Activision Hires Lobbying Firm as Violent Games Bill Looms

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It looks like Activision has hired some big guns to go head to head with the knuckleheads in our nation's capital.

Activision Blizzard, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based maker of “Warcraft,” “Diablo” and other popular video games, has tapped lobbyists in Washington to advocate on a Senate bill that calls for a comprehensive study of the impact of violent video games on children.
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Well, since most of the games that would be potentially most damaging are already rated "M" and restricted to audiences who are older I am not sure what a study of this nature accomplishes (other than spending lots of juicy government research dollars ... which might be the whole point) ... if cartoon violence (like that in games that kids might normally get their hands on) caused problems then you would think we would have had a rash of incidents from Tom and Jerry or Bugs Bunny and Friends ... if kids are getting "M" rated games then smack the parents or siblings up the side of the head for being a dumbass and move on ;)
 
There's an entire independent board that rates games anywhere from Early childhood and up to Adults only. Maybe some of you have heard of it? ESRB.

Not sure why TV and movies aren't being targetted, do people not see 13 year olds getting snuck in by their brother or sister to watch R rated movies? or friends of 13 year olds who'll sell R rated movie tickets to underaged kids?

Give me a break. Break me off a piece of that Kitkat phone.
 
What are they lobbying for? To stop the study? What harm could there be in conducting a study? We already know what it's going to say.
 
Wasted tax money?

Aren't there a good number of studies already? Why another?
 
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It's just a thought...

If a company is hiring lobbyists before a study even starts to advocate against that study happening, then maybe the company is trying to avoid yet another set of results that reveals the truth about violent games that pretty much everyone in the gaming industry and most of the people playing games are trying to deny or avoid admitting is a problem.
 
Great, more lobbying by corporations. So much for, "For the PEOPLE by the PEOPLE". Money is the root of all evil, get it out of politics, and reinstate term limits to end this monarchy we currently have in congress and most of America's problems will be solved in a few short years afterwards, guaranteed!
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
It's just a thought...

If a company is hiring lobbyists before a study even starts to advocate against that study happening, then maybe the company is trying to avoid yet another set of results that reveals the truth about violent games that pretty much everyone in the gaming industry and most of the people playing games are trying to deny or avoid admitting is a problem.
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OR ... an alternate thesis, they prefer to try and keep government out of regulating their industry unnecessarily or trying to control free speech (since sometimes the government likes to regulate things out of existence) ;) ... besides the government's track record on regulating morality is top notch (Hays Code for Movies, Prohibition, etc), let's see if we can keep their "expertise" out of our games :p

As I noted earlier, the games they would most want to control access to are already controlled (the "M" access titles) ... so, if they decided that those were dangerous it would give them the ammunition (no pun intended) to try and ban them completely since the access controls aren't working ... remember, this is the government that will build us a bridge where there is no river :cool:
 
Chunder said:
Great, more lobbying by corporations. So much for, "For the PEOPLE by the PEOPLE". Money is the root of all evil, get it out of politics, and reinstate term limits to end this monarchy we currently have in congress and most of America's problems will be solved in a few short years afterwards, guaranteed!
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So you prefer that the government spend millions of tax payer dollars to study the effects of video games on Children ... the same government that banned alcohol ... the same government that implemented the Hays Code for movies ... the same government that was ready to ban comic books based on the "scientific study" called "Seduction of the Innocent" ... THAT government :D
 
kbrickley said:
So you prefer that the government spend millions of tax payer dollars to study the effects of video games on Children ... the same government that banned alcohol ... the same government that implemented the Hays Code for movies ... the same government that was ready to ban comic books based on the "scientific study" called "Seduction of the Innocent" ... THAT government :D
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Umm.. you might want to re-read what you replied to.
 
cyclone3d said:
Umm.. you might want to re-read what you replied to.
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The post seemed to be criticizing the company for lobbying on the bill (the article said they didn't know which way they were lobbying) but the government is the one asking for the studies to occur in a government funded research organization which means they would use government money to fund the research ... someone needs to Lobby against this waste of resources and money ... whether it is a corporation or the ACLU I couldn't care less but someone needs to oppose the government on this ... if that is what the poster was suggesting then I apologize :)
 
kbrickley said:
The post seemed to be criticizing the company for lobbying on the bill (the article said they didn't know which way they were lobbying) but the government is the one asking for the studies to occur in a government funded research organization which means they would use government money to fund the research ... someone needs to Lobby against this waste of resources and money ... whether it is a corporation or the ACLU I couldn't care less but someone needs to oppose the government on this ... if that is what the poster was suggesting then I apologize :)
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Who is lobbying for this "video game study"?

What really needs to happen is that the Federal government needs to stay out of stuff it has no business being involved with.

The way it is now, the corp or group that gives the most lobbying money (biggest bribe) is what the government does.

Get rid of the stupid bribe system we have and a lot of things would get fixed.

We also need to throw everybody out of office and into jail that is going against the Constitution.

We basically need to wipe everything that has been done unconstitutionally and get back to how things should be done.
 
Government wasting tax dollars again.

They need to do a study on how stupid and dishonest politicians are.
 
