In some games high scores are often earned by players who commit ‘virtual’ murder, assault and rape.

While that sounds good on paper, it never works out that way. If the law survived somehow, parents who the politicians don’t realize already buy most games for their kids will continue to buy them. The politicians will be shocked, and will cry for “one more law” to make it illegal for parents to buy them for kids. Kids will still get them from parents, more shock from politicians thinking kids are stealing them now since laws are magic, another “one more law,” and they’ll have games locked in back rooms like porn. Kids will still get them, more shock, “just one more law,” rinse, repeat.

The thing is, this law isn’t constitutional for the same reasons as some of the others. It makes ESRB ratings legally enforced at penalty of a fine. According to the constitution, you cannot give a private entity like the ESRB governmental power in that manor.

As for your comment of “Just because another medium isn’t enforced doesn’t mean it’s ok to sell it that way.” That much is true. However, the constitution provides for protection of equality. As such you cannot legally restrict games, without restricting movies, tv shows, music, comic books, and novels at the same time. You have to regulate all entertainment media, or none. Furthermore it cannot be claimed that games are unique in being interactive; they aren’t. “Choose your own Adventure” books, and American Idol, are two examples that spring to mind.

Furthermore, it still is a violation of the first amendment. The ESRB recommends a game for people 17 and up. The retailer chooses to lose some sales adhering to this, in the name of good public relations. The retailer can still choose to sell to someone under 17 at the cost of bad public relations. This law is the government stepping in and making a recommendation a requirement. Suddenly some people old enough to drive can’t access some speech because the government says so. Their rights have been infringed due to government censorship.

It will be a chilling effect as no one will buy them. A $5000 governmental levied fine per screw up is a powerful incentive for retailers to simply not stock M rated games. So to even get retailers to stock a game, the developer would be forced to cut content until it’s T rated.

It’s not a matter of “Oh, they’ll just have to train their employees to enforce the policy, and fire anyone that doesn’t follow it.” Statistically speaking, sooner or later someone will screw up. Possibly deliberately if they’re disgruntled and planning on change jobs. Sure you can fire them after a violation, but you’re still $5000 poorer over something that’s a statistical inevitability.

The “give them an inch, they’ll take a mile” has long since been proven through the use and abuse of “community standards” and “public nuisance” laws. Not to mention Zero Tolerance policies overriding individual Freedoms and Rights. And government organizations such as school boards have abused their Soverign Immunity status to defend a variety of idiotic and even harmful decisions that negatively effect the education process.

This bill is dead unless they change the Constitution.

I honestly feel someone is impersonating Black Manta

...the Constitution and the Bible are very similar documents - they’re both centuries-old documents which are considered by their supporters to be applicable to everything forever, even though they’re horribly outdated.

The last constitutional amendment that wasn’t some minor modification or clarification of the processes and particulars of Congress, the President, or voting, was the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition way back in 1933.

While I hate feeding into the “games=porn/tobacco/alcohol” argument, there are equally restrictive laws regarding those products. I haven’t seen the government enact any laws that make it harder for adults to get these things. So in that respect, I doubt it will happen with games.