Back in 2005, a federal judge blocked a California law signed off on by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that would restrict the sale, or rental of violent and mature video games to minors. On Friday, a Federal Appeals Court ruled that the law is unconstitutional.
Underage gamers, feel free to celebrate. Follow the jump for a simplified explanation of what went down, and a heartwarming story of how the ladies of the SGPink show did some censoring of their own this past weekend.
If all the legal stuff confuses you, as it did me, here is an easy way to summarize what went down with this whole thing: Arnold Governator signed a law, the District Court said “Nuh-uh”, Arnold Governator appealed saying “ya-huh,” an Appeals panel of 3 judges said “Nuh-uh”, Arnold Governator then pouted and went home.
Now, I realize that this was an attempt by the State of California and not Governor Arnold Shcwarzenegger himself. However, he is the Governor and is a funnier target for jokes. Therefore, I can make fun of him and rename him the “Governator.”
I just find it amusing that the man who starred in Terminator, a movie that was “too violent and mature” for me to watch as a child, is now aiding in the war to keep violent content out of the hands of younger audiences. Heck, I even did my part to restrict violent games from getting into the hands of minors this weekend.
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Being a Californian, this is good, violent video games are good and we called Arnold the Governator when he was first elected now he’s a bad Governor and congrats Masselli18
Wow Jax, your hardcore gaming family didn’t even let you watch Terminator? Haha
Anyways, I am glad it was ruled unconstitutional, seeing as how… Well, it is. There is no proof that violent video games cause actual psychological harm.
All in all, I think it should be up to the child and his or her parents, anyways. Nice find, though. I hadn’t even heard an inkling about this.
Wait a sec. It is LEGAL for minors to get M rated games in California? WTH am I in Tennessee.
I do believe that it should be up to the parents to control what a kid can play and what they can’t. Laws dictating ages are fairly stupid anyway (I don’t know if this is federal law, but in Utah you can smoke at age 18 but not have an actual pack of cigarettes on you until 19 – huh?).
On the flip side, what Jax did was exactly right. When my wife picked up FEAR for me for my birthday a few years back, the guy ringing it up asked if she realized it was a “strong Mature” rating and told her why, just in case she was buying it for minors. He didn’t restrict her from purchasing it, just made her aware.
Then there’s my wife, recommending Fable for a ten year old girl. Some parents would have no issue with that. I didn’t think about it until later, when I remembered all the “dress rehearsal for reproduction” sound fx and some of the other sparse but present mature content.
I played Fable 2 and it wasn’t THAT mature. Afro Samurai however was bad. I liked it but my goodness there were a ton of curse words and blood and stuff that I don’t think I’d want my kids playing.
My morals kick in at random times.
S.T.A.N. I think they were trying to make it more like cigarettes where people would get in trouble for selling these games to minors. As far as I know it isn’t a chargable offense anywhere yet.
It’s true. Jax did pull the M card when Masselli18 won the game. She earned a patch for her Girl Scout sash. I think she’ll sew it next to the drinking patch she earned a while back.
i think that tons of parents don’t even pay attention to what kids are playing and i think there should be more awareness but to go as far as banning the game for minors is to much. i would suggest more of the saying a little shpeel to the parents as they buy the games.
Naw, Fable isn’t *bad,* just probably not the best choice for a 10-year-old girl.
I thought more on this whole subject, and I think that’s just it -it’s subjective. That’s why parents should decide. Which, if there were a law in place, it would allow parents to decide if a game were “too mature” for their child, instead of the child sneaking behind their parent’s backs to get it. If the child already has anger management issues, is putting a copy of CoD:W@W or FEAR a good idea?
I’m not saying I’m in favor of the law, I’m just saying I see both sides of it. Parents need to do more parenting. Kids sneak things, I understand that, and you can’t be with them 24/7, but if they instill values like “It’s bad to shoot innocent people” or “stealing cars in real life isn’t a good idea” and let them know they care, there’s actually less likelihood that they’ll be affected by things like M-rated games.