72 Percent of Adults Support California Game Law - UPDATED

[Red_Fog]

I'm not sure about how the laws work in the US, but in this country there's already a rating system in use (specifically, the PEGI system) that prevents the sale of adults only games to minors (so, anyone under 18). Lower age restrictions on games (being 3, 7, 12 and 16) are just recommendations.
Or there is that national rating system thing, which basically has about the same age categories but makes it illegal to sell to anyone under the indicated category, no matter if it's 16 or 7, but I've seen that on about three games. I think it costs something to get the national review, whereas PEGI reviews everything anyhow and is considered valid.

When I was a minor, the clerk prevented me from buying an adults only game maybe twice. Most of the time, they didn't even give a shit, even though it was illegal for them to sell me any of that.

In the states, the game industry has a self imposed rating system called the ESRB. The ratings are:
EC- Early Childhood
E- Everyone
E10- Everyone aged 10 and up
T- Teen (13+)
M- Mature (17+)
A- Adult (18+) *No retail stores even carry these titles and so hardly any A rated games exist and those that do are essentially video game porn.*

The rating system isn't government regulated at all, it's something the game industry has done for the convenience of parents trying to decide is a game is appropriate for their children, and most retailers have policies against selling "M" games to unaccompanied minors.

That's why this law is so stupid. There's already more than enough "protection" put in place, parents just freakin ignore it. It would take them like 5 minutes of online research to find out everything they'd need to know about the rating system, but they don't. People are stupid...

 

[Twilight_guy]

I feel the ESRB is doing plenty. It puts the warning and explanation on the boxes and rates games in detail as well. If parents looked over games before buying them (as they should just like how they review what movies to see at the theaters) then its easy enough to say yeah or Neh right away and easy to control. Retailers are already not supposed to sell games that are rated M to people who can't prove they are 17 or over right now so the worst gets weeded out to. I can understand that parents might be worried about the effects of games and that they would support laws prohibiting games selling to people under the appropriate age though. If anything this proves that gamers and game companies have a lot of work to do to educate the public and change public perception.

 

[Lucifron]

THIS JUST IN:

Most people are idiots.

 

[OldRat]

In the states, the game industry has a self imposed rating system called the ESRB. The ratings are:
EC- Early Childhood
E- Everyone
E10- Everyone aged 10 and up
T- Teen (13+)
M- Mature (17+)
A- Adult (18+) *No retail stores even carry these titles and so hardly any A rated games exist and those that do are essentially video game porn.*

The rating system isn't government regulated at all, it's something the game industry has done for the convenience of parents trying to decide is a game is appropriate for their children, and most retailers have policies against selling "M" games to unaccompanied minors.

That's why this law is so stupid. There's already more than enough "protection" put in place, parents just freakin ignore it. It would take them like 5 minutes of online research to find out everything they'd need to know about the rating system, but they don't. People are stupid...

I see. Yeah, it sounds more or less stupid, excessive and pointless.
Oh, and I should clarify that those adult only games I mentioned are not referring to the said video game porn. From what I gather, it's more or less the same as mature is there (So, mainly huge amounts of gore and graphic violence and stuff like that). Well, I guess the said porn would be rated 18+ here, too, but I've never actually seen any.

 

[jonnosferatu]

This poll clearly shows once again, parents giving more control to the government, because they refuse to be parents. Grow up, it's not the government, or societies job to make sure your kids acquiesce to your rules. That's your job.

Pretty much this.

Also shows that they're ignorant of the reasonably large body of data from people with actual psychiatric qualifications who have stated time and again that kids can tell the difference between fantasy and reality, and that violent video games will if anything have a positive effect on the number of youth-related violent crimes.

 

[madhatterwriter]

The dangers of this law is far more reaching than the blatant violation of the first amendment. States could draft laws where it would be illegal to give "violent" video games to minors. Imagine a parent going to jail for providing violent video games to their children. It is not farfetched if the government insist that video games should be treated in vein as alcohol and cigarette. And for people who don't care because the law doesn't pertain to them, I point to the Comics Code Authority in America which pretty much killed comics of the 1950s with the same premises that are being used today against video games.

