When not causing mass-hysteria over homemade lite-brites, the local government of Massachusetts likes to do other, more productive things. For example, in an effort to save every child from the increasingly common disease of playing videogames, the Massachusetts legislature is set to consider House Bill 1423, a law which not only would make it illegal for minors to purchase M rated videogames, but would also ostensibly classify said games as “pornography.”

If this all sounds familiar: it should. Nearly identical pieces of legislation have been proposed in other U.S. states like Louisiana and Utah, where in both cases the idea was dropped over concerns of constitutionality. It also shouldn’t surprise you that known pseudo-lawyer Jack Thompson, who essentially wrote the two previously mentioned bills, has had a hand in constructing the Massachusetts bill.

The bill as it will be discussed this week, followed by commentary:

SECTION 1. Section 31 of Chapter 272 of the General Laws, as
appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by
deleting the definition “Harmful to Minors” inserting the following
new definition:—
“Harmful to minors”, matter is harmful to minors if it is obscene
or, if taken as a whole, it (1) describes or represents nudity, sexual
conduct or sexual excitement, so as to appeal predominantly to the
prurient interest of minors; (2) depicts violence in a manner patently
offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community, so as to
appeal predominantly to the morbid interest in violence of minors;
(3) is patently contrary to prevailing standards of adults in the
county where the offense was committed as to suitable material for
such minors; and (4) lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scien­
tific value for minors.”

SECTION 2. Said Section 31 of Chapter 272, as so appearing, is
hereby further amended by inserting in the definition of “Visual
Material” after the word “videotape”, the following:— “interactive
media,”.

As a resident of Massachusetts and an active gamer, the basic concept of legislating the sale of videogames, for any reason - be it content, or whatever pet issue local Politicians like to pander with - spits in the face of not only our American values, but the historical tradition of Massachusetts as the birthplace of American democracy. Legislation of any kind is censorship. This ugly truth is inescapable.

As with previous attempts at censorship, the bill as proposed, and the rhetoric espoused by its supporters, is at best misleading, and at worst sensationalist. It swims against reality, instead constructing its own where recent murders on the streets of Boston are solely caused by violent videogames, where the retail industry doesn’t already have strict guidelines in place, and where there isn’t already a self-regulating body which imposes, at very minimum, exorbitant fines. Even if all these things were true, the proposed legislation wouldn’t even approach what would actually be necessary.

While we’ve never dealt with a more resourceful group of young people, ultimately those under the age of 18 are the ward of their Parents or Guardians. In turn, most of these games are actually purchased by Parents because most retail stores will not allow a minor to buy them. There will of course always be chinks in the armor and a game may get to a youth that would otherwise been overseen and intercepted by his or her Parents. However, unless we are willing to segregate these products behind dark curtains, in back rooms, and within feet of the glass cases holding an assortment of marijuana pipes, any proposed legislation will ultimately relegate videogames, no matter how trivial an artistic expression they may appear to be, to second class status as something unabashedly harmful and unfit for consumption. Amazingly, even if we were to take every precaution proposed, including the above outlined, it would still not prevent a single youth from getting a game they truly wanted.

All this legislation would do would make it harder for Adults, who consume the lion’s share of interactive entertainment, to purchase the products they are entitled to buy. This goes beyond just the game industry too, which is already one of the most heavily moderated entertainment industries in America. Games brandish large, impossible-to-miss content advisory emblems with clear, easy to understand descriptions of what is contained therein. This is entire leaps and bounds above either the movie or music industries. If even these content advisories are not enough for consumers to make informed decisions, then we must look at where this train of thought would lead us.

Once videogames are sanitized to the point of irrelevance, what will happen to violent film? The Departed, at times, is hyper-violent and littered with adult language, its themes are dark and disturbing, yet few would argue that the movie is not a work of cinematic art. If translated into a game The Departed would be rated M and no one under the age of 17 would be able to purchase it from a retail store. This is nearly identical to its current status as an R rated movies, save for the fact that those standards on sales to minors aren’t nearly as strongly enforced.

This entire piece of legislation lacks any understanding and sensitivity of the issues at hand. If these Politicians truly see games as an analog to Pornography, then their knowledge on how the industry has grown since its inception is inept and their insistence on sticking their heads in and raking filth in on top of the constitution is a criminal waste of time.

I urge anyone who feels strongly about their rights as an American to join the Entertainment Consumers Association’s fight to preserve your freedoms. You can write your local lawmaker through the ECA’s website petition, located here. You can also contact your local congressman’s office via telephone to register your distaste on this attempted dismantling of the U.S. constitution.

For more information: GamePolitics.com

- Rob O’Reilly

Posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 12:41 am in the category:General, Politics. Comment RSS 2.0 feed. Comment it , or trackback this post.