With the many institutional problems in the US, including underfunded schools, huge deficits in major cities, and a growing unemployment rate, you'd think legislators would have better things to do than try to regulate video games. Again. In New York, Assemblyman Brian Kolb has introduced a bill to add new warning tags to video games. He also wants to force every store to demo games rated 18+ by the state, not to mention keep those games in a locked container in the store.
"Concern about violent video games is based upon the assumption that they contribute to aggression and violence among young players," the bill claims. "The legislature finds that scientific evidence shows a cause-effect relationship between television violence and aggression among children who watch such violence and aggression. Based upon this research, similar findings are expected concerning video games."
While it's easy to get upset about a bill that cites controversial research about television as a reason to legislate a completely separate medium, the claims go even deeper. "It has also been established that even limited amounts of sexual violence can desensitize viewers," the bill reads. "In a study conducted in 1995, viewers of films containing sexual violence expressed significantly less sympathy for domestic violence victims, and rated their injuries less severe, than did a group not exposed to these films. It is most alarming to apply the results of this study to violent video games, which are played over and over again, while a film may be watched only once or twice."
There is also concern stated about the number of children who may become addicted to such games, and the repetition of violent acts seen on screen. How do you protect children from these terrible games? Warning labels that go above and beyond the industry-standard ESRB ratings, of course. It would be illegal to sell or rent a game that contains "depictions descriptive of, advocating, or glamorizing commission of a violent crime, suicide, sodomy, rape, incest, bestiality, sado-masochism, any form of sexual activity in a violent context... morbid violence or the illegal use of drugs or alcohol."
Any game that was found to contain any of these elements would have to carry a warning label saying the game could contain all of the above-quoted issues. So if, for instance, someone in the game would be seen to take a hit off a bong and enjoy it, the warning label would say that the game may include sodomy. This is certainly a shotgun approach to game ratings. And look at the text the law mandates the warning label to read:
"WARNING, SALE OR RENTAL TO ADULTS ONLY. MAY CONTAIN EXPLICIT DEPICTIONS DESCRIPTIVE OF OR ADVOCATING ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING:
* COMMISSION OF A VIOLENT CRIME
* SUICIDE
* SODOMY
* RAPE
* INCEST
* BESTIALITY
* VIOLENT RACISM
* RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE
* SADO-MASOCHISM
* SEXUAL ASSAULT
* SEXUAL ACTIVITY
* MURDER
* MORBID VIOLENCE
* ILLEGAL USE OF DRUGS OR ALCOHOL"
I'd love for my six-year-old to pick up my copy of Call of Duty 4 and then ask what sodomy is. Yes, this bill would really protect the children.
There is another odd part of this bill that would give retailers considerable headaches: if this passed into law and you sold games that contained the parental warning, you would have to make the game available, along with a system and a television, to play and test. Since children can't watch the game being played, this would also apparently have to happen in a private room away from your retail floor. That's only slightly unreasonable.
The problems with this bill are immediately apparent and almost silly. Who decides what kinds of scenes make crimes look glamorous? Will New York have its own ratings board, trying to determine whether a sex scene is violent or a crime looks seductive? Have we seen any games filled with bestiality and incest? Will retailers be responsible for putting these huge warning labels on games, or should the games ship with them already affixed?
Can you imagine movies being forced to play by these rules? Oceans 11 makes crime look seductive and fun, so of course it should bear a huge warning label saying the movie might contain incest, and selling the film to a child would become a criminal act. Video stores should also give me a television and a room so I could watch the film before deciding whether or not I want to rent it, just to make sure there's none of that sado-masochism the film's label told me about.
There is very little chance of this bill making it into law, but a little more research and common sense at the beginning of the process would save everyone in government a good amount of time and money. On the flip side, this is always a great way to deflect attention from real problems; after all, Kolb is thinking about the children.
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"Concern about violent video games is based upon the assumption that they contribute to aggression and violence among young players," the bill claims. "The legislature finds that scientific evidence shows a cause-effect relationship between television violence and aggression among children who watch such violence and aggression. Based upon this research, similar findings are expected concerning video games."
While it's easy to get upset about a bill that cites controversial research about television as a reason to legislate a completely separate medium, the claims go even deeper. "It has also been established that even limited amounts of sexual violence can desensitize viewers," the bill reads. "In a study conducted in 1995, viewers of films containing sexual violence expressed significantly less sympathy for domestic violence victims, and rated their injuries less severe, than did a group not exposed to these films. It is most alarming to apply the results of this study to violent video games, which are played over and over again, while a film may be watched only once or twice."
There is also concern stated about the number of children who may become addicted to such games, and the repetition of violent acts seen on screen. How do you protect children from these terrible games? Warning labels that go above and beyond the industry-standard ESRB ratings, of course. It would be illegal to sell or rent a game that contains "depictions descriptive of, advocating, or glamorizing commission of a violent crime, suicide, sodomy, rape, incest, bestiality, sado-masochism, any form of sexual activity in a violent context... morbid violence or the illegal use of drugs or alcohol."
Any game that was found to contain any of these elements would have to carry a warning label saying the game could contain all of the above-quoted issues. So if, for instance, someone in the game would be seen to take a hit off a bong and enjoy it, the warning label would say that the game may include sodomy. This is certainly a shotgun approach to game ratings. And look at the text the law mandates the warning label to read:
"WARNING, SALE OR RENTAL TO ADULTS ONLY. MAY CONTAIN EXPLICIT DEPICTIONS DESCRIPTIVE OF OR ADVOCATING ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING:
* COMMISSION OF A VIOLENT CRIME
* SUICIDE
* SODOMY
* RAPE
* INCEST
* BESTIALITY
* VIOLENT RACISM
* RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE
* SADO-MASOCHISM
* SEXUAL ASSAULT
* SEXUAL ACTIVITY
* MURDER
* MORBID VIOLENCE
* ILLEGAL USE OF DRUGS OR ALCOHOL"
I'd love for my six-year-old to pick up my copy of Call of Duty 4 and then ask what sodomy is. Yes, this bill would really protect the children.
There is another odd part of this bill that would give retailers considerable headaches: if this passed into law and you sold games that contained the parental warning, you would have to make the game available, along with a system and a television, to play and test. Since children can't watch the game being played, this would also apparently have to happen in a private room away from your retail floor. That's only slightly unreasonable.
The problems with this bill are immediately apparent and almost silly. Who decides what kinds of scenes make crimes look glamorous? Will New York have its own ratings board, trying to determine whether a sex scene is violent or a crime looks seductive? Have we seen any games filled with bestiality and incest? Will retailers be responsible for putting these huge warning labels on games, or should the games ship with them already affixed?
Can you imagine movies being forced to play by these rules? Oceans 11 makes crime look seductive and fun, so of course it should bear a huge warning label saying the movie might contain incest, and selling the film to a child would become a criminal act. Video stores should also give me a television and a room so I could watch the film before deciding whether or not I want to rent it, just to make sure there's none of that sado-masochism the film's label told me about.
There is very little chance of this bill making it into law, but a little more research and common sense at the beginning of the process would save everyone in government a good amount of time and money. On the flip side, this is always a great way to deflect attention from real problems; after all, Kolb is thinking about the children.
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