Please read this!

[Aver]

Originally Posted by Mishy

I thought Poland had great rating system?

Yes, we have great rating system. Especially good for players because every single game can be released and can't be censored as long as it is properly rated. But problem is that parents and shop sellers don't care about rating system. So even 12 years old kid can buy game rated for 18+.

The gun thing is pretty good but the huge taxes? a bit much isn't it?

Maybe. I don't know why guns owners have to pay additional taxes but thanks to that I have better roads .

I think it's foolish to think that if we eliminate guns, we eliminate crime. Crime existed long before guns. We need to identify the underlying social, economic, and psychological reasons behind crime before we can truly eradicate the criminal element.

Guns cause violence like flies cause garbage.

I agree. Guns aren't main reason of crime but most of school massacres (recently it's frequent occurrence) was made by legal gun owners or by thiers kids. It's much easier to shoot someone than to kill him in a different way. You just have to pull a trigger. Many victms even doesn't have a time to say a single word. When you have a knife for example it's much more personal thing because you are close to the victm and you see his face. You have time for reflection. I think it's much harder this way.

As you said gun is just a tool and there are more reasons behind crime but anyway it's should be hard to get a gun. I know that there is different situation in US than in my country but I think that every gun owner should have to do psycho tests or something like that.

[Jezmyn]

Okay, I might just have to get on my soapbox here. This is one of my hot topics.

If we are going to blame the violence in this world on video games, why not go all the way and include the internet (where you can get detailed instructions on how to make bombs), books (where you can get ideas for how to poison someone), or movies/tv (where everyone seems to be stabbing/shooting/sawing/torturing people to death?

It's completely ridiculous. I've played GTA4 a bit and a few FPSs, but you know what? I've never once stolen a car, sold drugs, or shot anyone. Amazing, isn't it? I must be a freaking saint.

[Doctorzongo]

@LordXenophon: Those are good things, right? At least thinking tactically and working as a team.

Anyways, you can sum the idea up in two words, only one of which I should post here: ridiculous.

[Mishy]

Originally Posted by mykalgaidin

We need to identify the underlying social, economic, and psychological reasons behind crime before we can truly eradicate the criminal element.

Im studying Psychology and we have sorta done this a tiny bit so far, the amount of reasons pretty much fill up several chapters of my book. The problem is you cannot eradicate crime totally unless you have a perfect society. People need to steal for food sometimes (requiring the society to have no poor / homeless people or to give them lots of shelters that feed constantly), Some people steal for gain (May need to have everythign at a decent price while jobs pay a fair amount even then not 100% guranteed), people kill out of lust, revenge etc etc (No proper way to stop this) The only "true" way to eliminate crime is for a death penalty for everything and a random zone that desginated a crime watch zone where the police are constantly monitoring. But that wouldn't be humane.

[mykalgaidin]

Originally Posted by Mishy

Im studying Psychology and we have sorta done this a tiny bit so far, the amount of reasons pretty much fill up several chapters of my book. The problem is you cannot eradicate crime totally unless you have a perfect society. People need to steal for food sometimes (requiring the society to have no poor / homeless people or to give them lots of shelters that feed constantly), Some people steal for gain (May need to have everythign at a decent price while jobs pay a fair amount even then not 100% guranteed), people kill out of lust, revenge etc etc (No proper way to stop this) The only "true" way to eliminate crime is for a death penalty for everything and a random zone that desginated a crime watch zone where the police are constantly monitoring. But that wouldn't be humane.

I think the underlying cause is a lack of resources in the proper places. If everybody has the resources they need, they're far less likely to resort to crime to get them. Of course, you'll always have the unbalanced people, those prone to criminal acts, but need is usually the driving factor in human activity. It's always something to shoot for, and I'm an idealist anyways. I think it is something we can attain.

[Mishy]

Did you have to use a pun? ( It's always something to shoot for)

Anyway yes the majority of crime is because of Need or a persons perceived Need, some people may think that stealing a computer is good because they Need it (which you really don't need one). The Greed manifests as a Need so it makes it very hard to please everyone. I'm more of a pessimist then anything prehaps a little cynical at times unlike you you little Idealist. O by the way there is no such thing as pessimists, we are called realists

[BlueEyesWhiteGirl]

A realist is a pessimist who turned out to be right.

[LordXenophon]

A pessimist sees a glass which is half empty.
An optimist sees a glass which is half full.
An engineer sees a glass which is twice as big as it needs to be.

[Venom1983PRO]

Originally Posted by LordXenophon

A pessimist sees a glass which is half empty.
An optimist sees a glass which is half full.
An engineer sees a glass which is twice as big as it needs to be.

And the day before Tony Blair order the UK into Iraq in support of the USA he was playing Blackhawk down or some other war game and thought he liked the look of it!

The problem isn't the game(s) how many 100 thousand copies of games are sold compared to the (very regrettable) instances that they apparently inspire the problem is the media!

eg Little Johnny stole his dads gun and went on a rampage.
1st question- is there a game we can blame this on?
no
2nd question - has he recently watched a film we can blame this on?
no
Right Give it a paragraph on the front page then half a spread on page 32 and lets give the rest of the front page to the latest footballer to be sleeping around as that will sell more copies!

Any references in this post are made up and I apologise if they are actually accurate in any shape or form!

[mykalgaidin]

Originally Posted by Mishy

Did you have to use a pun? ( It's always something to shoot for)

Anyway yes the majority of crime is because of Need or a persons perceived Need, some people may think that stealing a computer is good because they Need it (which you really don't need one). The Greed manifests as a Need so it makes it very hard to please everyone. I'm more of a pessimist then anything prehaps a little cynical at times unlike you you little Idealist. O by the way there is no such thing as pessimists, we are called realists

I usually try to avoid the use of puns, simply because I abhor their use as backups when one can't really think of something witty to say. They do occur on accident though, from time to time.

Oh, and cynicism is not the sole preserve of the pessimist. I may be idealistic, but I am also pragmatic, and sometimes the world does not allow for much idealism.