California Anti-Videogame Bill Author Interviewed

rsmith-mac writes "As an update to last week's story about a proposed California bill to bar minors from buying first-person shooters, HomeLANFed has an interview up with Leland Y. Yee, the assemblyperson responsible for creating the bill. While there are some good intentions with Yee's actions, I can't help but feel that this is a classic case where the road to Hell is being paved with those good intentions."

Comments

Not really..

[JavaLord]

. While there are some good intentions with Yee's actions, I can't help but feel that this is a classic case where the road to Hell is being paved with those good intentions."

Is this really any different from rating movies and not letting 18 and unders into R rated movies? Video games should be the same way, stores and parents should be monitoring what the kids are doing. If this does pass, I think we will see more games released both with and without blood included.

Re:Not really..

[andrew_dupont]

Is this really any different from rating movies and not letting 18 and unders into R rated movies?

Yes; it's completely different. The MPAA ratings are policed by the theaters themselves; there's no law that says a theater can't sell a 4-year-old a ticket to an R-rated movie. The ratings were put in place several decades ago under pressure from Congress, yes, but the movie industry got out of having this stuff legislated by agreeing to play ball.

The idea behind an industry rating system, as opposed to a government rating system, is that it puts the ratings in the hands of those most qualified to make them. The system in place with video games right now is most comparable to movie ratings. The problem, it seems, is that many game retailers aren't playing ball. According to Yee, a vast majority of underaged participants in an FCC undercover study were able to buy M-rated games without their parents.

What Yee is proposing is basically throwing out the ESRB rating system and using his more stringent guidelines to decide which games are unsuitable for children. He leaves the door wide open for "T"-rated games to be unavailable for purchase to those under 18.

Is this wrong? Yes. But so is being able to buy Vice City if you're 13 years old. It's not just stupid parents -- it's game retailers as well. Until they stop selling violent video games to unaccompanied children, we haven't got much ground to stand on.

Only one objection here.

[a whoabot]

Mr. Lee didn't really convince me on his point of why the parental control isn't enough. He says "Unlike movies, in which parents can easily determine whether it is suitable for their child, many of these games must be mastered before the interaction begins at the most violent levels." I don't see any basis for that. Video games are definitely as easy to indentify as violent as a movie. If the graphic content on the back of the package, the ESRB rating, and the hours of grisly sounds and images emanating from the living room aren't enough to allow determination then either is what's offered by movies for determination.

I think that's an important aspect because parents buy kids the games anyway. I bet that's the most common way kids get their games: from someone else buying them for them, but I could be wrong.

I guess it's not really a big deal in the grander scheme of things, just possibly a waste of money and time and effort.

It Pains Me...

[LordYUK]

Everytime I hear someone try to pin violence onto video games. Whats more bloody, watching the nightly news or pretend killing nazi's in Wolfenstein?

As a parent, its your responsibility to watch what little Billy is doing, and if you cant, to teach little Billy that killing is wrong.

If little Billy goes out and gets a gun and shoots people, its either cause he's messed up in the head, or you failed as a parent, not because the guy in Doom did it.

Heck, if you arent intelligent enough to seperate reality from fantasy (reality, killing bad... fantasy, killing acceptable) than you have deeper issues anyway.

M rating OK, but who provides the rating?

[Slider451]

The idea of rating games M for mature, and denying access to those under 17 is acceptable. But who provides the ratings? If it's not an independent, objective group, the rating will mean little. Game makers will not willingly give up a large chunk of their customer base for violent games: teenage boys.

Movie ratings provide parents a consistent measuring stick to enable them to make informed decisions for their kids. Parents can accompany their kids to R-rated movies if they wish. Likewise, parents can buy M-rated games for their kids, nomatter what laws are enacted.

The challenge will be in making the rating consistent and trustworthy enough for parents to depend on without having to research each title extensively before buying.

D&D All Over Again

[BeProf]

This is just the D&D Panic of the mid-80's all over again.

When are people going to realize that if you go out and shoot up your school after playing some FPS, that there was probably somethine wrong with you to begin with?