Video Game Industry to Sue California
GHoosdum
Icrontian
Reuters reports that a trade group for the video game industry has vowed to sue the state of California, on the grounds that the state's recently signed law banning the sale of violent or sexual video games to minors is unconstitutional.
Source: ReutersThe legislation bars the sale and rental to minors of games that show such things as the killing, maiming or sexual assault of a character depicted as human, and which are determined to be especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. Violators are subject to a $1,000 fine...
Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has starred in many violent movies, such as "The Terminator," "Conan the Barbarian," and "Collateral Damage." He said he signed the bill to keep the games out of the wrong hands.
0
Comments
I hope california wins. If parents cant be good parents and watch what games their kids play, its about time the government steps in.
People are so used to violence/sex/nudity now a days that they dont realize its bad...
And I do think it should be the parents' responsibility to take care of their kids. Not that many people do so these days.
This is not such a big deal by itself but what will it open up, violent games no longer sold in stores, can't be made, it costs 1 million extra in taxes to make them, who knows where this will go?
Violence, sex and nudity are only as "Bad" as we are educated prudes.
For two, this is not even an issue of censorship, it only applies to minors. I got carded buying Doom3, but who cares? So what? If some 15 year old really wants to play any video game he wants he will get his parents to buy it for him anyways, in the end they have the ultimate power to choose. Given the fact that parents are the ones who choose, this law simply represents the majorities decision because no parent can watch their kid 24/7 and make sure they aren't out buying a game they do not wnat them to have. Face it, kids don't do what their parents say. So what is wrong with this law, and whats more a fundamental issue here is what would give the corporation the right to overthrow a decision made by the people of California?
Is this not going on in Michigan too?
So, you are in fact contradicting yourself about this costing the state money because if this is the case, that it doesnt matter because the parent will buy it anyway, then it was a waste of taxpayer money to introduce and approve this bill which would prevent the sale of games to minors. And as I already covered, ESRB when enforced is the same idea and the state is spending time and money to over-legislate a non-issue.
If they would have just required retailers to honor the ESRB ratings, it would have been effective without setting dangerous precedents or creating additional bureaucracy.
-drasnor
My parents see what i buy and view, but hell its been over 2 years since ive bought a video game because of the high prices.
I also have an argument that video games are only animated, and any eleven year old with access to the internet can go to google and type in boobies. no need to spend $50 to see some cartoony sex. I dont care if a game has sex in it. I care about the storyline and gameplay, which some games seem to be lacking in these days, becaues of all the focus on graphics.
I'm sick of hearing about "constitutional rights issue".... You have constitutionaly protected child molesters. I think they call them selves Man boy love group or whatever, protected under freedom of speech. The constitution is not perferct and there will be plenty of grey area's were state and federal government will need to step in. As far as I'm concearned Freedom of speach is to protect tax payers right to say what they will about the government not to rent naked video games at the age of 14.
Until you have one you care for, YOU DON'T KNOW SQUAT!.
Just be careful about inviting the government into your life. It's rather hard to get them out later.
And to Qeldroma: I don't want a picture perfect world for my nephews and family to grow up in. I want them to see the world and have me to guide them through it, not be sheltered and utterly surprised when something bad happens.
Whoa now.. relax! No need to get personal :shakehead
I am a father of two young boys who love video games, and I really am against government censorship. Anything that is objectively based on religious or personal convictions, which in turn affect opinions and ultimately get turned into "what's appropriate for kids" is something deeply personal and should never be handled by the government. Censorship is insidious - it starts small ("oh, nobody wants to see a depiction of rape, we can all agree, right? We all agree, see!") and then gets bigger and bigger. Left unchecked, the 'moral majority' may decide that women should be wearing veils or that children are meant to be seen and not heard. Welcome to Taliban country.
For example, my older son's second grade teacher forbade all Harry Potter books in her class. This is in a PUBLIC SCHOOL. Asked why Harry Potter is forbidden? "Oh, Harry Potter is bad, she says". Oooookay... Bad to whom? Bad because your church newsletter says its bad? Make any of your own decisions lately?
Everyone says "oh, that's innocent" or "no big deal"... But it IS a big deal. We have the RIGHT in this country to read, say, see, and do exactly what WE want. Not what someone else tells us. Every tiny little freedom taken away (Okay folks, you can't raise your kids right - we say so! The media backs us up with charts and stats, see? Therefore, we'll do it for you!) is one step closer to complicity - complicity that takes the responsibility of raising the child even FURTHER away from already drifting parents.
What we need in this country is a cultural revolution - we need to stop placing BLAME and start taking RESPONSIBILITY. I don't want anybody - ANYBODY, any government, any ratings board, any teacher to tell me what I can or cannot do or buy or say. This is a much bigger issue than video games. This is just another attempt to chip away at our freedom.
The state really should stay out of business matters like this. If parents have a problem with retailers selling things to minors, let them take it up with the business. The world would be so much better if people would take responsibility for their own actions and situations instead of expecting the government to magically bail them out of their problems. That may sound a little too "pull yourself up by the boot straps" for some, but I don't care.
