EU Minister Bashes Rule of Rose
EU Commissioner brings games, and more specifically Rule of Rose, under fire for containing "obscene" material
EU Justice Commissioner, Franco Frattini, yesterday called for urgent action to limit the availability of violent games to children. He cited Rule of Rose, published by 505 Gamestreet, as containing "obscene cruelty and brutality" and has called a meeting of EU Home Affairs ministers next month to discuss measures that should be taken to prevent such games falling into the hands of children.
More specifically Frattini stated "An increasing number of such games display and even glorify violence, sometimes extreme violence," pointing to Rule of the Rose which, in his words, is about "a young girl who is submitted to psychological and physical violence. This has shocked me profoundly for its obscene cruelty and brutality."
We found that a bit odd, as here at SPOnG we were under the impression it was about a young girl working her way through a series of puzzles and enigmas. Something to do with an odd-sounding club. We're not denying that it may contain scenes of violence, but that hardly makes violence the subject matter.
He claimed that other games "where you have to bully children at schools are other examples of such, in essence obscene and perverse, games." You can't hear it, but we're making a collective groaning-type noise at another politician jumping to completely uninformed conclusions.
He added: "It is first and foremost the responsibility of the parents to protect children from such games, but I nevertheless think that we at member state and European level also have to take responsibility to protect children's rights. These types of games are dreadful examples for our children."
OK, you can stop us if this is starting to sound familiar. The title will go on sale in the UK next week with the PEGI rating of 16+, a rating that hardly seems to suggest it's a game for kids. In fact, it sounds like it would thoroughly bore any child in their right mind.
This same sensationalist rant has been rattling around the mass media since the dawn of pop-culture, and even if we weren't all there Tim remembers it. In the 50's we heard it about comics (a campaign that arguably set the medium back decades), in the 70's and 80's the target was films like The Exorcist and The Evil Dead. Video Games have been dragged into the debate ever since programmers could code something faintly resembling blood. It's got a bit boring, truth be told.
No-one (here at least) takes issue with the notion that excessively violent games shouldn't be sold to kids. That's why age rating systems like PEGI and the BBFC exist. But there are dual standards at play when the movie Casino Royale can show torture scenes of Daniel Craig sat in the buff being hit repeatedly in the nads and be rated 12+ but a game rated 16+ cannot show reasonable thematic violence.
We were all eight-year-olds watching pirate copies of Nightmare on Elm Street back when Altered Beast was the epitome of computer game violence, and we turned out fine…
More specifically Frattini stated "An increasing number of such games display and even glorify violence, sometimes extreme violence," pointing to Rule of the Rose which, in his words, is about "a young girl who is submitted to psychological and physical violence. This has shocked me profoundly for its obscene cruelty and brutality."
We found that a bit odd, as here at SPOnG we were under the impression it was about a young girl working her way through a series of puzzles and enigmas. Something to do with an odd-sounding club. We're not denying that it may contain scenes of violence, but that hardly makes violence the subject matter.
He claimed that other games "where you have to bully children at schools are other examples of such, in essence obscene and perverse, games." You can't hear it, but we're making a collective groaning-type noise at another politician jumping to completely uninformed conclusions.
He added: "It is first and foremost the responsibility of the parents to protect children from such games, but I nevertheless think that we at member state and European level also have to take responsibility to protect children's rights. These types of games are dreadful examples for our children."
OK, you can stop us if this is starting to sound familiar. The title will go on sale in the UK next week with the PEGI rating of 16+, a rating that hardly seems to suggest it's a game for kids. In fact, it sounds like it would thoroughly bore any child in their right mind.
This same sensationalist rant has been rattling around the mass media since the dawn of pop-culture, and even if we weren't all there Tim remembers it. In the 50's we heard it about comics (a campaign that arguably set the medium back decades), in the 70's and 80's the target was films like The Exorcist and The Evil Dead. Video Games have been dragged into the debate ever since programmers could code something faintly resembling blood. It's got a bit boring, truth be told.
No-one (here at least) takes issue with the notion that excessively violent games shouldn't be sold to kids. That's why age rating systems like PEGI and the BBFC exist. But there are dual standards at play when the movie Casino Royale can show torture scenes of Daniel Craig sat in the buff being hit repeatedly in the nads and be rated 12+ but a game rated 16+ cannot show reasonable thematic violence.
