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Honduras Bans All Violent Games & Toys 66

Posted by timothy from the yeah-that'll-work dept.
DaytonCIM writes "Honduras has issued a blanket ban on all violent videogames and toys, which is set to come into effect next June - giving retailers in the country a six month grace period to clear stocks of the games from their inventories. Among the banned games named are Resident Evil, Shadowman, Street Fighter, Turok, Perfect Dark, Quake and Doom. Read more here."
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Honduras Bans All Violent Games & Toys More

Honduras Bans All Violent Games & Toys

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  • So it's gonna be peaceful now? (Score:5, Funny)

    by GuyMannDude ( 574364 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @05:52PM (#4858321) Journal

    I always wondered why Honduras was such a violent place. Guess it was all those videogames, huh? Well, now that the problem has been solved, I guess I'll take the Misses to that now-peaceful paradise for a second honeymoon...

    GMD

    • Yeah, and the violent TV shows, Movies, and Song Lyrics have nothing to do with it. Games only. What were these people thinking?
    • 'Bout bloody time...

      Let's try the experiment, people. Worth a look, no matter what your predjudice on the issue.

      • Yeah, the people in Honduras don't deserve personal freedom after all since they aren't white like you... or whatever your "reasoning" is.
        • I think the statement here is that now that a country is willing to ban games, the "experiment" begins, to see whether games make an actual difference in the behavior of normal citizens.

          And be glad I don't have mod points, I'd have modded you as Troll for assuming someone's race just because they disagree with you on an issue. I get so pissed off when people here someone is for finding out the truth (rather than making assumptions), they have to be white or something. I know that's not what you were saying, but if you'd actually read what is written, you'd know that is what you sound like.

          I'd really like to see how this turns out so that all the "Games Cause Columbine" crackheads can STFU if it turns out a certain way.
    • Well, see, they HAD to ban the videogames to get all the guerrilla fighters off the couch and back outside in the fresh air.
    • Well, now that the problem has been solved, I guess I'll take the Misses to that now-peaceful paradise for a second honeymoon...

      But... isn't your wife going to be upset?

      TINASF (This Is Not A Spelling Flame)

  • damn (Score:2, Funny)

    by mhandlon ( 464241 )
    God... all 3 consumers in Honduras won't be able to support id software anymore.

  • I wonder if they.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by HotNeedleOfInquiry ( 598897 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @05:54PM (#4858339)
    Banned chess.

  • only games ? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by SpiritC ( 163392 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @05:57PM (#4858366) Homepage
    why not movies ? comics ? ads ? news ? etc, etc, etc
  • And just how will they stop people smuggling in or downloading pirated copies of these games? Good luck to them...

    Despite never being released in the UK (well, not until lately) films like A Clockwork Orange and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre were available if you asked around people. Maybe not very good quality copies - but, with digital data there is no generation-to-generation loss of information...

    • Being that >50% of the population lives in poverty I don't think that this is going to make a huge deal to anyone. Nor do I think thier primary focus will be to obtain these items. Sure, a few might, but they would be the same ones to have it in the first place.

      Once again, this is an example of politicians going after the wrong things. Of course nothing will change as a result of the banning of these items, so they will just have to take away other items. Which in turn will probably do just as little and hence more and more will be taken away.

      At least that's the way I see this, I could be wrong. The crime rate could disappear overnight and the large drug trade could disappear along with the violence and crime. And pigs might fly out of my butt.

  • Turok??? (Score:3, Funny)

    by JohnLi ( 85427 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @06:01PM (#4858396) Homepage
    What are they gonna do when all the Dinosaurs come over from that damn island again? What will their citizens use to train to defend themselves?? :)
  • but for the life of me, I can't figure out what in the world it is. Someone do some research and figure out what the hell is going on.

  • Devil's advocate... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 3-State Bit ( 225583 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @06:15PM (#4858496)
    We live in a society in which there is a large population of people who think it perfectly natural to do a risk/gain analysis of the idea of murdering someone, threatening to murder someone, etc.

