IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Senator Yee Defends CA Game Law In Op-Ed

Posted December 21, 2010 by M.H. Williams

As the Supreme Court continues to go over arguments surrounding California’s controversial game legislation, Senator Leland Yee, one of the authors of the bill, has defended the law in an editorial piece at the San Diego Union-Tribune. Yee’s main premise is that parents should be able to control what games their children play, and contends that his legislation gives parents greater authority.

Yee cites research stating that prolonged playtime with violent video games makes children more aggressive. He points to a statement endorsed by numerous researchers globally: “Overall, the research data conclude that exposure to violent video games causes an increase in the likelihood of aggressive behavior. Violent video games have also been found to increase aggressive thinking, aggressive feelings, physiological desensitization to violence, and to decrease pro-social behavior.”

“As a child psychologist, I have reviewed the research. Exposure to media violence was significantly associated with increased aggression or violence. The harmful effects on minors from playing violent video games are documented and not seriously contested,” writes Yee. “Society has a direct, rational and compelling reason in marginally restricting a minor’s access to violent video games. Indeed, under the statute, any parent remains completely free to provide any video game for their children.”

Yee remains hopeful about the outcome of the Supreme Court review, noting the comments of some of the Justices about the case (although most seemed to favor the game industry's argument).

“It is common sense to say that parents have the right to say whether their children buy a game in which a 13-year-old child imagines he’s a torturer and imposes gratuitous, painful, excruciating violence on small children and women. It makes no sense to bar children from buying a picture of a naked woman but to allow them to buy video games that portray gratuitous torture,” Yee quoted Justice Stephen Breyer as saying.

Yee closes by reiterating that the law gives parents a greater choice in what games their kids play and that retailers and game producers should not determine what’s appropriate for kids. The question remains: how does state legislation give parents more choices in what their children consume?

M.H. Williams has been writing in some form or another for ten years and has been a hardcore gamer since the NES first graced American shores.  You can catch him on Twitter as @AutomaticZen, Google+ as himself, or on his personal Facebook page.