Eleven states issue support for California game law

@Funkmaster General

I second that notion sir.

@Special Agent Steve

YEAH i know, cause f**** everyone else, amiright!?

@Special Agent Steve - I've yet to come up with the perfect term to describe what would happen if it became constitutional for states to single out video games for censorship on the basis of nothing (putting it on the same level as porn, cigarettes, and alcohol), but "Chilling Effect" comes pretty close (which someone else brought up the last time we went through this).

A law banning minors from purchasing M rated video games (which, mark my words, would be replaced by a government rating system rather quickly if this law is ruled constitutional) wouldn't directly have an effect on our ("our" defined her as those over eighteen) ability to purchase video games, but the new connotation lofted upon games rated Mature would inevitable mean fewer titles for us to enjoy. When creating an M rated product puts you and your company on the same shelf with pornographers and the tobacco companies, there is inevitably going to be some investor backlash. To nip the problem in the blood, we'd quickly see blood and gore removed from titles, as well as foul language and nudity. A game can be amazing without any of these things (Nintendo's games come to mind), but it would stifle mature story telling, which is just now becoming more prevalent in the industry.

I haven't even gone into the "Slippery Slope" idea of "We banned video games; There is no reason we can't do movies, music, and books next". My head hurts even thinking about it.

It's bagel time (finally upgrading to Docsis 3.0 today for all you fellow nerds out there. I hope this is going to rock my socks.)

@Special Agent Steve Sounds like the sun's already had its' effect on you, because you seem to think censorship is no big deal.

You're part of what's wholly wrong with the politics in these messed up states: apathy and ignorance.

@BananaBoat

I say they change it so that it reads "public use of mature rated video games by minors" rather than the purchase of mature rated games... and by public I mean the internet of course.

I dont really care so much if violent video games get in the hands of children... that's for the parents to decide, but to bring them on our internet is just wrong... it's like when all your friends decide to go to a strip club and one of those friends decides to bring their 6 year old with him at the last minute.





side note: 6 year olds make great chick magnets at strip clubs, but comes with a backlash.

@Special Agent Steve It will affect you monetarily when they have to pay the legal fees for trying to defend an unconstitutional law. You'll see it reflected in the amount of income tax you pay to the state.

@BananaBoat - in the bud* rather.




/self grammar nazi

@Themoreyouknow

Well, with no video games or proper parenting, you gotta keep those kids busy with something!

It's gotten to the point where watching TV with my parents is just uncomfortable. I'm a college student for God's sake, but I still don't want to see a commercial about two semi-elderly people (exactly my parents age) who are about ready to bone because pops is "ready to go when the time is right".

One commercial even had two old people about to go at it when their college aged son came home unexpectedly. So awkward.

No, we should start with better parents who know and understand their children's personalities and then determine what media they will allow them to consume.

@gevenstaines No, let's start with freedom of speech. You know, the first amendment? It's a good first.

@gevenstaines
Yeah, shows show bad language, partial nudity, and drug/alcohol references all the time. Look at That 70's show, which shows on Teen Nick now. They are constantly getting high. And don't get me started on Jerry Springer.

TV's have V-chips and parental locks from the TV companies, games have parental controls also.

@The Joy of Painting w Bob Ross

"idiocy" is the official Texas state word.

@That Burning Sensation

Not cool...I'm from Texas and that kinda hurt :'(

@Che J P
At least we still have our guns...and the death penalty.

@Che J P Things that are true tend to hurt. I'm a giant fat ass, but being called it still stings.

@Lerkero

We split a house with my Dad, in Flushing, and me/wife/kids have to take care of him.. Nice town little smaller than Grand Blanc and north of Flint(GB just to south of Flint).

Anyone that heads into Flint(grew up there in 70s/80s) now can tell the city is a mess. It wasnt as bad as Roger & Me back then....but it sure has gotten pretty bad now.

The mere fact Michigan is mentioned with so many cities like Flint in the dumps is just sad. Get the real guns/drugs/whatever off the streets before worrying about the pixelated ones.

