When will people learn? Now legislators in the state of
Washington are proposing a bill that would hold the creators and proprietors of violent video games responsible if
anyone under 17 commits a crime on behalf of said game. Yes, this will certainly solve the problem. The bill's
supporters argue that violent video games are desensitizing our children, and making the unlawful acts portrayed in
games like Grand Theft Auto seem perfectly acceptable. And I here I was, thinking that Washington would be a
bastion of video game tolerance, considering that Redmond is home to the central offices of both Microsoft and Nintendo
of America. And, to a point, it is. Opponents of the bill, whose heads aren't so far up their asses, fear that the bill
would bring harm to the state's seminal video games industry. Says Lew McMurran, representative of the Washington
Software Association, "we don't want to bring undo attention to an area where there's actually jobs being created,
where there's actually some good economic development in our state." McMurran also states that the bill will remove
"the responsibility from the person who committed the act, to somebody else who's completely removed from the
situation." In effect, this would be like punishing the pet store if you were bitten by your neighbor's dog. Again I
ask, when will people learn?
[thanks, some pissed off gamer]
