Self-regulation and video games
Published by Yazad Jal December 1st, 2005 in Technology, RegulationI recently came across this 2003 piece by Cato’s Adam Thierer on self-regulation in the US video game industry.
In 1994, the video game industry established the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a comprehensive labeling system that rates over 1,000 games per year and has rated more than 8,000 games since inception. The ESRB applies five different rating symbols and over 25 different content labels that refer to violence, sex, language, substance abuse, gambling, humor and other potentially sensitive subject matter. It must be a good system because the self-appointed media violence watchdog Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) called the video game rating system “a model” for other industries to follow. Coin-operated video game operators have also devised a descriptive parental advisory labeling scheme for games played in arcades or restaurants. As a result, a descriptive labeling system is available to parents to monitor the video games their children play.
And Thierer doubts the common argument that violent video games lead to acts of youth violence.
… there’s little evidence of a link between video games and aggressive youth. While the video game industry was exploding between 1994 and 2000, juvenile (ages 15-17) violent crime arrests dropped by 44 percent and young adult (ages 18-24) violent crime arrests dropped by 24 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. While that does not necessarily rule out any relationship between video games and youth violence, it should make policymakers pause before rushing to legislate.
Not that this is going to stop policymakers. The same Senator Lieberman seems to have changed his mind.
Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) announced yesterday they would introduce legislation to prohibit retailers from selling video games rated “mature” or “adults-only” to teenagers.
How wonderful to have a law as just having one would solve all problems, real or imagined. Video games are not yet big in India, but according to Euromonitor
with a predicted annual growth rate of almost 70% per annum between 2003 and 2008, video games are forecast to overtake traditional toys and games by 2008.
I’ve no doubt Indian lawmakers will get busy then.
Links courtesy: Cato Daily Dispatch
I am all for self regulation - the parents should be the ones responsible for what their children play but the sad fact of the matter is:
1. parents don’t have the time or the knowledge to know what their kids are playing.
2. ‘Games’ are automatically assumed to be something appropriate for children
What if if somebody introduced nicotine infused candy and sold it right alongside regular candy in the store. There was no warning or indication though nicotine is mentioned in the fine-print of the ingredients. Is that responsible?
As someone who has played a lot of games and still plays them regularly - they are indeed truly violent and graphic. These are not the games from a decade ago with badly pixelated ‘monsters’ and ‘villains’. The graphics these days are excellent and the games them selves look more like movies than computer generated images. And the content can also be very disturbing. For example in Grad Theft Auto you can grab a prostitute off the street, have sex with her and then are given bonus points for beating her to death with a baseball bat (chainsaw also available for added gore)instead of paying her. All this not in some crummy pixels but is full 32-bit rendering with surround sound effects. Now I am no expert in psychology but common sense tells me that a 10-year old playing this sort of game for 4-5 hours a day may have some problems differentiating between this and reality.
Now there might be ultra liberal parents out there but I’m guessing that most parents would not be comfortable with their 10-year old playing this game. So whats wrong with a little label in the corner that warns them that Grand Theft Auto is not a car racing game (as the cover would seem to suggest) but also contains sex, decapitation of policemen, violence against women and ritual cannibalism.
Nobody is asking for a ban on these games - freedom of speech - create whatever content you like if there is a market for it - just inform the customer first - how does having informed customers hurt the market?
I am glad I stumbled across your page. There’s so much to read here, I will be back fursat se :-)
Nice post, interesting info