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Joystiq presents

British Parliament member says we need to stop playing games

Boris Johnson, a journalist and member of British Parliament, recently spoke out against video games in all shapes and forms, stating "as the strobing colours die away and the screen goes black, you listen to the wail of protest from the offspring and you know that you have just turned off their drug," later going so far as to call these kids "addicts." We wouldn't be so quick to label these kids as addicts, instead choosing to label said children as nothing other than "brats" and perhaps offering a solution in "beating some sense into their backsides." Perhaps we're horrible people or have no idea how to be proper parents, but we can honestly say, during our youth, that nothing of the sort occurred between us and our parental units.

Boris attempts to further strengthen his argument by reinforcing the addict stereotype of children who cry and crave video games, one which we would have to wholeheartedly disagree with. Anything, when looked at in a certain way, can be considered addicting, including the Tylenol we take for our head aches. Of course, he could just be incredibly out of touch with today's youth. Also, who's to say that these kids don't behave this way with everything else in their life, crying at a lack of chocolate or when they are denied purchase of a certain toy whilst shopping with their parents?

We cannot begin to assume what is going through this man's mind, but we know we do not agree with it. What say you, lovely Nintendo faithful, in response to his claims? Is he just a British version of our good friend Jack Thompson, choosing to attack gaming as a drug instead of violent games and their affect on youth?

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Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. They never have good hair do they

Posted at 3:23PM on Jan 5th 2007 by feeble

2. To those of you not in the UK: Boris Johnson is, basically, batshit insane, and nothing he says will ever be taken seriously by anybody. He's a comedy character, nobody of consequence.

Posted at 4:14PM on Jan 5th 2007 by paul haine

3. No-one takes anything Boris says seriously - he's like a pantomine Tory:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson#Have_I_Got_News_for_You

Posted at 4:25PM on Jan 5th 2007 by Dick Davies

4. Paul Haine is spot-on. Boris is nuts! Check out how he plays in a charity soccer (see, I'm not even from the UK and I know he is nuts!) match:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvLVIwUxMZg

Posted at 4:30PM on Jan 5th 2007 by Rob J

5. Get the man a Wii and we will see him change his mind. :)

Posted at 4:42PM on Jan 5th 2007 by Eric

6. As a long time gamer and now parent (3 1/2 and 1 1/2) I think I can safely say that you were definitely a brat to your parents at some point. Whether it was video games, a toy car or your favorite dolly. That's the fallacy to this guys assertion. He is assuming kids wouldn't be brats/addicts "IF". That's a strong IF and anything short of draconian measures - every kid in every corner of the world will be a pain in the ass on some level to every parent about something if not everything.

Video games have nothing to do with children behaving poorly. Parents play the largest role but being a kid is a rough and scary business. Challenging as hell too. Then again - this guy may not know that cause he's got some big fat purse from some long dead thieving British ancestor to hire a bloated nanny that says "nawty".

-j.

Posted at 5:07PM on Jan 5th 2007 by gaming_parent

7. Boris Johnson, out of touch? He is probably the only Tory who I think happens to be in touch, and probably more so than New Labour. And this is coming from a lefty.

Posted at 6:01PM on Jan 5th 2007 by Jon

8. Noooooo! You mustn't speak JT's name! It's an incantantion that gives him unholy powers! I'm thinking maybe Johnson's name should be barred too... it's too similar.

Posted at 6:07PM on Jan 5th 2007 by NeverSage

9. Boris Johnson is a comedy toff. He's not in touch, young people and left-wingers find him amusing. When I was younger I would go 'can I finish this bit first.' But that's more of a design flaw, most modern games are split into short bursts, and any good game I'd be happy to do a bit twice.

Posted at 6:18PM on Jan 5th 2007 by Ethan Duffy

10. As previously stated, Boris is the laughing stock of British politics. No scratch that, he's the laughing stock of Britain. And yet somehow he keeps thinking it's a good idea to go on 'Have I Got News For You', where they constantly rip into him and point out his idiocies. What a tool.

Posted at 6:30PM on Jan 5th 2007 by Sammah

11. Computer Games are yes, at times a drug crazed world, but then, these simple devices that take YEARS to construct are constructed to improve, yes IMPOROVE the players hand eye coordination, that is why they were made, boris johnson has no right to say what does and doesnt go on in our youth, we are the youth and we have to use these inventions to improve ourselves

Posted at 1:47PM on Jan 6th 2007 by Mike Barnikel

12. i will certainly try and force my kids (if i'll have any) to play as much videogames as they can.

Posted at 8:07AM on Jan 8th 2007 by fululian

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