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The Law as a Parent

Posted by Zonk on from the well-obviously-the-parents-can't-make-decisions dept.

RosethornKB writes "KillerBetties.com has an editorial about the continuing attempts by the legal system to pass laws regulating the sale of video games. From the article: "The latest is one coming out of Illinois. Governor Blagojevich is proposing legislation and his explanation says, among other things: "Parenting is hard work, and the state has a compelling interest in helping parents raise their children to be upstanding men and women." How does passing laws to restrict the sale of violent games and put tight restrictions on the industry's labeling systems help parents raise their children?""

3 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. How, you ask? by Lemental · · Score: 5, Insightful
    How does passing laws to restrict the sale of violent games and put tight restrictions on the industry's labeling systems help parents raise their children?

    It doesn't.

    1. Re:How, you ask? by iocat · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Speaking as both a parent and a game developer, your post is total bullshit. The videogame industry does a better job than *ANY OTHER INDUSTRY* at labeling its content. You get content descriptors, you get ratings, you get posters with descriptions of the content descriptors and ratings at every store. Many big-box stores, such as Toys-R-Us have policies that prompt for age when you try to buy a T or M game.

      At some point, parents have to step up and take some responsibility for what they let their children access. Unless you're literally blind, you cannot go into a game store or any other place where you can buy videogames without being advised of the ESRB ratings system. If you still buy an M game for your 10 year old, it's *your fault.* Why should videogames be held to a higher standard than movies?

      The videogame industry has also taken significant steps in the past five years to address the situation of advertising inappropriate games to younger kids -- you'll never see a preview or ad for an M game in an E game box, for instance, and that didn't used to be case.

      If I had any knock on games, it would be to see more use of the AO rating, to signify games that are really explicit -- I'm thinking of the difference between a Resident Evil game and maybe Vice City here.

      Overall, the rating system has been great for games, because its enabled creators like Rockstar to create games that fulfill their vision without worrying that kids will inadvertantly be exposed to inappropriate material. But it takes two to tango. The responsibility cannot fully be just on the game industry, otherwise we'd be forced to only make E games, and we'd be letting down the adult portion of our audience who want to see more mature content.

      Parents must take responsibility for the media their minor children consume, from videogames to movies to TV. The game industry is definitely doing its part.

      --

      Dude, I think I can see my house from here.

  2. If parenting is such hard work by ShawnMcCool42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    why doesn't the government enforce by legal mandate the purchase of nutritionally appropriate foods for our children's digestion?

    Surely you can recognize that the mass number of parents feeding their babies MCDONALDS FRENCH FRIES is a much larger problem than video games.

    What about Bratz the toys for little girls? Or the little girl sized mini skirts at your local X-Mart.