Posted May 21, 2006 at 02:11AM by Remi M. Listed in: Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, MMORPG Tags: Minnesota
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Minnesota House Of RepresentativesIt seems like the "inappropriate games bill" is becoming a trend in legislation nowadays. The Minnesota House of Representatives is the newest state to join the bandwagon and has passed its own bill for inappropriate games. The Minnesota state followed suit after states such as Oklahoma, Florida, California, and Illinois filed such bills against inappropriate games.

In Minnesota's case, the bill was introduced by Rep. Jeff Johnson (Republican) and is tagged as HF 1298. The bill requires retail outlets to put up signs explaining the ESRB ratings and just to put a new twist on it, instead of fining the retailers for selling M or AO ESRB rated games, they will be imposing a $25 fine on the minor buying it.

Another representative, Barb Goodwin, unsuccessfully tried to amend the bill by also imposing fines on the retailers on the grounds that they should be the ones responsible for selling those games since they should be the most knowledgeable about ESRB ratings.

Nearly all the bills has been overturned by heeding the First  Amendment. According to Representative Johnson, "we were trying to pass the narrowest bill possible just to try something different from a constitutional challenge standpoint...There are two potential constitutional problems. One is that we are using the ESRB ratings... The other piece is that so far no court has found a strong enough link (between game violence and youth violence)."





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19 Comments


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   by jimmy (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » ?

"instead of fining the retailers for selling M or AO ESRB rated games, they will be imposing a $25 fine on the minor buying it."

so how does this work? do they have a pad of tickets that they right up when they ring up the purchase.

heres your receipt and your fine ... do you need a bag?

   by Crayve (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » ummm...duh

"we were trying to pass the narrowest bill possible just to try something different from a constitutional challenge standpoint...There are two potential constitutional problems. One is that we are using the ESRB ratings... The other piece is that so far no court has found a strong enough link (between game violence and youth violence)." jeez how old this is

   by mbslrm - 2006-05-21
 » Such Bull

So stupid, and don't think any kid who has an M game will go around showing it off....I hope this doesn't happen to Canadian law....

   by Bearmon (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » Adult games ?? EWW!

Stupid! They shouldn't sell ADULT GAMES AT ALL...that's simple. :X

   by . (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » .

number 4 i think tey means games like Grand Theft Auto which is pointless ive been playing gta since i was like 12 and now im 16 i never ran anyone over never did a drive by never used any pills to ***** my girlfriend(kinda like hot coffee) and ive been a good person its the dumb weakminded *****s that ruin everything for everyone its like when ur in school and 1 kid keeps talking and everyone gets punished ***** themm

   by a Fellow Citizen of Illinois (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » NOT ILLINOIS.... NOOOOO! ANY STATE BUT IL!

Is mentioned IL in it!!!! Is there any way of finding out the specific laws or bills or news on the status of this kind of stuff in IL specifically? This is so dumb. =[ I'm a sad panda.

   by unregistered (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » wtf

good to see our lawmakers are wasting time. a 10 year old can buy anything on ebay.

   by gmgmh (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » *****s

these people are just lazy low lifes because they didnt get a chance in their *****ed up lives to play a simple game of GTA.
they are just wasting time because i have someone who gets me M or AO games.
so screw those *****gets.

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   by o my god (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » wtf

that is just completely stupid. so if my little brother goes and buy me a game formy birthday, he gets a ticket? its not like all of them know about the esrb rating system.

   by Aces High - 2006-05-21

good thing i live in wisconsin...

   by jh (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » a

its just threats to stop people from trying to buying M games. It will never be inforced/

   by Tiburon1186 (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » I Hate Politicians

These people really have nothing better 2 do. They think this is going to help, but are so stupid they don't kno nething about video games. I have played violent video games since I was 5. Now I'm 19, I've never committed a crime, never done drugs, and am an overall nice person. They need to get lives. Video games are a safe RELEASE of anger and hate where no one actually gets hurt, not a cause. It's the politicians that are the cause, haha!

   by dreary79 (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » hmmm

I agree that minors shouldn't be buying video games with adult content(without an adult), but I can't say that this was a good move.

   by Vietone - 2006-05-21
 » A Better Alternative

This is getting out of hand really fast and soon enough more crazy bills will be passed.

For one they should make the sale of M rated games or higher only to adults(18+). They did it to cigarettes so I see now reason not to do it to video games.

One simple law that forbids the sale of video games to minors. If an adult decides to buy it for a kid, then so be it. Most Video game stores have this as a policy anyway so it makes little difference to stores like EBgames, Target, Walmart to not sell to minors.

I dont see why this would be such a problem since minors are so limited in their options anyway. Make it a national law. Simple easy fix.

   by nustherapy (Unregistered) - 2006-05-21
 » 14 is on the money

So what they're saying is that if a kid under 18 wants to buy the game he has to pay a $25 premium. I would like to see how this works I know they obviously aren't gonna give the kid the game but it just sounds crazy..... This is so F@#$ing stupid, I totally agree with #14 this is fairly simple, if they card for cigarettes and pRon just do it for rated M games... it's no biggie.


   by Pirates (Unregistered) - 2006-05-22
 » this is bulls

I want my kid to buy M rated and Sex films , whoever doesnt want that will get a bat on their face.

   by Vietone - 2006-05-22
 » If they let kids buy M Rated Games

Then they
should be able to go into an R Rated Movie alone
should be able to buy cigarettes
should have no local curfew
should have to be responsible for their own crimes and always charged as an adult.
should be able to drive at any age if they pass the drivers test
should be able to drink at any age
should be able to work at any age
should be able to .........

See my point? They limit minors so severely. So whats the harm in adding one more law saying they cant buy games rated for adults. Its only adding one more type of media to the list they cant buy anyways.

If its against the law for a kid to rent/buy an R-Rated movie, then it should be against the law for a kid to Rent/Buy a M rated game.

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   by (QJ. NET Staff) - 2006-05-22

This is stupid though. Most games nowadays are being rated so high. I went to EBgames a couple days ago, and a game was rated "M" for blood and violence! Back then (2 years ago) you could get that with a "T" rating.

But if this happens to your state, take it up to the House of Reps, they'll do something.

   by Vietone - 2006-05-22
 » T rating

A game gets a M rating for excessive blood or violence. Learn the rating system. 2 years ago, games that were getting T ratings had very little blood and violence anyways.



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