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[Ark-AMN]

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/gta4/news_6140535.html

This afternoon, Clinton's office announced she has written a bill that would institute federal regulation of games sales. Co-authored by longtime game critic Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), the Family Entertainment Protection Act will be jointly submitted by the two legislators when Congress reconvenes in two weeks.

If made law, the Family Entertainment Protection Act would be a "a prohibition against any business for selling or renting a Mature, Adults-Only, or Ratings Pending game to a person who is younger than seventeen." It would punish violators with unspecified fines, though it did not specify if the clerk who sold the game or the retailer where said clerk worked would be punished. "This provision is not aimed at punishing retailers who act in good faith to enforce the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) system," read a statement from Clinton's office.

While the retail part of the bill is similar to laws recently passed in Michigan, Illinois, and California, the Family Entertainment Protection Act goes much farther. It would authorize "the FTC to conduct an annual, random audit of retailers to determine how easy it is for young people to purchase Mature and Adults Only video games and report the findings to Congress." These findings would be part of a larger annual analysis of ESRB game ratings. "This analysis will help ensure that the ESRB ratings system accurately reflects the content in each game and that the ratings system does not change significantly over time," read Clinton's statement.

The bill would also allow private citizens to file complaints with the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection (BCP) "if they find content to be misleading or deceptive." The BCP would issue an annual report on said complaints to Congress as part of the aforementioned annual review.

As justification for the act, Clinton's office claims that "video game content is getting more and more violent and sexually explicit." It cites the recent 10th Annual MediaWise Video and Computer Game Report Card, issued by the National Institute on Media and the Family, which gave the industry a "D+" and said the ESRB was "beyond repair." Also, the study's secret shopper program found that 42 percent of the time boys under 17 were able to buy M-rated games from retailers, with underage girls succeeding 46 percent of the time.

"A majority of parents are feeling increasingly victimized by a culture of violence that makes it difficult to protect their children against influences they find to be inappropriate," read Clinton's statement. "This bill would help empower parents by putting them back in the driver's seat. It would ensure that children can't buy games the video game industry itself has determined to be inappropriate for them."

Despite the strong language, Clinton underlined the fact the Family Entertainment Protection Act would not directly censor games. "Senator Clinton acknowledges that video games are fun and entertaining and does not support any limitations on the production or sale of games to adults," read the statement. "This is about protecting children," she said.

That said, one aspect of the act will undoubtedly send shivers through the industry. Not only will Section III of the bill give the FTC the authority to investigate misleading ratings, it will actually require the body "to conduct an investigation to determine whether what happened with GTA: San Andreas is a pervasive problem."

An even more ominous-sounding aspect of Section III is how it will empower the FTC to "take appropriate action if [Congress] determines that there is a pervasive problem" with the ESRB's rating system. This means a new, federal game ratings which could replace the current system if sufficient fault was found by the FTC.

 

[jamesinclair]

Im a democrat, but socialist crap like this pisses me off.

 

[sirris]

The Clintons and Leibermans must be destroyed.

 

[blindrocket]

Haha, funny google ad at the bottom. EDIT: It was asking if Hillary should run in 2008.

Anyway, this doesn't sound like it will hinder my game buying. But it's stuff like getting Indigo Prophecy censored that pisses me off.

 

[SolidSnakex]

What will the parent be fined with when they buy their kids a game called Grand Theft Auto?

 

[Musashi Wins!]

She's an opportunistic scumbag, and this is the classic manuever for politicians who aren't interested in truly effecting our lives for the better but but....

If games were truly of more merit and offered true diversity and interesting content...they wouldn't be able to pull these stunts. Instead it remains a little boys club with adult content labels and toymakers trying to get adults interested in kids themes. And as long as that's the case the industry won't be allowed any freedom because 99% of the population won't take games seriously and developers will either buckle under or make vanilla games that offend no one.

 

[Red Blaster]

"to conduct an investigation to determine whether what happened with GTA: San Andreas is a pervasive problem."

Metal Gear Solid am doomed.

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

:lol :lol :lol

Oh well, its not like she's going to get elected for President in 2008 anyway.

 

[SolidSnakex]

No

 

[GDJustin]

I don't have much problem with this. Stop allowing underage kids to buy M-rated games. If their parents feel they're old/responsible enough, have them pick it up for their kid.

 

[PhoenixDark]

I'm going to post my article on video game violence and censorship here, if GAF permits. I want as many people as possible to know the freaking truth. If I could get it on IGN I'd be very happy. This issue is important, and needs to be addressed in a serious manner.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

eh keep mature games outta little billy and janes hands so I can sex up prostitutes and kill old women in peace.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

She should run... off a cliff.

