A new report on video game players’ habits and game effects has found that the vast majority of gamers reject the notion that video games encourage people to be violent in real life or that they have become desensitized to violent acts.
The paper, published by the British Board of Film Classification added that while there is an appeal associated with being able to inflict violent acts without fear of reprisal, gamers know that they are playing games and don’t misconstrue the act as real life.
David Cooke, director of the BBFC, said: “There is no question that video games are an important form of entertainment for an ever increasing number of people.
“This research provides some valuable insights into why people play video games and what effect they think playing has on themselves and friends,” he continued. “It has also highlighted parental attitudes to video games and online gaming. We hope that it will provide some food for thought for the industry, and everyone who has an interest in the impact of games and we will be taking the research outcomes into account as we review our games classification policies over the coming months.”
He concluded “As the technology improves the games will become more and more realistic and it is important that games are properly rated to protect younger players from the games with adult content, which the BBFC does.
Other findings included: The interactive nature of game playing means players are less likely to forget they are playing a game than they would be to forget they are watching a film or TV show.
Negative press coverage has an adverse effect, with titles portrayed negatively often proving highly popular, and people view game playing as a risk-free means of escapism and feel in control of game experiences as opposed to real life.
Time to Double Down on Internet Gambling?
Mid the recent hullabaloo over the United States’ trade agreement with South Korea, the unveiling of the Democrats’ plans for trade policy, and new legal cases on intellectual property rights and countervailing duties on goods from China, another important development in U.S. trade policy has gone largely unnoticed. On March 30, a World Trade Organization tribunal handed down a potentially significant finding against U.S. restrictions on internet gambling.
The Togel Singapore panel was set up at the request of Antigua and Barbuda, who complained that the United States had not complied with the WTO’s earlier decision that it must change the way it regulates gambling over the internet. The previous ruling, in April 2005, found that while the United States was within its rights to restrict the import of goods and services on “public morals” grounds, as it had argued in its defense, those rules must be applied in a non-discriminatory manner. If the United States finds online gambling offensive, it must be consistent in its restrictions and apply them equally to domestic and foreign providers.
And therein lies the rub: the United States allows interstate online betting on horseracing. The United States had also agreed during the Uruguay Round to open its markets to foreign suppliers of gambling and betting services, although the United States Trade Representative (through a spokesman) claimed in 2004 that the previous administration “clearly intended to exclude gambling from U.S. service commitments” when they signed the deal. Both of those inconsistencies lost it the original case.
The United States Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in October 2006, ostensibly to bring its laws into conformity with the April 2005 ruling. But the compliance panel ruled that the United States has taken no satisfactory remedial action that would bring its laws into conformity with its previously-established obligations. Moreover, it appears that the United States applies its laws in a discriminatory manner, by prosecuting foreign gambling entities more than it does U.S. gaming firms. Game, set and match: Antigua and Barbuda.
