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thranx on 02 November 2010
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Joelcool7 said:
Kantor said:
 

 

The trouble in America with this particular law is that it violates the First Amendment. Why shouldn't games be regulated in America when movies are, you ask? Well, movies aren't. It is perfectly legal, in America, to show a child of any age an R-rated movie. I don't personally agree with that, but the cinemas self-regulate, so it's more or less the same thing. I don't remember the last time I bought a game in America, but I'm sure most stores would perform an ID check to ensure that you are sufficiently old to play the game.

I must be misunderstanding the law. When the lady told me about it at PAX she said the law would restrict the sales of video games to minors. I never heard anything about the Government telling parents they can't let their children play an M-Rated game with their permission or in their supervision?

Now Duke Nukem Forever for example actually had pretty much nudity in the trailer I saw at PAX. As such I would think the same rules as pornography would apply to said game. You cannot show a minor pornographic content so their for Duke even under parent supervision should not be played by a minor. I'm sure the finished version will lack that nudity to make sure it doesn't recieve an A-rating.

In the cases of pornography the state does impose strict regulations that forbid a child from watching it or a parent from showing it to the child. If a game recieves an A-Rating (Which almost never happens) maybe the state shouldn't let the children play it. I remember a few years ago a couple adult games were being released and a few of them actually got rated A. Retailers refused to carry the games which is a great example of self regulation.

In the end I don't think Government has the right to tell parents that they can't let their child play an M-Rated game. But they sure as hell should be able to restrict legally the sale of M games to under age individuals. If a parent chooses to let their child play the game knowing the ESRB ratings tthen thats up to them.

If the industry already self regulates why not allow the state to make it legally binding. Nothing will change as far as I know based on what I have been told. Its not like the state will take your kids away for letting them play GTA. Or am I totally misunderstanding the legislation?


The problem lies in what is pornographic? From what you said it sounded like you consider any flesh shown to be pronographic. I would disagree, there is nothing wrong with a child seeing a naked body, in fact its this notion that all nudity is bad for kids that is part of the problem, its seen as forbidden fruit. I can understand overly graphic sex scenes, but just nudity should not be a problem.  Its best to let parents decide what their kids can handle and keep governemnt out of it. I would hate to start getting watered down or out right banned games like austraila.