VideoGameDecencyAct
Latest
Video Game Decency Act: saving the children, or one-way ticket to tyranny?
As Congressman Fred Upton's Video Game Decency Act continues to percolate through Congress, Upton (R-MI) is singing its praises to the press, telling his local paper, the Niles Daily Star, "This legislation will restore parents' trust in a system in which game makers had intentionally deceived the ratings board to deliver violent and pornographic material to our kids."This whole foofaraw kicked off when Rockstar Games tucked away some sex-related gameplay into Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and, while the content was only accessible by using hacking tools, it was there for the minigaming. When word got out, lawsuits flowed like coffee, and Rockstar rushed out a "clean" version in order to avoid the dreaded "Adults Only" rating. The Video Game Decency Act would make it a crime to hide such content from the ESRB, the independent ratings board created by the industry in 1994 to avoid federal regulation.Seems pretty reasonable, right? Well, it is. Whether you believe all sexual content deserves an "AO" rating or not, developers who want a rating from the ESRB should fully disclose anything that might affect that rating. But if the bill passes, the government will finally have its paws in the game rating pie, in a very official (and probably irreversible) way -- exactly what the ESRB was founded to prevent. Fine by you? Or is this the next step on a slippery slope of governmental control that will end with a dystopian, 1984-style wasteland?[Via GamePolitics]
U.S. internet gambling legislated [update 1]
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed through congress last week as a rider to a port security bill, like a tick clinging to a deer. The gambling legislation intends to make online poker and other money-winning internet games illegal super illegal in the United States (see below). (Business Week mentions that some gaming companies are counting on loopholes, but most U.S. operations have a dire outlook.) President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law within the next few weeks.Card Squad says, and we agree, that laws should be created on their own merits. The site covers Shelley Berkeley (D-Nevada) debating the act, expressing her disappointment that the bill was tacked on to critical security legislation.While we usually leave the poker playing to Card Squad, these bills make us nervous for impending legislation in the videogame industry. Will the Video Game Decency Act pass or fail on its own merits, or will it ride on the back of a more important law?Would U.S. lawmakers try to save Springfield from a comet if they had to allocate $30 million to "support the perverted arts?"Thanks to Dirk and others for pointing out that gambling is already technically illegal in the United States. It's only legal under state laws or on Native American land, which has limited sovereignty in this situation. (Although state-run gambling exists as lotteries.)The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act gives the government new tools to enforce old laws, making the transaction illegal. Read the act in its original state or in its new habitat, hiding in the SAFE Port Act.[Update 1: Added last two paragraphs.]
