This is slightly old news, but I think it's important to keep tabs on where these front runners stand in regards to regulating new media, specifically our precious vidjaamez.

Common Sense Media had invited some of the more notable candidates to share their views on the "biggest kid-and-media issues facing parents today."

The opening page can be found here and gives you a quick summarization of the questions asked and quick answers the candidates provided.

The second question, which might be of interest to you all, is this;
"To date, nearly 10 states have considered legislation to keep violent video games out of kids' hands. Would you support this type of legislation at the federal level? What other strategies would you support to keep the video game industry and other media companies from marketing and selling inappropriate content to children?"

You can find the candidates full answers to that question here.

I feel it is important to note that out of the total presidential candidates invited to participate in the survey only 5 total felt the need to respond to the questionnaire. Keep in mind this survey covered more than the hot topic of violence and video games, the candidates were asked about a wide variety of topics about media and children.

Even though the majority of those reading are in the 16 and over crowd and might think that since the focus here is on minors these issues won't directly affect you in the next few years please keep this in mind; Many, many times in the past and today "protecting the innocence of children" has been used as a means to justify outright censorship of anything deemed obscene by the "ruling majority."

I feel that in a time where being an opinionated gamer can land you in the middle of debate whether you've sought it out or not it is imperative that we try to stay informed.


Sorry for the long read, and I tried to keep my personal opinion on the candidates out of this on purpose, I just wanted to pass along what I viewed as useful information, hopefully it was.