Senator wants two hour limit on games consoles

monument

After a death of an games addict in the UK an Irish Senator has called for a two hour limit on games consoles enforced by a chip which would turn off the console.

See The Irish Times article here: http://ow.ly/1vskJQ

...never mind many films can't be watched in that time, or even that there's no real way this would be possible given a real addict could just switch to another console in the forced downtime.

o1s1n

That's pretty hilarious.

Should put a two hour time limit on books too. Go over the limit? Boom! They blow up in your face.

Triangla

Good to see he's interested in tackling the serious issues that this country is facing today.

Is there any way I can I opt to pay more taxes to facilitate more of this amazing work!

Delirium

woop!!! two hour workdays here I come!!! :P:D

ShadowHearth

This was mentioned before, so sort of repost.

Thing is I can't see them getting away with it. There are already parental controls in all consoles and it has to be used with common sence. Same as everything in this world.

It's just a boo to get few votes from average Joe who thinks that games are devils tool and make you touch yourself...

Paparazzo

This is the most retarded idea I've heard in my life. I can't even begin to list the many problems. Do these guys not think before they speak?

Mr E

You'd get the same thing if you watched TV for 12 hours. Or sat at your desk in work for 12 hours.

Hercule

“It is only now that research on the addictive nature of these gaming consoles is beginning to emerge. What we need is quick action and I believe it is not unreasonable to demand some class of a microchip to be installed that shuts the game down after two hours, and that it cannot be restarted for another period of time,” she said.

It is a female senator btw (i noticed ppl keep saying "he") - I am sorry Fidelma, last time I checked we don't live in North Korea and are free to do what our lives what we wish. Ill-informed tripe like this that only confirms that the senate in this country is out of touch with the real world and is all but defunct.

"we havent gotten any definitive information yet, so I recommend we take drastic action to preempt something which doesn't exist"

Its draconian anti-fun measures like this which made Kevin Bacon go on a shooting spree at the end of Footloose (at least that is how I recall that film ending since I have been totally poisoned by playing >2 hours of computer games a day)

"“Thousands of our children, teens and even young married men are spending endless hours on these machines and it is impacting on their emotional and mental health also.”

Helix

notice how she wants this chip in the consoles, and not on the televisions used to play the consoles. you know... the televisions that half the country spend 5+ hours a day watching every single day

ShadowHearth

Helix wrote: »

notice how she wants this chip in the consoles, and not on the televisions used to play the consoles. you know... the televisions that half the country spend 5+ hours a day watching every single day

Oh come on lad. Snap out of it. She wont be able to watch her soaps so!

DonkeyStyle \o/

“Thousands of our children, teens and even young married men are spending endless hours on these machines and it is impacting on their emotional and mental health also.”

Or maybe they take to the control-pad because of emotional or mental health issues. How about trying to improve access and availability of mental health services?

What we need is quick action

Yes, God forbid we might actually think something through before acting.

and I believe it is not unreasonable to demand some class of a microchip to be installed

It is entirely unreasonable given the amount of consoles already in people's homes and the expense/expertise required to install one. Plus it wouldn't require a microchip anyway.

I have plenty of brain-farts I'd like to see quickly acted upon, where do I sign up to become a senator?

Helix

so i wrote her an email

Hi Fidelma,

I'm just dropping you a line following your comments to the Irish Times about the tragic death of Chris Staniforth last week. I feel that your careless comments have yet again shown the stunning ignorance regarding an industry that is now worth more globally than the movie industry. You claim that you think video games consoles should contain chips that turn them off after a set period of time. May I ask you whether you feel that Televisions should also have these chips? And what about books? Two hours was the figure you mentioned, does this mean you want to ban movies longer than two hours long such as the Harry Potter series? Are you planning to implement a law that bans people watching football games in the pub, since when you includ the pre and post match coverage you're looking at an amount of time sitting down far in excess of two hours?