I am a free-market, libertarian-minded person, but when it comes to minor children it seems pretty obvious that we need some kind of insurance against the widespread lack or parental responsibility we see all around us. When the day comes where we actually start holding people responsible for their own failings as parents, along with the behavior of their children, then we can consider leaving things up to what used to be called "common sense".
In any event, I see no problem with limiting the rights of minor children, unless you want to hold them to the same level of responsibilty as adults, too. Are any of us ready to impose a three-strikes-you're-out law on a six-year-old who just swiped his third candy bar?
Capital punishment.
I think what you are doing is confusing restriction to minors with censorship.
I also think it's a mistake to think "Moral Majority" to having everyone think like Jerry Falwell.
And what is wrong with "morality"? Would you prefer an Immoral Majority or better still, an Ammoral Majority? I don't think either of us likes to have morality is dictated to us, but many know that true "morality" is based on common sense.
You object to someone banning Harry Potter (I don't necessarily disagree with you here)- but the bible is nearly nationally banned. While I don't believe in preaching the bible in school- I do recognize that it has played an important part in American history and culture. I find irony that I can check out a copy of "Growing up Gay" in an elementary school but not even find a copy of the bible there. It's too bad that I won't find the backing for the bible as I would for Harry- but be that as it may- this is a censorship.
That being said- do you want them also reading about how cost effective an orgy is? Do you think they'll read the AIDS education books first?
I think a wise man once asked- "Do you think a typical ten year-old is ready for multivariate calculus? There will be a time that he/she will be ready, but not right now." There is no reason we should hang-up our children with adult baggage and I'm in favor of restrictions on minors. More importantly, If someone tries to sell it to my kid, I can actually enlist the aid of the government to nail their butts to the wall. That could be very important if the situation is way too big for just me.
Immorality or ammorality seeks or accepts the addictions, afflictions and infections that murder people as effectively as any other war or serial killer does. They are their own forms of slavery. Allowing our kids to have free access to this is for many like saying "it's OK." We're also trusting a lot to parents who are increasingly checked out with their own forms of apathy. They buy the game for Christmas and put the kid out of their hair for a couple of months.
We can't point at any one thing- it is a systemic problem of which things like GTA are only a part of.
While I don't have a problem with free speech, I do have a problem with facism, child pronography, drug overdose, burying AIDS babies, drug addicted prostitutes and that brew of self-righteous and hypocritical arrogance that more aggressively dictates that they should be able to show it all to me and my children in prime-time on a public air-wave. Did someone forget I'm paying for it too?
Now a group seeks to sue because they can't legally get at my "mice" or yours? Do you think they give a dam about your feelings on free speech and censorship? What they care about is their market-share and maybe sweetening the pot with a lawsuit- period. If they can get 'em hooked young and grow the market ... Business is NOT moral- it is ammoral. If you think that won't affect you, then you need to think again.
If you think that you can do it all by yourself and don't need the government to help when you need them ....
Saying that the government is going to fix it is wrong. But I'd like to have the government at my back if if some SOB seeks to tell my kids it's OK to buy this or do that.
I think we are increasingly convincing ourselves that government can't be on our side, and I'm afraid the government is increasinly doing so too.
The flaw in this argument, to me, is that giving a young child keys to a vehicle could end up with someone dead - this can be PROVEN, scientifically or any other way you want to think of it - a child cannot control a physical vehicle, can physically kill a person by improperly using it. You could also say the same thing with a machete or a howitzer, or a blowtorch for that matter.
You cannot prove, PROVE, that any normal child, given a violent or sexually explicit video game, or smoking a cigaratte for example, can actually go out and kill somebody by doing it.
Say I wanted to allow my kids to play violent video games (and I do) - and yet I am here along with my wife giving them guidance, nurturing, compassion, and understanding. And if my children ever exhibited signs of negativity towards another living creature, we are right there to be PARENTS to our children. THAT's what's missing from this story. The moral "authorities" in this country never neglect to immediately place blame on 'bad outside influences', and lament how hard it is to raise a child in today's society. I call BS. It is NOT difficult to raise a child in today's society - it's just that today's PARENTS are so goddamned lazy and unwilling to accept any responsibility for ANYTHING (bad behavior? oh my kid has ADHD he can't help it... Ritalin for everybody... medicating the youth of america, it's the easy way out).
Sorry if I get hot about this subject. I'm right here on the frontlines, seeing how other people are raising their elementary school aged children and it makes me pretty sick to my stomach sometimes. Violent video games are the LEAST of their problems right now.
prime- you'd have even a harder time proving otherwise. You CAN'T prove, prove PROVE IT to me that it doesn't have any influence on anyone anywhere.
On the otherhand, I can introduce you to some inmates who loved the game ....
How would this law affect you in any way? If the statute was written in such a way as to make it illegal for a parent to allow their child to play these games I'd be right there with you in opposition to it. All it states is that an adult has some say in the matter.
I've met your boys a couple of times and have told you privately what high regard I hold for the job you and your wife are doing with them. I'd bet that everyone who watched them just hanging out and having fun at the LAN Party last July would agree. I also completely agree that there are too many parents who are totally unworthy of the title. Unfortunately, no law is going to make up for that. But as Qeldroma mentioned, if it gives the parents who are at least trying to do their job right another tool in the fight, while still allowing responsible parents the right to make their own private choice, what's wrong with that?