Last night I was laying in bed thinking about all the possibilities of this new generation of gaming, and even the advances in the current generation of hardware/software. At the same time I was thinking of the medaling of the government in the regulation of an industry that if I had to grade does better then any other in self regulation. If only our school systems where governed and regulated as well at the gaming industry. Anyway back on track, I was thinking of the limits certain new laws will have on new game development.

I understand the plight of keeping certain types of games out of the hands of children, but when it restrains the average consumer from buying a product, I think your taking things to far. I think current methods of con troll are good, the thing is parents and stores need to do there part. The parents need to know the maturity of their children, on that same level the parents need to know there own maturity and what they can handle but that is another article all together. The stores need to not illegally sell games to underage persons. Then in my mind the problem is solved, problem is, not ever parent knows or cares to know there child that intimately for what ever reason, and not all sales clerks are to keen on following the law. What to do there, maybe start penalizing employees instead of companies, that way the person making the offence has more to worry about then being fired. There is not allot we can do for parents that don’t want to know there kids, or there kids and there games. Putting games in “adult” stores solves part of the problem, but the 15 some odd states that stores are either illegal all together or are limited in what they can carry kind of puts an unfair burden on the consumer.

One thing I think we could do is, clearer labeling, so there can be no mistake at the register or by the person making the purchase. Then lets take this a step further, most “modern” stores, track all the info about rating and who can buy on the register system, make it clearer to the worker that the item requires ID or proof of age. Lets take that just one step further, lets require all stores that sell games to have systems like this, maybe even offer incentives to smaller communities to make it the stores worth while to upgrade there checkout systems.

Though I have strong views on parent’s responsibilities regarding there children and gaming, we don’t and never will live in a world where the parents can always be in a place where they can control there children’s gaming habits. So like stated above, the stores have to do there part, but other parents need to do there part, we need to make sure we aren’t letting them (while visiting our house or what ever the case) playing things there parents would not approve, or that why are not mature enough to handle. Anyway if we do our part, maybe the government, and the gaming industry, or any industry will not have to regulate itself so harshly.

A self-governed industry is a free industry, where creative thinking is rewarded not hindered. I think if we all try to work together we can preserve the industry we all worked so hard to create. With the new generation of hardware we need to have that creative freedom to explore new forms of gampley, interaction, to do this, we need not have the federal Government medaling and regulating things farther. Hopefully they are having some of the same rational thoughts I am and might work to implement them, then maybe we can all sleep a little better at night knowing the children of the world are safe and that the industry is not incurred more fees to be regulated.

Another reason for us to all work on these matters is so these costs don’t end up hurting us the consumer. I hate the idea of having to go to a different store to buy a game, but I hate the though of having to pay even more so the government can have a say in what we can play. I understand not everyone likes this or that, but with freedom all you have to do is not buy, look at, or watch what ever it is you don’t like. That is why we have the first amendment, to protect the rights of all to have there own opinions, and express them in any way we see fit. But on topic, I think the root of the problem is, the first amendment is under assault in America, and that means any “immoral”/”unclean” things that might be offensive to the mainstream public will be under fierce attack, by local, state and federal governments. I might be wrong, but I don’t think that really what most Americans want to see there tax dollars go to. If you agree, you might want to write your representatives, maybe they will do what we want for a change.

To this end, I think we can expect amazing things to come from all three major gaming camps in the coming years with the new hardware and software coming out. I hope the industry will take actions to keep the government putting feather restrictions on it. Either way I see amazing things to come in an ever growing industry.

Next time you can look forward to reading more about what I see happing on the upcoming hardware. See you then my fellow gamers.

Gen

Next