 

[PC Gaijin]

Damn those right-wing Republicans! Oh wait.

 

[xexex]

that cunt pisses me off. :lol

 

[xexex]

She should run... off a cliff.

agreed!

 

[Snaku]

 

[AndoCalrissian]

If she runs for president, she may have just lost my vote.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

Only problem I can see is the esrb being a little more strict on their ratings (which seems to be pretty lenient nowadays), and in turn devs nixing certain things for awhile till it cools down and/or matures to a point where under 17 demographic isn't needed.


If only so they dont get fined and/or racked over the coals on a "gta sa fiasco" type situation again.




im 24 no big deal for me *goes off to smoke, drink, whack to porn, play gta.. legally*

 

[Tiktaalik]

It cites the recent 10th Annual MediaWise Video and Computer Game Report Card, issued by the National Institute on Media and the Family, which gave the industry a "D+" and said the ESRB was "beyond repair." Also, the study's secret shopper program found that 42 percent of the time boys under 17 were able to buy M-rated games from retailers, with underage girls succeeding 46 percent of the time.

All the games that I can think of that should be rated Mature are rated Mature. If underage kids are buying these games then it's the retailers fault or the parents fault. I don't see how the ESRB is "beyond repair" if the games that are violent are rated so.

 

[FlyinJ]

The problem everyone is overlooking here is this:

Once a retailer can be *fined* for selling M rated games to minors, no one is going to take the risk of carrying them. Much like almost all major chains not carrying porn. It's a liability and is also looked on as morally reprehensible. Even now, Walmart stocks very few M rated games (Walmart has an absurdly large stake of the videogame retail market. Something like 75%).

M rated games become basically pornography.

Once retailers won't take the risk of carrying the product, the ability for publishers to get the product out to consumers becomes extremely hard.

Which then leads to no publisher investing $15 million to create an M rated game that no store will carry.

Which then leads to completely vanilla content games across the board.

 

[blackadde]

But it's stuff like getting Indigo Prophecy censored that pisses me off.

??

 

[Lardbutt]

Which then leads to completely vanilla content games across the board.

"Vanilla" as in how games were pre-2001 before the market was flooded with GTA-wanna be's? I don't see what's so bad about that.

 

[h1nch]

the support of censorship in entertainment and the media is the single most ridiculous aspect of this country's government (and people really since I'm sure there are millions of bible freaks who are probably in support of crap like this)

 

[Zilch]

Which then leads to completely vanilla content games across the board.

Oh shit! What would you do without your ultraviolence and crude sexual content?!



Devil's advocate, kinda.

 

[SolidSnakex]

"Vanilla" as in how games were pre-2001 before the market was flooded with GTA-wanna be's? I don't see what's so bad about that.

Whether you like GTA or its clones it pushed gaming a little more so developers aren't as fearful of going with more extreme content in games, similar to what MK did. Games don't need to take a step back in terms of pushing content because of some shitty censorship starts coming up.

 

[papercut]

I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't want my kids buying M-rated stuff when they're like 12. You can call it socialist or whatever else you want.

 

[Zilch]

Well I definitely don't want games to be censored or toned down, but I also definitely don't want young kids playing games with mature content. What's the best solution?

 

[FlyinJ]

I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't want my kids buying M-rated stuff when they're like 12. You can call it socialist or whatever else you want.

Good plan. Then, don't let them.

That's what "being a parent" is.

 

[Dupy]

"a prohibition against any business for selling or renting a Mature, Adults-Only, or Ratings Pending game to a person who is younger than seventeen."

Who's the dipship buying empty promo boxes?

 

[Cold-Steel]

This is good news.

Any steps taken to keep adult content out of the hands of minors will only mean good things for this industry.

People won't be able to blame GTA for everything when there will be a federal rating system in place.

The ESRB is beyond repair. That I can agree with.

 

[snatches]

Wait, how old are you guys? :lol

Who cares if they tighten up legislation? Kids under 17 shouldn't be able to buy M of AO rated games, and if stores weren't out there ignoring the ratings this wouldn't be necessary.

This is just a way to enforce what should already be happening 100% of the time.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Well I definitely don't want games to be censored or toned down, but I also definitely don't want young kids playing games with mature content. What's the best solution?

