Mail Your Busted Controllers to Leland Yee

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
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Mail Your Busted Controllers to Leland Yee


The Video Game Voters Network has unveiled a new campaign to tell Senator Leland Yee, the man behind the California videogame law that's about to go before the Supreme Court, that we're standing up for our First Amendment rights.

What do you get when you mix a broken controller with fear-mongering political figures determined to usurp the First Amendment as it applies to new forms of media now and in the future? "You Can't Control Me," a new initiative by the Video Game Voters Network to "(joy)stick in to the Man" by sending him a symbolic message that gamers won't stand idly by while their Constitutional rights are gutted.

The process is simple. Collect up your old, broken controllers and write on them, "I believe in the First Amendment." Put them in a box, snap a photo to send in to the VGVN, then seal it up and address it as follows:

The Honorable Leland Yee
455 Golden Gate Avenue
Suite 14200
San Francisco, CA 94102

Take it to the post office, slap on some stamps and send it on its way. That's it, that's all - perhaps not the most well-reasoned argument in the fight against videogame censorship, but if enough controllers make their way to Senator Yee's office, the point will be made. And please, please, resist the urge to expand upon the sentiment with f-bombs or other colorful commentary; that'll just make his point, not ours.

Find out more about "You Can't Control Me" and how you can stand up for your First Amendment rights at videogamevoters.org [http://videogamevoters.org/page/s/controller-campaign?utm_medium=email&utm_source=vgvn&utm_campaign=20101006controller&source=20101006controller].


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PedroSteckecilo

Mexican Fugitive
Feb 7, 2008
6,732
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If I weren't a Canuck I'd be getting in on this, but unfortunately not only does my vote "not count"... Canada doesn't have a first amendment.
 

Cpt_Oblivious

Not Dead Yet
Jan 7, 2009
6,933
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PedroSteckecilo said:
If I weren't a Canuck I'd be getting in on this, but unfortunately not only does my vote "not count"... Canada doesn't have a first amendment.
I'm the same, just replace Canadian with Brit, so I can't really help.
 

AngryMongoose

Elite Member
Jan 18, 2010
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Wait, so he'll be buried in broken controllers coming in every day? Somehow I think this may make us look like the badguys.
 

lostzombies.com

New member
Apr 26, 2010
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I keep getting told two different versions of this vote/law.

1-the law will stop under 18's buying games that are rated 18+

2-it's something to do with banning all games with adult content

Now #1 seems perfectly sensible, just like kids shouldn't be able to go out and buy porn/the latest fore film from Slashy McButtrape. If the US doesn't already have a law stopping adult material from getting into kids hands...it should do.

#2 seems obviously a big deal with far reaching consequences for some big name titles.

Which one, if any is it?
 

dex-dex

New member
Oct 20, 2009
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PedroSteckecilo said:
If I weren't a Canuck I'd be getting in on this, but unfortunately not only does my vote "not count"... Canada doesn't have a first amendment.
but we do have a section two of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
but that is not short and sweet.
 

Jamash

Top Todger
Jun 25, 2008
3,638
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Surely if it was that easy to mail anonymous packages of electronics to politicians then the terrorists would have won by now... I mean if they x-ray these packages and see the wires, do you really think they'll get passed on to the Senator?
 

JeanLuc761

New member
Sep 22, 2009
1,479
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lostzombies.com said:
I keep getting told two different versions of this vote/law.

1-the law will stop under 18's buying games that are rated 18+

2-it's something to do with banning all games with adult content

Now #1 seems perfectly sensible, just like kids shouldn't be able to go out and buy porn/the latest fore film from Slashy McButtrape. If the US doesn't already have a law stopping adult material from getting into kids hands...it should do.

#2 seems obviously a big deal with far reaching consequences for some big name titles.

Which one, if any is it?
I suppose the question is, with number 1, do we really want to equate M-rated video games with pornography? That's going the completely wrong direction.

As it currently stands, the ESRB/Game retailers have roughly an 80% success rate for keeping M-rated games out of the hands of minors, which is the best of any entertainment medium. This law wants to treat videogames the same way society treats cigarettes, drinking and pornography.

That. Is. Wrong.
 

jabrwock

New member
Sep 5, 2007
204
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lostzombies.com said:
Now #1 seems perfectly sensible, just like kids shouldn't be able to go out and buy porn/the latest fore film from Slashy McButtrape. If the US doesn't already have a law stopping adult material from getting into kids hands...it should do.
Violent video games != porn. Kids can buy R-rated movies without penalty to buyer or store. If a kid sneaks into an R-rated movie at the theatre, the theatre chain might do something about it, but the government won't.

As well, there are numerous problems with the government rubber stamping a private rating system. Along with 1st amendment issues (porn falls outside the 1st amendment), there are numerous 14th (due process) problems.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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jabrwock said:
lostzombies.com said:
Now #1 seems perfectly sensible, just like kids shouldn't be able to go out and buy porn/the latest fore film from Slashy McButtrape. If the US doesn't already have a law stopping adult material from getting into kids hands...it should do.
Violent video games != porn. Kids can buy R-rated movies without penalty to buyer or store. If a kid sneaks into an R-rated movie at the theatre, the theatre chain might do something about it, but the government won't.

As well, there are numerous problems with the government rubber stamping a private rating system. Along with 1st amendment issues (porn falls outside the 1st amendment), there are numerous 14th (due process) problems.
Plus any kid can go into a bookstore and legally buy the Karma Sutra.

OT: Wouldn't it make more sense to send the controllers to the Supreme Court? To show them how much this means to us? Because I don't think Yee gives a shit what we think.
 

PedroSteckecilo

Mexican Fugitive
Feb 7, 2008
6,732
0
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lostzombies.com said:
I keep getting told two different versions of this vote/law.

1-the law will stop under 18's buying games that are rated 18+

2-it's something to do with banning all games with adult content

Now #1 seems perfectly sensible, just like kids shouldn't be able to go out and buy porn/the latest fore film from Slashy McButtrape. If the US doesn't already have a law stopping adult material from getting into kids hands...it should do.

#2 seems obviously a big deal with far reaching consequences for some big name titles.

Which one, if any is it?
I believe the law is trying to claim that 1st Ammendment Rights don't apply to Videogames because of their interactive nature and that they should be treated the same as Soft Core Pornography as far as minors are concerned.
 

Valkyira

New member
Mar 13, 2009
1,733
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I really, really want to do this but I'm from the UK. It'll cost an arm and a leg to send a package to the States.
 

randomsix

New member
Apr 20, 2009
773
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Sgt. Sykes said:
Not a good idea.

We'll hear about 'suspicious packages' from 'dangerous, videogame-playing deviants' arriving at the senators's office.

The bomb squad will eliminate all of them before opening.
And then he'll look like a fool for fearmongering. We still win as far as publicity goes.