Pols Just Don’t Get It

Posted Oct 2, 2006 by Wes Phillips

Updated Dec 22, 2006 at 01:33 PM

The government’s yearning for video game regulation is reaching a fever pitch as we approach November elections. In the wake of the discovery that the M-rated Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas contains hidden sex (gasp!) and every murder still being blamed on the 15-year-old shooter Doom, the government is swooping in to save us all from our free will.

There are three proposed bills floating around Congress. Two of the bills – “Truth In Video Games Act” and “Video Game Decency Act” – have names that evoke patriotism. The ominous “S.3935” doesn’t have a catchy name, but it’s by far the most dangerous.

It requires the ESRB, the board that rates video games, to play through the entire game before they can be rated. Without this rating, many major retailers won’t carry a game.

Here’s the catch: a lot of games don’t have an ending. What about puzzle games? What about open-ended role-playing games? What about sports games?

This requirement will prevent a lot of games from being released in a timely manner and could really hurt the industry. In the current system, the publishers provide the ESRB with detailed descriptions of a game and if they don’t present the truth, that publisher faces fines and the danger of receiving no rating at all.

It’s not the government’s job to regulate speech. Especially, if it doesn’t understand the business it is trying to regulate. And whether you like it or not, video games do fall under free speech.

If you don’t like it, monitor what your kids are playing. There is a reason every prior video game bill has been shot down … the government isn’t your babysitter.