The poorly written and rather pointless HB 353, a videogame/movie bill intended for Utah by Jack Thompson, has been vetoed by Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, thanks to the sloppy writing of the bill itself, and some clever lobbying from the games industry.
"While protecting children from inappropriate materials is a laudable goal, the language of this bill is so broad that it likely will be struck down by the courts as an unconstitutional violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause and/or the First Amendment," explained Huntsman. "The industries most affected by this new requirement indicated that rather than risk being held liable under this bill, they would likely choose to no longer issue age appropriate labels on goods and services.
"Therefore, the unintended consequence of the bill would be that parents and children would have no labels to guide them in determining the age appropriateness of the goods or service, thereby increasing children’s potential exposure to something they or their parents would have otherwise determined was inappropriate under the voluntary labeling system now being recognized and embraced by a significant majority of vendors."
That's really quite a masterstroke on the part of the games industry. Choosing to pull out of a voluntary rating system rather than risking the wrath of this silly bill was slick, and while Huntsman would likely have vetoed the thing anyway, it still hammers home something important that anti-games lobbyists have forgotten -- the games industry voluntary decided to stick to age restrictions. Nobody made publishers do it, and nobody is saying they have to stick to it.
Those that moan about how videogames set out to corrupt young minds ought to remember that.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
Likes
PS2, iPod Touch, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Dynasty Warriors 3
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
9 comments | showing # 1 to 9
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
12:00 PM on 03.26.2009 | 
Fools who don't know a damn thing but claim to know what's better for everyone:0
I smell a shut out.
Lazy parents can't take you far.
When something like Madworld is getting an M instead of an AO when it's clearly a gorefest, clearly this "board" is more interested in getting product out there than worrying about some silly content. It always baffles me when it's the sexual nature of games that garner a more harsh rating than say disemboweling or beheading opponents.
There really isn't much in Mad World gore-wise that hasn't been done elsewhere. The M rating is perfect for MadWorld IMO. An AO rating should really be reserved for games that do much more than gore. Think about the NC-17 rating for movies, AO should be equivalent.
How does something being a "gorefest" equate to receiving an AO rating?
A "Mature" rating means it's for ages 17 and up. And you think people can't handle stylized cartoon violence until they're even older?
Both violence AND sexuality are harmful without being given societal context and THAT is the job of the parents. If parents weren't such jack-offs these days in relegating their parenting duties to entertainment boxes then this wouldn't even be an issue.
Couple that with the fact that the ESRB is a completely voluntary ratings board for videogames and is actually MORE informative than the movie ratings board and your argument, and the argument of all of those money-wasting politicians, falls to the wayside.