Schwarzenegger and Yee defend CA violent games law

by Ross Miller { Oct 19th 2005 at 3:30PM }

Yesterday, the ESA officially filed a lawsuit against infamous California violent games law - once known as bill AB1179 - claiming the law violates the First Amendment. Today, Governor Schwarzenegger and bill author Leland Yee responded to the lawsuit, essentially recognizing the law as a "tool to help [parents] protect their children" and comparing this law to similar 'mature' activities such as "alcohol, tobacco, and pornography."

As discussed in yesterday's article on the ESA lawsuit, many retailers voluntarily abide by the ESRB's rating and do not sell Mature games to children under the age 17. Some of yesterday's comments noted that this law is just going to have more people asking their older friends/brothers/parents to buy them the violent games, and that is out of the scope of the law. So in a sense, this law does somewhat force parents to be more involved in their children's buying decisions.

What do you think will happen to sales when the law goes into effect on the first of January?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

OTAM @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

How about less "tools" and more "responsibility"?

Sound good?

Slacker @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

They can defend this all they want, it doesn't change the fact that violent games will always find their way into childrens hands at some point, unless the parents take a more keen interest in what the child is doing.

As for sales, I don't think it would hurt them as much as you would expect, for one because minors will pay older siblings ect. to buy them the games, also because minors are not generally the ones buying their own games anyway, its the parents who shell out the money.

SickNic @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

I don't get what the fuss is about. Violent video games shouldn't be sold to minors, and there should be penalties if they are.

The only thing I would change is that the retailers should follow the ESRB's ratings, and not the ratings of each individual state. Lets get some conformity. Videogame ratings should be enforced the same way movie ratings are.

There really shouldn't be a question to this. If parents feel like their kids can play these games, then its the parents choice. I will let my kids play violent games, but only when I am there playing with them, so I can explain that this is simply a game and not real. Thats all it takes.

Chris McDowell @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

I remember when I was 16 or so and bought unreal championship and they would not let me get it so You just call over your mom give her the money she buys it and BAM your set. Kids will do this or get an older person to do it. It isnt illegal to buy a game for a minor like it is with alcohol.

Oshi @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

CONAN SEZ: INTO THE BOAT!

CapAmerica @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

I like this law and I hope it passes and more states adopt it.

It doesn't stop Adults from buying them for kids, But it does stop kids from buying them, which I can say I've seen happen a few times here, Wal-Mart for example doesn't care if your 4 or 18. This would stop that.

Also the addition of the two-inch-by-two-inch sticker might send up a warning flag to some parents who still think all games are for kids. Its kind of like how Hentai movies have a large yellow sticker on the front so people don't confuse the movie with other anime.

Jones @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

Honestly, who is complaining about the law. Since the video game industry decided not to go the route of the comic book industry and not censor itself, the government steps in. Again, this does not effect adults who want to play games that are targetted for adults, just children. If a parent still doesn't read up on the game, the legal responsibility is now on the parents. Voila, game industry protected and everyone will not have to pay a premium on top of the already ridiculously high game prices the next time some idiot tries to sue.

dan @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

Nice contrast with the Conan photo.

The overwhelming flood of graphic, thuggishly casual murder in pretty much every Schwarzennegger movie I ever saw* did as much to fuck up my personal moral well-being than just about any videogame I ever played.

*Except for the ones where he's trying to be funny.

Ross Miller @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

Actually, dan, seeing Ah-nuld's "funny" movies made me feel more violent than anything.

"What? I just sat through Jingle All the Way? DESTROOOY"

But in all seriousness....Kindergarten Cop is the greatest movie ever made.

jc @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

Ironic that 'Ahnauld' made his fame from the overly violent Conan movies that teen and pre-teen boys supported in droves. Do you think he is willing to donate all that money back to charity?

As for the law, I don't see it being a bad idea at all, but who is going to police the stores to make sure they follow the rules?

Dave @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

I'm over the age of 18, and quite frankly I oppose this law.

Don't get me wrong, I believe that games shouldn't be sold to underage players. You should have to present ID when purchasing a game rated M. However, that's just the problem. This law is poorly definted and isn't even paying attention to the ESRB... somehow they expect somebody to determine another rating. That's a slap in the face to the ESRB ( who really isn't responsible for the GTA bruhaha in the first place). What if every state has its own rating system? That won't work. How on earth are online retailers going to deal with that? Come on, guys. Use the ESRB system, and enforce similar laws that govern sales of R movies or XXX materials.

This is a flimsy attempt to do something about a hot button issue.

Nin10dude @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

Dave's right. This either needs to become a law for the whole country, or not a law at all. It'd screw up the ESRB, and everything.

Sloopydrew @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

Arnold is such a sellout with this one. He's made his living off of violent movies and video gameas and in the 80's he defended Total Recall and said the "R rating" was a guideline and there was nothing wrong with people under 17 seeing "fictional violence." I can't believe how he's pandering to the social conservatives. It's really too bad, I thought at least if he did everything else wrong (which he essentially has), he would stand up and champion video gamaes and movies and tell the "voluntary" censorship crowd where to stick it.

In honor violence in video games, here's my special advance review (it's over 1,000 words, so get ready to dig in) of the violent Doom movie based on the graphic Doom games. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Arnie (ironically he'd probably be in this movie if he was 20 years younger):

http://www.juicycerebellum.com/200557.htm

Eskimo Bob @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

"Videogame ratings should be enforced the same way movie ratings are."

Since when is it illegal to sell R-rated movies to minors?

John Molina @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

GameSpot has the same story, but they want you to buy a Terminator game, too! Good grief!

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136044.html

SickNic @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

#16,
You can no longer go to a movie theater and watch an R rated movie if you are under 17 years old.

I dunno about other business, but I am 23 and get my ID checked whenever I buy a movie at walmart...

Eskimo Bob @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

"#16,
You can no longer go to a movie theater and watch an R rated movie if you are under 17 years old.

I dunno about other business, but I am 23 and get my ID checked whenever I buy a movie at walmart..."

Unless I'm mistaken, that's a standard industry practice (the theater thing) and has nothing to do with the law. As for buying movies, it really depends on the store's policies.

Dan @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

I worked in the videogames department of a Circuit City for about a year and a half, and it was "strict" company policy to not sell Mature rated games to minors, and may have been state law, too, seeing as how there's a lot of crazy conservative laws in Pennsylvania. I for one never carded or refused sale to anybody aside from two incidents involving kids under the age of ten trying to purchase Grand Theft Auto. I don't think anyone else at that store ever carded, either.

Also: there's no rule at Circuit City forbidding sale of R or X-rated movies (yes, we sometimes had a few X-rated) or CDs with those parental advisory stickers to kids. I don't think I had or have a real moral stance on the issue, besides a general distaste for censorship. It was more a "I don't want to be a dick and not give this 16-year-old the game he saved up for" kind of thing.

Eskimo Bob @ Dec 18th 2005 10:09PM

"Also: there's no rule at Circuit City forbidding sale of R or X-rated movies (yes, we sometimes had a few X-rated) or CDs with those parental advisory stickers to kids."

Woah. I think there are some legal issues with selling movies (or anything) with explicit sexual content to children. =|

But I think the recent California law is the only video game law that stuck.