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Forums - Gaming Discussion - The US Supreme Court rules against California, gamers rejoice!

thranx on 28 June 2011
Final-Fan said:
Onyxmeth said:
theRepublic said:
Onyxmeth said:
From what I gather from these proceedings, the government was trying to basically stop children from buying M rated games, which they're not supposed to be buying anyways, and was going to fine places that sold them to children? What have we really gained from that, and what would we have lost? If anything this decision takes the parents out of the equation, because they no longer get to be the facilitator to purchase a game for their teenager or preteen. The kids can now buy it themselves.

All that this ruling did was get the government out of performing censorship.  (They never really did, since this law never went into effect.)  This ruling does not prevent private entities from enforcing ratings.  The ESRB will still rate games, and its retail members will still enforce the policies.  This means that minors will still not be able to purchase M rated games from Best Buy, Gamestop, Kmart, Target, or Walmart.

Where did those private entities come from though? The government breathing down the neck of the gaming industry. I'm not all for government getting it's hands into everything, but from what I've read about this, I don't see the connect with why this is so great for the industry. I don't see why developers are so happy about this and found this bill to be hindering their creative freedome, unless they just feel they can't financially work violent projects in without the undying support of the under 18 demographic.

I'd have to agree that it probably doesn't benefit the industry so much as it benefits America. 

You said we restrict minors in film.  Well, the MPAA ratings are exactly like the ESRB ratings.  Nobody can get charged with a crime if a 9 year old gets in to see Saw XVI by himself.  Unless they signed a contract promising to obey the ratings.  Music?  I didn't even know there were effective ratings for music. 

This decision protects the First Amendment much more than it does Activision. 

Some big chains (wal mart) only sell edited music cd (no profanity). Optional of course. But they do it to keep their family image



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theRepublic on 01 July 2011
Final-Fan said:
Onyxmeth said:
theRepublic said:
Onyxmeth said:
From what I gather from these proceedings, the government was trying to basically stop children from buying M rated games, which they're not supposed to be buying anyways, and was going to fine places that sold them to children? What have we really gained from that, and what would we have lost? If anything this decision takes the parents out of the equation, because they no longer get to be the facilitator to purchase a game for their teenager or preteen. The kids can now buy it themselves.

All that this ruling did was get the government out of performing censorship.  (They never really did, since this law never went into effect.)  This ruling does not prevent private entities from enforcing ratings.  The ESRB will still rate games, and its retail members will still enforce the policies.  This means that minors will still not be able to purchase M rated games from Best Buy, Gamestop, Kmart, Target, or Walmart.

Where did those private entities come from though? The government breathing down the neck of the gaming industry. I'm not all for government getting it's hands into everything, but from what I've read about this, I don't see the connect with why this is so great for the industry. I don't see why developers are so happy about this and found this bill to be hindering their creative freedome, unless they just feel they can't financially work violent projects in without the undying support of the under 18 demographic.

I'd have to agree that it probably doesn't benefit the industry so much as it benefits America. 

You said we restrict minors in film.  Well, the MPAA ratings are exactly like the ESRB ratings.  Nobody can get charged with a crime if a 9 year old gets in to see Saw XVI by himself.  Unless they signed a contract promising to obey the ratings.  Music?  I didn't even know there were effective ratings for music. 

This decision protects the First Amendment much more than it does Activision. 

Exactly.  Parent's can also choose to ignore those ratings for either system.  The court's decision just protects that right, instead of limiting it.

On a side note, I am very disappointed by Jon Stewart's piece on the ruling last night.



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