Video Game Industry to Sue Michigan's Governor

hapwned writes "A news release at Warcry writes that the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) plans on filing suit in Michigan to overturn the recent Violent Games Act. From the article: 'The ESA argues that this bill is an effort to substitute the government's judgment for parental supervision and turn retailers into surrogate parents. Lowenstein said that the industry's products were being unreasonably and unfairly singled out. He contends that while there is no question that a few games have content that some audiences will find offensive, the same can be said for some content in TV, films, music, and books. Since the government does not regulate the sales of those entertainment industries, it should follow suit for the sale of video games. Ultimately, he concluded, parents, not government or industry, must be the gatekeepers of what comes in the home.'"

Comments

It's the government's right to protect minors

[postbigbang]

And they do, unsuccessfully, all the time. I applaud the efforts of the State of Michigan. They may lose, but if they do, at least it's one more step towards keeping patently objectionable material out of the hands of impressionable youth.

Re:It's the government's right to protect minors

[postbigbang]

We completely disagree.

Governments and civil societies construct legal systems to server the populace. The populace, under 18, needs to be prevented from pr0n, booze, weapons, and in this particular case, violent video games or those video games with adult images in them.

No, it's not fair to arbitrarily have 18 as the age, but there is no other accepted metric for separating youthful impessionistic people from adults within our society.