 

[Zing]

God this just pisses me off. PARENTS are responsible for protecting their children from video games. Not the government. Lazy fucking tools.

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

wait why is portal 2 here isnt it non viloent? im mean, its a bloody puzzle game. whenvi was on holidyas in california kast year i bought a few 14 plus games and one game was 16's i was not allowoed to buy them because the clerk said 12 year olds arnt allowed those game. i eventually proved i was 14 after starting a huge line, i walked home happily with my games

 

[Zing]

wait why is portal 2 here isnt it non viloent? im mean, its a bloody puzzle game. whenvi was on holidyas in california kast year i bought a few 14 plus games and one game was 16's i was not allowoed to buy them because the clerk said 12 year olds arnt allowed those game. i eventually proved i was 14 after starting a huge line, i walked home happily with my games

Probably should read that again...it's Postal 2.

 

[YouBecame]

3. How would you rate the videogame industry when it comes to protecting kids from accessing violent videogames? (Excellent/Good: Adults 12 percent, parents 13 percent; Fair/poor: Adults 76 percent, parents 75 percent)

Notice how "fair",as in they do an OK job, gets lumped in with "poor".
Thats certainly not common sense!

 

[RatRace123]

The update just makes it even worse, it gives stupidity and bad parenting a numbered rating now.

 

[Vozati]

A good question for this poll would have been something along the line of "Are you aware of ERSB rating system?"

 

[b3nn3tt]

Just yesterday, while working in a game store, I told a mother buying her 12 year old son a copy of GTA:Vice City Stories that the game was age rated 17+ and her response was:

"Oh, he doesn't turn the violence on, he just plays it for the racing."

This, for me, is exactly where the problem lies. Parents don't want their children playing 'violent games' where the story is 'murdering prostitutes' and yet they are the ones that have to go out and buy them for their kids. Right there on the box, at least in the UK, is a great big 18 certificate. I don't see how much more the games industry can do than that

While the ratings may not be actually regulated by law, they are there and I am yet to witness or hear of them not being upheld. You don't see kids going in to buy 18 certificate games, because they wouldn't be allowed to buy them. It is the parents, who are obviously so 'concerned' for their children that they don't even look into what it is they are buying for them

To reiterate, if you don't want your kids playing these games, don't buy them the games

 

[BlindChance]

OK. Guys?

The fact that 2100 people out of a state many times larger than that does not disqualify the study.
Had they, in fact, hand picked those 2100 people (They didn't), it would not disqualify the study. (They may have done that, for example, to try and capture the state's demographic makeup.)

That said, the fact that it was an Internet poll, from a firm whose internet polls have long been regarded as suspect, does disqualify the poll.

...interactive (Internet) polls conducted by the firm Zogby [are disqualified], which are associated with by far the worst pollster rating, and which probably should not be considered scientific polls, as their sample consists of volunteers who sign up to take their polls, rather than a randomly-derived sample. (Traditional telephone polls conducted by Zogby are included in the averages, as are Internet polls from firms other than Zogby.)

 

[Ledan]

As far as I'm concerned, I have never experienced or heard of anyone getting carded (until I read this forum) for a game. I have heard LOADS of times where parents ban their kids from buying specific games. Sometimes unfairly, but more often it was reasonable. Then again, I'm Swedish and have lived around the world, so maybe this is all just another crazy American thing.... like circumcision (just saw a Bullshit episode on it....)

I still think that it is the parents responsibility to teach their kids what games are acceptable at what age. I played 18+ games when I was like 12, but that was mostly because my siblings had the games, and my parents thought it would be unfair for me to watch and not play. Besides, most 18+ games are not that bad. Gore becomes usual after a while.

 

[Korolev]

It doesn't mean it will get passed. The supreme court will decide, as they are the final say on legal matters. The general population of any country are not trained legal professionals and don't understand all the complexities that go along with "free speech".

At the end of the day, this law will fail, no matter how many parents back it. During the 80's, it was violent films, during the 60's it was violent TV shows, during the early 90's, it was heavy metal - all were threatened by stupid parents who sought to blame their child's problems on something other than the fact that they were too lazy to teach their kids and discipline them, and all of them survive to this day.

If they can't get SAW VI banned (although sometimes I wish they could), they can't get GTA banned.