On Video Game Censorship
Larry Walters is a man you should all take a moment to thank: he’s been one of the chief reasons that video game legislation in general never seems to work. A prominent First Amendment lawyer who defends the free speech rights of the internet and gaming communities, he was at San Francisco's Moscone Center today giving a lecture entitled "Censorship of Video Game Content: Time to Fight Back". The presentation focused on several failed pieces of legislation against the gaming industry and what companies could do to protect themselves from the government's future attempts at censorship, and made for some truly disconcerting information.
When I came in, Walters was explaining that it’s not any one party that we need to worry about when it comes to censoring legislation; it’s actually both major parties that have uninformed yet vocal members. With the republicans, we have individuals like Rick Santorum and Brent Waltz, while the Democrats have Hilary Clinton and Joe Lieberman. According to the lecture, members of the gaming industry need to look within for improvement so they can build up a strong defense against legislation that seeks to relegate video games. One of the key ways to do this is to work with parents instead of simply dismissing or even working against them, because this drives them into the arms of fringe elements like Jack Thompson (oh, please, like you didn’t expect him to feature into this? Walters spent nearly ten minutes making fun of his antics and the fact that the man is facing 5 counts of professional misconduct), who then fill their heads with ridiculous claims which convince them that all video games are developed by the devil.
While no piece of game-restricting law has actually been successful yet, thanks to our glorious First Amendment, Walters warned that, “at some point the government will find the ‘sweet spot’,” of video game legislation that will then open the floodgates for other similar legal treatises. One especially plausible possibility is that government officials will start going after sexually-oriented games or games featuring sexual content.
When I approached him afterwards, I pointed out that over the past year and a half, there seems to have been an increasing trend of trying to link violent video games with pornography –as demonstrated by some of the public reaction to Bully and the ridiculous claims made when Utah passed their resolution last month- and I asked if he thought that would become a more popular argument since no correlation had been linked between pretend violence and real aggression. According to him:
“I see desperate attempts all the time by a losing faction of censors to try to make any argument they possibly can, in a court or a legislative body to try and justify a law that is patently unconstitutional. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and yeah: we’re seeing all kinds of issues that they’re trying to link to violent video games in a last ditch effort to try to justify them, to try to prove that they’re warranted, or that there’s any harm [from playing violent games]. The courts have rejected every single study and piece of evidence that’s been introduced to support the theory that violent video games cause harm. I’m not aware of any credible study, the court’s certainly haven’t found one. Any of the nonsense linking them to pornography, or claiming they’re a gateway is a mere desperate justification that I don’t think is going to prevail but we’ll probably see more of.”
At the very end of his speech, Walters pointed out five recommendations for how the industry can build up some bulwarks to serve as a first line of legal defense in the future:
• A research bank of positive studies needs to be developed so gaming companies can show that they have science on their side.
• More descriptive labels and ratings need to be developed to inform concerned parents.
• An aggressive lobbying and PR campaign needs to be implemented so that the government realizes that developers and publishers will not be politically intimidated or bullied any longer, and that doing so will prove a costly battle paid for by the taxpayers.
• A continued litigation strategy needs to be collaborated on.
• Members of the industry need to work with parents and show that they aren’t trying to corrupt the moral fiber of America’s youth.
Overall, I found Walters’ speech to be informative and effective, but I didn’t see too many non-press people in the room today. I really hope game companies heed his advice and start preparing for the future… otherwise, it looks like things could get mighty bumpy down the road.
Boy of Tomorrow
Posted to Miscellany on 9 March 2007
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: censorship, democrats, gdc 2007, kids, larry walters, legislation, parents, republicans
Wow, this guy is intelligent. I like him, I like him alot, the press and other media really need to listen to this guy.
You might want to visit North Hall booth 52 30. They will no doubt have terrible accents, but the GAME (http://www.game-bundesverband.de/), the german association of video game developers (yes we have have a video game industry, although Farcry, Gothic and The Settlers aren't much to show for), have formed a cooperation with eco, the association for internet commerce. Their joint goal is to better the public image of video games and new media in general, reaching out to parents in order to educate them on the issue. And, of course , to accumulate studies that show the reality behind these claims.
We, too, have a rating system, but ours goes up to bona fide censorship and now some politicians try and use the popular issue to actually ban violent video game production and fine the studios and publishers - which, being that most studios are outside of our legislative reach, is ridiculous in itself.
I would have written the article on this myself, but I'm currently moving and this post has already taken too long :D If you need help translating any of the articles on the GAME website, feel free to give me a shout.
Thank you so much for reporting on this speech.
My name is Andrew Bub and for three years I've run GamerDad.com as an unpaid service to the industry that has entertained me and employed me for a decade now.
GamerDad is pro-videogames activism and we review games for content for the benefit of parents. One of my main fuctions has been to talk to the mainstream press and correct them when they fail and print false information about the industry and gamers. I've appeared on the radio and in print (never compensated) to defend the industry and frankly, I've been doing everything Mr. Walters is advocating.
Recently the ESRB chose GamerDad.com to recruit full-time raters for the first time. Something I've been advocating for 3.5 years now.
Thank you so much for printing this story, it's the best news this GamerDad (and all moms and dads, gamers or otherwise, could hear).
-Andrew S. Bub
GamerDad.com
"Gaming with Children"
It's SO NICE to hear about someone who doesn't think video games are the devil, and it's someone people will listen to as well.
I wonder if the things he suggests will really help. I mean, it seems like a lot of people just go after games to try and get attention and votes.. and not really because they actually believe these games are bad.
I'm sick and tired of that stuff. I'm not even American (Canadian), but we have the same kind of people here.
I don't think putting more labels on stuff will work. There are already big Ms on stuff.. and those games usually are really obviously violent. I mean, what kind of game were parents expecting when they bought something called "GRAND THEFT AUTO".. or what did they think when they bought a game with guns on the cover.
The gaming industry should protect itself the best it possibly can as there is no preventing idiots from doing this crap over and over.