Tobacco-style warning on video games proposed by US bill

Not for the first time, a biparisan pair of US congressmen have introduced a bill that would require almost every video game box to bear a label reading, "WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior."

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Once again, video games are being used for a spot of political grandstanding, and in a familiar way. Not for the first time, a bipartisan pair of US congressmen have introduced a bill that would require almost every video game box to bear a warning label reading, "WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior."

Should the the Violence in Video Games Labeling Act, H. R. 4204, somehow pass, it'd require the warning be placed "in a clear and conspicuous location on the packaging" of every game rated by the ESRB, except for those rated EC (Early Childhood). It makes no distinction for a game's actual content, so the warning would be slapped on Mortal Kombat and Imagine: Party Babyz alike.

"The video game industry has a responsibility to parents, families and to consumers — to inform them of the potentially damaging content that is often found in their products," chief sponsor Joe Baca (D-CA) said, reported by The Hill. "They have repeatedly failed to live up to this responsibility."

Co-sponsor Frank Wolf (R-VA) chimed in, "Just as we warn smokers of the health consequences of tobacco, we should warn parents - and children - about the growing scientific evidence demonstrating a relationship between violent video games and violent behavior."

Of course, no causal relationship has ever been proven.

The Entertainment Software Association responded, in a statement provided to Gamasutra, "Representative Baca's facially unconstitutional bill - which has been introduced to no avail in each of six successive Congressional sessions, beginning in 2002 - needlessly concerns parents with flawed research and junk science."

Given that such bills have failed to pass before, it's fair to predict that this one will die too, after wasting a fair bit of time and money. It's an established routine--when lawmakers try to single out video games, all they get is a costly bill.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 21, 2012 7:00 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Tobacco-style warning on video games proposed by US bill.

    Not for the first time, a biparisan pair of US congressmen have introduced a bill that would require almost every video game box to bear a label reading, "WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior."

    • reply
      March 21, 2012 7:03 AM

      MAN FUCK THIS BULLSHI... oh.

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      March 21, 2012 7:04 AM

      Hasn't that been disproven or something?

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      March 21, 2012 7:05 AM

      Here we go again. . .Our lawmakers are effing retards

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      March 21, 2012 7:10 AM

      Hey, at least it's bipartisan. Or biparisan. Because apparently they are two Congressmen from Paris, France.

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      March 21, 2012 7:20 AM

      I'm glad our lawmakers are focusing on the truly important issues of the day.

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      March 21, 2012 7:21 AM

      WARNING: Correlation is not causation!

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      March 21, 2012 7:36 AM

      I just called Congressman Wolf's DC office (he is my district representative) and I spoke this a receptionist about how I thought this bill was a waste of time.

      I have done stuff like this before, but I was amazed at how serious my request was taken this time. She wanted to make sure she had the bill number and everything. I was told I could expect a call from the Congressman.

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        March 21, 2012 8:52 AM

        Nice.

        Have your ducks in a row, and make some valid arguments.

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      March 21, 2012 7:37 AM

      Only if we gamers can start posting warnings on churches that say something like "Warning, exposure to religion has been linked to causing MASS MURDER and potentially GENOCIDE!"

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        March 21, 2012 7:38 AM

        daaaaaaaamn

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        March 21, 2012 7:45 AM

        [deleted]

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        March 21, 2012 4:02 PM

        Well that is exactly what happens when you follow false religions.

        But if everyone followed Jesus, then there would be no mass murder or genocides.

        Why would there be no murders or genocides?

        Because Jesus taught people to love each other.
        Its unfortunate that not many people listen to his words...

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          March 21, 2012 4:19 PM

          [deleted]

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            March 21, 2012 9:19 PM

            Not only do I believe this, I have seen this with my own eyes. And heard of people's stories of how Jesus healed them from drugs, broken life styles, etc.

            But, as the way this world is, excuses will be made...

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              March 21, 2012 9:24 PM

              [deleted]

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                March 21, 2012 10:00 PM

                ? I don't understand your joke...

                Anyway, it is funny how people ignore Jesus and focus on the negative things that are associated with religious things.

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                  March 21, 2012 10:42 PM

                  People focus on the negatives for everything. But by your logic, if people only focused on the non negatives for other religion, they wouldn't have problems either.

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              March 22, 2012 3:10 PM

              Throughout man's history here, nothing is responsible for more bloodshed on this planet than religion.

              this includes those who followed Christianity
              so regardless of what jesus may have supposedly wanted it did more harm than good.

              i dont think anyone needs any other argument than this?

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      March 21, 2012 7:38 AM

      Maybe I'm getting old or something, but this sounds reasonable to me. It's a whole lot better than proposing bans on violent games all together, and we've seen enough of that as well. And it's hard to argue that there aren't clueless parents who might need this reminder out there...

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        March 21, 2012 7:43 AM

        The issue for me is that it is a blanket warning on all games, regardless of content. I wonder if Rep. Baca realizes that it would be on religious video games too.

