One of gaming's darkest moments might come true

[Joelcool7]

noname2200 said:

Joelcool7 said:

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 law in question does not follow the rule you're setting out. 

The concern most legal scholars have with the law is not that it will stop minors from playing or purchasing violent video games , but rather that this law leaves it up to the state to decide what games are and are not permissible for minors to purchase.   In other words, a government employee or political appointee is going to have the final say on what is objectionable and what is not. 

But assuming that the state simply adopted the ESRB ratings wholesale, you also asked why the state should not have the power to make self-regulation legally binding.  The answer is that the law imposes criminal fines and penalties, not merely community sanctions. This is especially troublesome because it's often unclear why a game received a certain ranking (remember when Oblivion's rating flipped post-release?  Or Halo 3 got the M-rating? ).

 

To summarize:  the law does not simply give the ESRB's decisions legal weight, but instead invests the power to decide what stays and what goes in a government censor.  That censor would have to work with a very vague guideline, one which has produced inconsistent results when examining obscenity cases.  It would make videogames the only self-regulated industry that is liable to criminal penalties.  And most disturbing of all for Americans, it would be a huge blow to freedom of speech, as it lowers the bar for what the government can censor.

Well I guess I didn't read far enough into the actual bill. If the ESRB rating system was adopted by the state I'd have no problem. But if the acting Government sets the ratings themselves it could be disasterous. I know when a high speed accident killed a few students here in Canada, a copy of Need For Speed was found in the car. Right aways groups put pressure on our local Government saying we should regulate games and that game should not be sold. However the Government has no power to suddenly pull that game, but what your saying is if such a call was made a politician could use it to win votes or just rate the game high because they disagree with its content.Imagine what could of happened with Medal Of Honour the US Government wanted it banned, could this bill allow them to ban it.

But then again how do we know for sure that a Government runned rating system would be too much worse then ESRB.  We have never seen Government control on any industry. How do we know it would be that bad?

But heck I'm not 100% on the US constitution or its freedom of speech laws and protections of industries. Hell this is why I'm so glad I'm Canadian nobody would dare try this in Canada!