Fri 18 Feb 2005
A lot of my previous posts centered on the topic of game violence, censorship attempts, etc. Despite being one of the areas I work on quite a bit, I’ve been trying to limit the number of violence posts as Reality Panic is not meant to be just about violence. That said, I just can’t hold back from blasting Leland Yee.
Yee is re-introducing legislation in California to classify games as harmful substances to minors in an attempt to more strictly regulate them. More details at Reuters. Same old story.
What’s really frustrating are his totally nonsensical statements, in particular those in regards to smoking. From a GameDaily interview:
BIZ: There’s been no proven evidence, though, to suggest a direct link between violence in media (whether movies or games) and violent behavior in children or adults, correct?
LY: I think you’re absolutely right about that, but just as we don’t have a direct link between smoking and cancer, there’s a substantial body of knowledge and sufficient correlational data that suggests that and therefore as a public health matter, we should err on the side of caution. That’s the reason why we behave as if there is a direct cause/effect relationship and the same goes with these violent video games; there is an inordinate amount of data that indicates a correlational relationship between playing violent video games and actual violence. Therefore, we err on the side of caution because we believe that there’s this causal relationship.
Huh? WTF! This guy is nuts. I just can’t put into words the insanity of this statement.
Further, a snippet from Gamasutra quotes him as saying:
“When you push a computer button, you are pulling the trigger. Children are developing the skills to stalk, maim and shoot people.”
I think Jack “Games-Make-You-Murder” Thompson just found his new best friend…
Sigh :(
February 22nd, 2005 at 7:32 pm
How is this even constitutional?
Forget about the censorship issue for a moment. I love the First Amendment as much as anyone, but apparently that sort of liberal-mindedness won’t go over with Yee’s buddies at the Girl Scouts and the California PTA.
No, the constitutionality problem is simply that the ESRB is a private regulatory agency. To grant legal enforcability to their ratings would be to give them de facto legislative power. And that runs contrary to the provisions of U.S. Constitution that establish the government as the sole source of legal authority.
Consider also: what would happen if Yee’s bill passes, and then the ESRB simply refuses to rate further games? Or what if the ESRB were to disband altogether?
The government should not be leaning on a private entity that is outside of its control, and it simply *cannot* cede legal authority to such an entity. Case closed, Assemlyman Yee; game over.
March 4th, 2005 at 1:33 am
“When you push a computer button, you are pulling the trigger. Children are developing the skills to stalk, maim and shoot people.” … on a computer.
It’s often amazing how such individuals can associate a generic phrase to something totaly unrelated. Those who advocate that games begate violence (to certain extents) often refuse to agree that even if a link between violence and games could be proven, isn’t it better to push a button than pull a trigger?
More typical censorship from stale suits who have have nothing better to do. It’s usually never a big deal until someone makes it a big deal and it usually takes a big ass to do that.
Just my two cents. Cheers.