Video Game Legislation Stirs Debate

This article comes from Highwaygames.com

A bill signed into law by California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, aims to help parents keep children from engaging in pixilated murder and mayhem. Assembly Bill 1793, authored by California Speaker Pro Tempore Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, will force video game retailers to display signs and brochures explaining the rating systems that govern the games. Yee hopes the bill will awaken parents to the extreme death and carnage that some modern video games contain. "We hope this bill sends parents a message and gives them a tool to help raise their children," said Adam Keigwin, spokesman for Yee. Yee originally introduced a bill, Assembly Bill 1792, that would have stopped minors from being able to buy games with "graphic and heinous" violence from a first or third person perspective, but was unable to get it signed. The rating system, established by the Entertainment Software Rating Board in 1994, uses a letter rating ranging from E (everyone) for all ages to AO (adults only) for games meant for adults only.

Some within the video game industry say that the regulations were already in place, and the bill is superfluous. "I doubt it will hurt business,'' says Annie Pascul, general manager of a GameStop video game retailer in Daly City, since her store already voluntarily enforced the ratings system. Wes Nihei, editor-at-large with Oakland based GamePro Magazine, also points out that organisations like the Interactive Entertainment Merchant Association had already been working with 90 percent of retailers to voluntarily enforce the rating system. Supporters of the bill are not impressed with these efforts. "Most retailers are not checking ID," said Mr Keigwin. He said a study by the Federal Trade Commission in 2001 found that children were able to buy mature rated video games without parental supervision more than 70 percent of the time. Supporters of legislating video games say that many modern video games are extremely violent and can lead some people to commit violence.

SOURCE: Daily Journal.