Manhunt 2 banned in the UK; slapped with an AO rating in US

[StudioZEL]

http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=7902

Discuss. I prefer the US decision to simply put an AO rating on the game. I don't believe anything should be "banned" per say, but Rockstar shouldn't be so surprised really. When someone keeps pushing the envelope they're eventually going to get to this point.

Thoughts?
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"Shinjitsu wa, itsumo hitotsu!"

[Black Knight]

Blatant censorship. Restricting sales to keep it out of a juveniles hands is one thing, but to ban it completely is unacceptable. I'll have to find the article about German game restrictions to add to this.

Games are the combination of all major art forms. You don't see movies getting banned for horrific violence, or music for questionable lyrics, or books for graphic content. Games combine all of these art forms but apparently are not recognized as such.
Frankly I can go into a long tirade about why people shouldn't ban video games, but I think I'll spare you all that. If anyone wants to challenge my assertions I'll be glad to tell you why you're wrong.

[Tsukiko Rain]

It'd be easier to say "don't ban it" if businesses would actually bother to make sure 7-year-olds don't walk out with things like Grand Theft Auto (as one small child did some number of years ago around here--he had the worst mouth of any elementary schooler I've ever seen).
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"And lo, the Great Writer turned away, and dark clouds obscured the sky, and bran rained down for forty days and forty nights, which was really awful because bran is terrible stuff."
--Em-chan, after mistyping "brainstorms".

[Black Knight]

If parents cannot be bothered to keep their kids from buying such material, that's their problem. Punishing everyone due to a few individuals misbehavior is hardly an effective solution. It's the high school method of punishment: Nobody learns a lesson and nothing is accomplished. If the business can be proved to be disobeying the law, apply punishment as required, but the parents are the ones responsible for their offspring.

As for the worst mouth of a young child, the middle school kids around my area know words even I don't know. And they scream them really loud. Again, I blame parents. Oh, and schools, but that's an entirely different issue.

Pardon the non-linear nature of my ramblings, I have no internal editor.

[Tsukiko Rain]

Parents are responsible, yes. But it's ridiculous for a store to let a seven-year-old through a checkout line with an M rated game. I mean, really. If that changed, then you can put all the blame on parents, who would then be forced to go through the line, perfectly aware of what their child is about to possess.
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"And lo, the Great Writer turned away, and dark clouds obscured the sky, and bran rained down for forty days and forty nights, which was really awful because bran is terrible stuff."
--Em-chan, after mistyping "brainstorms".

[Black Knight]

A fair point. Enforcement of ratings is perfectly reasonable, but not a ban.

[StudioZEL]

I agree. It's not the developer's fault if Walmart is selling their games to 8 year olds, they have no control over that.
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"Shinjitsu wa, itsumo hitotsu!"