State Senator Yee says ESRB is "too biased" to properly regulate video games.

boholikeu

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In a recent Gamespot interview (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6283214.html), California state Senator Leland Yee (the author of the video game law that's currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court) said that the ESRB was too biased to properly evaluate video game content:

I think the problem with the ESRB rating is that the ratings system itself is rather biased. The ESRB is funded by the industry, so it's like the fox guarding the henhouse. Clearly, they're not going to legitimately and appropriately place any markings on any video games, because it's in the interest of the video [game] industry to sell as many video games as possible. You never heard of an AO rating whatsoever, because that would limit your market share.

When the interviewer pointed out that the same is true of the MPAA and the NC-17 rating, Yee went back to his tried and true method of ignoring the question and started talking about how video games are a new technology that leave parents too bewildered to make a decision by themselves.

This guy is up for re-election on Tuesday. If you live in San Francisco, PLEASE PLEASE vote him out of office. Even his conservative opponent can't be worse than this.
 

oplinger

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I like him. He's nuts. Great entertainment.

...I don't like that people listen to him with a straight face and aren't in tears with laughter.
 

repeating integers

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Being a Brit, I can't understand why people over there listen to this guy. He sounds stupid, and is grasping at straws.
 

EinTheCorgi

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meh if I had my way the ESRB wouldn't exist because parents should have to make the decision themselves weather or not to buy there kid the game I mean wtf there old enough to have kids but they need help parenting them. I mean if you can't handle parenthood don't have kids that simple.
 

oplinger

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EinTheCorgi said:
meh if I had my way the ESRB wouldn't exist because parents should have to make the decision themselves weather or not to buy there kid the game I mean wtf there old enough to have kids but they need help parenting them. I mean if you can't handle parenthood don't have kids that simple.
EinTheCorgi said:
don't have kids that simple.
Parents. That's the best advice ever, completely out of context.

Don't have stupid children. Then this can all be avoided >.>
 

Telperion

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I listened to one of his press releases on YouTube. At first the guy doesn't seem to have an ounce of charisma, and seems quite unsure of himself. He certainly doesn't have the looks. However, once he got on the roll his rhetoric started getting considerably better. When he puts some emotional into it the guy sounds downright believable.

If you want to see what I watched go to YouTube and search for "Senator Leland Yee discusses SB399"

...so, he might not know anything about the video games, but I don't think that's going to make much of a difference.
 

oplinger

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Hardcore_gamer said:
OhJohnNo said:
Being a Brit, I can't understand why people over there listen to this guy. He sounds stupid, and is grasping at straws.
Why? No please tell me why his claims are so stupid?

All I can hear from people is "OMG HE SAID SOMETHING BAD ABOUT THE GAMING INDUSTRY SO CLEARLY HE IS NUTS!!!!"

He said nothing outrages or stupid like Jack Thomson would have done, he merely says that the ESRB can't be objective because it is founded by the industry and that it is in the industry's well being to see fewer tittles carrying an AO's rating or else it will harm them, which is true.

I hate to say it guys, and I can't really side with the people bashing the senator here. Its not like he called out for the death of the video game industry.
I think it was better when he used wikipedia to say favorable things about himself.
 

SimuLord

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Aug 20, 2008
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Chairman Yee needs to be packed off to rejoin his ethnic and ideological brothers in Communist China. I can't stand that guy.
 

Chappy

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As a Brit and not having a clue who the ESRB are I've come to the conclusion they are both wrong.

Yes the ESRB is funded by the industry and hence there ratings are going to have bias that is a fair point by the senator however is this not the senator that wants the goverment to regulate games? and their decisions are biased towards what will get them the most votes at the time to get into office again.

ESRB may not censor many games because it would affect the market sales and their income, but the goverment if they find the majority of their voters for a given year are afraid of violence in media affected their children will stamp down every game they can find to gain their voters appeasement.

You can never have a decision that is Objective it will always be motivated by something emotional or personal.

As for the comment parents are to bewildered to make a decision about this new technology what makes him, the goverment or ERSB any more qaulified?

