Louisiana "Game Law" Jackassery is Dumb
I looked on Kotaku and saw a snippet of an article from the Shreveport Times . One Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist from Portland, had this to say about Louisiana’s wonderful gaming law this is under review and remains blocked, at least through the end of this week:
“Beware! You can be sent to Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for selling a computer game to a teenager if that game appeals to a kid’s “morbid interest in violence”... Applying a strict reading of Louisiana’s law, you can earn jail time by selling “Pac Man” to a 17-year-old. After all, what is Pac Man but a fight between the player and four pixilated ghosts, each doing nothing but consuming each other and their surrounding landscape. That sounds like violence to me.”
I have traveled from my home in New Orleans to Angola Prison (about 30-45 miles north of Baton Rouge)...not to be housed there but for the annual Prison Rodeo. I can tell you that it doesn’t seem like a pleasant place and has quite the reputation around here, but the rodeo was actually fun!
The thought of anyone being jailed for something like this is ridiculous, and as I mentioned in a previous article , this law, should it go through, will certainly harm the state’s effort attract game developers and harm New Orleans’ effort to attract this industry, as well.
Dr. Jerald Block: Are we ready to give jail time for selling ‘Pac Man’ to a 17-year-old? [Shreveport Times]
Psychiatrist Says Game Laws Are Nuts [Kotaku]
Super Timsy
Posted to Video Games on 10 July 2006
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