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Washington State Restricts Anti-Cop Videogames
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to this CNN report mentioning that Washington state is the first in the US to regulate the sale of videogames to minors. The bill, passed Monday, "..forbids selling minors any video or computer game depicting violence against law enforcement officials.". Interestingly, the law (as mentioned at Slashdot a while back) seems to ignore the fairly well-respected voluntary ESRB ratings for games, with the article suggesting that Enter The Matrix might be banned for purchase by those under 17, due to the player battling cops, despite EtM only being rated 'Teen' by the ESRB.
I listened to an interview of the legislator sponsoring this legislation. One of the factors in a need for a law is that the game industry is not enforcing the ratings system. The government did a sting and they found that only KB Toys checked the kids' ages.
Those studies are all flawed. They never factor in the fact that violent screwed up people will naturally gravitate to violent games. If I'm crazy and violent, I'm going to enjoy playing GTA. But just because I play GTA doesn't make me any more likely to be violent.
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
Ok, Read some of that, and it showed Correlation, NOT Causation... They are different. And that is what some of us are saying. Some people have violent urges. Some of those people shoot up schools, Others(the Majority IMO) Shoot up the computer screen.
Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed