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Poll Finds 72% Of Adults Favor Banning Sale Of Violent Video Games To Minors
In less than two months the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments as to whether a California law seeking to prohibit the sale of violent video games to minors is unconstitutional. However, a recent Zogby survey reveals that the law has already found overwhelming support among adults.
Zogby International polled 2,100 adults, and the results speak for themselves: 72% said they would support a law that "prohibits minors from purchasing ultraviolent or sexually violent video games without parental consent." Watchdog group Common Sense Media is lauding the result of the survey. It's worth noting that Common Sense Media commissioned the survey, and thus had a hand in shaping the initial question.
The ESA currently restricts the sale of mature video games to minors through the ESRB, but there is no law that forces them to do so. The new California law going before the Supreme Court would require a separate form of rating applied by each individual publisher. Those individual publishers would be liable if they mislabeled a game; retailers would be liable if they sold a game that was labeled for purchasers 18 and over.
Perhaps the most unsettling result of the survey is that of the parents polled in the survey, 75% said they would give the industry a "negative rating when it comes to how they protect kids from violent video games." These responses seem contrary to findings from the Federal Trade Commission: In November, a report from the FTC stated that "The electronic game industry continues to have the strongest self-regulatory code," and that "compliance with [that] code was high in all media."
Though public opinion may seem to be against the video game industry, the Supreme Court will make its decision based on the legality of the California law in question. Regardless of whether adults approve of the law or not, the question remains: is it constitutional to ban the sale of video games to minors?
We'll have to wait until later in the year to see what the Supreme Court decides, but regardless of the outcome, I think both sides of the debate would agree that no law can replace the importance of responsible parenting. If you'd like to know more about the industry's current rating system, check out the ESRB's homepage. If you'd like to take a more active hand in sharing your thoughts about the legislating the sale of video games, you should consider joining the Video Game Voter's Network.
[Via Gamespot]
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