May 9, 2008 -
An exclusive GamePolitics interview with Rep. Lee Terry (R) demonstrates that the Nebraska Congressman, co-sponsor of a new video game ratings enforcement bill, has a grasp on some video game rating issues, yet a flawed understanding of others. As reported earlier this week by GamePolitics, Terry and Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) introduced the Video Games Rating Enforcement Act. If approved, the bill would mandate that game retailers check IDs of mature-rated game buyers. The measure would also require that information detailing the rating system be posted in view of customers. Terry spoke to GP about the proposal:
This is a rather simple bill in that it focuses on making sure that retailers ID young folks when they try to buy an M or A[O] rated game. And this is kind of my approach instead of trying to micromanage by legislation the standards or content...
What we'd rather do is just make sure that parents are empowered with information, what the standards really mean and then what's specifically in that game and then to make sure that retailers don't subvert the parent's decision... If they don't want their child to have an M-rated game, the retailers don't sell it to them...
Based on the timing of the new legislation, we asked Terry whether it was planned to coincide with the intense publicity surrounding the April 29th release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Terry, however, maintained that the timing was purely coincidental:
As a matter of fact, I almost thought about waiting another week or two. I will have to take some responsibility. Mr. Matheson brought this to me several months ago and... it kind of got pushed to the back burner. So it was more coincidental... but [the GTA IV hype] probably did heighten the scrutiny of the bill within the press, which is a positive thing. But we did not wait until Grand Theft Auto IV came out to drop the bill. That was coincidental.
Oddly enough, the Terry-Matheson bill, which addresses video game rating enforcement, was introduced on Wednesday, less than 24 hours before the Federal Trade Commission's latest report gave glowing marks to the video game industry for its retail ratings enforcement. Terry, however, was clearly not acquainted with the results of the FTC report, citing 69% as the rate at which FTC secret shoppers were able to purchase M-rated games. That figure, however, is from the FTC's 2003 survey. In 2006 the number dropped to 42%. Yesterday's figure was an impressive 20%. We asked Terry about the FTC report:
I had heard that the report found that 69% of unaccompanied 13 to 16-year olds were able to purchase M-rated video games from retailers.
After we explained the actual FTC figures, Terry said:
Oh, okay. Well, good. We're going in the right direction. I think probably what's really helped that improvement is that some of the big retailers like Wal-Mart, Target have software... at the point-of-sale that blocks M and then the cashier has to ask for ID...
We also queried Terry on public comments he made which cited rape as a way to earn a higher score in some games. When pressed, Terry could not cite an example:
That's a good question. I don't know of any [specific games] offhand... I just used the rape, pillage and plunder line...
The actual Terry quote as reported in Variety is:
In some games high scores are often earned by players who commit ‘virtual’ murder, assault and rape.
Terry was a good sport over his lampooning by The Daily Show host Jon Stewart following a contentious 2006 committee hearing on video game issues. He described the experience as:
Humiliating, as it was supposed to be... It was slightly out of context... That's what fake news is about. I saw that. That was fun...
Later, Terry again made reference to his Daily Show experience:
One of the things that Jim [Matheson] and I talked about a great deal is that the ratings themselves seem to be very confusing. We did not to get into that morass because Jon Stewart showed us exactly what was going to happen to us if we did...
The Congressman, who said he occasionally plays NCAA sports games with his sons on their Xbox 360, was familiar with the issues surrounding the controversial but rarely used Adults Only rating. He also pointed out the inconsistency found in the M rating category, where some games, such as as Grand Theft Auto have far more mature content than others. Terry specifically mentioned Destroy All Humans, Call of Duty and Halo in this regard.
Listen to the interview with Rep. Terry (9:08 minutes, mp3) here.
Comments
Re: Exclusive GP Interview: Congressman Talks Video Game
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Did you ask him if he's related to Dan Akyroyd or Stephen King?
Ok I buy that, I guess. Oh and Gp you should ask him about what he thinks of other bills that got struck down.
