User blog comment:MEffect Fan/California VG law/@comment-737801-20101101233654

Yeah I've heard of this and frankly it is absurd. We had a discussion about this in several of my Video Game design classes and we shared the opinion that this is just a way to get around the first amendment, a.k.a. censorship. The problem isn't violent video games, it's the parents that buy their eight-year-olds Halo or CoD. Businesses are prevented from selling video games that are rated "M" to anyone under the age of seventeen, and most of those games are rated that way for a reason. Now how can these kids, or minors, get those games, from either fake IDs, or from their parents. I have several people in my game design classes who work with kids and some as young as ten, yes ten, that play Halo and CoD. Now I don't know about any of you, but I say that if you are ten and playing Halo, then there is a problem with that. The ESRB is a good rating system and it was even set up by the video game industry as a self-regulating agency. The ESRB is a non-profit organization and has strict laws and regulations about game ratings and who can rate games. I know that no one who rates games can have anyone in their immediate or extended family, i.e. in-laws, first cousins, etc. in the game industry. The ESRB is a good agency and frakly that article has a point. A kid has a better chance of buying alchohol at 7-Eleven, than getting an "M" rated game at any video game retailer.

The system breaks when parents relent and buy their kids games like Halo, CoD, Mass Effect, and so on. The ESRB ratings are there for a reason, but the parents have to be willing to carry their end of the bargin. Parents need to know, and actually look at the game first before buying it, or allowing family members to buy games. In several discussions, all of the classes at my college identified the ESRB ratings are sound, and the problem is when parents give in and buy their teens and kids "M" rated games. The responsibility of knowing what games are appropriate falls squarely on the shoulders of parents, not the state or federal government.

I'm sure Spart who actually lives in California will have something to say, if he hasn't already while I was typing this.