iGame Radio

Many of us may be tickled about President Barack Obama’s inauguration festivities yesterday, but that doesn’t mean that politics as usual still doesn’t operate on Capitol Hill. Right now, Congressman Joe Baca (D CA-43) has decided to introduce H.R. 231 which, if passed, would require a warning label be affixed to all games rated T or up by the ESRB, regardless of the content descriptors. The warning would read: `WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior.’ Yeah, I know of some violent people who play violent video games. Violence tends to attract violence…like attracts like, you know? Unfortunately, many people will make the assumption that “link” means “causal link” which is a very different story, and not backed up by the scientific evidence.

The ECA is making a call for gamers to contact their congressional rep to oppose this bill, and I so definitely agree. First and foremost, we don’t need labels on video games (and indeed on anything else) that seeks only to confuse the issue further. This is nothing more than a scare tactic, rather than seeking to inform parents further about the content of video games. I mean, if a parent is going to buy an M-rated game for their 9 year old, putting this warning label on the game won’t change that one iota. That parent is still going to be, shall we say, less than competent at their job.

What I’m really afraid of is that this label is the first step at the Federal level in taking the job of parenting away from all parents with regards to video games. Once this label is affixed to the games, then a bill could be introduced that punishes retailers, or even parents, for allowing the purchase of any of these games if the end user is one day below the “recommended age” of the rating. Cause, you know, parents all over really don’t know their kids as well as their congressional reps on Capitol Hill.