We were all eight-year-olds watching pirate copies of Nightmare on Elm Street back when Altered Beast was the epitome of computer game violence, and we turned out fine…
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Comments
minutz3 18 Nov 2006 12:02
1/6
Suuuuure you turned out fine *rolling eyes*
Just go to church and praise the Lord instead.
The Catholic Church that is :-D
Just go to church and praise the Lord instead.
The Catholic Church that is :-D
dr_faulk 19 Nov 2006 08:32
2/6
Here! Here!
I'll repeat my philosophy that it's all down to the parents. These same politicians should bother themselves to tackle the social and economic problems that allow neglegent parents to have kids that aren't raised / supervised properly, and watch/read/play material that is not suitable for them.
Or as my Mam always said when I watched a scarey film, "It's just a bunch of men running around in masks having a laugh!". That's all it took.
I'll repeat my philosophy that it's all down to the parents. These same politicians should bother themselves to tackle the social and economic problems that allow neglegent parents to have kids that aren't raised / supervised properly, and watch/read/play material that is not suitable for them.
Or as my Mam always said when I watched a scarey film, "It's just a bunch of men running around in masks having a laugh!". That's all it took.
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Moschops 19 Nov 2006 17:24
3/6
minutz3 wrote:
Suuuuure you turned out fine *rolling eyes*
Just go to church and praise the Lord instead.
The Catholic Church that is :-D
Just go to church and praise the Lord instead.
The Catholic Church that is :-D
Just make sure you grease up good and well -- the priest wants a little "talk" with you after the service.
minutz3 19 Nov 2006 19:37
4/6
What do you imply Moschops?
Joji 20 Nov 2006 05:59
5/6
I'm tired of this kind of moaning ,because its not done with an open informed mind. These MP etc never sample the product themselves to see the truth or speak to the developer/publishers of such games, they just sounding off whatever their entourage tell them to, to win votes.
What they also don't seem to underastand is that games like films brng a cultural exchange to the people. RoR is a japanese game so to judge by western standards is harsh, though I too understand that we have ratings for a reason and they do work to a degree. Politicians should stick to politics and stay out of things they don't understand.
What I find most interesting is this bs about protecting childrens rights, its insulting for them to speak with such double standards, when these are the same lot that criminalise young people by giving nothing to do outside of school and selling off any space they can call their own, the end result is crime, drugs and no selfworth etc. And they look puzzled that many retreat to games instead of going outside.
So there you go, get lost Euroguy. Here we have another example of someone thinking some gamers can't handle anything gamewise, with mildly strong content, but like someone on Spong already said, films can get away with anything and not an eyelid is batted nor comparison made between two similar media.
Perhaps Spong can ask this Minister guy on those comparisons, would be very interesting to hear what he has to say.
What they also don't seem to underastand is that games like films brng a cultural exchange to the people. RoR is a japanese game so to judge by western standards is harsh, though I too understand that we have ratings for a reason and they do work to a degree. Politicians should stick to politics and stay out of things they don't understand.
What I find most interesting is this bs about protecting childrens rights, its insulting for them to speak with such double standards, when these are the same lot that criminalise young people by giving nothing to do outside of school and selling off any space they can call their own, the end result is crime, drugs and no selfworth etc. And they look puzzled that many retreat to games instead of going outside.
So there you go, get lost Euroguy. Here we have another example of someone thinking some gamers can't handle anything gamewise, with mildly strong content, but like someone on Spong already said, films can get away with anything and not an eyelid is batted nor comparison made between two similar media.
Perhaps Spong can ask this Minister guy on those comparisons, would be very interesting to hear what he has to say.
minutz3 20 Nov 2006 06:48
6/6
Well spoken, comrade Joji!
But I do think that it is needed to focus on the consequences of violence, and what the consequences actually would be IRL if one did for example hit a person. I mean, most videogames doesn't show that a normal person actually is killed just by one hit, and dies within approximately 10 minutes, from blood-loss. Anyway, videogames aren't the main problem, but the problem is actually, capitalism, that forces all governments to have a pro-capitalist politics, which only leads to smaller spending on schools, health care, or, as you focused on Juji, after school activities.
But I do think that it is needed to focus on the consequences of violence, and what the consequences actually would be IRL if one did for example hit a person. I mean, most videogames doesn't show that a normal person actually is killed just by one hit, and dies within approximately 10 minutes, from blood-loss. Anyway, videogames aren't the main problem, but the problem is actually, capitalism, that forces all governments to have a pro-capitalist politics, which only leads to smaller spending on schools, health care, or, as you focused on Juji, after school activities.