The ECA Needs Your Help

Ex: "In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to review Schwarzenegger v. EMA —a California law that would make it illegal to sell violent videogames to children—The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) is launching a two-pronged initiative designed to show the Court exactly how gamers feel about their First Amendment rights."

[Queasy]

How the first amendment seems to be thrown out in regards to games but not TV, movies, radio, etc.

[CrAppleton]

It is pretty dumb when you look at other media getting treated differently.

[squallsoft]

I agree. Look at all the garbage that is being played on TV. Just one look at Jersey Shore and The Real World, and all of a sudden, Video Games don't look so bad...

[Neco512]

Video Games should be treated the same as movies. They are a form of art and should not be regulated

[DaRockSays]

Agreed. Video Games are art

[Double Toasted]

I'm lazy, but...isn't this a law already?

[Christopher]

How does preventing the sale of violent (M-rated) video games to children infringe on the industry's freedom of speech? Are they suddenly unable to create the games they want just because the audience the game is not made for can't buy it themselves?

There's no denying that video games are art, but so is porn and adult magazines in many respects. Yet, there exist laws protecting kids from sexual content and we claim our freedom of speech is being infringed upon when it comes to violence? Why haven't we claimed the same thing when it comes to sexual content?

Isn't this the type of hypocrisy we've been talking about for years, where violence is seen as okay in movies and games but not sexual content. When someone finally turns around and recognizes the issues with violence in addition to sexual content... we turn against them claiming rights to freedom of speech.

Two examples to think about regarding children and the 1st amendment---

Example 1: Public schools are public property, thereby persons are supposedly protected by the 1st amendment. But, if your child start spouting profanities, they are not covered by the 1st amendment, even though they're on public property. Is this wrong or right?

Example 2: Public libraries have been forced by the court to remove filters that prevent children from accessing pornographic Web sites at their public locations. Is this wrong or right?

[Farmhand]

I agree with what you said.

[dizzleK]

pornography, squash videos, organizations like nambla, the list goes on.

video games are simply the new EC comics and twisted sister albums: an easy target that give people the "warm&fuzzy" feeling that the government is actually doing something.

[CrAppleton]

The problem isn't with video games. The problem is with these A-holes who call themselves parents that pay no attention to their children

[Neco512]

unfortunately this is true. The majority of violent games that kids play, are bought by their parents. The parents then turn around and b!tch about it because they don't want the finger being pointed at them.

[DaRockSays]

I think bad parents are probably the only ones behind these kinds of laws

[StixRemix]

Yeah, parents need to learn about game ratings. They're on the box for a reason.

[PiTCHBLaCK]

Actually, This is mostly not true, if your 12 year old goes to a friends house and watches M Rated movies or play M Rated games, offten times you won't even know, it doesn't make the parent of that 12 year old bad, The Issue is with Store clerks, they need to ask for ID if they look younger then the rating on the game. But even still they might be allowed to watch M Rated movies and play M Rated games at a friends house.

We can't put a leash on our kids and go with them everywhere.
Besides most normal thinking people know It's just a game and NOT real.

[raptorjacob]

waltercross i'm just guessing that friends still have parents or legal guardians, so it still comes back to parenting. parents also can somewhat decide if those friends are good or bad influences. i completely agree that we cant put a leash on our kids, but parents can control the controllable

[PiTCHBLaCK]

Ok Yes Parenting but not all parents, there is only so much you can control.
Yes Parents can decide if the friends are good or bad, but as I say often times you do not know if your child says nothing to you, you gonna go Inspect there friends house and ask Questions?

I Think It begins with Education and talking to your child about what is wrong and right, wether It's about drugs, sex or video games.

[raptorjacob]

you could go meet the parents and get a hint of what their character is like.
" I Think It begins with Education and talking to your child about what is wrong and right, wether It's about drugs, sex or video games."
That is kind of what i meant by parents controlling the controllable. The things you can do then a parent should do it.

[DaRockSays]

Signed it! I feel as though I'm doing my part to save my hobby.

[CrAppleton]

Agreed. I signed it as well

[Yes_2]

I don't get it. Why is it a bad thing for it to be illegal to sell video games to children?

[Farmhand]

people just assume that their rights are under attack and charge off to protest without thinking things through.

[Zerodin]

It's not a violation of ANYTHING.

[Unicron]

Parents can't parent properly, so the government has to step in? Sad state of affairs.

I was playing M games and seeing R movies since I was 11. I have not one acted out violently towards anyone.

[Berdy]

I thought it was already illegal to sell M games to kids

[PiTCHBLaCK]

Guess not in California LOL
In our state I think it is Illegal to sell M Rated games to kids.

[Dir_en_grey]

Whatever you do just don't give ECA your credit card number. A while back people from Cheapassgamers.com were reporting ECA charging their credit cards even though they have long terminated their membership.

ECA offered free membership through a magazine a while back, but they needed your credit card number first to get that 1 year free. A lot of people from cheapassgamers got suckered into it since it gave discounts to Amazon but that soon disappeared.

When the false credit card charges happened the mod deleted any posts on their forums asking about the credit card problem.

They say they fight for a good cause, but just be aware that shady stuff did happen with ECA recently.

[dizzleK]

anybody who has worked at any type of gaming retail can say without hesitation that most parents simply don't care. they would buy their kids Snuff Film: The Game as long as it didn't have any digital boobies in it. their rationale is that the kids see worse on tv. really? then thats your failure as a parent (and i'm watching the wrong shows lol). i don't watch much tv but i'm pretty sure you won't find many heads being chainsawed off on basic cable.