Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Leland Yee introduced a bill earlier this year that he says will help keep violent video games out of the hands of children. If signed into law, the currently inactive bill will prohibit the sale or rental of such games to anyone under 17. Retailers who break the law will be subject to a $1,000 fine.
For now, the job of determining the age-appropriateness of video games belongs to the video game industry’s self-regulatory body, the Entertainment Software Rating Board, which assigns each new game a rating. But Yee argues that the ESRB is rendered ineffective by its ties to the very industry it is intended to police.
As evidence, Yee points to the recent mis-rating of the best-selling Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which received a “Mature” or “17 and older” rating. Four months after the game’s release, advanced players happened upon a hidden game-within-a-game containing graphic sexual content.
The ESRB has since revised the game’s rating to “Adults Only” or “18 and over,” but Yee wants to know how the content in question could have been overlooked. On July 20, he announced plans to call for a full investigation of the multi-billion dollar video game industry.
“I was nine years old when I began playing Grand Theft Auto, and it hasn’t done anything to me.”
Parker Allen, 16
Avid gamer, Chattanooga
“Well I think 17 year olds should be able to buy m-rated games simply because they are old enough for what ever may be in that game. I mean look at the violence in movies today .”
Kong Chho, 15
Avid gamer, Memphis
“[The Speaker’s bill] sounds like good legislation. The purveyors, the people who sell the games, should, ultimately, be responsible.”
Kent Woo
Executive Director, NICOS Chinese Health Coalition and a member of the San Francisco Dept. of Children, Youth and Their Families Citizens’ Advisory Committee, San Francisco
“The law is a good idea … but parents should also monitor what [games] their kids are playing and pay attention to game ratings.”
Ricky Moody, 20
Student and avid gamer, Seattle
“I think the store owners should be held responsible since they’re the ones putting the material out there.”
Nattie Fong
Parent and San Francisco PTA Treasurer
“Parents can’t be with their kids 24 hours a day, so we have to rely on the store owners, just like we do with alcohol and tobacco, and adult magazines.”
Rose Vong
Parent, San Francisco
“I know plenty of underage people who drink and do drugs and they’ve never been caught. How will [a law] keep those same kids from playing Grand Theft Auto? There is a way around everything.”
Stein (screen name), 18
Avid gamer and GTACentral.com co-founder, Minnesota
“I know people whose parents won’t let them play certain games. I also know people who say their parents couldn’t care less [what games they play].”
Fuunyboy (screen name), 16
Avid gamer, East Coast