@BigE4284 This supreme court though has thrown the constitution out the window. Unless you're talking about gun control, then the second amendment is used as a blanket shield.

@Genaldar
You mention that "this" court throws the constitution out the window, except for the second amendment. I don't recall "this" court allowing a segment of Americans interned based on race (Korematsu v. United States) or being in a country as a slave, along with descendants, disqualify you the opportunity for citizenship and ability to sue for freedom (Dred Scott v. Sandford). Word of advice, let the big boys talk about politics.

As for the states pushing this law, you adults need to wake up instead of letting the state step in and raise your kids. Because stuff like this will just keep coming up if you don't take responsibility.

@ncxcstud Yeah other than Hawaii and possibly Michigan I wasn't surprised by any of the states and I was expecting SC to be on there.

@MrAlex That is Michigan for you, it doesn't have a lot of clear moral standings like Texas, but if something is quite clearly an ill educated, pattern ignoring piece of nonsense like this... we'll be there to waste our governments time and money on it.

@nthnkrk As has been said time and time again, this *does* effect you. It effects everyone. Attacking M-rated games is going to vastly decrease the number of quality mature games produced by video game developers every year.

@benheck

In the UK, we have a similar law associated with BBFC/PEGI age ratings. If somebody sells a game to a kid below the age rating, they are liable to a fine up to £5,000 (which is something like $7,000) or even a six-month jail sentence.

So far as I'm aware, all stores (I mean, not like Toys'R'Us or something - but all game stores) stock 18- and 15-rated games.

Same deal with alcohol, tobacco, knives, etc - there are fines for selling these to kids, but adults can still buy them easily enough.

To be honest, I'm in favour of free speech, but I don't entirely see how this is related; free speech has plenty of limits and typically, children are one of those limits. If parents disagree, or just can't be arsed, no problem - buy the games for your kids. Perfectly legal; you can bring up Little Miss Psychopath on GTA and MadWorld all you like.

There is a more serious censorship concern here (and it does affect the UK) which is that in the UK, it's illegal to sell unrated films and (if they contain violence) games. That means if a game doesn't pass the ratings agency at their highest rating (18), it can't legally be sold at all, to anyone. That's actual censorship... does this law introduce it?

@benheck When I worked at Game Crazy this kid who was maybe 8 or 9 came in to by San Andreas. I wouldn't sell it to him. He said his dad was in the car. I told him his dad would have to come in and get it. He gets his dad. Who is all pissed because he had to get out of his car to buy a game. After he stops yelling at me I tell him I didn't sell the game to his son because it is rated M. This ignorant ass doesn't know what that means. I explain it to him, he says he doesn't care. So I ask him to just read the rating descriptor. He asks me what it means. I explain what you do in the game. He looks at his son and tells him there is no way in hell he'll ever get that game. Then he stormed out dragging his son. I never even got a thanks. I went over and above my job, got yelled at for it, at lost my company a sale and this prick didn't even thank me for doing his job.

With parents like that no law will be enough, because kids will just ask Mom and Dad to pick up the game while they're at Target or Walmart. What it will do is hurt the sales of specialty stores.

@Rocketboy I don't know if you live in new york, but right now most people are too busy going wild about the soda tax to care about games.

@swooded

Most stores have policies of checking ID before letting young people buy M-rated games. This is actually putting a law in place that bans retailers from selling M-rated games to minors.

@Reinhart

And here I thought everyone in Florida was 85 or over anyway.

@arkweld

Last I knew Wal Mart was one of the only major retailers that didn't bother trying to enforce the ESRB ratings while Gamestop was the best at enforcing them. Most of the other retailers did a pretty good job. (The study I'm thinking of is at least 2-3 years old by now I'm sure, so they've probably all gotten better since then).

I really doubt this is going to stop kids from getting to play mature games, it just means they'll have a harder time convincing their mom to buy it after the employee says "just make sure you know what you're doing, I'd have to get either of us involved in a huge fine cause the game is meant for adults."