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Illinois Passes Explicit Game Law

Posted by Zonk on from the slippery-slope dept.

The law that the Illinois system of government has been tossing around for a while explicitly banning the sale of Mature games to minors has been passed into law. Gamasutra reports: "Like the similar bill proposed by California Senator Leland Yee, the Safe Games Illinois Act would require retailers to use warning labels in addition to the existing ESRB labels, as well as post signs within stores explaining the ESRB rating system. Sale of offending games to minors will earn stores a $1,000 fine on a petty offense, while failure to post explanatory signage will draw a $500 fine for the first three violations and $1,000 for each subsequent count."

2 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Get 'em drunk and on smokes instead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Fines for (retaliers) selling to underage people in Illinois:

    Tobacco: $50 http://www.ilcat.org/lawsumm.htm#stma
    Alcohol: $500 http://www.alcoholsafetynetwork.org/state/AlcoholS afetyNetwork-PromotingAlcoholResponsibilityThrough CommunityPartnerships.php
    Video Games: $1000

    Yup, that's reasonable.

  2. I'm going to risk my name and karma... by SkyFire360 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ... but here goes anyway:

    I believe that this will put more responsibility on parents.

    Now hear me out here. I do not belive this law will do much good, as some stores will inevitably ignore the new reguluations, game development companies will still produce violent/sex-filled games and parents will surely buy these games for their kids... nothing will change in that respect.

    What will change is the fact that when the next Little Deranged Johnny does go on his shooting spree claiming to have been influenced by videogames, who can overprotective parents, lawmakers and lawyers alike lay the blame on?
    • The stores that sell these products are not to blame if they follow the new regulations
    • The companies that make these games cannot be blamed, as there is legislation now in place that protects them. How often do gun companies get successfully sued for children accidentally shooting each other? How often do alcohol companies get sued because someone drank their beer and killed someone driving drunk?
    • The kids cannot be blamed because by law they are minors and don't know the difference between fantasy and reality (mind you this is from the point of view from the Overprotective Parents Association - OPA - not my personal view)
    How did Little Deranged Johnny get his hands on such a twisted, evil, dispicable piece of software? The parents! The only way that he legally got the software would be through his parents who bought it for him or from a friend's parents who allowed him to use it.

    I fear though that the wrath of the OPA will be turned elsewhere instead of on the parents where it belongs... "How could it be possible that the parents are to blame when he could have just as easily pirated it off of the internet? Regulate the internet now! Crack down harder on piracy!"