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A Brief History of Videogame Legislation
Joystiq is running a new column by Dennis McCauley (who you may recognize from the Game Politics blog). This week, he's got a post up looking at the history of gaming legislation. Starting in the 90s with the creation of the ESRB, McCauley walks us through some of the more notable skirmishes gaming and the body politic have had with each other. From the article: "In 2002 the city of St. Louis took the Indianapolis law one step further, prohibiting not only coin-op play, but retail sale or rental of violent games to minors. Different approach, similar fate. The 8th Circuit Court tossed the law for much the same reasons that doomed Indy's. A city attorney expressed bitter disappointment, called the Federal Court ruling 'a blow to the parents of St. Louis County and the kids.' That was three years ago, and, last time we checked, St. Louis hadn't been overwhelmed by a GTA-like wave of youth violence. As a matter of fact, youth crime levels have been trending downward for years."
Before that it was D & D, pool, cards, bowling, etc.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
A year ago, when I confronted Sondy Pope-Roberts, the Democratic State Assembly sponsor of Wisconsin's vidgame bill, she said "the pollsters" (I presume Hillary Clinton's,) had told her "This polls higher than anything else we asked."
Sondy's subsequent press release asserted that "86% of 16 year old boys play these [violent] games." Asked why she'd want to alienate 86% of (then) 16 year old boys, some of whom will be eligible to vote this November, and the rest by her next re-election cycle, she responded, "They won't vote anyway."
This, like the DOPA Myspace censorship legislation that just passed the US House with only 15 dissenting votes (roll call) seems to me pretty shortsighted for a Party that will be competing in elections not just in '06 and '08, but on into the future.
Ben Masel: 51,282 votes for US Senate in the Wisconsin Democratic Primary
I'm surprised (unless I missed it) that some legislator has not tried to ban flight simulator games because they could be used to practice using an airplane as a weapon. Maybe I can get one of my state politicians to do this on my behalf and I can get my 15 minutes of fame doing a few sound bites on CNN standing next to my Senator with a shit eating grin on my face. I could get them to add a ban on Google Maps as well because they would provide an excellent method of locating targets. This could work because it seems much more serious than just some kid running over a few people with a car or shooting a couple of police officers.