While California's Assembly and Illinois's state Senate passed penalties for selling or renting violent or sexy video games to minors, a survey commissioned by the video game industry itself said a large majority of parents know the industry’s rating system and more than half keep their kids from violent or sexy games.
The survey by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the Entertainment Software Rating Board said that 78 percent of the 500 parents surveyed said they know the ESRB rating system of EC (early childhood), E (everyone), E 10+ (everyone 10 years old and older), T (teen), M (mature, 17 and older), AO (adults only), and RP (rating pending).
The study also said that 53 percent of those parents questioned never allow their children to play video games rated M for violence, sexual content, or “mature” language and 70 percent check the ratings before buying or renting games for their children. But 37 percent of the parents admitted they “sometimes allow” their children to play M games.
The survey results were released as the California Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media approved a bill they had spurned earlier this week, which would hit retailers with fines up to $1,000 per violation for selling or renting M and higher-rated games to those under 17.
"This bill has received overwhelming bipartisan support and deserves a vote on the Assembly floor," said the bill’s author, Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), in a statement following a May 5 committee revote. "I am certain that our health professionals, the Girl Scouts, PTAs, and other child advocates will continue the fight to protect our children and stand strong against the financial influence of the $10 billion video game industry."
Earlier in the week, the committee gave the bill four yes votes but one abstention, prompting Yee and supporters to press for reconsideration, especially after a Yee spokesman blamed the video game industry for the bill's initial failure. "The arts committee often represents the interests of the entertainment industry,'' Adam Keigwin told reporters after the original vote.
E 10+ games include more "cartoon, fantasy, or mild violence, mild language, and/or minimal suggestive themes," according to the ESRB system, while T titles "may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood and/or infrequent use of strong language," M titles "may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and/or strong language," and AO titles "may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity," according to the ESRB descriptions.
The ESRB survey said 54 percent of the parents they surveyed also check those content descriptions on game packages for details on why a game was given its rating before buying or renting the game for their children.
"We believe that the increase in awareness and resulting use of the content descriptors is directly related to the more prominent display of content descriptors on game packaging since 2003," said ESRB president Patricia Vance, announcing the survey results, "and to the power and broad exposure of a new consumer education campaign launched by the ESRB illustrating both parts of the rating system in PSA advertisements, retail signage, and print circulars."
The Entertainment Software Association said they supported the ESRB and applauded the survey results. "We think it's great that parents are being active participants and monitoring the games that their children play," ESA spokesman Dan Hewitt told AVNOnline.com. "And we continue to urge parents to be more vigilant in monitoring what they're buying and to make sure it's appropriate for the family."
Crackdown in Illinois
A slightly tougher bill than the Yee bill is going to the full Illinois state Senate, after its Housing and Community Affairs Committee passed the so-called Safe Games Illinois Act, which originated in the state's House of Representatives and passed the full House in March by a whopping majority (91–19).
The Illinois bill would be even tougher than the California proposal if it goes all the way to Gov. Rod Blagojevich's signature: It would slap retailers selling violent or sexy video games to those under 18 up to $5,000 and possibly jail them for up to a year.
Blagojevich, who initiated the legislation in February, is all but expected to sign the bill after it passes the full Senate, considering how he praised the House for the bill, saying it would make parents' jobs easier when in "today's world, [they] face unprecedented challenges in monitoring and protecting their children from harmful influences."
Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora), who filed the Blagojevich bill in the lower house, said the bill is necessary because it is "difficult" for parents to control what their children buy.
"It's troubling to think that a 14-year-old can legally buy a video game where gang members, prostitutes, and criminals are the main characters," LaVia said in a statement after the Senate committee voted the bill out. "This legislation is an important step to ensuring that children under 18 should not be able to purchase video games intended for adults."
State Sen. Deanna Demuzio (D-Carlinville), the widow of the Senate Majority Leader who was appointed to finish his term after his death, is carrying the Blagojevich bill in the upper house. It wasn't yet known how soon the full state Senate would vote on the bill.
How about never?
The Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association thinks never would be appropriate: The group called the Illinois bill an obstruction of the First Amendment. "As far as we're concerned," said chief executive Hal Halpin to reporters after the Senate committee vote, "this legislation is unnecessary and unconstitutional. IEMA retailers represent the vast majority of sell-through in North America, and they've been committed to inhibiting sales to minors with voluntary measures."
The California measure isn't exactly a done deal in the Assembly, however. The deadline for bills to pass the full lower house is May 6. But neither is it necessarily dead, with Keigwin saying Yee would continue fighting for the bill even if it ends up dying in the full Assembly again, the way it did last session. But Keigwin also said that if the legislation fails after two years, "maybe we should reconsider our strategy."
IEMA director of government relations Marie Sylla said in her own statement that she expected the California measure to be revived even after the Assembly committee initially rejected it. But she also called the bill unnecessary.
"Retailers are making their best efforts to ensure that their stores are complying with their policy of carding for 'Mature' rated games," she said, "and would like to be given the same opportunity as the movie theater owners and music retailers."
Hewitt said the ESA also opposes the California and Illinois legislation. "We're working to educate the legislators that these bills are unconstitutional and unwarranted," he said, "because parents are taking steps to make sure the games they're buying for their children and the games their children are playing are appropriate."
