Could CA Violent Game Law Lead To an Industry Exodus?

donniebaseball23 writes "Oral arguments for the California games law are set to begin on November 2. It's a hugely important court case for the industry, and if the Supreme Court sides with the legislators it could lead to an exodus of talent from the games business, says one attorney. 'Certainly less games would be produced and there would be a corresponding job loss,' said Patrick Sweeney, who leads the Video Game practice at Reed Smith LLP. 'But I expect the impact will likely be significantly deeper. I believe the independent development community would be severely impacted. Innovation, both from a creative and technological aspect, would also be stifled. The companies, brands and individuals that we should be embracing as the visionaries of this creative and collaborative industry will migrate their talents to a more expressive medium.' Meanwhile, Dr. Cheryl K. Olson, author of Grand Theft Childhood, notes that even if California gets its way, it could backfire."

Re:No

[Anonymous Coward]

Ugh. /. raped my comment.

I disagree with you. "Vanilla" sex may not be taboo anymore, but the sexual urges of pubescent children are still stigmatized beyond recognition.

If we encouraged children to explore and understand their sexuality (SAFELY, with condoms, with consenting people of similar age) instead of ostracizing them for expressing their sexuality, or telling them to suppress their urges, I would surmise that those children would be mostly disinterested in those kinds of materials.

To put it shortly, I think that if the sexual capacity of a human body is fully formed, it's absurd to tell that human it can't to what it's made to do.

Why do the states keep doing this?

[jonwil]

States all over the union have passed laws restricting "violent video games" (with various definitions for that term) and every time the courts have overturned them as unconstitutional.

Why do the states keep wasting taxpayer money on laws that they know wont survive in court? (are they just trying law after law until someone finally finds language that wont get overturned?)

Re:No

[hedwards]

A measure like that would cost jobs. That sort of a ban would reduce the copies sold if by only the people who are no longer able to buy it for themselves. I doubt that it's a significant enough number to make much of a difference though.

They'll just change the games

[billsayswow]

All military shooters will take place in a parallel universe where the world's governments realize that while war is a means to an end, the cost of life is too great to be a viable option. All firearms were discarded, used only for sport now, and instead all guns are paintball guns. The UN sends judges to determine when soldiers have taken enough hits to be considered unfit to continue. In the end, the soldiers meet in the middle of the battlefield, shake hands, and pull out wet sponges to clean paint off the opposing teams's uniform and kit. In this world, in war, no matter which side is victorious, everyone is a winner.

California Games ha! Best game ever!

[drunken-yeti]

On a serious note America doesn't have any violence issue compared to the rest of the world. Most of the places with the worst violence don't have much of a TV/video game playing population. Serbia, Africa, the Middle East yep all video games fault.

Re:No

[ScrewMaster]

Assuming they can get a job in the first place. When I was that age there were paper routes available and other jobs. These days it's getting quite challenging for kids to get work, as a lot of those jobs are being taken over by adults or eliminated due to concerns about child welfare.

There are other reasons. I was watching a prime-time news program last year which was decrying the lack of such "transition jobs" available for our youth, and how that was seriously impacting their ability to enter the workforce as adults. Now, this particular program placed the blame for this entirely at the feet of the elderly. I was listening to the voiceover solemnly declare that our senior citizens were not gracefully accepting their retirement (as if some 80-year-old is working retail because he or she wants to be) and were injuring the nation's young people with their greediness, and thinking "what kind of a crock is this?"

The final scene showed a white-haired old woman working the register at a Macdonald's, the voice carrying on about how in the past an up-and-coming young American would have filled this job, on his way to fame and glory. I almost fell out of my chair when I noticed the half-dozen Mexicans slaving busily away in the background.

If the producers did that on purpose, it was brilliant. If not, they were just being assholes. Some of the "adults" you speak of who are taking menial jobs from children are doing so because for the past half century or more, our leaders have looted our treasury, pillaged our economy, broken every promise they, and left millions of elderly in the unenviable position of having to work until they die. Others are working people who spent much of their lives doing real work, but (for the reasons outlined above) have found themselves having to take any job they can find just to feed themselves and their families.

Yes, Mr. President(s), and members of that august committee known as "Congress", you did this. I hope there is a God, because that means there's probably a Satan around here somewhere, and I think most you know where you'll be going.