One Florida school boards tries to block the release of a video game about bullies:
The Miami-Dade school district in Florida is attempting to become the first major school district to fight against the release of Rockstar's upcoming game, Bully. According to the Miami Herald, School Board member Frank Bolaņos proposed a resolution to pressure Rockstar into withholding the release of the action game, which is set in a reform school, asking local merchants not to carry the game and urging parents not to buy the game.''This game is built entirely around bullies and is staged in a school -- it's the antithesis of everything we're trying to promote,'' he said.
Results:
(1) Lots of free publicity for the game - 'nuff said.
(2) Additional glamour surrounding the game - students may assume that anything the school board hates would be fun.
(3) Further eroding of parental responsibility - the school board wants to make the call whether students are mature enough to experience the game. Are they going to demand that R-rated movies be banned next?
The only information that's online from Rockstar are screenshots. It seems this game has been under development for quite some time, but doesn't actually exist yet. How, then, can any school board justify a preemptive call for a ban?
In Delaware, on the other hand, they're at least attacking existing games, although it seems very silly to attack games that are already rated 'M' and are not to be sold to anyone under the age of 18. The Entertainment Software Rating Board, on the other hand, claims that the vast majority of these games that fall into the hands of children are bought by parents. I wonder if they know that such statistics play into the hands of outright bans, such as those suggested by the Miami-Dade school board.
Posted by kswygert at March 20, 2006 11:59 AM