Story here
Evidently, we are in the UK, and this isn't UK law. However it is making for interesting reading.
They are trying to force all "excessively violent" video games to be a 18 and therefore incur fines if sold to minors.
Which at first glance is totally reasonable.
However, it doesn't take into account that games already have age ratings (which they put there voluntarily!) and which retailers do, for the most part, stick to.
" In fact, the Federal Trade Commission last year found that 80 percent of stores that sell video games refused to sell violent games to minors, better than the movie industry."
Tbh, their argument would stand more ground if they were applying the same rules to video games as to movies. But movies, for some reason, are not being asked to only have two tiered ratings. And AFAIK, the punishment is not the same. The punishment proposed is most similar the ones for selling alcohol, cigarettes and porn. Are video games really in that league?
The other problem is the wording,
" appeal to a deviant or morbid interest of children and are patently offensive to prevailing community standards "
Appealing to morbid interest of children? Coming away from the games for the moment, if you were to apply this to other media, then wouldn't this include Lemony Snicket? Point horror? How about Grimm brother's fairy tales?
The other point about it, is it will not be illegal for a parent to buy a violent game for their child, just illegal to sell to children. Surely if it is dangerous for children, then it's still dangerous even when parents allow it?
What makes it even more interesting is that the Governer who really supported this, is he of so many sweet innocent child friendly films - Schwarzenegger!
It just seems to me, that they are still trying to scapegoat games.