US bill wants cigarette-style warning labels on violent games
The Violence in Video Games Labeling Act wants to protect your children from violent video games
Virginia Representative Frank Wolf and California Representative Joe Baca have co-sponsored bill H.R. 4202, also called the Violence in Video Games Labeling Act. The bill aims to put health warnings on violent video games, not unlike the current warnings on all tobacco products. The label, which would accompany any game rated "E" for Everyone and above, would say: "'WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior.''
"The video game industry has a responsibility to parents, families and to consumers - to inform them of the potentially damaging content that is often found in their products," Baca told The Hill. "They have repeatedly failed to live up to this responsibility."
"Just as we warn smokers of the health consequences of tobacco, we should warn parents - and children - about the growing scientific evidence demonstrating a relationship between violent video games and violent behavior. As a parent and grandparent, I think it is important people know everything they can about the extremely violent nature of some of these games," added Wolf.
Of course, this warning would come alongside the warnings that already exist on all video games, as rated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. Entertainment Software Association (ESA) senior vice president for communications and industry affairs Rich Taylor lashed out at the assumptions made by the bill.
"Representative Baca's facially unconstitutional bill - which has been introduced to no avail in each of six successive Congressional sessions, beginning in 2002 - needlessly concerns parents with flawed research and junk science," Taylor told Gamasutra.
"Numerous medical experts, research authorities, and courts across the country, including the United States Supreme Court, exhaustively reviewed the research Representative Baca uses to base his bill and found it lacking and unpersuasive. Independent scientific researchers found no causal connection between video games and real life violence."
This isn't the first time Baca has tried to pass this bill. The original version of the Act was sponsored in 2009, but ultimately went nowhere in the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.
The U.S. Supreme Court already struck down one law attempting to ban the sales of violent video games to minors. The ESA was reimbursed for its legal fees in that battle by the state of California.
I didnt have so much fun since Jack Tompson was disbard.
"we should warn parents - and children - about the growing scientific evidence demonstrating a relationship between violent video games and violent behavior."
Sure if I pay some researches a lot of money they will bring "scientific evidence" for whatever I ask them. I could pay them a few millions and they will bring "scientific evidence" that Evoks existed in a Galxay far far away a long time ago(TM).
"As a parent and grandparent, I think it is important people know everything they can about the extremely violent nature of some of these games"
Guess what, there is a ratings board called ESRB who prints in well places icons the age rating on the box and a little thing called parental control comes with each console.
I love those guys and would really like to once meet one of them in person and give them a 5 minute training on how to use the fricking parental controlls as well as explaining them that there are rating boards and that it`s the responibility of parents to make sure what games they get their kids.
Where are the stickers for Movies, Music and Books? Obviously he would never put stickers on Movies because he "works" in California and Hollywood would send Rambo to him to blow him up into little pieces with an explosive arrow to the knee.
Video games don`t make people violent it`s idiots like him who do because they are ignorant people who are not better than the people who came before them that tried to kill people who talked about science because they worked for the "devil" or where witches, blamed books or rock music for anything that came to their mind. What a waste of tax money to employ those "politicians".
I vote for the "labeling of idiotic bills act" to protect people from stupid politicians that waste money. His bill will fail anyway again just like it did all the other times.
If you have mental issues anything cam send you over the hill and make you run around and shoot people l, games, movies, books, music, somebody looking wrong at them. I play since I'm like 6 and played Resident Evil and so on with around 14 and never ever would it come to my mind to kill somebody.
The industry put protection into place, its the job and duty of the parents to use them. I get that he doesnt have a clue just like I got bought games like Resident Evil, but its his job and the job of parents to educate themselfes and learn about what their kids are doing and learn about the devices they use.
Edited 3 times. Last edit by Werner Nemetz on 21st March 2012 12:42am
Posted:A year ago