The New York Times published this wonderful write up on the Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association case back in November. The results will be published in June 2011.
The hearing is about restricting the sale of "violent video games" to minors. If passed, a law will be created that heavily fines any business selling newly illegal games to those under the age of 18, essentially treating games deemed "violent" the same as pornography. The representative for the EMA says this is a violation of free speech as detailed in the First Amendment, and the other side touts a 1968 precedent that states, "extremely violent material can be obscene as to minors even without a sexual element."
I find it highly ironic that Arnold "The Freaking TERMINATOR" Schwarzenegger is leading this charge against violence. And it's not just his movies that are violent, there are many licensed gamesstarring the Governator that depict gratuitous violence. That's like if Ron Jeremy, (in)famous porn star and third Mario brother, started an abstinence campaign.
Here's a description of the first Terminator game, stolen from Wikipedia:
You take on the role of Kyle Reese and protect Sarah Connor from the cyborg sent back in time to kill her, or become the Terminator and eliminate Kyle and Sarah. Either way, the player chases his opponent through Los Angeles buying or stealing weapons and equipment while attempting to eliminate his enemy and avoid the police.
"Or you become the Terminator to chase and slaughter innocent civilians". I wonder if the EMA representative brought this up in the hearing.
Anyway, if the law is passed it is bad news for the games industry, which means it is bad news for me since I am a part of the games industry. This is not to say I don't partially agree with the idea behind the law. I do not want young kids being exposed to the horrible scenes of violence and depravity that are found in some games. I just argue that video games be treated with the same respect that movies and music are. Does Cinemark get fined an arm and a leg for allowing a 13 year old to go see Saw IV? No. Should it? I don't think so. As is always the case, the parents are to blame for their screwed up children. Either through neglect or good ol' fashioned abuse, parents are fully capable of turning their children into serial killers without the help ofGrand Theft Auto.
The shining gem of the assault is a game called Postal and Postal 2, which is about a man who has free reign over the town of Paradise, AZ. There is never a goal in the game to kill anyone, the game just really really really wants you to do so. I would like to make this one glaring point about the Postal series:
The Postal series can only be played if you are 18 or own a credit card. It has an "AO" adult rating, and is NOT sold in ANY brick and mortar retail store...except maybe like a sex shop, which minors cannot enter anyway.
It can be purchased online, but that would require the use of plastic. I do not know many 13 year olds with their own credit cards. So basically if you cannot buy porn, you cannot buy Postal. GTA is pretty depraved if you want it to be, but it is not required nor encouraged. And yes, God of War has cartoony boobies in it, but most of them are attached to monstrosities like Medusa or harpies.
To summarize, treat games the same way as other media, parents be more proactive in what your kids have access to, and I have never met anyone who has played Postal.