    This does not need to be the case...while a huge number of people are willing to beat up other people, cut or stab them, or shoot them, there are very very few people who are willing to gauge someone's eye out.

    Our art and media does not portray eye-gaugings, and the very thought is sickening to people.

    Well you know what? I think that if the very thought of what is portrayed in violent materials made us feel the way we feel about eye-gauging, that is, if we weren't desensitized to it, then it would not even occur to people to do a risk/gain analysis. (However irrationally).

    You can really hurt someone by gauging their eyes out and letting them continue to live. There are a lot of people who want to hurt other people, who don't know any other way to live.

    As long as our art shows us what it means to do x, in a context that does not sicken us, there will be x.

    Policy-makers should look closely at the work of sociologists in Honduras over the next generation, looking especially at the ways in which violent crime changes.

    Let me reiterate my main point: There are certain things in society that people don't think to do, because they are, and by rights should be, disgusting and wrong actions.

    Violence and carnage should be one of these.

    Honestly, I can get just as worked up over an abstract game (tetris, space invaders) as one in which I see the human form maimed and injured.

    Look outside yourself for a moment: Do you think it is possible that we can redefine our ethos such that certain thoughts are sickening to people, and that among these thoughts there could be all actions violent?

    • Re:Devil's advocate... (Score:4, Funny)

      by matthewn ( 91381 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @06:25PM (#4858552)
      Why are you so damn worried about people getting their eyes measured?

      (see gauging [reference.com] vs. gouging [reference.com])

      • Why are you so damn worried about people getting their eyes measured?

        Because they're being gauged out, as in "out of the socket." I don't know about you, but I'd be hesitant to pop someone's eye out so I could measure the eyeball, leaving it dangling from the optic nerve and all that...

    • Re:Devil's advocate... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by redfiche ( 621966 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @06:40PM (#4858638) Journal
      Violence and carnage have existed as long as man has. There is a dark side to human nature, and repressing it will not make it go away. Look what happened in Victorian England. I think we need to understand and accept the dark side of human nature, release our baser instincts in ways that are not damaging to society, and teach our children self-restraint, as opposed to self-denial.

      There will always be people who "think to do ... disgusting and wrong actions." The Nazis didn't need video games or movies to help them think up the holocaust. Jack the ripper didn't have hollywood to spur him to his madness. It's always been there, and blaming society is missing the point entirely.

    • Re:Devil's advocate... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by GigsVT ( 208848 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @06:48PM (#4858696) Journal
      I don't like your example. Shooting someone with a gun is fairly clean, hands-off, from a distance. You could even be up to a mile away. Contrast that with the close up and personal contact involved with gouging someone's eyes, blood spattering all over you, squishing noises, etc, etc.

      One in inherently more involved and personal that the other. Of course one is going to be more repulsive than the other. I don't think your argument is very strong based on this example.
    • As long as our art shows us what it means to do x, in a context that does not sicken us, there will be x.

      The only folks who actually believe this are logically-impared liberals who think correlation implies causation.

      There are certain things in society that people don't think to do, because they are, and by rights should be, disgusting and wrong actions. Violence and carnage should be one of these.

      Violence in itself is not wrong. It is not wrong to harm or even kill in self defense if there be no alternative. It is not wrong to destroy evil men if there be no alternative to subdue them and the havoc they wreck. It's called justice.. and it's something that cannot be avoided given human nature. If you suggest otherwise, I'm afraid you are sorely out of touch with reality.

      Do you think it is possible that we can redefine our ethos such that certain thoughts are sickening to people, and that among these thoughts there could be all actions violent?

      Suggest you read/watch A Clockwork Orange.
      • It is not wrong to harm or even kill in self defense if there be no alternative.

        The sticky about that point is, who defines "no alternative"? There is always an alternative, even if people disagree on whether or not it is acceptable. (Alternative to execution --> life imprisonment). Some are easy, but more often it's a gray area.

