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Surprising Response to NY Game Law by WatchDog Group

Blog written by Ichi2 on August 2, 2008 at 10:04 PM | 1 Comment

So one of the people I usually contact when I'm doing some of my bigger post's is Dr. David Walsh. He has been outspoken on games in the past and is the founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family. I know many of you would like to write off watchdog groups that he participates in such as Say Yes To No and discount the National Institute on Media and the Family but the truth is that the man is very respected in his work on how media effects the adolescent mind. Frankly he is the most influential contact I have and he will surprise you given the chance.

Never has he surprised me as much when I asked him for his organizations official response to the recently passed NY state law on video games. We all know that the law is largely inconsequential as the only thing it demands that hasn't already been implemented is that all consoles come with parental controls. However, you would expect any group outspoken on game violence to support any legislation actually signed into law that supports their cause, no matter how little that help is.

However I realized how easy it is to get caught up in the PTC stereotype when I received Dr. Walsh's response:

The email itself was very prompt as they tend to be, but a document was attached with the National Institute of Media and the Family's official response to the NY law:

New York Video Game Law is Unnecessary

Institute Says Measures to Safeguard Children Already in Place

Minneapolis - The National Institute on Media and the Family today released the following statement in response to the New York law, which requires parental controls on all consoles, pushes game rating enforcement, and launches a state-backed study of video games and violence.

?Despite its best intentions, government is not the best solution to protecting kids from media violence.?

?For the past decade, video game ratings have been assigned and displayed on all games and almost every video game console has parental controls. These successes were made possible by a collaboration of industry professionals, retailers, and national organizations such as the National Institute on Media and the Family.?

?While ratings enforcement by retailers is not perfect, it is the responsibility of parents to keep inappropriate games out of the hands of our children.?

I think it's a poignant reminder not to get caught up in the idea of people who oppose video game violence being bible preaching brain washing demagogues that the PTC appears to be made up of.

It's Interesting huh?

--Ichi