NEW AMERICAN BILL PROPOSES MAKING SELLING NON-ESRB RATED GAMES ILLEGAL

Posts

Pages: first prev 12 last
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
author=alterego
Again, allow me to point out how silly this sounds to me: "Gun control. YES! Internet or Games control. HELL NO!"


Um the people who want the government to control guns and the people who want the government to control information are the same people. Both are liberal agendas, opposed by the conservatives.

...That's true for the opinions of people who are actually involved in politics, anyway. Of course you always get selfish morons who want the government to make laws against whatever problem has personally slighted them.
You know with all you people going “this isn’t going to pass, this isn’t going to pass” you know what would be hilarious? If it passed.

Yeah. No.

author=KingArthur
All in all, I do not find a problem with enforcing the ESRB and I could not care less one way or the other whether this bill passes or not. In fact, I find it a problem if games cannot or are not being rated by ESRB prior to commercial debut; why do we even have ESRB in the first place if it is not compulsory?

This is tripe.

#1: Most people are missing the point, you included. The biggest problem is not the content of this bill, it's the precedent it would set for future bills. It could become very problematic if they ever tried to extend this to digital downloads, for example.

#2: Many games today are not in fact rated by the ESRB - games on the iPhone, for example. Neither are a number of games on the Xbox Live and PSN, and there are tons of indie games released online commercially. In addition, it costs a few thousand dollars to be rated by the ESRB, something that I wouldn't consider particularly affordable for your random one-two person team.

#3: The ESRB is doing a fine enough job on its own without this crap being institutionalized. It serves its purpose of being a general advisory board quite well without being actual red tape. The only thing this bill will do is cost someone - somewhere - more money, and probably result in the occasional pointless lawsuit, all for no discernible benefit.
author=Karsuman
You know with all you people going “this isn’t going to pass, this isn’t going to pass” you know what would be hilarious? If it passed.
Yeah. No.

author=KingArthur
All in all, I do not find a problem with enforcing the ESRB and I could not care less one way or the other whether this bill passes or not. In fact, I find it a problem if games cannot or are not being rated by ESRB prior to commercial debut; why do we even have ESRB in the first place if it is not compulsory?


This is tripe.

#1: Most people are missing the point, you included. The biggest problem is not the content of this bill, it's the precedent it would set for future bills. It could become very problematic if they ever tried to extend this to digital downloads, for example.

#2: Many games today are not in fact rated by the ESRB - games on the iPhone, for example. Neither are a number of games on the Xbox Live and PSN, and there are tons of indie games released online commercially. In addition, it costs a few thousand dollars to be rated by the ESRB, something that I wouldn't consider particularly affordable for your random one-two person team.

#3: The ESRB is doing a fine enough job on its own without this crap being institutionalized. It serves its purpose of being a general advisory board quite well without being actual red tape. The only thing this bill will do is cost someone - somewhere - more money, and probably result in the occasional pointless lawsuit, all for no discernible benefit.

i <3 your brain karusman
Locke hit the nail on the head. Some company paid a senator to introduce this bill. The government is controlled by corporations. If enough money was put forth to enough politicians, this bill would go through without a problem. Thankfully, that will probably never happen since the money it would cost to get the bill passed would cost more than the money they'd make from it.
#2: Many games today are not in fact rated by the ESRB - games on the iPhone, for example. Neither are a number of games on the Xbox Live and PSN, and there are tons of indie games released online commercially. In addition, it costs a few thousand dollars to be rated by the ESRB, something that I wouldn't consider particularly affordable for your random one-two person team.

Yeah, I think we all know that. Hence why this bill probably seeks to expand and enforce the use of ESRB ratings... And those services you mention supposedly have their own rating systems and what not, but I wonder to what extent are they trustworthy. I don't know about the Apple store or PSN, but the Android market is full of all kinds of shit. I doubt there's any significant policing of any kind.

Also, for what I've been able to dig up, the rating fee for games with a budget of under 250k (Hardly the kind of money a one-two person team will ever spend in a game) is of just $800. But that's not all. As of October of last year the ESRB introduced its Digital Rating Service for Download-only games, and it's supposedly FREE! Gee, and I thought they were cash-grabbing dictators... lol

Welp! Upon learning about this, this issue seems rather moot... Now I just hope indie developers wise up and make use of that service.
author=alterego
the ESRB introduced its Digital Rating Service for Download-only games, and it's supposedly FREE! Gee, and I thought they were cash-grabbing dictators... lol


Pretty cool.

As I said, the ESRB is pretty good at managing things on its own. =p
author=LockeZ
author=alterego
Again, allow me to point out how silly this sounds to me: "Gun control. YES! Internet or Games control. HELL NO!"
Um the people who want the government to control guns and the people who want the government to control information are the same people. Both are liberal agendas, opposed by the conservatives.

...That's true for the opinions of people who are actually involved in politics, anyway. Of course you always get selfish morons who want the government to make laws against whatever problem has personally slighted them.


Well, I'm against information controlling, but for gun control. Might be that I've grown up in a society where people don't get shot on a daily basis and though we have issues with illegal guns still, there's not many kids going to their parents arsenals and taking shit out on their school mates/enemies. Hell, we don't even have metal detectors in our schools, so... maybe it's an issue worth looking at.

Whatever, back to games!

Neat that the ESRB would have a free option for downloadable games. It would make things easier, but like Karsu said, it's not just about the money, but about the precedent it sets for the future. A bill like this could be used to push forward many other bills of the like and before we know it we're knee-deep in stupid bills trying to contain our ability to create and disperse.
Pages: first prev 12 last