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Gov. Gary Locke is Not down with GTA 3
The IGDA, The International Game Developers Association of which I have subscribed to their mailing list just send out a message to Washington state residents on their mailing list.
They want voters in Washington state to contact Governor Gary Locke and ask him to not sign Washington State House Bill 1009. I am going to be calling to Governor's office tomorrow and on Monday and leave a message letting him know that I think that this is the wrong way to keep M rated games out of the hands of those who should not have them.
This is a bad bill because it does not extend to other forms of media like TV, Video, music, comic books, books you name it. This bill only criminally limits the sale of distribution of just digital games.
Now Gary Locke has been my Governor for two terms and I voted for him both times. My family has been Democrats since the days of FDR and JFK and it would shame me to see him move to the extremest anti free-speech media censorship paper tiger bullshit ideals of Joe (McCarthy) Lieberman and Tipper (I hate Twisted Sister and Prince) Gore. Mr Locke is going to be up for re-election and I will right in Bill Nye the Science guy for Governor if he signs this bill!
We do not want Washington state to turn into a backwater state with repressive digital media censorship laws like Germany, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Australia
I am in my 20s and I am mature enough to play GTA 3 if I want to. If this bills passes many retailers will stop carrying M rated games to avoid the possibility of violating this new law. I would not like to see the sale of a past time that I enjoy censored and controlled with loose and broadly interpreted criminal laws.
So I urge the Washington state readers of this site to give Governor Locke a call and leave a short message about this subject.
Below is the text of the IGDA's letter.
As a Washington resident and someone involved with games, we are sure you are already aware that Governor Gary Locke is considering legislation to
criminalize the sale or rental of video games to minors if the games
contain depictions of violence against a public safety officer (House Bill
1009). He is likely to sign the bill within the next week.
Please call the Governor's office ASAP and ask him to protect the First
Amendment, respect parental rights and VETO House Bill 1009.
Governor Locke
Phhone: (360) 902-4111
Fax: (360) 753-4110
Email: Governor.locke@gov.wa.gov (e-mail is not recommended)
This bill is clearly unconstitutional. Video games are protected speech
under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, just like
movies, music and books.
Unfortunately, HB 1009 is just the beginning. What's next? All M rated
video games? We hear that the legislature may next consider a tax on
violent content or impose civil liability on the publisher or developer if
a person alleges they were harmed by someone who played a video game. Some legislators think that Medal of Honor and James Bond are too graphic for
minors and would like to ban them too. What about all video games? Under HB
1009, video games depicting Looney Toons characters hitting a cop could not
be sold to minors.
Furthermore, HB 1009 is so vague that it doesn't give retailers enough
information to know which titles would be included. Retailers have said
that if this bill becomes law, they may pull a wide variety of games (some
say all M rated games), since they won't be able to distinguish which
titles are included in the definition. Understandably, they are concerned
with prosecution, and there is no way for them to know the content in the
over 6,500 video games that are on the market. Now, imagine that other US
states each decide to implement their own version of legislation and we
would have a nightmare patchwork of rules that would both confuse
retailers, but more importantly leave parents in the dark.
We need to support parents' and children's attempts to regulate their own
media consumption, rather than allowing the state to increase control over
the private citizen - an approach likely to prove ineffective anyway. We
need to respect their ability to make their own decisions about what is
appropriate, and try to support them in doing so (via the ESRB, for
example). We will need a positive educational strategy, rather than a
negative one that is based on censorship and legislation.
Please call the Governor's office ASAP and ask him to protect the First
Amendment, respect parental rights and VETO House Bill 1009.
Governor Locke
Phone: (360) 902-4111
Fax: (360) 753-4110
Email: Governor.locke@gov.wa.gov (e-mail is not recommended)
There have a been some articles online which you can refer to:
Please take action. Thank you for your support.
The IGDA
Jake at May 2, 2003 
Games
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Comments
Well i emailed the GOV. I hope i get an answer from those dumbasses.
Posted by: pete at May 6, 2003 10:52 AM
Wow. This is rediculous. Not the fact that they'd try to prohibit the sale of M rated games to minors, but that it could potentially take away our right to chose wether or not we play them by intimidating retailers into dropping games with the rating from thier inventory. Ugh. Here's another instance of the Government thinking they are doing what's right for us Americans, when in reality they are just making things worse. I guess it's par for the course.
Hmmn. I keep votin' for em. Patroitism rules!
Posted by: Cyberxion at May 11, 2003 12:55 AM
Well I called the Governor's office and talked to one of his interns for about ten minutes and told him why I think he should veto this legislation. I also told him about how I voted for him before and this would loose my vote. He is going to make up his mind about this early next week and I will let people know how it turns out. I think that given the sorry state of the state economy I think he is close to un-electable.
I think that any government censorship is Un-American. Period!
Posted by: Jake at May 11, 2003 1:02 AM