You mentionion that "Thousands of our children, teens and even young married men are spending endless hours on these machines and it is impacting on their emotional and mental health also.Thousands of our children, teens and even young married men are spending endless hours on these machines and it is impacting on their emotional and mental health also.". Were you aware that the average age of the video game player is thirty five years of age? Did you know that more women buy video game consoles each year for men since the release of the Nintendo Wii? Did you know that every single video game comes with a warning that excessive periods of play are damaging to your health and should be avoided?

You claim that "We are soon to be putting images on cigarette boxes to prevent smoking because of the impact on health and its addictive quality. This is not far behind in respect of lasting damage.", do you have anything at all to substantiate those claims? How many deaths can have been directly attributed to video games in the last thirty years compared the the number attributed to smoking? How many illnesses have been attributed to video games in the last thirty years compared to the number attributed to smoking?

To go back to television, do you have a similar problem with that? As far as the mental and physical health of the nation is concerned, television poses a much bigger threat .Why are you not out there in the media demanding that TV sets shut down after two hours? Not only do they come with the same (exceedingly miniscule) risk of DVT in users watching for prolonged sessions, but they are ruining our nation in terms of intelligence, motivation and knowledge. You would be much better off seeking sanctions be put in place for reality TV. Video games have proven benefits, they are used by surgeons, pilots and numerous other professions in order to increase speed of reaction and quality of hand to eye co-ordination. They involve the player rather than making them a passive viewer. They challenge the player's mind in a way that television, books and movies cannot.

I suggest that you put a little more reserach into the subject before comparing it to smoking. Politicians like you with your backwards views are the reason that Ireland is in the mess that it is currently in. The video game industry turns over more in a year than Hollywood and yet Ireland has never made any moves to encourage the growth and development of game development studios, losing out on billions for the economy (yes, billions). Just because you do not undersand it does not mean that it is the devil.

If you want to go on a crusade about video games, then I suggest you make a point of going after the irresponsible parents who allow their children to play violent, unsuitable video games. This something that has come up before, but it always seems that politicians fail to realise that, just like movies, video games carry an age rating and that game stores will not sell to those who cannot provide ID for games with mature content. This means that it is the parents who are buying kids games like Grant Theft Auto and Call of Duty. These are violent games, no doubt, but they are games created by adults for adults. There should be sanctions in place for parents who go out there and completely ignore the large 18+ sticker on the box in order to buy little Johnny the latest game. This is the big social problem for gaming, not the fact that you want to tell people how long they can engage their minds with an interactive artform. You do realise that in limiting the amount of time spent playing games, you would simply be increasing the amount of time spent watching television for the most part, yes?

Educate people about the dangers, don't immetiately seek to nanny them. Politicians in Ireland need to get their own houses in order before telling us what to do with ours

Regards

her address is: fidelma.healy.eames@oir.ie

Sephiroth_dude

Helix wrote: »

so i wrote her an email

]

If you get a response will you post it here ?


What a ridiculous proposal..

Mr Bloat

What's the betting that this twit will be on The Last Word and George Hook this evening, debating against some randomer that either doesn't know jack about gaming or makes us all sound like jobless shut-ins that still live with Mammy.

Helix

Mr Bloat wrote: »

What's the betting that this twit will be on The Last Word and George Hook this evening, debating against some randomer that either doesn't know jack about gaming or makes us all sound like jobless shut-ins that still live with Mammy.

if she responds to me ill write an article that ill try to get published in one of the dailies

opinion guy

It pains me to think this woman is paid by our taxes to spout such drivel.

Isn't the senate due for a scrapping sometime soon ?

Notorious

You do know that she'd probably edit the email Helix sent her in order to just highlight the last paragraph and call for even stricter moderation of computer games.

Myrddin

I want a two word limit on politicians, preferably along the lines of 'f**k off".

koneko

Yeah, so, does this mean I'd only be allowed work for 2 hours at a time/day?

Are they going to start putting ankle bracelets on people to monitor what they do with a day, and if they don't approve, they'll shock you and send you an updated schedule you have to adhere to?

K.O.Kiki

But Helix.

You're being entirely too adult about this.

ShooterSF

Bring on the surge of retro gaming. Gonna try and chip my MegaDrive?

