The ESA Sues the State of Minnesota

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Originally Posted by Game Informer

Today the Entertainment Software Association sued the state of Minnesota in Federal District Court. The ESA wants the state's new video game law to be overturned saying that this bill is "is an unenforceable effort to substitute the government's judgment for parental supervision."

The president of the ESA, Doug Lowenstein said that the industry’s products were being unreasonably and unfairly singled out, saying that parents, not government or industry, must be the gatekeepers on what comes in the home.

“The bill’s tortured effort to end run the First Amendment by punishing kids directly fails under the Constitution because children have rights under the First Amendment, like all other citizens. The State is attempting to impose liability on children because they know that courts have consistently held that they cannot penalize retailers. We believe that the courts will agree that fining children violates the First Amendment as well. “If this law is implemented, it will not only limit First Amendment rights for Minnesota’s residents, it will create a huge amount of confusion for retailers, parents, and children. I’m confident the court will affirm our position given the rulings on similar statutes in other jurisdictions.”

The ESA noted that both parents and retailers are already doing a good job in monitoring what games kids purchase. According to the ESA, parents are involved in the purchase or rental of games 89% of the time, and 87% of the time children receive their parents’ permission before purchasing or renting a video game. Moreover, with the strong support of ESA, retailers have already implemented systems to prevent the sale of Mature-rated games to persons under 17. In fact, the National Institute on Media and the Family found, prior to full implementation of these new enforcement systems, that retailers prevented the sale of Mature-rated video games to minors 66% of the time.

We'll have more on this as it continues.

They got what was coming to them. Parents should be resonsible for their kids. And it's not right to single them out of a law. I agree 100% with the ESA. I didn't know that the bill that was passed fined the children for their actions. That's seems sort of discriminative against children. Would they fine a 8 year old, or a 10 year old?

exactly what was stated in this law?

Originally Posted by 8bit

exactly what was stated in this law?

"The Bill prohibits a person under the age of 17 from knowingly renting or purchasing a restricted video game and prohibits an owner of a retail establishment or an employee from renting or selling a restricted video game to a person under the age of 17." Bill SF0785. The fine is $25 for the children who go against this law.

I like the ESA, they may do occasional odd things (Although, since they require the good will of the company they're rating most of it can be explained.) But they're also really the only thing stopping laws like this from staying.

I don't mind limiting who can buy games, I actually think it's a rather smart thing to do, but it's when you limit them by law that I grow nervous, movies aren't limited by law, books aren't either, so why is it OK to do this to videogames?

Wow!
Thank God we don't have a law like this here in Greece!
Would this mean more Nintendo console sales?
That's possible.
And 25$ is a respectful amount of money for children.

They're seriously going to fine a 10 year $25? Goddammit, people are stupid.

My six-year-old brother plays Mortal Kombat and Halo all the time, so I guess they'll have to charge him millions of dollars. XD (Joking. I live in Florida, so I don't have to worry about this, for now.)

Meh, just shows how corrupt our government is; corrupt with religion and ignorance, that is. I thought this was a free democracy? Too bad America's going to turn towards dictatorship if this kind of ignorance continues.

As for my thoughts, well, considering there is no hard evidence that video games cause kids to do violent crimes or whatever, I'd say that the passing of this law is complete bull. And people are taking video games way too seriously. It's just a type of media, and media doesn't affect you to do things presented on the type of media. It may make you think differentlly or make you learn something new, but it can't affect your actions.

The problem with this law is this:


"Ah so your going to purchase MGS3 eh?(the game allows the player to turn off blood and gore, the game has no nudity, just a story that children wouldn't understand) well then... 30 bucks.."

"ok sir here you go"

"Oh and you now have a fine of 25 bucks, pay up law breaker"

"but I'm a kid and I don't have 25 dollars"



Basically, forcing kids to pay fines is stupid, it's basically blaming the parents for poor parenting, which well, should not be punishable through fines, because "good" parenting comes in so many forms these days, and even then, if one wants to stop the sale of M titles to minors, do what other states have been doing, simply fine the store for actually giving the minor the title.

Kids don't know any better, what they can't have they want even more, so it should really be up to the parent to let the child buy the game, and even than, stores should be smart enough not to give minors such titles.

We don't charge minors 30 bucks for sneaking into an R-rated movie, which probably has much more of a negative influence than say RE4.

Originally Posted by Twilight Princess

Wow!
Thank God we don't have a law like this here in Greece!
Would this mean more Nintendo console sales?
That's possible.
And 25$ is a respectful amount of money for children.

Pretty good point, that is a very good reason why the Wii could sell good.
Seing as how the other companies have alot of rated M franchises, they wouldn't be bought.

But please people they're have been tons of things to prevent rated M games, and none of them worked, I doubt this will apply that long. I mean as Americans we should have the freedom too choose what video games you want (yes I am aware that everyone here is not American). But I think it should be the parents fualt, and responsibilty.