Post: Video Game Law Needed at Federal Level
Video Game Law Needed at Federal Level
I applaud U.S. Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Joe Lieberman for introducing the Family Entertainment Protection Act and urge Congress to swiftly pass this necessary and common sense legislation. I am proud to have authored mirroring legislation to prohibit the sale of graphically violent video games to California’s children and to give parents a helpful tool in raising healthy kids.
When the leading national medical and psychological associations agree that ultra-violent video games lead to aggressive behavior, then as a community we must protect our children. Eighty-seven percent of children between 8-17 years of age play video or computer games and about 60 percent list their favorite games as rated M for Mature, which are games designed for adults. Unfortunately, many parents don’t realize that in the top selling games, the player actively participates in and is rewarded for violence, including killing police officers, maiming elderly persons, running over pedestrians, and torturing women and racial minorities.
As a child psychologist, I understand the harmful effects these games can have on our children. It is vitally important for parents to consider the content in some of these games before they make their holiday purchases. Regrettably, the rating system alone cannot be trusted, so parents should also carefully watch the content included in their children’s games.
I look forward to working with Common Sense Media, Senators Clinton and Lieberman, and those interested in protecting our children’s best interests in seeing this federal law passed.
There are 12 replies to this post
Date: December 3, 2005
Um, yeah, this probably won't happen. I want you to read this link from a judge's ruling that declared that anti-video game law in Illinois uncostitutional. Considering that the California law appears similar to the Illinos law, that one is doomed as well.
Link: http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics
Date: December 4, 2005
Let me add one more thing. I'm fully convinced that the anti-video game crowd wants to regulate the video game industry like in Germany, where there's talk of banning violent games- not just to kids, to everyone, period. (Link provided) Is this what you all really want? It happened to comic books, it happened to rock music, and it's happening to video games. I think everyone's scared- scared of a new form of entertainment and you all want to squash it before it becomes mainstream. It's already happening- the mainstream media is so ignorant of video games it's depressing. I, for one, can't let this happen. I'm a budding video game developer- and frankly, not all of the ideas for games that I have are for kids. I wouldn't want it any other way, frankly.
It's kind of like cartoons. Tell me that you think all cartoons are for kids. Then go watch Neon Genesis Evangelion, or Ghost in the Shell. Now try to say to me that cartoons are for kids, but with a straight face. Same thing with video games. Tell me that all video games are for kids. Then go play Beyond Good and Evil, Rez, or Final Fantasy VII. After that, try saying that video games are for kids, but with a straight face. It can't be done. Video games can be art, like the traditional forms of art everyone's familiar with. It's just that everyone's scared of emerging art forms. To paraphrase Jerry Garcia, people criticize because they do not understand.
Oh, man, that felt good getting that off of my chest. If anyone wants to comment and/or disagree with me, go ahead. Just be prepared with facts, not opinions or distorted science.
Link: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.p
Date: December 5, 2005
The "anti-video game crowd" very clearly does NOT want to ban all violent video games. The people who have written the laws in California, Michigan and Illinois all went our of their way to ensure that video game makers are still allowed to publish and sell whatever kind of content they want. They just can't sell it to young kids without their parents' permission.
Date: December 6, 2005
Stetson, I take it that you've heard of the slippery slope, right? If one of those content-based regulation laws survived a constitutional challenge, what's going to stop the video game retailers from taking M-rated games off of their shelves? Why else is the video game industry batting 1.000 in cases like this? Please read the ruling I linked to earlier, then give me your honest opinion.
Date: December 6, 2005
Ferrariman -- there are several precedents for age-based restrictions. It is against the law for a kid to walk into a store and buy a copy of Penthouse, but retailers don't seem to be scared from selling that kind of content. I guarantee you that video game makers will still be able to sell M-rated games if these laws pass. Read the relevant case law (Ginsberg vs. New York is a good place to start) and you'll see that the state often deems it necessary to treat minors differently than adults. The judges' arguments in Michigan and Illinois have been that the laws were not narrowly tailored and that the scientific evidence against the games is shaky. But the precendent for restricting minors' access to speech is there without question.
Date: December 6, 2005
You're wrong. You must be thinking about "obscenity" laws (and really, they vary widely from community to community, so one man's trash could be another's treasure, so to speak), and so far, every attempt to expand "obscenity" laws to apply to violence as well as sex have failed for many of the same reasons this anti-video game bill in Illinois failed: it's just feel-good legislation that will do nothing and waste taxpayer's dollars in the end.
And if anyone brings up Hot Coffee... it was incredibly overblown. It was an isolated incident, and the forced recall off of the shelves at many retailers forced Take Two to lower their earnings forecast by $50 million this year. That's punishment enough. Just because that happened isn't a good enough excuse for the NIMF to issue an F grade on ratings accuracy this year.
Link: http://www.esrb.org/about_updates.asp#11-29-0
Date: December 6, 2005
Two guesses, Ferrariman:
1.) You aren't a parent
2.) You aren't a lawyer
I'm well aware that age-based restrictions on speech have previously been justified by sexual, and not violent, content (the ridiculousness of this precedent should be the topic of an entire other post...). I'm simply saying that just because the state restricts minors' access to a certain kind of media doesn't mean that the industry has to close up shop, as you implied. You're admittedly an advocate for the gaming industry -- I think you're demonstrating the same "scared because they don't understand it" mentality that you accuse the "anti-video game crowd" of having.
All these bills say is that a 14 year old kid shouldn't be able to walk into a store and buy an extremely violent or sexually explicit video game without his parents knowing about it. If the kid's parents think it is okay for him to play the game, so be it. They just have to be the ones to purchase it. Adults who want to play these games -- and there are more than enough to keep M-rated game publishers in business -- won't have any problems doing so.
Date: December 6, 2005
You guessed correctly on both counts, although I do have a next door neighbor with two boys aged 5 and 7, and I'm very familiar with the law on stuff like this (thanks in part to my mom, who was a very fine lawyer herself). You also guessed correctly that I'm a video game freak. I'm not an advocate on the ESA's payroll, but an honest to goodness video gamer. It started for me with the NES at age five: I've been through quite a lot of consoles ever since: Super NES, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, Game Gear, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PSOne, PS2, Xbox and now I have an eye on the Xbox 360. And no, I'm not interested in the gory first-person shooters: Project Gotham Racing 3 and the downloadable games off of the Xbox 360 Live Arcade (online Robotron!) sold me.
Oh, and the ESRB threw down the gauntlet regarding the NIMF report card. If you thought last week was ugly... (and by the way, they do have legitimate complaints about the report card)
Link: http://www.esrb.com/downloads/nimf_fail.pdf
Date: December 10, 2005
That's it? That's all we want to discuss about this? No reponses? Anything? Bueller?
Date: December 14, 2005
One more thing...
Link: http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentar
Date: January 4, 2006
Legaly i am still a kid but this came from my mothers perspective. Take the Game Grand theft auto which children think is harmless. people Think it is the violence which is the bad thing but really the bad thing is the meaning. In the graphics are some animated man but the meaning is some animated man killing,raiping and torturing people for funand children don't know it now but when they get older the part of their mind that was demented and warped by that stuff can make them, well, warped, really.
Date: March 14, 2007
Please take a moment to fill out this short 10-question survey. It will help me in my studies to better understand the relationship between parents and children who play video games. Thank you very much.
Link: http://surveymonkey.com/Users/54265296/Survey