Burgo

Here's her twitter where shes posted it.

And the exact message reads "Playstn Xbox danger 2 health as 20 yo dies.Makers shd install auto shutdown chip af'r 2hr play w/ 12hr break on all game"

Daniel S

omfg tell the fk'n n00b to go f*k herself PS3 haz no affekt on any1! BOOM HEADSHOT!












:pac:

BrerWolf

When are the next senate elections?

We should keep an eye on that and ensure that this idiot gets chucked out of office.

Another public figure using a tragedy to further her own career.

Mr E

Burgo wrote: »

Here's her twitter where shes posted it.

And the exact message reads "Playstn Xbox danger 2 health as 20 yo dies.Makers shd install auto shutdown chip af'r 2hr play w/ 12hr break on all game"

She should be more worried about fixing her keyboard first.

Con_R

Mr E wrote: »

She should be more worried about fixing her keyboard first.

[sarcasm]But Mr E, it's obviously social networks' fault. Social networking is destroying people's grasp on the English language. Their servers should all have microchips installed that check for grammatical errors and shut down your profile if you make more than 2 mistakes.[/sarcasm]

johnny_ultimate

Another politician trying to grab headlines with an unfounded, absurdist and unworkable policy based on something they have absolutely no understanding of.

Tea Party, anyone?

Healium

Burgo wrote: »

Here's her twitter where shes posted it.

And the exact message reads "Playstn Xbox danger 2 health as 20 yo dies.Makers shd install auto shutdown chip af'r 2hr play w/ 12hr break on all game"

Well, xoxF1d3lm4xox has the lingo down, anyway

Bet she's a mad hoor for a teabag, too

o1s1n

Nevermind DVTs, her typing skills would give me an embolism.

Creamy Goodness

she should get back in the kitchen as far as i'm concerned, actually no **** it i wouldn't run the risk of poisoning myself

ríomhaire

That would suck an unbelievable amount for games with save-points and time restraints like Dead Rising or Majora's Mask.

RMD

When I first read her idea, I thought she was an ignorant gobshíte who I instantly disliked.

When I saw her twitter post, I straight away hated her. If you're going to be paid through mine and other's taxes, at least have the decency not to speak like a fúcking retard. When you're a representative of the country (anyone in government positions are IMO) act like it.

Grumpypants

They should put a chip in the seats of the Shenad and after 2 hours of them waffling it shocks them up into doing some work.

Maximilian

So one person out of hundreds of millions of gamers out there dies (from something he was probably pre-disposed to) and this idiot think we need legislation to combat this enormous threat?

Nanny politics at its worst. If you followed his logic through to its conclusion we should only be allowed drive cars for 4 seconds before the ignition switches off.

jaykhunter

The London rioters used blackberries to co-ordinate the riots. BAN MOBILE PHONES NOW.

Potential-Monke

jaykhunter wrote: »

The London rioters used blackberries to co-ordinate the riots. BAN MOBILE PHONES NOW.

And here was me thinking that they were just a fruit that i hated.

Wetai

Don't consoles already mention (or at least some had in the past) that you should take a break for 15mins/hour anyways - which is probably all that's required?

Imagine playing Dead Space 2 HC + the chip activating? :pac:

TheBunk1

Would these kind of people ever F**K OFF and let us live our lives in peace. I don't even game much anymore but this kind of pointless issue raising and hair-brain attempts at policy are wrecking my head. The other day it was ban smoking in cars! (fair enough if there is kids maybe). This is exactly why the Senate should be abolished if this is the kind of rubbish being discussed.

Sorry, rant over!

Azure_sky

General O' Duffy would be proud. Bloody Fascist Conservatards. Big Brother is watching you play Halo. I love how conservatives are big on personal responsibility until it contradicts their values. Urrggghhh why didn't Labour get the majority vote.

Buceph

Tweeted to @senhealyeames I was on the train from Dublin to Cork (a three hour journey) and I died because of DVT. Will you please ban train journeys?



Edit: I say I died, I got better though.

jamezy

My email to her.

