The Xfire Debate on game censorship went off without a hitch yesterday. I had the pleasure of debating with California Senator Leeland Yee, ESA CEO Hal Halpin, Gampolitics.com’s Dennis McCauley, Matteo Bittanti and Dan Isett from the PTC. All were articulate and very passionate about the issue, as was our moderator, Henry Lowood from Stanford University.
The transcript of the debate is up at the Xfire Debate Club website, as is a transcript from the Open Debate room, where the general public was simultaneously discussing the same topics we were. The transcript is a bit disjointed, reflecting the nature of chat-based conversations, but yields some interesting perspectives.
On the whole, it would seem that everyone, from the senator on down, is concerned about adult-themed content in games and how to preserve the gamemaker’s rights to create such content while simultaneously keeping it out of the hands of minors. The devil, of course, is in the details. Exactly how to go about doing that – and defining the types of content to be restricted – is where we all seemed to disagree wildly.
Give it a read and chime in here, and if this is an issue you care about I suggest you write your congressperson and let them know how you feel. Videogames are the hot topic this election cycle, and our lawmakers deserve to hear from those of us who understand and care about games.