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          March 21, 2012 7:49 AM

          Right, I didn't read the source. If it's on all games regardless of content or age limits, then yes, it's stupid.

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        March 21, 2012 8:13 AM

        We already have the ESRB ratings that parents refuse to read.

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          March 21, 2012 8:27 AM

          I assumed the point here was that the label would be highly visible, so that you could not notice it and it's content. Ahwell, didn't expect this POV to be popular here. :)

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            March 21, 2012 8:57 AM

            It doesn't matter what you put on the box, until parents start being parents and buy appropriately rated games for their kids it's not going to matter.

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              March 21, 2012 9:18 AM

              In most cases, yeah, I agree. But I know of parents out there who buy their games kids fully unaware of what they're actually buying, and as sad and stupid as it is, they don't pay attention to the content when the kids are playing it. If there was a more-clear-than-now indication on the cover that it's violent stuff that might (another debate) cause harm to the child, it might make someone of them think of it twice. This is, of course, pretty moot, since this bill proposes the label for practically all games, which as I said above, I think it stupid and would invalidate the whole thing.

              If the proposition had anything to do with altering games or their availability, I'd shoot it down in a heartbeat. But as it stands, it's just information on the box. If say 10% of the parents who would have bought the game for their kid without the label end up not buying it, it might be worth it. I'm not saying this would work for most cases, or that it's efficient, but I just don't see the harm in making relevant information more visible. Can't fix morons being able to reproduce, but that doesn't mean smaller things shouldn't or couldn't be improved.

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                March 21, 2012 10:36 AM

                That's the parents fault then. The government shouldn't be involved whatsoever.

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        March 21, 2012 8:57 AM

        shoudlnt the retailer by policing for under age sales of M rated games? kids shouldnt be buying these games anyways. adding a warning label is pointless

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          March 21, 2012 8:58 AM

          Retailers mostly do this, but parents just buy it for the kid. It doesn't matter what we put on the box until the parents stop being stupid.

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            March 21, 2012 8:59 AM

            And I'm saying this, and I know I'm going to be hated as my kid gets older. Because I'm the type of parent that will know how to setup the controls on my Xbox to limit his time. I'll not buy him M rated games, and in fact he won't be able to play my M rated games on his account.

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            March 21, 2012 9:00 AM

            parents for the most part stop picking up games for their kids by the time the kid is a teen. I cant count the amount of times I've seen teens picking up an m rated game when they're clearly under 18

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              March 21, 2012 9:04 AM

              I know Wal-Mart checks IDs, hell they've checked MY ID before.

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                March 21, 2012 9:05 AM

                [deleted]

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                  March 21, 2012 9:08 AM

                  EB games doesnt seem to be at all consistant. in any event the warning label sounds like it's intended for children

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                    March 21, 2012 9:27 AM

                    I think the guy checked my ID once, but I typically deal with the same guy when I go there so they've pretty much stopped asking me.

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                      March 21, 2012 9:28 AM

                      I used to get asked ID while buying smokes/booze/hookers. sheesh kids these days

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              March 21, 2012 9:34 AM

              Where is the kid getting money? When I was a teen I was broke. Unless I earned my cash from my folks chances are I wasn't getting games on my own.

              Rich white people I guess

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              March 21, 2012 12:22 PM

              lol who still buys games in store?

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            March 21, 2012 10:38 AM

            Last I heard, retailers are actually better at this with games than movie studios are.

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            March 21, 2012 10:41 AM

            Instead of educating stupid parents and out right tell them to STOP BEING FUCKING STUPID our Government pulls shit like this.

            I hate everyone.

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        March 21, 2012 10:00 AM

        It's not reasonable, because exposure to violent video games HAS NOT been linked to agresssive behavior. It's a lie. Might as well put it on milk, cause I'm sure everyone with aggressive tendencies has drunk milk once in their lives. Or saw a violent movie. Or just had bad parents, which is more likely to lead to violence.

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          March 21, 2012 11:05 AM

          While there is little conclusive proof either way, I personally do think that a young child playing lots of violent games without supervision or consultation about the content, on average, will be say... less balanced than others. I'm not saying parents shouldn't have the decision of whether or not their 6 year old is fit to play GTA IV or not, I'm just saying that if there are steps that can be taken to minimize the amount of parents who are ignorant about what they're buying for their kids, then maybe those steps should at least be considered.

          That being said, I'd change the text to from the lie to "This game is violent. Consider if you want to buy it for your child." or something similar, no doubt. I admittedly wasn't really thinking about what the suggested text literally said.

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          March 21, 2012 12:56 PM

          WARNING: DRINKING THIS MILK MAY GIVE YOU MAD COW DISEASE

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          March 21, 2012 10:43 PM

          [deleted]

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        March 21, 2012 10:01 AM

        Except that it's a big fat lie.

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      March 21, 2012 7:39 AM

      this worked really well with Rap Music

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      March 21, 2012 7:41 AM

      Because watching wars on the news, slasher movies and TV movies about abuse and "other" topics have NO effect on people....

