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US Supreme Court rules against California violent games law
http://www.x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=14048		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  pcernie [ Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:13 pm ]
Post subject:  US Supreme Court rules against California violent games law
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/30 ... games-law/

Bloody hell... Don't know what to make of that...
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Tue Jun 28, 2011 2:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: US Supreme Court rules against California violent games law
Quote:
The bill, signed by Governor Schwarzenegger back in 2005, made it illegal for games with violent content to be sold to anyone under 18, and required a warning sticker on the box.

But the Supreme Court today threw out the law by a vote of 7-2, ruling that it goes against the First Amendment and 'the basic principles of freedom of speech'.

So on that basis it would also be against the movie makers rights to stop 7 year olds going to see 18 or R rated films? :shock:

or records being banned for profanity. Or having to have a warning label.

This is a stupid change and the original law was fine.
Author:  belchingmatt [ Tue Jun 28, 2011 6:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: US Supreme Court rules against California violent games law
Shouldn't they now also allow 2 year olds to vote.
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Tue Jun 28, 2011 6:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: US Supreme Court rules against California violent games law
belchingmatt wrote:
Shouldn't they now also allow 2 year olds to vote.

It will end the kissing of babies as they will demand tax relief on rusks.
Author:  bobbdobbs [ Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: US Supreme Court rules against California violent games law
Amnesia10 wrote:
Quote:
The bill, signed by Governor Schwarzenegger back in 2005, made it illegal for games with violent content to be sold to anyone under 18, and required a warning sticker on the box.

But the Supreme Court today threw out the law by a vote of 7-2, ruling that it goes against the First Amendment and 'the basic principles of freedom of speech'.

So on that basis it would also be against the movie makers rights to stop 7 year olds going to see 18 or R rated films? :shock:

or records being banned for profanity. Or having to have a warning label.

This is a stupid change and the original law was fine.


Quote:
Breyer described one game that was submitted to the court in which "a character who shoots out a police officer's knee, douses him with gasoline, lights him on fire, urinates on his burning body, and finally kills him with a gunshot to the head."
According to the seven-person majority, however, if such a depiction is protected by the First Amendment if it's found in a book, movie, or lyric, it's protected in a video game.
Author:  jonbwfc [ Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: US Supreme Court rules against California violent games law
bobbdobbs wrote:
So on that basis it would also be against the movie makers rights to stop 7 year olds going to see 18 or R rated films? :shock:
or records being banned for profanity. Or having to have a warning label.
This is a stupid change and the original law was fine.

No, because that's completely not what either the old law, or Arnold's bill, or the new law says.

The US has trod much the same path as the UK/EU, just in a slightly less sane way. The old law in most states was that games had their own 'rating' system, but it wasn't mandatory. So you could in theory put 18 rated content in any game and someone could sell it to an 8 year old. That was obviously not on. What Schwarzenegger's bill said was this - You Cannot Put 18 rated Content In A Game. Full stop. No exceptions. Games are obviously for kids, so we can't have anything adult in them. No no no. So basically, 18 rated games couldn't be sold in california. At all. Now, this does happen to a degree in EU - Germany for example has different rules to it's neighbours to do with violence in games. But this is a state, not a country. A law that says you can't sell this here but you can in that shop 100 yards down the road on the other side of this arbitrary line is pointless and unenforceable. But hey, it makes for a good headline in the right wing press. So what has happened now is that the supreme court has looked at the bill, thought 'Jesus, what has this idiot done now?' and come up with a reasonable compromise.

What will happen now in pretty much the whole of the US is, much like we had in the UK for a while, games will come under the same regulations as other forms of 'free speech' like films and books and can be restricted according to the same rules i.e. you can make an 18-rated game if you want to, but there will be legal restrictions as to it can be sold to.

Note the UK doesn't actually use the BBFC ratings on games any more - we adopted the EU wide 'PEGI' standards a while back. Personally, I think that is somewhat of a mistake as people are less used to the iconography and what each classification exactly means, but that's a separate argument.
Author:  bobbdobbs [ Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: US Supreme Court rules against California violent games law
jonbwfc wrote:
Note the UK doesn't actually use the BBFC ratings on games any more - we adopted the EU wide 'PEGI' standards a while back. Personally, I think that is somewhat of a mistake as people are less used to the iconography and what each classification exactly means, but that's a separate argument.

I think the PEGI classification is really easy to follow
3, 7,12,16,18 ratings as a guidline. If you can follow the BBFC ratings PEGI are just as easy. Its just a shame so many parents completely ignore them.

Quote:
About PEGI?
What do the labels mean?
The PEGI labels appear on front and back of the packaging indicating one of the following age levels: 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18. They provide a reliable indication of the suitability of the game content in terms of protection of minors. The age rating does not take into account the difficulty level or skills required to play a game.
Author:  finlay666 [ Tue Jun 28, 2011 11:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: US Supreme Court rules against California violent games law
Quote:
Breyer described one game that was submitted to the court in which "a character who shoots out a police officer's knee, douses him with gasoline, lights him on fire, urinates on his burning body, and finally kills him with a gunshot to the head."


I want to know what this game is! Only if it's something that isn't pretty pants otherwise like Postal 3
Author:  pcernie [ Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: US Supreme Court rules against California violent games law
finlay666 wrote:
Quote:
Breyer described one game that was submitted to the court in which "a character who shoots out a police officer's knee, douses him with gasoline, lights him on fire, urinates on his burning body, and finally kills him with a gunshot to the head."


I want to know what this game is! Only if it's something that isn't pretty pants otherwise like Postal 3


I was wondering that myself, Google isn't really helping ;)
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: US Supreme Court rules against California violent games law
bobbdobbs wrote:
I think the PEGI classification is really easy to follow
3, 7,12,16,18 ratings as a guidline. If you can follow the BBFC ratings PEGI are just as easy. Its just a shame so many parents completely ignore them.

Yes but parents should have the final say. I think that games with excessive violence are not that great. I prefer my strategy games and my armies slaughter loads of units but it not the same as "popping a cap" in some poor buggers head.
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