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Interview with 'Anti-Gamer' Senator Leland
strwrsxprt writes "Game Almighty recently had the chance to speak with Senator Leland Yee about his views on the validity of California Assembly Bill 1179, which was designed to criminalize the sale of Mature rated games to minors and require retailers to keep Mature games separated from other games. He also shares his thoughts on everything from the effectiveness of the ESRB and the place AO games have in the market, to the movie industry and their rating standards in relation to games. His answers might just surprise you."
A politician in front of an audience says things catered to that audience. Ever watched a video of Hillary Clinton in front of, well, anybody? Same nonsense, they know what you want to hear and they'll say it. The bill is still bupkus and he is still an anti-gamer. This him in front of a group of social conservatives and he'll cash in all he can on having supported a bill "restricting those bad videogames."
I fully support this bill **IF** the classifications for movies and video games are held to the same standard.
Ie If Manhunt is an 'AO' game, and the next GTA is an 'AO' game, then then entire Die-Hard series should be re-classified as NC-17. Similarly for the majority of horror films, such as the current 30 days of night, for example.
The REAL problem is that there is a double-standard.
While I agree with the concept of the bill - Kids shouldn't have access to Adult games - I disagree with his methodology.
The following scenario seems all too possible:
>If Mr. Manager at the Big Box store, and needs to reshelve his games in order to keep a new classification separate from another classification (and train his wage slaves about the rules), then that's an expense, especially if he gets in trouble if they aren't trained correctly, not to mention the bad press.
So what is he likely to do? Not order any of game AO, because it's a pain in his ass. It's the reason why Big Box stores carry plenty of G, PG, PG-13, and R DVDs, but you have to go to a p0rn store to buy X-rated DVDs (*)
Mr. Publisher wants to distribute his game to as many big-box stores as possible. So he green-lights games that have a wider distribution: those that aren't rated AO.
It's a bad law because it dictates HOW a store is to obey the law, instead of simply laying out the rules and the penalties.
(*) I realize the proliferation of "Uncut and Unrated" editions of popular movies undermines my argument, but i've never seen an "Uncut" edition that could be mistaken for p0rn.
(**) As a second counterargument, the movie theater industry lobbied against NC-17, declaring that it would ruin movies, and drive the entire industry into G and PG rated art. Obviously, that's what happened
Yes indeed, I was spreading FUD due to laziness. It's a "maximum fine of $1000" or something like that; not jail time.
Yeah banning Manhunt 2 is lame, even though it is totally a rubbish game and shouldn't have been made in the first place.
I like basketball!!1!