 said:

How would a tax on free/free to play games work btw? Yandere Simulator is an especially violent game that would pose a giant middle finger to such tax.

It would simply be enforced at the retailer level, most likely. So if you go into Target, Walmart, or EB Games/Gamestop, they will add on the tax there. This will likely also take affect for any online retailers that charge tax for RI.

 

Any online platforms that don't charge tax, like Steam, etc, will likely be unaffected.

[SilicateWielder]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

So, as noted, the very slim association between aggression and violent video games is correlative, not causative.

 

Furthermore, M-Rated games are not to be sold to people under the age of 17. If a store is selling a game to someone under 17, they are breaking the rating system. I don't know if the rating system is legally binding in the US, but it should be.

 

If a parent decides to buy their kid a rated-M game? That's alright - it's totally up to the parent to decide what kind of mature themes their child may play.

 

But this is ridiculous. If they're gonna tax violent things, they should tax all violent things, including movies, TV, books, the news, etc. But no, don't do this either. Both are a bad idea and won't solve the problem.

In the U.S Stores will indeed deny minors the sale of M-rated games. UNLESS a parent is with said child and can give permission for sale of the game to their child.

 

At least that is how it is in Nebraska anway.

 

Source: tried buying GTA SA for PS2 at a walmart when I was 15

[Tieox]

All parties interested in making video games the enemy are failing to understand a single point.

 

When violent video-games are demonised, and kids are all in Hello Kitty land online, what happens when the next shooting occurs?

 

 

[Tieox]

Jeremy Clarkson for world leader!

[dtaflorida]

This legislation can't come soon enough! Candy crush gave me cavities and diabetes!

 

I think they're just looking anyplace they can for more revenue without increasing taxes to their real supporters. Children and adolescents don't vote.

[Brooksie359]

Alcohol makes people violent so why don't they just increase the tax on that to help children. I mean as long as we are taking random things to come up with the funding for violence prevention this would make more sense.

[asus killer]

3 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Alcohol makes people violent so why don't they just increase the tax on that to help children. I mean as long as we are taking random things to come up with the funding for violence prevention this would make more sense.

you have to be 21 to buy a beer but you can buy a firearm at 14 in Minnesota.  I might be wrong on my analysis but i would say alcohol might not be the problem 

[ivan134]

Guns don't kill people. mentally ill people kill people. And apparently all the mentally ill people in the world are only found on the United States. - ammosexuals.

 

Also, implying that video games make people violent cuts across both sides of the aisle.

[TacoSenpai]

Plenty of people own guns and don't go around committing mass murders.

Plenty of people play violent and M rated videogames and don't go around committing mass murders.

 

Plenty of people own guns and play violent videogames and don't go around committing mass murders.

 

Am I missing something here?

[Brooksie359]

7 minutes ago, asus killer said:

you have to be 21 to buy a beer but you can buy a firearm at 14 in Minnesota.  I might be wrong on my analysis but i would say alcohol might not be the problem 

I said as long as we are taking random things. Also alcohol leads to many issues for children in other ways than them drinking it...... these issues can lead to mental health issues and violence so I mean it's more related to youth violence than video games.

[Blademaster91]

19 minutes ago, asus killer said:

you have to be 21 to buy a beer but you can buy a firearm at 14 in Minnesota.  I might be wrong on my analysis but i would say alcohol might not be the problem 

I had to look it up as I don't live in Minnesota,but like M rated games they have to be accompanied to by a parent. I think it should be 18 or 21 for firearms,but on the topic of M rated games it's potentially bad parenting decisions,not the game. Taxing games punishes everyone without solving the real problems.

[Techstorm970]

3 hours ago, aisle9 said:

There are far fewer M-rated games out there than all other ratings, but they make significantly more per game in most cases.

 

Hmmmm. I wonder what the real motivation here is.

I have an idea!

[gcubed]

2 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

I actually think taxing gun sales itself would be a much better offering, and having those taxes go directly into Mental Health healthcare.

 

It would be more relevant, and there's a lot of money in there to be made via taxes.

 

Yes, that means law abiding citizen gun owners are going to get taxed because of mass shooters. But hey, if you can figure out how to stop it from happening, maybe they can remove the tax eventually?

When has a government, any government, removed a tax? Once they get their hand in your pocket, the only way to get it out is to cut it off.

 

As for the whole video game violence connection...

Well, causing one set if pixels to destroy another set of pixels, if anything is cathartic to a healthy mind. To an unhealthy mind, no clue; anything could set it off.

 

[Guest]

Its parenting really that makes kids act the way they do. A tax on video games would still be nice though to provide support services and parent education. Money for that stuff has to come from somewhere and maybe the kids of today will get to play outside instead of staying in. 

[asus killer]

56 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

I said as long as we are taking random things. Also alcohol leads to many issues for children in other ways than them drinking it...... these issues can lead to mental health issues and violence so I mean it's more related to youth violence than video games.

it was not meant to be taking seriously. I just wanted to state the weirdness that they already blame alcohol or video games over guns, because you can buy a gun and not have a beer or buy a mature rated video game.

[SteveGrabowski0]

Wow a Republican wants to blame games for violence, shocked to see this. Look how violent games have made Japan.

[Ithanul]

3 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

If a kid is playing a violent/mature video game like GTA V, DOOM, COD, or any other realistic sims/shooters at an young enough age to be influenced by them, then it's a parenting problem, not the games. A kid should know where the boundary is between characters in games and IRL. 

Agreed, I seen quite a few adults with children that just don't really take the time to raise their kids.  A child is not a pet to yell at nor to ignore, but another individual that requires to be taught skills and ethics to use out in society.

[Dabombinable]

Still going to say what about movies...because a lot of PG films are more violent than M15+/MA15+ games or movies.

[Kamina]

Just another way to steal money from the hard working people.

[Memories4K]

4 hours ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

how about taxing the gunns more? no?

Guns are taxed enough; we need less taxes, not more.

2 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

Alcohol makes people violent so why don't they just increase the tax on that to help children. I mean as long as we are taking random things to come up with the funding for violence prevention this would make more sense.

Because states already tried taxing alcohol and cigarettes even more but people made a fuss about their state government trying to steal collect more money.

7 minutes ago, Kamina said:

Just another way to steal money from the hard working people.

^^^
It's not about being righteous, it's actually just about money and excuses to get your money.