I’m posting this here even though it’s on my personal blog as well. It just seemed that because it’s about a total lack of common sense in the government that it should be posted on a site dedicated to using common sense when it comes to video games. Here is the post.

A few weeks ago, the Utah State Legislature passed a controversial bill. This bill, known as HB 353 “Truth in Advertising Act Amendments”, was penned by controversial self proclaimed video game crusader and former Florida attorney Jack Thompson. This bill amends the current Utah laws concerning advertising. These are the laws that say if you advertise something, you better adhere to it. The full text of the amended Truth in Advertising Act can be found here.

Essentially, this bill targets any media outlet that sells or provides a form of media to the public that also advertises that they follow the ratings system that applies to that media. With movies, this would be the MPAA ratings system (PG, PG-13, R, etc) and with video games this is the ESRB ratings (T for Teen, M for Mature, etc). If a business advertises that they follow these ratings and then somehow either sell a game or movie or allow a minor into a rated R movie at a theater, then they would be subject to lawsuit. They could avoid that lawsuit by formally training the offending employee(s) on the company policies. Now, if this happened more than three times, those exemptions are no longer available and you will be sued. Considering the ultra right wing private groups that are backing this bill, I would be fairly certain they would sue anyone they could. The key loophole in this law lies in the fact that if you don’t advertise any such policy of adherence, then this law does not apply to you.

Being the normal person I am, I fully admit I could be wrong on this, but to the best of my understanding, this bill doesn’t really offer any incentive for businesses to have these type of policies. They don’t gain anything from having the policy except the added risk one of their employees will open them up to a hefty lawsuit. But, if they don’t implement this type of policy of adhering to the ratings systems or if they cancel their current policies, they avoid that risk of lawsuit. It seems to me this is the smart thing for a business to do.

You may argue that not having a policy of following the ratings system will result in them losing business. I would counter that you would be totally wrong on that. Most people in the general public don’t have a clue what the ratings systems are or how they work. Most people think they are already enforced by law when in fact they are purely voluntary. Most people, when they go shopping for a new movie or video game, don’t shop based on what policies stores have. Most people shop based on where they can get it cheapest and easiest. The ESRB has pushed for the ratings system to be used because they, like many parents, don’t want the mature rated games with violent content and adult content to fall into the hands of minors. Those type of games are written for adults and the ESRB wants adults to play them.

Now, I understand what the Utah Legislature is wanting to do with this law. The problem is that for some reason they forgot how to think for themselves and decided that letting some outside private interest group pen their legislation is a good idea. Even when I emailed my state representative, before the bill passed, she didn’t seem to see this as targeting the video game industry, despite who penned the legislation. Her response was “…this appears to be not about video games, though they could certainly be included, but about the sale of any product, including video games, that are provided to minors. I agree that more education for parents would be helpful as well.”

This law is not an incentive to follow the ratings systems. This law is incentive to NOT follow the ratings systems. The best incentive, one that every business understands, is and has always been money. When the legislature wanted to encourage video game developers to come to Utah, they offered them tax credits. I don’t see why they can’t pass a bill offering tax credits to businesses that adhere to the ratings systems with a certain level of compliance. To me, every business would see the benefit of that and would want to follow those rules, just to get some free money from the state.

The last step for this bill right now before it becomes law is for the Utah Governor, Jon Huntsman Jr, to sign the bill. As a Utah citizen, concerned adult, and fellow video game player, I would encourage anyone and everyone to call, email or write the Utah Governor and encourage him to veto this bill. Contact information for the Utah Governor is listed below.

Utah Governor’s Office
Utah State Capitol Complex
350 North State Street, Suite 200
PO Box 142220
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-2220
801-538-1000
800-705-2464
Fax 801-538-1528
Email Contact

Other Links:
Utah House Bill 353 media coverage