In short: The ESRB may be objective to their sales and profits but the Senator and Goverment are not going to be any less biased looking for the people's vote, truely is the best way to just let the parent decide as it is their child?
 

oplinger

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Hardcore_gamer said:
Doesn't have anything to do with the tread subject.
Neither did your question. You changed the subject. He does silly things, that's why he's stupid.

he's been questioned multiple times for cruising town for prostitutes. He's not the best person to be in this argument, nor can I take him seriously. And not long ago he was saying the parents should decide -anyway- so the ESRB is completely meaningless to him in the first place.

He's just a silly man.
 

SonicWaffle

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Hardcore_gamer said:
He said nothing outrageous or stupid like Jack Thomson would have done, he merely says that the ESRB can't be objective because it is founded by the industry and that it is in the industry's well being to see fewer tittles carrying an AO's rating or else it will harm them, which is true.
No, it's in the best interests of the industry for the ESRB to be objective. If they appear to be doing their job ineffectually, then there is a good chance that in the near future there will be a government-appointed body of know-nothings deciding the ratings for games. I'd rather trust someone who is a gamer to decide what is age appropriate than a political busybody who doesn't know the games, doesn't care about the games, and whose only motivation is to "protect the children" from everything up to and including reality.

Long story short, it's better for us all if the people who decide on the age ratings for games are people who actually understand what they're talking about. The ESRB are aware of this, and as such this is an incentive for them to be objective.
 

TheBluesader

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Hardcore_gamer said:
OhJohnNo said:
Being a Brit, I can't understand why people over there listen to this guy. He sounds stupid, and is grasping at straws.
Why? No please tell me why his claims are so stupid?

All I can hear from people is "OMG HE SAID SOMETHING BAD ABOUT THE GAMING INDUSTRY SO CLEARLY HE IS NUTS!!!!"

He said nothing outrageous or stupid like Jack Thomson would have done, he merely says that the ESRB can't be objective because it is founded by the industry and that it is in the industry's well being to see fewer tittles carrying an AO's rating or else it will harm them, which is true.

I hate to say it guys, and I can't really side with the people bashing the senator here. Its not like he called out for the death of the video game industry.
Um, yes he DID. If he gets his way, it will start a cascade effect that just may kill the industry.

It's pretty simple. The State will fine retailers for violations, if the violations are a legal matter. Big retailers like Target and Walmart won't want to deal with paying the fines, so they'll simply refuse to carry 'M' rated games.

And a lot of huge, AAA titles are 'M' rated now. And without the major retailers selling the games, publishers will lose money, studios will lose money, and while the publishers will probably find a way to survive, many studios will not. So studios will fold, devs will be out of work, Second Video Game Crash, industry dead.

Buy a clue, friend.
 

Macgyvercas

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Feb 19, 2009
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Does Yee know that you don't see AO ratings because retailers don't carry them? That rating is the kiss of death, quite literally.

I severely hope is ass gets booted from office. I know politicians are stupid, but this guy takes the cake. He's almost as bad as Atkinson.
 

Dana22

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When politics want to regulate and control everything, we call it fascism or communism. Pick your flavor senator.
 

chinangel

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OhJohnNo said:
Being a Brit, I can't understand why people over there listen to this guy. He sounds stupid, and is grasping at straws.
Hun, I'm Canadian, closer than you are, and *I* can't understand him either. :S I'm pretty sure these same comments were made about television too. Why do people CONSTANTLY blame what's going wrong with life on new technology? TV, Comic Books, Video Games. I'm willing to bet if North Korea launched missiles, it would be blamed on too much Missile Command. >_<
 

tharglet

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EinTheCorgi said:
meh if I had my way the ESRB wouldn't exist because parents should have to make the decision themselves weather or not to buy there kid the game I mean wtf there old enough to have kids but they need help parenting them. I mean if you can't handle parenthood don't have kids that simple.
I think a ratings-system has a place - not everyone is an expert on what is in xyz game/movie/etc so having a rating system makes people think twice if it is right to get it for their children or not.

For the below image, if you ignore the fact it has a rating on it, can you tell if this is suitable for kids or not [assuming you have never heard of the show]?