Must be a full moon or something, because I find myself in full agreement with Jesse on this issue:
Legislation is pending in Georgia. And in his State of the State speech yesterday, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) proposed making it illegal for anyone younger than 18 to buy violent or sexually explicit games.
“For the same reason we don’t allow kids to buy pornography, for the same reason we don’t allow kids to buy cigarettes, for the same reason we don’t allow kids to buy alcohol, we shouldn’t allow them to go to stores and buy video games,” Blagojevich said.
Jesse states:
Any video games? It’s not like there are alcoholic beverages which are okay for children to drink, or cigarettes it’s okay to smoke, but there are video games that are, in terms of content, perfectly okay for children. Can I get charged with distributing Mario to a minor? There are movies which are totally inappropriate for children, but that doesn’t mean we prohibit children from watching Bambi.
The problem with prohibition is that it’s almost always enacted by people who don’t understand what it is they’re prohibiting. Instead of making sure that that controversial classes of items stay out of the hands of the people they’re supposed to stay out of, it creates massive incentives and cachet around getting the prohibited items. In this case, it’s even dumber, because there’s such a large used market for games that it’s virtually impossible to regulate them out of the hands of people who want them.
Jerks. Hands of my Playstation. I better go buy Mercenaries and GTA while I still can.
Jaybird
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not proposing making Mario illegal to buy for kids under 18.
He’s making GTA:San Andreas illegal to buy for kids under 18.
John Cole
[sarcasm] Oh. Well that makes it so much better! [/sarcasm]
Ricky
The libertarian in me is for people being allowed to do as they please, but “minors” means something, and some yahoo misspeaking and saying “video games” when the context is clearly “sexually/graphically explicit video gmaes” is quite a bit different than someone trying to take away Donkey Kong.
Hell, I’m more outraged that I can’t buy beer on Sundays.
M. Scott Eiland
It’s virtually impossible to keep alcohol and cigarettes out of the hands of minors if they’re really determined to get them–is that an argument for doing away with the minimum ages for drinking and smoking?
Mind you, IMO most video games don’t merit being limited in this way–but some might, if they involve graphic sex or violence that would get a movie rated “R.” If a parent wants their kid to have a game like that, they can take the time to go to the store and buy it for them.
Derek
John,
I couldn’t disagree with you more. Your argument is that we’re attempting to ban kids from Zelda. The videogame industry has dealt with the issue in the form of the ESRB. The legislation ban would prohibit kids UNDER 18 from buying games like ‘GTA’,’Postal’, and ‘Playboy The Mansion.’
The gaming industry has changed a lot John, were not talking about 8 bit processors running ‘Duck Hunt’ here. The new generation consoles are currently running full motion video, and blurring the lines between polygon models and live footage.
There’s a good reason to restrict certain videogames, and I think the real people who ‘don’t understand what they’re prohibiting‘ are the ones who don’t know the market.
toolamecrew
I hope they ban the evening news next. Too much violence on that show; it depresses me every time.
derek
okay…
wild bird
Leave it too a member of the dumb donkey party to want laws like this dont you think its time for people to make their own decisions? instead of a bunch of irresponsible political hacks?
derek
wild bird and company:
You guys need to research the videogame industry before making comments like this. If you think GTA should be played by 14 year olds, then you have serious issues.
dont you think its time for people to make their own decisions
Sure. When your 18 you can make the decision to buy it. Otherwise suck it up. This isn’t censorship here, it’s common sense.
Toren
I must confess when I saw my 12 year old nephew playing GTA:SA I was a bit disturbed. He’s a good kid and I’m not really worried but it just didn’t seem right.
However, it’s up to his parents, I suppose.