Rou

Video games are a form of entertainment. Some games are intended for youth audiences. Others are not.

The ESRB ratings are an industry standard that rate games to make it easy to determine which games are appropriate for what audience. They offer the parents the ability to quickly and easily determine if a particular game is right for their children. Clearly marked on the container, the rating indicates both what rating the game has been given, and why that rating was assigned.

Now, many people, particularly legislators, have focused on video game legislation recently. The goal seems to be to make it illegal for stores to sell violent products to minors. There are a number of problems with this concept from a legal perspective including First Amendment issues stemming from the idea that violence should be treated as obscenity. I’m not a lawyer and I can not speak on that idea authoritatively, but it seems to me that violent video games aren’t the same as pornography. Clearly, it’s not treated that way in other entertainment industries. I have trouble imagining a relevant difference that should apply to video game violence as opposed to other types of media, such as books, music, movies and television. If you apply that same standard to those media, the restrictions on the free expression of the citizens seem obvious.

The average age of a video game player has been increasing for years. Already, that age has passed 30 years old according to the Federal Trade Commission’s study on the subject. Nearly half of all Americans play some form of video game. These adult gamers have expressed, through their purchases, a desire for games that include violent content. The industry has responded by creating titles that cater to these desires. If legislation is passed to enforce ESRB ratings, I think the industry will react by reducing the number of games available for these adult consumers. It will do that because the producers and retailers will be leery of frivolous lawsuits stemming from this type of legislation.

Parents have asked for legislators to do something about these violent video games. In truth, the problem is not the law. It’s parenting. It is not the role of government to play the part of nanny to the children of this country. The role belongs solely to the parents. Those parents need to step up and take responsibility for their children, their purchases and their recreation.

I support the concept. I don’t believe that children should be able to buy games that are rated for mature audiences. However, I sincerely believe that the best way to achieve this goal is not legislation. The best method would seem to be the model that the TV and movie industries have pioneered already: self regulation by the industry.

Already, parental controls are being built into the next generation of game consoles. These controls allow parents to prevent their children from accessing content based on the ESRB ratings in much the same manners as the television v-chip. Most of the major video game retailers have policies that prevent the sale of games based upon the ESRB rating. In my opinion, this is the direction that we must follow to preserve both the parental protection of children and the freedom of expression for adult gamers.

In closing, let me just reiterate my position. This type of morality legislation is unwarranted. The industry is moving rapidly toward self regulation, just as other industries have done before it. Legislation restricting the sale of media is a bad precedent, and damages both the industry, and the consumers.

Thank you for your time.