        I'm not just arguing philosophically -- this is what people get into arguments about all the time. (We had no choice but to invade Iraq! They left us no alternative!)

        Of course, the alternative is to start making risk/gain analyses. If we don't kill this man, will he be able to wreak havoc again? Will other people start doing things like that if we don't make an example of him? Etc., etc. In short, we make these kind of risk/gain judgements all the time...

    • Can't we all just..... get *along*? (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Honestly, I can get just as worked up over an abstract game (tetris, space invaders) as one in which I see the human form maimed and injured.

      As a Martian-American, I find your comment thoughtless and insensitive. Maiming space invaders is not okay! >:-[
    • You are right, im desensitized to goatse already. I wouldn't be suprised if im desensitized to violence in general.
    • Actually, I met someone who had his eye gouged. By a bunch of skaters who jumped him for no reason at all while he was walking home from work... So... It's not completely uncommon.

      They didn't gouge it all the way out. His sight was back to normal after 6 months or so I heard....

  • Societal problem. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Em Emalb ( 452530 ) <ememalb@gm a i l . com> on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @06:39PM (#4858630) Homepage Journal
    When you have a social situation where the majority are scraping by, the minority are rich beyond belief, as well as living in gated communities with body guards, guns, etc., you will have this problem.

    Lack of apathy breeds violence.

    In this situation, if you banned all guns, knives, and machetes, you'd have people dying from being stabbed to death by forks.

    If there is no hope and you have nothing to lose, then murder and violence is bound to happen.

    Ban the recreational stuff, but make sure those guns are still easy to get.

  • Other news (Score:3, Funny)

    by Henry V .009 ( 518000 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @06:46PM (#4858677) Journal
    In other news:

    Honduras officially voted "worst country to be a kid."

    Outside of Africa, that is...
    • I don't know if that really is official, if it is that sucks...last i checked though, burma is pretty bad to be a kid, especially when the soldiers like to rape the kids on the side, before killing them

  • It's more of a distraction I think... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by malraid ( 592373 ) on Tuesday December 10, 2002 @07:38PM (#4859008)
    I live in a Central America country (Costa Rica) and even though it is somewhat diferent (a little better economically and socially, no army, etc.) I have to say that most politicians in such countries are just a bunch of jerks. Most of the laws (and we have lots more than other countries) are plain stupid, some contradictory, and most are not enforced. Why would such a law make it through a Congress? Well..., to show people that they are doing something to control violence, even if it is useless. The violent nature of the people come from years of civil war, a very militaristic system, whole villages laid with mine fields, not from video games. Video games do have some penetration, it is VERY common to have arcades where you can rent a Playstation for less than $1/hour, but the violence they see in games is just what they see on the news or on the street. Will it be enforced? not likely.
    • Up until you mentioned years of civil war, it sounded like you were talking about the US.

      and even though it is somewhat diferent (a little better economically and socially, no army, etc.) I have to say that most politicians in such countries are just a bunch of jerks. Most of the laws (and we have lots more than other countries) are plain stupid, some contradictory, and most are not enforced. Why would such a law make it through a Congress? Well..., to show people that they are doing something to control violence, even if it is useless.

      -
  • Among the banned games named are Resident Evil, Shadowman, Street Fighter, Turok, Perfect Dark, Quake and the old stalwart of the moral moronity, Doom.

    Yeah, yeah. What about Grand Theft Auto [rockstargames.com]?

    Do you think that's banned too?
  • Where's the logic in removing games which contain supposedly 'violent' behavior? I mean, if their fear is, in the first place, that these games have and will make human beings who interact with them more violent... WHY TAKE AWAY THE ONE THING PRIMARILY PACIFYING THEM!?

    "Sir! The gamers! They're coming! They've constructed their own weapons of mass destruction modeled after those in all of these games. I'm starting to think that this was a BAD idea!"