If he were to keep only the part about retailers must post rating information I doubt the industry would challenge it.
I do my job as a responsible parent to a 17 year old, and I check frequently online about games that he's interested in wanting to purchase, and I share that information with my wife, and in the past we've said no to a couple of games.
PS: My interpretation of the ending in Pan's Labryinth was that Ofelia had a brain tumor :p
Morons.
''
lol apart from walmart actually made the rating alot worse.. gamestop and EB lead the good ratings!
If his goal is actually to get M and AO rated games out of kids hands then he should happily withdraw his proposed legislation and allow the market to continue on its trend of effective self-regulation. If his goal is, instead, to pad his resume and get himself reelected then he should continue to push this useless bill. Let's see what he does.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...
Yeah, right...
GP, great job at educating the congressman about the issues. One can only hope that some of that stuck and that he's now a little less out-of-touch.
yeah gotta say i agree 100%
why isnt that advertised more? perhaps there should be posters up in game stores n stuff, just so more parents are aware.
I wish politicians would shout about it too tho rather than obsessing with legislation.
So he basically said: "I fucking lie".
Jackass...
I like how nonchalant he is about this. Just goes to show that it is okay to lie and defraud the public if you're a politician.
I played Mass Effect for Cooper Lawrence a few months back (friend of a friend), and she was blown away by the Xbox360's parental features...and Bioshock. She couldn't believe that these features weren't being publicized more.
Nooo, Terry! You were doing SO well in the interview up to this point!
Seriously, how are they confusing? Seriously, HOW? The ratings boxes are, like, 10 times the size of movie ratings, and unlike movie ratings, they actually explain what gives the rating! Not just 'Not suitable for those under 18 without parent' or 'Some content not suitable for young children for 'scary' situations' or something incredibly vague like that.
I can realize the confusion between other M-Rated titles, but still, it's THERE. You can READ IT. Unless he's looking to make a booklet in the back that goes "Here are the violent and/or sexual acts that it is possible (but not required) to commit in the game" i don't think we really need more than what we already have on the ratings box.
When I read through the sarcasm... The Daily Show is one of the most fair and balanced, informative, accurate, and ballsy news programs I've seen.
"That’s a good question. I don’t know of any [specific games] offhand…"
That's a good question? Why would you say that? If someone asked me to explain one of my statements, I wouldn't remark like that. I'm bothered by that verbage for some reason.
"I just used the rape, pillage and plunder line…"
Did he just lie in order to admit a lie, but in a soft way?
@ Everything else
I just don't have the energy today..
No, really? It is okay to do shit like that and then try and pass your opinion off as intelligent? JESUS CHRIST, this is why I hate this guy. Fucking Nebraska.
And yeah, he looks like Dan Akroyd.
But then how will I know when to punish my kid for going behind my back and buying something I told them they aren't allowed to have? I'm all for the retailers enforcing the rating but if my kid were to someohow get past that rating I wouldn't wallow in my own tears how the store betrayed me with their lack enforcement of the rating system.
I would god damned do my job as a parent and take away their games, break the game disc of what they're not allowed to play with a hammer and infront of them, and then ground them.
If parents these days can't understand that then I feel little pity for them.
“One of the things that Jim [Matheson] and I talked about a great deal is that the ratings themselves seem to be very confusing.”
If parents can't understand the ratings on video game boxes and just make a judgement call from the gut with what is already given to them then my god I guess parents are just idiots these days. Its not that hard....
I don't know of any Congressmen who are rapists off hand, I just used the "rapists" line.
Well, I'm not surprised that there's inconsistency in those 3 "M"-rated titles ... because one of them is "T"-rated :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adult_video_games
WELL THANKS FOR CLEARING THAT UP!!! :smacksaccrosstheface:
Wonder what your constituants think of you now.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
LOL! I almost gave my monitor a shower on that one! Touche!
On the article let's not forget he's a co-sponsor of this bill. Is the Senator from Utah perhaps the real push behind this? That's my curiousity at this point. Either that or these two are both simply up for election and looking for some public brownie points with the uneducated masses.
