The New York Senate just passed a new bill that will make retailers guilty of a class E felony, punishable by jail and fines if they sell an underage person a video game rated M or AO.
It’s assumed that Elliot Spitzer will sign (rubberstamp) this bill into law shortly. Well, that’s at least how it’s being reported in all of the news…I went straight to the bill in the New York Senate’s website to have a look at it myself. Read this part:
Bill A08696 also contains additional regulation. New consoles that are sold in the state of New York must include parental control features. That’s no problem for the current generation of machines, but what about the original Xbox, Playstation 2, and Nintendo Gamecube? Apparently they’ll have to be removed from the shelves to be in compliance with the law. The bill does note that personal computers and handheld devices are exempt from this section because video games or only violent on consoles. /sarcasm
The last section of the law is to form an “Advisory Council on interactive media and youth violence”. We Americans love councils putting our tax dollars to work! This council would review ratings, make recommendations to the ESRB, and educate parents on video games. All of the 15 members would be appointed by the government. Fourteen are to be experts in youth violence and 1 member will represent the video game industry. At least they kept that fair and balanced...
If signed into law, the first two sections will become effective 120 days after signing and the council would be effective in 2009. How many New Yorkers here have contacted their representatives lately? If you would like to know more about what is going on in your state, please check out one of the websites dedicated to video game legislation. My two favorites are: www.gamepolitics.com and www.theeca.com
The fact of the matter is, today’s video game youth is the least violent of any generation. You can find those statistics in the US Governments Census Bureau data. Yet, the politicians that WE are electing are ignoring the data and manufacturing lies for political gain. How long are gamers going to sit on the couch and allow this?
“A person is guilty of disseminating violent and indecent video games to minors when, with knowledge of its character and content, he or she sells or loans to a minor for monetary consideration any video game which includes depraved violence and indecent images that are accessible to a user.”This section makes no mention of the “person” being a retailer. If mom buys Timmy Grand Theft Auto and he sells it to Tommy after he gets his achievement points, Timmy is a class E felon! Class E felons in the state of New York are subject to 1-4 years in jail and the fines for this bill ranges from $500 to $50,000 per incident. I wonder what would make a minor more violent. Sitting in a real, live jail for 2 years, or killing a pixilated prostitute? Apparently, the New York legislative branch knows the answer to this.
Bill A08696 also contains additional regulation. New consoles that are sold in the state of New York must include parental control features. That’s no problem for the current generation of machines, but what about the original Xbox, Playstation 2, and Nintendo Gamecube? Apparently they’ll have to be removed from the shelves to be in compliance with the law. The bill does note that personal computers and handheld devices are exempt from this section because video games or only violent on consoles. /sarcasm
The last section of the law is to form an “Advisory Council on interactive media and youth violence”. We Americans love councils putting our tax dollars to work! This council would review ratings, make recommendations to the ESRB, and educate parents on video games. All of the 15 members would be appointed by the government. Fourteen are to be experts in youth violence and 1 member will represent the video game industry. At least they kept that fair and balanced...
If signed into law, the first two sections will become effective 120 days after signing and the council would be effective in 2009. How many New Yorkers here have contacted their representatives lately? If you would like to know more about what is going on in your state, please check out one of the websites dedicated to video game legislation. My two favorites are: www.gamepolitics.com and www.theeca.com
The fact of the matter is, today’s video game youth is the least violent of any generation. You can find those statistics in the US Governments Census Bureau data. Yet, the politicians that WE are electing are ignoring the data and manufacturing lies for political gain. How long are gamers going to sit on the couch and allow this?
