Jack Thompson Tasked With Writing Law

Gamespot's Rumor Control column this week handles the usual spurious talk that swirls around the game news sites. One (sadly) factual rumour they report on details gamer-hunting lawyer Jack Thompson's new role as a lawmaker. From the article: "Repeatedly, Thompson has called for states to pass laws criminalizing the sale of M-for-Mature rated games to minors. Now it appears he may get the chance to pen such a law himself. In an e-mail sent out Thursday, Thompson says he has 'been asked by the Office of the Governor of the State of Florida, Jeb Bush, to draft and submit to him and to Florida legislators a bill that will prohibit the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors.' ... When queried by GameSpot for more details, he would only say that he is the only person thus far who has been asked to submit a bill to the governor's office about M-rated game sales. He did not offer details about what kind of penalties the bill would prescribe for offenders or whether or not said penalties would be imposed solely on the clerks selling the games or also on the establishment selling the game and/or the game's publisher."

Comments

Please, no

[PunkOfLinux]

If there is ANYTHING good and right in the world, please prevent this from happening. This guy is a freaking nut -- please do not let him do ANYTHING to censor video games.

Poor Florida

[Morgalyn]

For some reason, I thought we might manage to make it out of this whole can of worms without ridiculous legislation, but I guess not. So far Jeb has done an OK job at balancing the right wing conservative fundamental religious nutcases in the Panhandle with the left wing liberal nutcases in the Wang, but this smacks of falling prey to letters from the west.

I'm still not sure I understand why government entities feel like they need to step into a system that was sufficient for informing parents about the nature and content of media. The MPAA rates movies, the theaters sort-of enforce the rating requirements, but there are no real laws underlining any of it. The ESRB rates games, the vendors sort-of enforce the rating system, but apparently society as we know it is going to come crashing down if we don't impose some fines or jail sentences.

How is legislation like this and the Michigan law going to affect online sales of games?

Not Quite..

[\\]

According to this, Thompson is somewhat full of shit.

"A representative of Jeb Bush's press office characterized as "untrue" yesterday's Jack Thompson press release in which the Miami attorney and self-described "anti-game crusader" claimed that he was crafting video game legislation on behalf of the Florida governor."

More through the link.

Re:Thanks...I'll be leaving the US now...it's over

[Gurgeh15]

One word: Canada. Really, look into it. All of the perks of the U.S. without the nut jobs...

Re:Thanks...I'll be leaving the US now...it's over

[Gherald]

See you in Canada. All the benefits of living in a modern economy a hair's breath from the world's sole superpower; none of the drawbacks of living in a third world society. You even get to speak English!

Just be sure to pack heavy, it's cold up here.

Well...

[buffer-overflowed]

I personally see no problem in restricting the sale of "adult" material to minors. Neither does the Supreme court.

If the freakin' game lobby would get a clue and do what the movie industry did, and actually hype that angle up rather than being adamantly opposed to any fines for the sale of this material to minors, then maybe you wouldn't need to worry about Jack Thompson.

A few "Gamestop fires employee for selling GTA w/o ID check" headlines would do it. But nooo...

I also fail to see how restricting the sale of violent(and or/sexual) games to minors in any way infringes on the right to free speech as held by the SCOTUS, nor how it would:
A. Keep the games out of the hands of minors whose parents allow them to play such things.
B. Keep adults from playing these games.
C. Keep these games from being made if the guys pushing for the legislation really DON'T have a point.

If gamers don't give up the 12-yos should be allowed to go into Gamestop and buy a copy of Tentacle-fucker 3 - Revenge of the Overfiend(at the extreme end) angle with no fines for the store OR the guy that sold it then they're not going to get a voice in how the law is constructed and the chances it's going to be whacked out insane increase. Because it's GOING to happen.

And there are upshots to it you probably can't even fathom.

Re:Well...

[Psmylie]

This doesn't need to be legislated. Community groups of concerned parents should work with the retailers to make sure that it is company policy to not sell M or AO rated games to minors. When you have a law to do this instead, it's censorship.

Movie theaters voluntarily keep minors out of R-rated movies, sort of an unofficial social contract. It work pretty well, for the most part.. most kids can't see R-rated movies without a parent, and if one does, then maybe someone gets fired but nobody goes to jail or is fined. That's what we need for game stores. Not censorship. The rating system already in place is sufficient, in my opinion.

Why not books?

[Jtheletter]

There is easily a hundred times more depravity, violence, and subversive thinking in books on a public library shelf than in any set of video games. Thank god we've already formed committees to review and rate these harmful works and prohibit minors from accessing th.... wait, what's that you say, any child can check out these seditious and violent works with nothing more than a library card? The works of the Marquis de Sade? Historical accounts of wars? Works of terror by Stephen King? What have we come to as a country if minors are allowed to view these materials unchecked? I demand that public libraries and librarians be fined and jailed for allowing such terrible influences to be given to our children!!

Sarcasm aside, I demand that any legislator writing such a vigeogame law justify how that media can be treated differently than any other work. And interaction is not a valid defense, choose your own adventure books would meet that standard.

I do agree some games are not suitable for minors, but just as the law doesn't jail or fine movie theaters if minors get into R-rated shows, there should be now such law punishing video game stores and clerks for essentially the same offense.