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+--- Thread: OB1 is going to hate this... (/showthread.php?tid=4884)
OB1 is going to hate this... - Dark Jaguar - 24th June 2008
http://kotaku.com/5019410/new-york-senate-passes-games-classification-bill
Despite what the guy writing this article says, this is VERY bad.
Let's assume for a moment that this law is really "harmless". If that's the case, why did they bother to pass it? Clearly this law accomplishes nothing if it doesn't do anything. Why add a law that accomplishes nothing? To make a political statement? Such statements can be made in either more meaningful ways or just by stating them. It's never a good idea to just add laws for the heck of it. No real thought was put into this decision and that's dangerous in and of itself.
Now let's take it a step further, recognizing that a board for rating these games would cost money. That's fine when it's game companies paying the fees. However, when it's New Yorkers, paying for something that helps no one at all, it's harmful. This isn't a road, or medicine, or schooling, or anything that would help the public good in a real and meaningful way, it's a game rating board! They don't deserve tax payer money.
Finally, let's make one thing straight. It's very likely that if they do shift the burden off taxpayers, it will be shifted to the game designers. This won't be a problem for major game companies. However, if you are making Cave Story, a free game programmed in a garage somewhere by someone that can't afford to pay rating fees, then you have just restricted the ability of someone to make their art and deploy it widely. That's fine if their "art" is, say, child pornography or gutting and displaying bodies from walls. It isn't fine when it's a law made for no reason that protects no one.
This law IS harmful, and if other places adobt it, it will make it VERY hard for amateur game designers to get a start, and for what?
OB1 is going to hate this... - A Black Falcon - 25th June 2008
Bizarre law... what is even the point? 'Only if the ESRB went away'? Sure that might make the law have a minisculely better chance of being constitutional, unlike all those other videogame ratings laws, but really... it's still clearly illegal, and pointless when it doesn't even require enforcement unless something that's not going to happen happens. Very weird.
Quote:Let's assume for a moment that this law is really "harmless". If that's the case, why did they bother to pass it?
Lawmakers having absolutely no idea what they're doing with regards to videogames, most likely.
OB1 is going to hate this... - Great Rumbler - 25th June 2008
Uh, it doesn't sound nearly as bad as you're saying. As long as the ESRB doesn't magically vanish into thin air, then this law does nothing.
OB1 is going to hate this... - Dark Jaguar - 25th June 2008
Doesn't this law basically require games to be rated as opposed to it being optional, regardless of whether or not the ESRB is the one doing it?
OB1 is going to hate this... - A Black Falcon - 25th June 2008
Yeah, that is true: It'll be illegal to sell any non-rated game in New York state. Any game sold in stores has a rating because boxed games always have one, but if this applied to online-distributed titles too, that'd be a huge concern... it would depend on the wording of the bill.
OB1 is going to hate this... - Dark Jaguar - 25th June 2008
And not just sold... the free ones too.
OB1 is going to hate this... - A Black Falcon - 25th June 2008
Good point, if you're right, though I'm not sure that you are.
OB1 is going to hate this... - Dark Jaguar - 25th June 2008
The specifics are important. Either way, this should never have passed.