I don't have a problem with putting some kind of rule in place that makes it harder for retailers to sell to underage kids. But what I don't like is people like Hilary and Lieberman never want to point the finger at parents. Yes part of the problem is retailers, but another part that keeps getting ignored by them is the parents not being parents.

They don't want to go after those parents because they know how fast this little political jog will get slapped down.

 

[Link1110]

I see nothing wrong with 9 year olds not being allowed to play GTA (Yeah, yeah, besides R* and ESA's bottom line.) It would be beneficial, too for the industry. Next time some tragedy happens, we can push the blame squarely on the parents "Well, you had to be the one to buy the game, little Billy couldn't have bought it himself." Too bad the gaming industry lacks such foresight.

 

[Lardbutt]

Once a retailer can be *fined* for selling M rated games to minors, no one is going to take the risk of carrying them. Much like almost all major chains not carrying porn. It's a liability and is also looked on as morally reprehensible. Even now, Walmart stocks very few M rated games (Walmart has an absurdly large stake of the videogame retail market. Something like 75%).

M rated games become basically pornography.

Isn't a M rating somewhat equivalent to an R rating in movies? That's not up to pornography levels. But kids watch R movies all the time, so I don't see what the big deal is.

 

[Father_Brain]

Any attempt by the government to legally define what is and isn't appropriate for minors to see/hear/play is censorship.

 

[FlyinJ]

"Vanilla" as in how games were pre-2001 before the market was flooded with GTA-wanna be's? I don't see what's so bad about that.

Give me a break.

How long have you been playing videogames?

Wasteland, Fallout, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Baldur's Gate, Realms of the Haunting, Alone in the Dark, Ultima 7, Ultima 8, Crusader: No Remorse, Ultima Underworld, System Shock... I could go on for hours.

All of these games would fall under the "M" rated banner nowadays.

 

[FlyinJ]

Isn't a M rating somewhat equivalent to an R rating in movies? That's not up to pornography levels. But kids watch R movies all the time, so I don't see what the big deal is.

Did you read the content of the bill?

People can't be fined for letting minors into R rated movies.

Lieberman and Clinton want to be able to fine anyone who sells M rated games to minors, effectivlely putting it on the same level as pornography.

If you're pointing out the hypocrisy of this decision, then I see your point.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Well I definitely don't want games to be censored or toned down, but I also definitely don't want young kids playing games with mature content. What's the best solution?

Kill the younglings.

 

[Gahiggidy]

What percentage of profits from sale of M rated games comes from people under 18?

 

[Diffense]

Well people want games to become movies.

 

[Mr Mike]

Any attempt by the government to legally define what is and isn't appropriate for minors to see/hear/play is censorship.

Good thing that's not what they are proposing, then.

 

[h1nch]

Good plan. Then, don't let them.

That's what "being a parent" is.

QFT

Its your job as a parent to control what your kids play/watch, not the government's.

 

[Gahiggidy]

QFT

Its your job as a parent to control what your kids play/watch, not the government's.

What if you don't have custody?

 

[MetatronM]

Wait, how old are you guys? :lol

Who cares if they tighten up legislation? Kids under 17 shouldn't be able to buy M of AO rated games, and if stores weren't out there ignoring the ratings this wouldn't be necessary.

This is just a way to enforce what should already be happening 100% of the time.

Did you even read the whole article? There's some serious Big Brother industry watchdog bullshit built in.

And I more than agree that kids shouldn't be buying this crap, but government regulation of the industry is really REALLY bad no matter how you look at it.

 

[qirex]

What if you don't have custody?

THen a court of law has already decided that you're an unfit parent.

 

[Gahiggidy]

THen a court of law has already decided that you're an unfit parent.

What if you are divorced?

 

[Mr Mike]

Here in the UK, we've got the BBFC for some ratings, and they are legally enforced. In fact, more publishers are putting out games with these ratings (rather than voluntary ESRB-like PEGI ones) than ever before. Clearly, they don't mind this, otherwise the games would be toned down. I reckon that they in fact love it - a legally enforced guideline means that the right people (in theory) play the right game, and can stop problems such as criticisms from the press that illicit material is being peddaled to kids.

I find the claims that this is about censorship to be a joke. No one's telling people to stop making games filled with gore and violence and whores you can screw in a car and then beat with a baseball bat - they're just asking the retailers to stop selling these games to the people they aren't intended for.

 

[acklame]

i won't vote if she becomes the democratic candidate.

 

[svenuce]

For those who don't understand why this is bad for you and me as consumers of mature games have a look at this piece at Next Gen.

This piece was published back in July but linked in their coverage of these issues today.