**Note: the link comes from a site that uses quite a lot of gaming ads. Be ware that if you click the link, you are likely to see some.**
Apparently the state of California recently passed a law banning the sale of M rated games to minors for inappropriate materials. The law is being taken to the Supreme Court on the claim that it infringes on the 4th amendment. The ruling is scheduled to occur sometime in late 2010 or 2011. The article itself is quite neutral. Thought you all might find it interesting.
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"Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win." -Jonothan Kozol
In Canada, our constitution and laws are quite different in many respects. There is no absolute right to sell these materials to children, and most provinces now have very firm rules about sales of games to minors. It amounts to legally enforcing the good information found in the ESRB rating system.
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From the Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
Rights and freedoms in Canada
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
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Since 2005, video games in the province of Ontario have been covered by the Film Classification Act (FCA), treated the same as movies, but with the ESRB classifications. I am not aware of any legal challenge to these regulations, but the Industry would not win.
From the web site of the Ontario Film Review Board (OFRB):
Video Games
By regulation under the FCA, the government has adopted the ratings issued by the industry-based Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) for video games sold or rented in Ontario.
However, when there is a request for reconsideration of the classification from the public that the Director of the Consumer Protection Branch at the Ministry of Consumer Services believes is necessary, OFRB will reconsider the original classification.
The ESRB rates video games into one of the following age-based categories: Early Childhood (Ages 3 and up)Everyone (Ages 6 and up)Everyone 10+ (Ages 10 and up)Teen (Ages 13 and up)Mature (Ages 17 and up)Adults Only (Ages 18 and up).
The FCA contains restrictions related to the aEUoeMatureaEU and aEUoeAdults OnlyaEU rated games prohibiting retailers from selling or renting video games in these categories to minors (under 18 for AO and under 17 for M games.)
[color=blue]Edit: I personally have an interest in this issue, but strictly speaking, this debate lies outside our primary purpose, which is to reach addicted gamers and their families.[/color]
Thanks,
Brad
The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.
-Alfred Lord Tennyson
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