    The now angsty gamers will rise and fight back. Afterall, they've been made violent by what they loved, and now that it's gone, they need to bleed off that violence. Heh. Heh. Heh.
  • It would be nice to see the actual Honduran document describing this ban -- the list of "named" games here is fairly ridiculous.

    This could just be a case of sloppy journalism (no surprise to find that here on the Internet) but how could any list of violent games fail to include Grand Theft Auto? GTA3 and Vice City are not only incredibly violent games, they're really good games. This combination will result in the maximum violent media exposure.

    Assuming that is the concern here, games like this (how about DOAX Beach Volleyball -- that looks like it'll be the best volleyball game ever made!) should be gigantic targets for censorship.

    All in all, though, this kind of censorship is going to prove fruitless. Even if all the children in a country of six million people play Grand Theft Auto until their eyes bleed, only a very small number of them will be able to pull of the feat of attaining a sniper rifle, a rocket launcher and learning to steal cars in order to recreate their gaming experience in the real world. This would be such a small number of children, in fact, that it will be fundamentally impossible to positively pin sole blame on these violent games.

    However, take a game like Kingpin. (Anyone remember Kingpin?) Every single child in Honduras could emulate the swearing exchanges from Kingpin and the only result would be teachers giving up in disgust and grand parents weeping silently on their death beds. All that swearing and macho posturing would be very easy for a child to copy, there is really nothing to control that kind of behavior.

    Sure, video games can be strong role models and, sure, they can be very bad role models. But let's think about exactly how that works.

    And let's get some more information, for crying out loud.

    Spang!
    -Dylan
  • No more street fighter!?! Oh well, I guess the streets will be safe from stray Hadoken fireballs and Sonic Booms.
  • I guess something good is that they get to experiment with that kind of law and if it really doesn't work out then the rest of the world would have also learned. I do feel sorry for the kids though, but they would have to ban the Internet too no? And what exactly is a violent toy? Any kind of toy could be used violently.
    Also it would be interesting how kinds exteriorate violent emotions, if they can't use toys and play games maybe they will be violent for real.
  • It won't work... I think it was mostly passed so they can look north and think out loud to the media "Hey, we're less violent than the USA." The only real result of this will be massive amounts of bootlegs, just like when banning most items. Berrik
  • what about toy hammers & screwdrivers & cars & tanks
  • Now, when they complete phase 2 of the operation (covering all surfaces with Nerf(TM) foam), We can all go live there in paradise.

  • Cutting down content (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I worked on one of the games mentioned. It's mildly amusing that the game they're judging is a toned down version of what the original design included. Near the end of development, there was a big surge in media condemnation of violence in computer games in the US. Very probably at the time of one of the school shootings, but my memory isn't what it used to be. Anyway, management reviewed the game and understandably - after donning clean pairs of trousers - asked us to remove a fair amount of the more questionable content.

    I recall one instance was a room with a disembowelled body pinned to the ceiling with various medical implements. It was hastily removed by one of the artists just deleting the necessary texture maps, rendering the object invisible. The subsequent bug report I got was something along the lines of "Level x, room y : ceiling bleeds when shot"...
  • Everywhere I go I hear "It's the game's fault." or "It's the media's fault." or even "That violent music." When you live in a militaristic culture that teaches violence as the best form of conflict resolution, and the people that kids have over them put violence into practice in daily policy, why is there such a huge surprise when the kids do violent things? If you want your kids to not be violent, you have to set the example for them. Banning violent games, toys or art is putting a band-aid over a bomb crater. Outlawing firearms does no good either. Until the underlying culture of violence is challenged it won't matter what you ban.
  • It strikes me as a bit silly that they're banning virtual entertainment when they seem quite happy starting a war about a football match! (or should I say 'soccer' - I was forgetting you yankees hijacked the name 'football'!)
  • Power pills and gigantic turkey legs on platters will be able to safely walk the streets at night. Thank you, Honduras, for teaching us what it is to love again.

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