Lobby was supposed to be a means to give a united group of people a voice, but yeah, corporations can drown that out. Now people are so scattered and diverse that it would be impossible to have a voice big enough (lobby or not) to actually do a study on politicians and corruption.
 
you know what i don't get.

every time one of these crusades start.

the gov keep spending tax dollars to keep redoing the same "studies" until they get one that agrees with the answer they want. note sure how that tells us anything... hell most of their studies aren't peer reviewed or if they are it's a select group of reviewers who will also agree for money.

and that is why they have no business regulating anything other than maybe national infrastructure...and from the state of things even then i have my doubts.
 
Manaknight said:
you know what i don't get.

every time one of these crusades start.

the gov keep spending tax dollars to keep redoing the same "studies" until they get one that agrees with the answer they want. note sure how that tells us anything... hell most of their studies aren't peer reviewed or if they are it's a select group of reviewers who will also agree for money.

and that is why they have no business regulating anything other than maybe national infrastructure...and from the state of things even then i have my doubts.
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Pretty sure "studies" aren't being done anymore, its just a couple of college post grads getting paid $500k each to watch porn on a 72" plasma tv for 6 months before they come out into the light and say "inconclusive" so they have a reason to go back into the dark for another 6 months or decide to publish someone else's findings as their own.
We all know violent M games shouldn't be played by children but no one gives a damn because that means they would have to actively monitor their children instead of leaving them in front of the tv or Xbox for 12 hours a day so the parents can go do what they want.

God bless America.
 
kbrickley said:
OR ... an alternate thesis, they prefer to try and keep government out of regulating their industry unnecessarily or trying to control free speech (since sometimes the government likes to regulate things out of existence) ;) ... besides the government's track record on regulating morality is top notch (Hays Code for Movies, Prohibition, etc), let's see if we can keep their "expertise" out of our games :p

As I noted earlier, the games they would most want to control access to are already controlled (the "M" access titles) ... so, if they decided that those were dangerous it would give them the ammunition (no pun intended) to try and ban them completely since the access controls aren't working ... remember, this is the government that will build us a bridge where there is no river :cool:
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Government regulation is important in most industries. I don't want my poor kitty to live in a world where someone is cost cutting on a nuclear power plant. I'd rather have someone making sure that my kitty doesn't have to glow in the dark unless I give him one of those glow collars and take him to a rave with me than depend on the goodwill of self-interested businesses to make the right choices. Even when they say they're not being evil (or include it as a motto) for profitssss businesses will pick profits over social responsibility.

Besides, this is a study to analyze violent games, not the regulation of them. I think what they're hoping to do is end all the stupid debate about whether or not violent games are indeed bad for the mental state of people. I'm certain that there's a lot of anecdotal evidence that supports how bad they are in this forum alone, but actual data would be nice to have. However, it makes the gaming industry, which is already fully aware of the societal problems it causes, unable to escape the truth. Also, people who play video games and advocate loudly in there defense will have a lot less to say about it which is why many of them will pout and stomp their feet about the whole thing.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Government regulation is important in most industries. I don't want my poor kitty to live in a world where someone is cost cutting on a nuclear power plant. I'd rather have someone making sure that my kitty doesn't have to glow in the dark unless I give him one of those glow collars and take him to a rave with me than depend on the goodwill of self-interested businesses to make the right choices. Even when they say they're not being evil (or include it as a motto) for profitssss businesses will pick profits over social responsibility.
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You mean like the government-owned Chernobyl plant?

Besides, this is a study to analyze violent games, not the regulation of them. I think what they're hoping to do is end all the stupid debate about whether or not violent games are indeed bad for the mental state of people. I'm certain that there's a lot of anecdotal evidence that supports how bad they are in this forum alone, but actual data would be nice to have. However, it makes the gaming industry, which is already fully aware of the societal problems it causes, unable to escape the truth. Also, people who play video games and advocate loudly in there defense will have a lot less to say about it which is why many of them will pout and stomp their feet about the whole thing.
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It is funded with stolen money. That alone is reason to oppose it. Besides, it does not matter if video games make people violent or not because the right to freedom of speech is absolute regardless of the dictates of statists and their pieces of paper.
 
damicatz said:
You mean like the government-owned Chernobyl plant?



It is funded with stolen money. That alone is reason to oppose it. Besides, it does not matter if video games make people violent or not because the right to freedom of speech is absolute regardless of the dictates of statists and their pieces of paper.
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The Soviet Union isn't the US. They were being dumb-face-heads about it and I'm sure if there was no oversight at all, it would have been stupider and worser than it turned out to be. After all, they did organize an evacuation (kinda late) and stopped stupid people from trying to live there after the mess was made.

I'm also totally not getting into the stolen money thing. You and I both know you're being silly about that and, if you really thought that way, would have done something about it beyond complaining here in a forum a long time ago. Like maybe making your own island or declaring independence from the US. Do something like that and I'll take stuff like that more seriously.
 
NKDietrich said:
What are they lobbying for? To stop the study? What harm could there be in conducting a study? We already know what it's going to say.
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They are marketing call of duty to the under eighteen crowd, the do not want that money train to slow down, or to have to make a game adults want. Every original fan of the series knows this to be true.
 
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