Dear Mrs Eames,

I am writing to express my extreme and unreserved "gratitude" for your comments on video gaming. I play video games casually and i am glad there is a "politician" willing to take a stand on a "real issue" because quite frankly, i need "politicians" to save me from myself. Please, i beg of you, free me from all thought and responsibility. I did not realise that 12+ hours of playing halo might be bad for me!!!! In the advent of this most startling revelation i fired up whatever little synapse my tiny state nannied brain has left and thought how we can expand further on your "great idea"??????

All new cinema releases should be under 120 miuntes. Anything over that we should have a mandatory intermission where we go and run a few laps around the cinema followed by some simple calisthenics. Bet that cinema nacho cheese wont taste as good on the way up!
Any television left on more than 2 hours should flare really brightly blinding those watching the Coronation Street omnibus. If the persist the television should be chipped to explode. Im sure the National Consumer Agencies and manufactures will fall in line to marginalize these poor fools!
Place armed Garda in libraries where anyone who spends more than 7200 seconds reading should be, in a heavy handed manner, forced to stop reading and move along unless he wants to end up in "the joy" with the other people who cant pay their TV licenses or debts. Im glad the government is tough on these misfortunate scum.
All office workers who spend, you guessed it, more than 2 hours at there computer should have their chairs taken away so they have to stand and close their eyes. This way the should still be able to use there keyboards and still work. Maybe the government could issue blind folds for us pesky peekers!? You could be be the Minister for peek-a-boos?
All train journeys more that two hours should not be seated. Instead each carriage will have a different dance class. Book early for the Salsa and Zumba carriages!!!

I am glad one "politician" has the "mental fortitude" and steadfast determination to allow one misfortunate yet self inflicted circumstance ruin things for the countless others! Education and awareness simply wont work will it? Gambleaware.ie and Drinkaware.ie should be called out for the hollow shams they are and i believe you as minister for peek-a-boos will stand up for what is pointless!

Regards

K.O.Kiki

^-That's more like it.

Noo

I think i read it on boards somewhere (so it must be true) that people who play consoles make better drivers...they have quick reactions and spot dangers/hazards easier and quicker etc. If anything they should be encouraging MORE gaming hours!


They will also be the only survivors after the zombie apocalypse. More PS3 says I.

sumsar

jamezy wrote: »

My email to her.

i believe you as minister for peek-a-boos will stand up for what is pointless

ríomhaire

jamezy wrote: »

My email to her.

I noticed a huge problem with your email:
"Bet that cinema nacho cheese wont taste as good on the way up!"

Cinema nacho cheese tastes horrible on the way down! Are you honestly trying to imply that that liquid cheese crap is edible. I'm ashamed to have you representing the casual game community.

Azure_sky

This will never come close to being implemented anyway because:
1: Video games are very popular in Ireland and something like this would have a big negative impact in the economy
2: We'd be the laughing stock of the world.
3:MS, Sony and Nintendo would not allow it as it would damage games sales.
4:No real politician would endorse it.

She's just some busy body with too much time on her hands trying to get recognition from parents. She knows it could never be implemented, but it's publicity for her.

Roar

tell me she's on a massive wind up and she's not actually as stupid as her own quotes make her out to be?

Azure_sky

Seriously for a moment. This is Orwellian politics---and to be honest it's a bit scary.

Skerries

political trolls be trollin'

muppetkiller

Another completely incompetent idiot in Seanad Éireann getting a nice big pay-check for spouting nonsense to get her name in the paper.

The bigger question is why we have to suffer this clown when she was not elected by the people of Galway to represent them ?

Shiminay

You know what? Emails abusing the woman actually set "the cause" back. Hugely. If you can't be civil and use the obvious factual flaws in her argument to refute her points, then you've lost - we all have. Thanks for that.

You have completely played into her hand to the point that she will be able to say "look at all the emails I got from possibly warped individuals who instead of tackling the issue they claim to care about decided to abuse me instead" and you've done nothing but give her outlandish claims substance.

Really guys, you've a lot to learn about making changes for the better.