If passed, the bill – known as
AB
450 – would
require labelling of video games and impose a penalty of up to
$1,000 for each underage sale or rental of ultra-violent games in
which "the range of options available to a player includes killing,
maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human
being."
At present in the
US
, there is no federal law
against the sale of violent video games to minors. There is a
system of industry self-regulation, however. Some games are labeled
"M" for Mature – and they should not be sold to anyone younger than
17; others are marked "
AO
" for Adults Only, where
customers must be over 18. But previous legislative attempts to
underpin the system with penalties have been struck down as
unconstitutional.
In contrast, in the
UK
, video games that are
particularly realistic, or feature sex or violence, must be
classified by the British Board of Film Classification under the
Video Recordings Act of 1984. It is an offence to supply such a
game to anyone below the age limit, punishable by a fine of up to
£5,000 or up to six months in prison. For those games not covered
by the Act, the UK games industry applies its own voluntary age
rating system.
The Californian bill's author, Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee, wants
to see penalties in the
US
for those selling violent
games to children.
"For the same reason we don't allow kids to buy
pornography, cigarettes, or alcohol, we shouldn't allow them to go
to stores and buy video games that teach them to do the very things
we put people in jail for – abusing women, joining street gangs,
killing police officers, or even assassinating President Kennedy,"
he said.
"Unlike movies where you
passively watch violence, in a video game, you are the active
participant and making decisions on who to stab, maim, burn or
kill," added Yee, who is also a child psychologist. "As a result,
these games serve as learning tools that have a dramatic impact on
our children."
The bill now goes forward to a vote in the Assembly and, if
approved, to the State Senate.
