Debate on Game Censorship Touches on Weighty Topics

Last night a debate hosted by the XFire gaming chat/social network service went into depth on the subject of game censorship. Participants included notables like Entertainment Consumers Association President Hal Halpin, Sacremento Assemblyman Leland Yee, Escapist Editor Russ Pitts, and GamePolitics blogger Dennis McCauley. Transcripts are available of the discussion both on and off the main floor, and both make for some very interesting reading. From the Escapist post on the event: "On the whole, it would seem that everyone, from the senator on down, is concerned about adult-themed content in games and how to preserve the gamemaker's rights to create such content while simultaneously keeping it out of the hands of minors. The devil, of course, is in the details. Exactly how to go about doing that - and defining the types of content to be restricted - is where we all seemed to disagree wildly."

Comments

Think of the Children

[Puff of Logic]

"Think of the children" is often the cry here, on both extremes of the debate. The Jack Thompsons of the world utter the cry and then, in the same breath, demand that things start getting banned. Long-time and hardcore gamers, on the other hand, use the term with a lot of snark. In the gamer community, and indeed for many net denizens, "think of the children" is a harbinger for the loss of freedom caused by well-meaning but small-minded citizens who want to wrap the world in cotton wool for their children.

Personally, I'm at a loss as to why a rating system is considered inadequate here. Sure, it's not perfect, and both the content creators and content consumers both have valid arguments against rating systems. As a long-time gamer, I don't want to see any heavy-handed restrictions on gaming. However, I can also understand that parents are rightfully concerned about what their children are exposed to. In my mind, the crux of the problem is with those parents who want to control what their children are exposed to, but without any involvement on the part of the parent. Watchful parents can use a rating system to judge content for suitability. Again, some stuff may slip through the cracks ("Hot Coffee") but the danger of that is the price we pay for a free society. Parents, if little Johnny plays an unapproved game over at another kid's house, then your argument with the other kid's parents, not the game companies. If a retailer sells a rated-R game to your fourteen year old, again your argument is with the retailer and not the game company. And if your argument is that you cannot possibly monitor your child every moment and therefore game content should be restricted, then I must respectfully but vehemently disagree.

Now, I'm not a parent, and I note that some individuals assert that people without children should STFU, as if having a child grants the parent a special perception that is not available to others through logical reasoning. Please don't do that, as it's a flamebait tactic. Please understand that even those of us who consider ourselves "childfree" are not anti-child and even appreciate the difficulties of raising kids in an increasingly fast-paced and communicative world. Personally, I'm willing to accept a rating system on all the games that I buy because I understand that it helps parents to pick appropriate content for their kids. I also support the punishment of retailers who violate this system, because it undermines the whole point. In exchange, please don't advocate mass restrictions on the content that I want to consume because you're afraid your kid will get hold of it.

Look at the box.

[Toonol]

Is there any widely-published videogame in recent history that a parent couldn't make an informed decision about by simply checking the rating, and examining the pictures and text on the box? Nothing could be simpler than that.

On the other hand, if the goal is to keep the games from being passed from kid to kid while on the school bus, well... good luck, but you aren't going to put a dent in that. Nobody has ever stopped adult magazines from being passed around.