Legal Actions That Will Affect Games

[O.D.S]

Less than a month after Californian governor Arnold Schwarznegger signed into law a bill restricting the sale of games with violent content to minors, Florida is set to follow suit with an almost identical piece of legislation.

Bill SB492, which has been introduced by state Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla, defines violent videogames in the same terms as the Californian bill and seeks to impose the same USD 1000 fine on retailers who break the law.

The bill also requires games with violent content to bear a 2-inch square "18 rating" sticker. However, there is one addition - SB492 covers games in arcades as well as those sold in shops. The full bill can be viewed on the Florida Senate website.

The Entertainment Software Association has yet to issue an official response, but it's likely to oppose SB492 just as it is taking strong stance against the California bill. The ESA has already joined forces with the Video Software Dealers Association to file suit on the grounds that AB7119 restricts First Amendment rights.

The prosecution will argue that there have been numerous precedents set where the laws of free speech apply to videogames, stating that "Plaintiffs and their members, as well as many citizens of California, will suffer immediate, serious, and irreparable injury if the Act takes effect."

The ESA and VSDA have worked together to overturn a number of similar bills in various states across the US, and have successfully done so on several occasions. ESA president Doug Lowenstein stated: "We believe this bill will meet the same fate as virtually identical statutes that federal courts have routinely struck down in recent years."

"It is not up to any industry or the government to set standards for what kids can see or do; that is the role of parents," he concluded.

LINK: http://forums.e-mpire.com/newthread....=newthread&f=4

[Mathx]

Cracking down on violent video games being sold to minors, why do I have a feeling that this bill won't affect Nintendo as much as Sony and Microsoft...

Shouldn't games that are rated M, shouldn't be sold to kids under 17 anyways?.. I had a friend (Kaizer Oumft) that was "carded" at a KB Toys...I wonder how many new GTA, Resident Evil, or Killer 7 games will sell after this law.

[D3adcell]

Mathx when I was younger they use to card me at wal-mart (we had no ebgames or anything then). So I would have to get my brother or something to buy it for me. Then they stopped asking me for my id becuase it happened so much. So then in a case like that were they know the parent is going to buy the game for them anyway, they still have to ask for id etc. It would get annoying.

[C.J.]

There isn't anything wrong with making it illegal to sale M-Rated games to minors. That's what the damn tag is for in the first place. I'm for it.

[Mathx]

well I doubt people would be so lax, if they were selling pornography...or rated R movies...if the parent is going to buy it for their child at least they should know that it's rated for older audiences...

[venomv]

I think it's a good thing, while I don't beleive that violent video games cause real violence, tons of people do and if this would stop politations from complaining (as much) it's is defently a win for us.

[The Dude]

It's not the governments roll to raise our kids. I'm totaly against it. What's next? Regulating trashy romance books and novels?

[Pro A.]

It doesn't matter at the end of the day. Nobody is going to seriously enforce this on the retail level and like it was mentioned above, there is always more than one way to get what you want. Politicians, of course, are hypocritical fucks. Music and movies would never get this at the retail level, outside of porno. They just hate on video games because they're too fucking stupid to understand what the hell intrigues us to them. I bet Lieberman and Hillary have never even played a video game. Neither has Blagovehich, the Illinois governor, who is one step away from getting his ass kicked out. He won't win re-election. Not by a long shot.

[Phoenix]

Finally, legal action with video games that isn't pointless/counterproductive/unjust! Making the rating sticker bigger? Goodbye "how was I supposed to know a game called "Grand Theft Auto" was violent?" excuses. No games sold to minors? Kids need to run rated M games by parents (or some random homeless guy) before buying them now. All of this is great, and none of it is spite-induced bullshivism like making GTA AO because of user-created content!

[Lynk Former]

In Australia we have to have all of our media rated by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC). We have a simple rating system for videogames...

G
PG
M15+
MA15+

The only problem with our system is that there is no R18+ rating for videogames, this is the governments fault, not the OFLC's. It is and has been illegal to sell M15+ and MA15+ media to anyone under the age of 15 for a long time now. Of course that's not going to stop parents or other adults buying these games for these kids. Is it such a bad thing? I don't think it is, it's a good system, it's a system based on commonsense. So then if videogames don’t need to be restricted, I guess alcohol and cigarettes don’t need to be either?

A lot of people in the US think this is suddenly going to take away everyone's freedom, well down here we have extremely strict firearm laws compared to the US, that takes away our "freedom" to own a weapon, but then again our crime rate is a hellova lot lower than the US and we have hardly any shootings down here so I guess it has its advantages.

Our system isn’t seen as a burden when it comes to games being rated and restricted in terms of who is allowed to buy what. It’s seen as a guide for those who need to know what this media contains. If parents say that “no, I still want my kid to play this game” they will go and buy that videogame for their kid themselves.

[Frow]

Restrictions don't stop the underage from getting alcohol or cigs, so I doubt it'll have an impact on games

[Viper]

It won't stop it, just as you pointed out, but it will recude it dramatically.

[DankHero]

It's not the governments roll to raise our kids. I'm totaly against it. What's next? Regulating trashy romance books and novels?

i totally agree. my mom would never let me watch an R rated movie when i was younger, maybe parents should take an iniative here and go "hey this game says mature, maybe i shouldn't purchase it for my 12 year old child" because here you cant get a job under like 16 i think, so they have to get their money somewhere...

[HereticPB]

Gaming getting the Movie and Music treatment.

Rock N Roll music will rott your brain don't listen to it.
TV will rott your brain don't watch it
Movies will rott your brain don't watch them
RAP will rott your brain don't listen
Video games will rott your brain don't play them

Government will rott your brain don't listen

[WolfmanNCSU]

I agree with the masses here, its a nice idea, but the burdon belongs to the parents on what their children play.