US Moves towards more restrictive game ratings

[Aeneas2020 10]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/26/scotus.violent.video.games/index.html?hpt=T1

kinda interesting article here....im not sure what side of the fence i'm on with it. Although it seems kinda dumb that if they impose it on this form of media why they wouldn't do it with all others like dvds.

p.s. could a mod change the thread title to "US moves towards more restrictive game ratings"?

also sorry if this got posted before by someone.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

Well, according to that article, it was a California state law, and it is in fact being sent to the supreme court for review. If anything, I consider this to be positive news. I'm not surprised that California passed a law like this, but I'm glad that the court accepted the case, it's good to see this sort of legislation being challenged.

I do agree with a lot of the comments responding to the article though. It's stupid to waste time on trying to restrict access to games when there are far worse things out there. Though I do believe the current rating system is crap, I still don't see why the industry should be made responsible for problems caused by bad parenting.

And I'm glad I don't live in California...

[HyperU2 11]

And I'm glad I don't live in California...

Seconded.

This from The Terminator.

[dm 9]

It's stupid to waste time on trying to restrict access to games when there are far worse things out there.

Sadly it gets the

kind of attention that politicians love. So rather than dealing with the important, but more mundane/boring, issues, you can create a massive fuss over something completely irrelevant and get 6 months of free press coverage from it.

[Placebo 28]

Guns don't kill people, games kill people.....

[RavoC 10]

Guns don't kill people, games kill people.....

I think the media is.. killing us, well at least not telling us what keeps us alive..;)

[Commando84 0]

I think about age ratings as Jack Sparrow does about the code of pirates "Its not really a rule its more of a guideline.."

Hell if I was a parent I would school my kid about all kinds of games try to get to play strategy games so they develop sense of language and logical thinking and fps's for their motor and seeing skill leveling.

I read some time ago about that doctors that had played fps games got better eyesight and precision :)

i'll start teaching the kid playing quake 2 when he/she's about 6 years old :D

Edited April 27, 2010 by Commando84

[mosh 0]

And I'm glad I don't live in California...

same here

[Madus_Maximus 0]

We've had a legally binding official rating system here in the UK for decades called the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification). They rate visual media like films, TV and games. It's part of the law. You have to submit your works to them for classification or it can't legally be sold within the UK. Games have a little more leway with the "PEGI" system, which is a GUIDANCE system rather than legally binding, but games still have to go through the BBFC if they contain large amounts of violence and so on.

It's illegal to sell products to people under the age of the rating with the posibility of criminal prosecution if you're caught doing it, so shops are rather strict on asking for ID to avoid losing their licence and stuff (much like places that sell alcohol can lose their licence to sell it if they're caught selling to minors).

I'm quite shocked this wasn't already a law in the US. It makes total sense to have it. It'll also reduce the claims of many of these people and groups who say games are corrupting our children! They shouldn't be playing them (or able to get them) if they're under the age of the rating, so that leaves the parents or someone they know over that age to buy it them, someone who should (in theory) know better.

[dm 9]

We've had a legally binding official rating system here in the UK for decades called the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification).

Actually, not.

Because of some mistake made when the laws were originally passed, the ratings for digital media in the UK were not technically legal.

Its since been resolved, but all game ratings for the last 20 years or so have not actually been legally enforceable.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

so that leaves the parents or someone they know over that age to buy it them, someone who should (in theory) know better.

Yea, in theory...

You could try as hard as you want to "protect" children from these things, it still won't make up for bad parenting.

If anything, California should be passing laws that require people to take a course and get a license to have children. :j:

[Scrub 0]

Just wish the government would get out of our hair. We can decide for ourselves if something is right or not for our kids. They all didn't come out of the same gene pool and have different characteristics and levels of maturity and comprehension.. Well, give 'em a few more years... Custom kids (yikes).

@Big Dawg (Kyle Sarnik???) You hit the nail on the head. And California needs to cut the socialist 'government will protect and coddle you from your own ignorance' BS.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Scrub

[Tonci87 163]

In Germany there is an organisation called the USK. They rate Games. If they rate a Game to be inapropriate for People under 18, you get in really serious trouble if you sell it to someone who is under 18. It is still kind of useless. Children are not dumb, they either ask/pay someone who is over 18 to buy the Game, or they download it.

BTW, is that america, where Games where you can see for example boobs get a higher rating than games where you kill People?

[Laqueesha 474]

It looks like it is only a matter of time before there will be Australian-style censorship in the United States. :(

[Madus_Maximus 0]

It looks like it is only a matter of time before there will be Australian-style censorship in the United States. :(

I think that's a little too far. If anything it'll be closer to here in the UK. It's not really censorship but ensuring it's rated accordingly for the correct age groups. Younger children are more suseptable to picking up bad behaviour than more mature people due to how the brain works.

If you know anybody will small children you'll realise how simple it is for them to pick up naughty words if they hear people say them (and often put them in the correct context too lol).