Violent video games spark rising debate on bans

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California legislators are considering making sales of violent video games to minors illegal, joining a national debate about whether the industry should be left to regulate itself, like movie theaters - and whether the bans will run afoul of free speech guarantees.

At stake is whether the fastest-growing segment of the entertainment industry, already worth $10 billion a year, can be regulated by governments in a way that the movie and music industries have managed to avoid.

"Games are still the new kid on the block in media,” said Gail Markels, general counsel of publishers group the Entertainment Software Association. “There’s a lot about our industry that legislators are just not familiar with.”

The ESA’s top argument that minors are not getting violent games without parental approval is that parents are present nearly 90 percent of the time games are purchased by minors. The average game buyer, it says, is 36 years old.

Nonetheless, California Assemblyman Leland Yee, with the support of groups like the Girl Scouts and the California State PTA, on Wednesday announced his second attempt in two years to restrict game sales to minors aged 16 or younger. Retailers would be fined $1,000 for each violation.

“The sale and marketing of these violent and sexually violent video games to kids is a major public health issue,” Jim Steyer, founder and chief executive of Common Sense, a group dedicated to family-friendly entertainment that is helping to draft the legislation.

“This is a public health issue on par with the sale of cigarettes and alcohol to kids,” he said in an interview.

The ESA said measures are already pending in Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington state and Washington D.C.

But free-speech advocates say there is little chance a ban can get around First Amendment guarantees on free speech.

Federal courts have already blocked sales-restricting measures in Indianapolis, Indiana; St. Louis County, Missouri; and Washington state.

“We opposed the bill last year and I’m pretty certain we’ll oppose the bill again this year,” said Francisco Lobaco, California legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union.

“The earlier statutes were not carefully crafted and were not narrowly tailored. The legal team and the team we’ve put together to do this is just fundamentally different,” Steyer responded.

FREQUENT EFFORTS

The Federal Trade Commission, in its last report last summer on the marketing of violence to kids, said the industry could and likely would improve its track record.

“Retailers, while doing a better job in restricting sales to children of Mature-rated products, still routinely make such sales to most buyers. These sales should diminish substantially, however, if promised industry improvements in adopting and enforcing restrictive sales policies are put into place by the end of this year,” the FTC report said.

The Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, whose members account for 85 percent of industry sales in the United States, condemned the California bill.

“The bottom line on this matter is that retailers have made the public commitment to partner with parents, and quite frankly you simply cannot legislate sound parenting,” IEMA President Hal Halpin said in a statement.

FEDERAL MEASURES

Rep. Joe Baca, a California Democrat, introduced bills in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 and 2003 that would have made it a misdemeanor to sell or rent violent or sexually graphic games to minors.

In a statement, Baca said he would introduce some sort of legislation this year. “The level of violent and sexual content in video games has reached a point where Congress has no choice but to act,” Baca said.

Proponents of regulation say they will not be swayed despite aggressive lobbying against them.

“I understand the video game industry will spend tens of millions of dollars to try to defeat this. But I’m confident we’ll win,” Steyer said. 

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