City Councilmen Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside) and Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) are backing two proposed laws that would ban the sale of violent games…
By Matthew Monks
Two Queens legislators are spearheading an effort to keep violent video games out of the hands of children.
City Councilmen Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside) and Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) are backing two proposed laws that would ban the sale of violent games to minors and force stores to display them in special sections away from other games.
The councilmen sat in on a Consumer Affairs Committee hearing on the proposals at City Hall Tuesday during which they grilled media representatives and one city official they said help pollute children’s minds by giving them access to excessively gory games like “Grand Theft Auto Vice City.”
The hearing began with a video montage of several “mature” rated video games that Gioia said more than 90 percent of minors were able to buy from New York City retailers, according to a recent study found
A clip from “Grand Theft Auto” showed a man picking up a prostitute in his car, parking and cooing “Oh, yeah, baby, ew,” while his vehicle rocked back and forth. Afterwards, the digital figure followed the same prostitute, knocked her to the ground and kicked her to death.
Such actions “are not things I want my kids to experience in living color,” Gioia said. “Parents beware. The video games your children are buying, if they were a movie, would be rated X.”
“Kicking women to the floor …. this is outrageous,” added Vallone. “The purveyors of this filth to our kids are filth themselves.”
While the legislators want to segregate such games on retailers’ shelves and ban their sale to minors, an official from the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs said such laws would be impractical and difficult to enforce.
Pauline Toole, assistant commissioner for the department, said the law would force Consumer Affairs to enforce a video game ratings scheme developed by the Entertainment Software Association, a trade group that represents home video game publishers.
She said it is wrong for the city or state to enforce a private standard, especially one based solely on industry guidelines without government oversight.
“The (ESA) standard is based roughly on the system used to rate movies, a system most of us are familiar with. But who enforces that standard? The theater owners, not the government,” Toole said. “DCA enforces octane ratings in gasoline but those are a scientific measure of the properties of a chemical. Where’s the science behind the video game rating? It doesn’t exist.”
Toole added that the laws would be difficult to enforce because video games, unlike tobacco or alcohol, are sold in a variety of establishments — from gift shops to video stores.
Rather than legislate the availability of the games, she said the City Council should work to inform parents about their content, leaving them responsible for what their children play.
Vallone and Gioia charged that Consumer Affairs was dragging its feet on the video game issue and should offer suggestions on how to make the legislation more effective rather than just criticize it.
If the agency would not help City Council ban the games, Gioia asked Toole, would they join them in denouncing city organizations like the Transportation Department, which runs “Grand Theft Auto” ads on city buses?
Toole said that the organization would not.
She noted that banning video games brings up complicated free speech issues, which she said she is not qualified navigate.
Banning video games is unconstitutional, and the courts have never upheld restrictions on forbidding access to R- and X-rated material, said Gail Markels, senior vice president and general counsel to ESA.
She recited a slew of statistics and facts to back up her position that government regulation of video games is unnecessary.
She said the average game player is 29, far from being a child; that parents are involved in the purchase of games over 90 percent of the time; and that the evidence linking violence to video games is sketchy. For instance, she said the National Association of Attorneys General reported in 2000 that the two greatest causes of youth violence were their home lives and pressure from their peers.
“In the end, it is the responsibility of parents to decide what games are appropriate for their families,” she said. “And laws that seek to shift parenting responsibility are not the solution.”
After her testimony, Vallone asked how she and other media representatives had the “gall” to continue selling their products.
“I just hope you all get paid a lot of money,” he said.
Reach reporter Matthew Monks by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
