Schwarzenegger's Appeal of CA Games Bill Under Fire

The CA games bill struck down last week to cheers is currently in a holding pattern as Governor Schwarzenegger works on an appeal. His decision to fight the judiciary is coming under fire from several sources. The ESA has mounted a campaign against the initiative through its Videogame Voters Network. Even the media is objecting, with an opinion in the LA Times telling the governor not to bother. "Having made a career off fantasy violence, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is an odd advocate for the regulation of violent video games. After all, his face (and, sometimes, his voice) helps to sell a number of electronic kill-fests. Yet there he was last week, pledging to appeal a federal judge's decision against a state law banning the sale of such games to minors."

Comments

Re:Coming soon: Schwarzenegger: 0, Judiciary: 1

[enderjsv]

I don't understand your point. There IS a ratings system in place. It's called the ESRB. Nobody has a problem with there being a ratings system. The question is should that rating system be regulated and mandated by the U.S. government? Currently, there is no similar government mandation that I am aware of in reference to the movie industry or the music industry. Such government intrusion would be unprecidented.

Rating systems

[Anonymous McCartneyf]

There may not have been much fuss when the film rating system was introduced; after all, it allowed more freedom of expression than the Hayes Code. There have been fusses of various sorts since. One of them replaced informal X ratings with formal NC-17s; this didn't destigmatize the rating. (X didn't start with a stigma, but after the mid-'70s, it got one.) PG-13 was invented because people were starting to make hard-PG films that were too close to the '80s R standard. And, for some reason, filmmakers want films to have as high a rating as possible that doesn't lock viewers out; people deliberately push ratings up to PG-13 and R, but push them down from NC-17 and R. G films are rare.
The Passion of the Christ got an R despite the goriness of its subject matter. It was determined then that, even when the ratings are being enforced, anyone can get into an R-rated movie as long as a parent comes along. Church groups took advantage of that loophole, and on occasion, younger members of the congregation suffered for it.
The governor has got to remember that videogames are like films this way: anyone can play as long as it's a grown-up buying. And it usually is--the ratings are usually enforced. So...