Digital Cream

Australia does not have a category for videogames on a par with the USA’s “M” rating, for games which are for those 17/18 years or older. This means such games are barely shaved down to squeeze into the M15 rating, advised for 15 years of age, similar to the USA’s “T” rating. Or the games are kept out altogether, though this is more rare. There is a revived debate about whether to allow games to be classified as R18. In doing so, they would match the ratings for movies, which have the same distinction between M15 and R18. (continued »)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District has ruled that a California Law that would require stiffer penalties for minors purchasing violent video games and more stringent labeling requirements is unconstitutional.

“We hold that the Act violates rights protected by the First Amendment.” – The Honorable Judge Callahan.

Once again another court joins to rule that games are a form of protected speech. Read more about it here at the Video Game Voters Network.

Though this only affects Australia, I still want to highlight the issue as a global one and urge people to take action. I wrote about this in a previous post and unfortunately, nearly three years later, this beast lurches on. In a nutshell, the current coalition (led by the Labor party, the main left party here in Oz) wants to impose two layers of ISP-level net filtering. I fully oppose one and partially oppose the other. They are discussed well at the EFA and the blog Somebody Think Of The Children; I will summarize here. (continued »)

Results Show Need for Continued Improvement by Movie, Music, and Some Game Retailers

I read this report by the FTC with interest. It supports my general argument that it should be up to parents to enforce age ratings and pressure retailers to do the same, voting with their dollars as they do so. I expect many retailers will continue to improve. Those that don’t will be all the easier for parents to keep their kids from frequenting. (continued »)

Gday me heartys! So it be that on Talk Like A Pirate Day a story swings upon me decks. Though ‘t be a sore burden t’speak o’ video game laws in this gamesome tone, the laws o’ the sea be the laws o’ the sea, and speak like a landlubber may I not.

Grab yer tankard and roll a barrel to the foredeck as I give ye the news from Oklahoma, far over the rollin’ waves in the New World. It just so happens that a right wise wig-wearin’ man o’ the law there, deemed he a stop t’a law forbiddin’ young scalawags from buyin’ certain video games. (continued »)

Video games, like movies and books, are a nascent but promising form of artistic speech and as such must remain outside the power of any state to outlaw them by a different standard. This kind of law has been defeated on unconstitutional grounds in many states. Pursuing this kind of law wastes taxpayer money and defuses the impetus to take real, effective action against the serious problems of youth violence and antisocial behavior, both at home and in society at large.

Californians, please consider visiting this site opposing this video game law and pass it to other Californians. It helps you urge the governor to give up on his efforts to pass a law making it illegal for minors to purchase certain categories of games.

I posted to an IGDA discussion group something about video game addiction, its relationship to drug addiction and the use of the term “addictive” in the game industry. In the course of this I rabbited on a bit about drug law and treatment. I think it’s worth sharing, as the discussion led me to more nuanced opinions and a lot of new things to think about. (continued »)

See this article at PCWorld about how the game “Manhunt” was given an AO (Adults Only) rating by the ESRB.

As a game developer and parent, I’m prepared to support the AO rating given to Manhunt 2 by the ESRB. (My support is contingent on my better understanding of the game’s content and the definition of AO.)

I don’t accept the argument that because certain retail stores don’t carry AO games, and no console maker at this point allows the publication of AO games, the game should not get AO “because that makes it effectively censored”. This is what the free market is all about, and allows the USA to have a better way of dealing with this game than UK and Australia and others. (continued »)

Interestingly, my research has revealed that “M15+” games, which IMO closely map to M games in the ESRB system (that is, not suitable for those under 15), can in fact be sold here in Australia to those over 15 or those who are in the company of their parent or guardian (in Queensland, only has to be an adult). So my earlier assertion was wrong.

I wonder if this was a recent (and quiet) change. I’m not very fond of the requirement that an under-15 needs to be accompanied– so I cannot give my son money to go buy a M15+ game at the mall; I have to be there with him as he buys it, the requirement of which I feel abrogates my role as a parent– but that’s not high on my list of injustices to rectify. At least I was able to get Crackdown for my Oz 360, and it is a M15+ game. I think this used to be different; in 2001 GTA3 was not sold here because it was deemed to hot for MA15+ but now the GTAs are sold as MA15+. I’m not sure if they got toned down by Rockstar or the rating definitions flexed a bit.

I support the industry’s voluntary ratings system, which in the USA is run by the ESRB, an independent ratings board. Game makers must pay the ESRB to rate their games. It’s pretty similar to the movie rating system in the USA.

A report by the FCC, not one to look the other way as naughty (and, sometimes, wobbly) things are being shown to impressionable youth, finds that the rating system is working very well. This proves that there is no basis for legislation which enforces such ratings and age restrictions. Such legislation has already wasted millions of taxpayer dollars as grandstanding politicians make showy bills which fail court challenges on First Amendment grounds, and act as a placebo for the illness of antisocial behavior and violence in society.

Sites which cover this general issue are:

• http://www.igda.org/censorship/
• http://www.videogamevoters.org/action/

At the latter site you can take action to inform your representatives and affect the legislative process.