The $65,000 that Minnesota had to pay back to the game biz for legal costs incurred in fighting the state's unconstitutional 2006 video game law has been widely covered since the ESA released the news yesterday.
Over at the Technology Liberation Front, Adam Thierer (left) considers the cost from the perspective of what better uses the time and energy expended on the Minnesota law could have been channeled into instead:
...these cases make it clear that there is a significant opportunity cost associated with censorship efforts. That $2 million in recovered legal fees [by the game industry from nine different states] could have been plowed into educational efforts to help explain to parents how to use the excellent voluntary ratings systems or console-based parental control tools that are at their disposal. Moreover, that $2 million... does not account for the resources that state and local officials put into these regulatory efforts. So, we are talking about a much greater deadweight loss for society and taxpayers.
Just think, what if government officials had spent that money on some PSAs during a major sporting event? Or perhaps more brochures and in-store displays to make the public better aware of the ratings and parental control tools at their disposal. Or even a direct mail campaign to homes with children making parents aware of these ratings and tools?
GP: Adam's definitely on the right track here, but we'd even move the discussion beyond the video game space. What social challenges could the Minnesota legislature have been working on instead of video games? Are there no crime, poverty, healthcare, transportation or other key issues to ponder in the Gopher State?
Remember, too, that the $65,000 reimbursement represents only the cost of the video game industry's legal expenses. How many deputy attorney generals, paralegals and secretaries employed by Minnesota - and paid by the state's taxpayers - put their professional time and energy into the case?
Comments
Re: Beyond the Dollars: The Opportunity Cost of Video Game
Yes, an article that explains clearly with example why censorship is a costly thing.
I've realized a long time ago that curtailing further crimes, or the "destruction of society" based on trivial things eventually encounters diminishing marginal returns. If it involves money, it's subject to that. Not just for producing goods. You might know it more commonly as pork barrel spending.
Re: Beyond the Dollars: The Opportunity Cost of Video Game
"GP: Adam's definitely on the right track here, but we'd even move the discussion beyond the video game space. What social challenges could the Minnesota legislature have been working on instead of video games? Are there no crime, poverty, healthcare, transportation or other key issues to ponder in the Gopher State?"
I love that you brought that up, Minneapolis resident here, and the answer dennis, is yes.
Our healthcare is pretty much the best in the nation, but their are some crime issues, as well as poverty although those issues pale in comparison to that of other states/cities, the big issue is transportation.
You probably recall the 35W bridge collapse in minneapolis? Maybe not, but we had to recieve federal aid to rebuild the bridge, which is a major artery by the way, and reimburse the victims, the money could have gone towards that cause, or to repair/rebuild many of the other damaged bridges they have discovered to be in an equally bad or worse state as the 35W bridge was before collapsing.
While the bridge collapse was clearly not as devastating as hurricane katrina was to new orleans, its still another instance of failed video game legislation falling on the wallets of a post disaster state and its citizens, legislation that was obviously going to do just that. If only someone had done their homework.
Re: Beyond the Dollars: The Opportunity Cost of Video Game
So now the Minnesota tax payers not only have had tax dollars wasted but they now have to fork over to the companies as well for the foolish actions of their legislators... Awesome.
Guess other states know this as well...
New York, your next, apparently. Sorry, citizens.
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Papa Midnight
Re: Beyond the Dollars: The Opportunity Cost of Video Game
Well, this is the opportunity cost for society. The thing is, that's not quite the right way to look at opportunity cost. That would be like if I bought a burger and then you came along and looked at the opportunity cost of me buying the burger for myself. You have to look at the opportunity cost from the perspective of who the money was for.
The purpose of taxes is not for society's benefit. You don't pay taxes so that you can have a good education system or police system or security. Taxes are for the benefit of your elected officials and the companies they represent. You pay taxes to help your representatives get re-elected and to help the companies your representatives represent. From the perspective of those politicians, could they have really spent that $65,000 on something that would have gotten them more votes?
Re: Beyond the Dollars: The Opportunity Cost of Video Game
As someone who has several friends in the amateur internet porn industry, I also hear about many similar legislative efforts. You'd think that porn would be considered more acceptable today; there's all the talk of it having gone mainstream, and you don't hear too much moral outrage over it anymore. But still it remains a target of opportunity among politicians and right-wing nutjobs. And just like GP here covers the anti-gaming legislation efforts you wouldn't know about otherwise, there are quite a few websites in the adult entertainment industry that cover the anti-porn legislative efforts. In that sense, both the gaming and the porn communities have something in common in that both are considered to be on the fringe of popular entertainment, been unfairly demonized in the media and made the targets of politicians looking for an easy vote and so-called "moral crusaders." The only differences are that games are enjoyed by people of all ages whereas porn is clearly adults only, and that porn has never been held responsible as a cause for murdering someone, at least not in any major way I can think of.
The point I'm trying to make is that you've got these people wasting lots of money in an attempt to legislate morality, a move that time and time again has never been proven to work whether it was alcohol (with Prohibition), comic books, Rock n' Roll or whatever, when it's more sensible and cost-effective to spend the money on other things. In other words, the money wasted on combating porn could be used to fund better sex education programs, or the efforts wasted on gaming could be used to build community youth and counseling centers. But rather than consider these alternatives, they keep beating their heads against the proverbial wall in the vain hope that, "Maybe this one will work!" But they never seem to learn
Ask Leland Yee/Schawarzenegger...
Schwarzenegger/Leland Yee, have no problem wasting as much money as they need to in the pursuit of their anti-video game legislation, especially Leland Yee, who just believes to the fiber of his ignorant being that SOMETHING needs to be done in the form of a law.
Politicians are not interested in what is logical, but what they can do to score points among their constituents, even if it is a minority group.
Re: Beyond the Dollars: The Opportunity Cost of Video Game
Re: Beyond the Dollars: The Opportunity Cost of Video Game
This makes me even more sad when I realize we elected them into power in the first place, and people wonder why there's so much voter apathy...
Re: Beyond the Dollars: The Opportunity Cost of Video Game
Actually, education would be a waste of money too. Pretty much everyone already knows about the current system and how it works. The reason kids are still playing M rated games is because either the parents don't care, or they don't agree with the ratings, which is fine. If they choose not to worry, or they decide to dissagree with the ratings, that's fine. "Educating" them to what they already know isn't going to do much, and the ones who are making all the noise will intentionally disregard the ratings just so they can claim they don't understand them and then bitch.
-If shit and bricks were candy and tits, we'd all be livin' large. For information on games and psychology, look up: Jonathan Freedman(2002)Block & Crain(2007)Grand Theft Childhood, by Harvard Medical School researchers Larry Kutner and Cheryl Olson
Re: Beyond the Dollars: The Opportunity Cost of Video Game
The diffrence is if they spend the education money and go through the effort in this way we can work towards these people being ignored. If the problem is out there for all to see and they still bitch everyone will see that the bitching is pointless and leave them to do so in a quiet corner.
Re: Beyond the Dollars: The Opportunity Cost of Video Game
Agreed Kincyr. I really wish they'd put their minds to some of the more important issues out there instead of dicking about with the videogame crap.
Re: Beyond the Dollars: The Opportunity Cost of Video Game
remember critics: it's not violent games that are destroying America, it's the watchdog groups and pro-legislators who are making such a big deal out of them that are.
岩「…Ace beats Jack」