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      March 21, 2012 7:45 AM

      I'm against posting warnings on products when the warnings are patently false.

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      March 21, 2012 7:52 AM

      [deleted]

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      March 21, 2012 8:11 AM

      Why is it allowed to keep writing these bills after they've already been dismissed as unconstitutional? When a bill is proposed, it should have to expressly show that and why it is constitutional, before it's even considered.

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      March 21, 2012 8:27 AM

      [deleted]

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      March 21, 2012 9:07 AM

      warning: being a politician has been linked to being completely useless

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      March 21, 2012 9:36 AM

      I'm okay with it as long as it includes gruesome real life shock/gore images like the warnings on cigarette labels in the UK (or whatever country it is that does that).

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        March 21, 2012 9:41 AM

        "Gaming can make you morbidly obese"

        "Gaming can make you socially awkward"

        doesnt have the same ring to it as

        "smoking can give you cancer"

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          March 21, 2012 10:31 AM

          "Gaming can cause autism"
          "Gaming can cause heart attacks"
          "Gaming can turn your child into a criminal"

          Gotta step it up son

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        March 21, 2012 10:46 PM

        Should be more like

        "Don't play video games so you can look like this [insert hot nws body here]"

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      March 21, 2012 9:53 AM

      How about "WARNING: Exposure to STUPID GOVERNMENTS has been linked to aggressive behavior since time began..."

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      March 21, 2012 10:16 AM

      Ok? Games are being bought digitally now more then ever.... so why even put these stupid labels on them when physical copies probably will cease to exist in a few years?

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      March 21, 2012 11:51 AM

      That's the biggest piece of bullshit ever.

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      March 21, 2012 11:54 AM

      [deleted]

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      March 21, 2012 11:56 AM

      Being around stupid people leads to aggressive behaviour as well. They should be tatooed on the forehead "Warning: Dummy inside".

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      March 21, 2012 12:06 PM

      Let's go to the next step instead and just put violent scenes directly on the boxes to demonstrate the effects of the game. We could even make the scenes roughly analogous to the severity of violence contained in the game!

      Oh wait...

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      March 21, 2012 12:10 PM

      WARNING: Shitty video games lead to RAGE please ensure that someone did some research on this game to see if its even worth purchasing for your son/daughter.

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      March 21, 2012 12:19 PM

      LOL. Correlation =/= Causation. HOLY SHIT GUYS, VIOLENT PEOPLE ARE DOING VIOLENT STUFF IN VIDEO GAMES? NO WAY.

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      March 21, 2012 12:24 PM

      Waste of resources. Will be even less effective than the warnings on Tobacco which are at least true.

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      March 21, 2012 12:27 PM

      New warning on money: WARNING: Exposure to money has been linked to an increase in willingness to legislate.

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      March 21, 2012 12:59 PM

      Congress is also hard at work on getting these warnings put into law as we speak.

      Social networking has been linked to ruined lives and isolation(lead in screen as you log onto twitter and Facebook and other "Social Networking" sites).

      Unprotected sexual activity has been linked to the contraction of Sexually Transmitted Diseases.(Tatooed on all New Born children's Genitals at birth).

      Unregulated Corporations and Financial Institutions has been linked to Global Economic Terrorism.
      ( Public Service Anouncement,shown several times a day on every TV channel).

      Unregulated Wireless Providers has been linked to price fixing and massive over pricing of services.
      (All Wireless providers must have this warning posted in their brick and motar stores as well as on their Web site's Home page).

      Hybrid vehicles have been linked to providing more life time pollution then a '56 flat head Dodge V-6.
      (Posted on the window sticker of every hybrid vehicle sold in the U.S.).

      And so on....

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      March 21, 2012 2:12 PM

      Frankly, if it means they'll leave us the fuck alone after getting their way (not likely, but a man can dream) then I say let them do it. It's not like I'm gonna suddenly stop buying games when I see a warning sticker on them.

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      March 21, 2012 2:18 PM

      Warning: Congress dumb shit has been linked to agressive behavior

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      March 21, 2012 2:53 PM

      [deleted]

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      March 21, 2012 4:21 PM

      I think the warning, "Linked to aggressive behavior" is so generic that this bill is unnecessary. Watching a sporting event and seeing a great athletic feat leads to aggressive behavior. Listening to upbeat music does the same. Kids and even adults get raised pulses when they are in recreation. Whether or not violent videogames leads to long term violent and aggressive behaviors is to be determined and yet to be proven with solid evidence.

      Really, if anything they should have a warning that habitual long term videogame playing is linked to sedentary activity and laziness.

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        March 21, 2012 4:22 PM

        I'm from the school of "less litigation, the better". There are so many other societal issues that congress should be tackling. This is not one of them.

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      March 21, 2012 10:12 PM

      This should also apply to sports.

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      March 21, 2012 10:40 PM

      This warning doesn't work on Tobacco and they think it'll work on video games?

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