Illinois traps game retailers - don't sell adult stuff to minors, but we won't tell you what adult means

by Ben Zackheim { Mar 17th 2005 at 1:02PM }

So they've gone and done it. Politicians from both sides of the fence have decided to put the burden of protecting our youth from "adult" games squarely on the shoulders of the retailer. The law, just voted in by the state house, now moves to the senate for final approval. Since it's the governor's bill, you can be sure it'll get signed.

The main problem with the law is that it leaves the definition of "adult content" to the retailer. Theoretically, this means that a retailer could follow the ESRB rating system and sell a game that the ESRB considers okay for kids. But what if an adult finds the content of that game questionable?

Here's an example. If a SpongeBob game was sold to a minor and a parent thought it was "promoting homosexuality" (you all heard about that nonsense, right?) then a retailer could be accused of selling adult content to a minor. This isn't far-fetched. In fact, it's likely.

Nice job, Illinois politicians. You just managed to make it that much harder on your local businesses, with no payoff for anyone but your own re-election campaigns.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Chachi @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

Politicians supporting measures in order to get re-elected, while ignoring small businesses and common sense? I don't know if that's news.

I also don't like the wording of the bill in regards to a political response. I could imagine future mud-slinging election ads naming those evil politicians that, while in office, voted Against a measure that would keep those horrible, horrible videogames out of the hands of innocent children. Thus, a lot of representatives probably felt the pressure to vote positive.

And what's with LaVia mentioning "defecating on people" as being a problem in video games. Did I miss a few titles? I don't remember having to do that in anything that I've played.

They also cited a Harvard study that proved that children exposed to constant doses of videogames develope stress disorders. Why would they use that to condemn people that sell games? Isn't there someone in the house to make sure a kid doesn't do something potentially harmful "over and over"? Oh, wait. That would mean the parents would actually have to take responsibility themselves.

PolarPyro @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

Well, I am a minor in IL, and I bought Half-Life 2 along time ago from my local EB Games. A couple weeks ago, I went in to buy a copy as a present for my lil brother, and they would not sell it to me. Luckily, I know the manager there and I went in the next day when he was there and got it!

TC @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

#1: In Dog's Life on the PS2, you could defecate on just about *anything*, though I don't think it was required.

Mind you, neither was beating up hookers in GTA3, and look at the fuss there was about *that*...