Still though, why do so many say that the game ratings are confusing? They really, really aren't.
Where I work we already check IDs, and is he implying this legislation would facilitate the sale of AO games, which as of right now is pretty much impossible?
But he was incredibly reasonable and a good sport in the interview as far as I can tell, I think we should save our teeth for jack.
When a senator is behaving in a somewhat reasonable manner, or even doing something like what senator leland yee is doing, we should at least act somewhat encouraging... their are plenty other senators that are much much worse, this is a step in the right direction.
This doesn't empower parents, this punishes retailers who may not even receive training at places like WalMart for such games, and they have a higher failure rate than GameStop.
Parents already have the power, you're not waving a magic wand to grant them more, its already there.
Parents also have the ability to simply confiscate the game or disallow such content to be played without their permission, this law doesn't help anyone except make you look good in front of idiots.
I don't think Terry understands that the Daily Show and The Colbert Report actually have real news on it, they only joke about what the politicians do what seems to be utter idiocy. In other words, the idiocy of Terry's actions.
LOL that's great to hear. At least he's being a good sport and admitting the way he thinks. He's going to drop the ratings issue at this point now that he sees things are going more smoothly.
@JC
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are hosted by comedians, but this shows a point. Comedy remains the only business in media/entertainment where it sounds actually beneficial to tell the truth.
So in the interest of clarity you used "the rape, pillage, and plunder line" even though there was no rape. Great way to make things clear, you lying jackhole.
the king uses the jester to learn the Truth.
always has, always will.
GP: I've gotta say, good questions... you asked a few tough ones but you were very fair.
However... it's gotta be asked... any reason you did not discuss the issues with the 1st ammendment?
Jokes aside, fuck him. Damn politicians...
All Congressmen are rapists.
I don’t know of any Congressmen who are rapists off hand, I just used the “rapists” line.
Thank you mogbert for pretty much summing up my reaction to that line. To think a public official so casually admits he uses a token "be afraid" to support his causes is scary, if not downright insulting to those he's addressing ("be taken in by my half-assed lies").
A new ratings label should be created for those games on the light end of M and the hard end of T. Some just don't seem like they belong in either one.
Pertaining to the actual matter contained in the Bill, I'm a bit ambivalent about it: on one hand, it supports the Big Government philosophy, which I hate; but it also reduces the ammunition available for the Media to use against Video Games when kids commit violent acts. It would make a lot of parents (admittedly, Lazy parents) feel safer and more content if they knew stores were "carding" people for M-games. Then, when the next kid shoots a school or friends or whatever, the media won't be as able to pin it on Video Games, as Game Stores, at least in the Public Eye, will have been "doing their job"...which we know they're actually doing anyway.
Like I've said before, this bill isn't as bad as the others that have been propsed and in fact seems pretty reasonable, especially as it follows many of the points per Mark Menethitis' suggestions. That having been said, when I recieved my ECA alert to contact my state representative to urge him not to support this bill, I did so as there were a few minor details that didn't quite sit well with me.
Mr. Terry, if you see this, you're on the right track and I give you credit. But there are a few issues on the bill that would be problematic if passed as-is. I think it needs to fine-tuned and revised a bit before you formally submit it to congress. If you can do that and assure us that this won't be used as a backdoor to censorship or a stepping stone to further legislation, then I'm ok with it.
According to the ESRB, M rated games are defined as having: content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language. There’s not M rated class 1,2,and 3… if any game contains any of the following… or ALL of them, they still get an M rating… Destroy all humans didn’t have the sexual content (actually it kinda did), intense violence, or strong language… but it did have the gore…
Think about it this way: pan’s labyrinth was totally your run of the mill storybook film… but it had two instances of extreme violence and gore, and it got an R rating.
Yet plenty of movies will involve themselves in it.
That's actually not true. You were able to kill children in the old Fallout games, of course, it was not without consequence. I believe there were some others in the past as well.