Steve Barr schrieb: > http://www.cnn.com/2000/LAW/08/22/videogameban.ap/index.html > > "The law requires coin-operated games featuring > graphic violence or strong sexual content to have > warning labels and be kept at least 10 feet from > nonviolent game machines. The machines must > also be separated by a curtain or wall so minors > cannot see them. The law bars people under age > 18 from such games unless accompanied by a > parent or guardian." > > Thoughts? How many people would get into roleplaying if they > couldn't legally until age 18? I don't think this touches RPGs at all, or rather, it oughtn't rationally. (Of course rational is what censorship normally isn't, but hey). The issue here is images of violence and sex that young children ought not to be exposed to unwittingly. It's roughly the equivalent of the ruling that forbids videostores from displaying Cinderella next to the porn section (or rather, forbids them to admit children if they do). The Guardians of High Culture have always (and I think rightly) seen pictures as much more dangerous in influence than text, and in this case I can see their point. Of course, the formulation worries me. "Graphic violence or strong sexual content" - does this have any fixed legal significance, or is it a case of "I'm the judge and I say it *is* porn"? Depending on current mood you could use this to forbid Pokemon (c'mon, electric shocks? poison gas?) How would this be handled in application? I wouldn't want my kids to play some of the nastier computer games (if I had any, that is), but neither would I want to get back to the age of "good, clean-minded Disney fun". Lawyers around? As to RPGs - I'm surprised the opposition has not voiced this concern yet. I've heard RPGs attacked variously as escapist and socially stunting (which a good argument can be made against) and tools of Satan (that one doesn't even merit an answer IMNSHO). But if I was a concerned parent what would worry me most is just what my kid is playing there. Now, no big RPG I know makes either graphic, gory violence or porn a central feature (GURPS even refuses to discuss its notorious 'Erotic Art' Skill in print in any detail), but you wouldn't know from looking at the pictures. So this wave might yet spill over, and while I agree with Deb Atwood that roleplaying is easily handled in a mature and civilised way I know I'll have a hard time explaining that to a hostile audience. Volker ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
