Videogame Decency Act in Congress

GamePolitics reports on yet another attempt by lawmakers to make the world safe from the dangers of electronic entertainment. Entered by Representative Fred Upton, the bill spells out penalties for game companies that try to 'sneak' something past ESRB raters. Says Upton, "I guess I thought the FTC would have had some more teeth than they apparently have... I'm not at all happy... In essence there are no consequences. None... I would like to have thought that (Take-Two and Rockstar) would have been able to be fined for millions of dollars for the trash they put out across this country. I am going to be looking to write legislation giving the FTC the authority to impose civil penalties."

Comments

Re:We've seen this before.

[harrkev]

It ain't about stopping people from buying the stuff. It is just about ratings. To me, the law just reads "We are going to give this game $rating. If there is something in this game that makes it require something more than $rating, you have to tell us." Really, that is all that there is to it. Not a big deal.

Ratings do NOT create censorship -- they just inform the consumer. It is sort of like complaining that food labels "censor" high-calorie fatty foods and create an underground market for twinkies.

Now, if certain retailers decide not to carry any "mature" ratings, that is up to the retailer. But there will always be places on the internet that you can order this stuff from. It is not like www.gogamer.com qualifies as an "underground."

Labeling movies as PG, R, X, etc. has not created and underground for movies. It just means that if you want "X", you go to a different store. Personally, I do not want a "teenage sluts" movie playing right next to "Bambi."