Remarks by Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) on the Release of the 12th Annual MediaWise "Video Game Report Card"
Statement
Remarks by Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) on the Release of the 12th Annual MediaWise "Video Game Report Card"
The Video Game Report Card is an annual assessment of efforts by the video game industry, retailers, and parents to protect children from age-inappropriate video game content. The Report Card is produced by the National Institute on Media and the Family. For more information, visit www.mediafamily.org.
"Thank you. I'm Congresswoman Betty McCollum. I represent the greater metropolitan area of St. Paul, Minnesota. Thousands of families in my district deal with concerns about inappropriate video game content every day.
Everyone at the National Institute on Media and the Family and Harris Interactive who contributed to this report deserves our appreciation for working so hard to ensure that we have what it takes to create safe environments for our children.
In almost the blink of an eye, video games have become as much a part of America's entertainment culture as movies, music, or television.
Their popularity is always expanding, with the Chicago Tribune reporting this year that even seniors are playing simulated bowling and tennis matches on the Nintendo Wii.
Even as video games become more popular with adults, however, there's an endless stream of new games that will simply never be suitable for children.
Unfortunately, this year's Video Game Report Card makes clear that these graphic games are still all too easily available to young children, and we need a strong, united effort by video game producers, retailers, parents and lawmakers to change that.
Parents are the first and last line of defense in the struggle to prevent exposure to age-inappropriate games. This year's Report Card shows us that parents must be as enthusiastic about overseeing our children's video games as our kids are about playing them.
Game makers and retailers, however, must give parents the tools to do that.
If kids can learn the complex codes that unlock inappropriate content in games like "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" and "Manhunt II," then parents need to be able to understand the ESRB ratings and other information to help keep the most disturbing games out of their hands entirely.
More importantly, the makers of these games should never be hiding content in games that the ratings board has asked them to remove entirely - content that they know creative gamers will be able to unlock and view.
The gaming industry has clearly failed to learn its lesson here: The pattern of inappropriate content hidden in Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt is a violation of parents' and families' trust.
The first step to controlling inappropriate content is for the industry to earn that trust back.
To convince us they're serious about protecting our kids from age-inappropriate content, the gaming industry should quickly embrace this Report Card's recommendations to adopt a clearer, more universal ratings system, to always disclose content unsuitable for children, and to never market clearly adult games to younger audiences - either overtly or through hidden content revealed in convenient online "leaks."
Game retailers, meanwhile, should be doing all they can to educate both parents and their own employees about the ESRB rating system so that both can do their part to follow it correctly.
I am hopeful that the gaming industry will do everything in its power to assist parents and keep unsuitable games away from children; if not, lawmakers will step in to see to it that kids are kept safe. I am signing on as a cosponsor to the Children Protection from Video Game Violence and Sexual Content Act of 2007, which requires an FTC review of the effectiveness of the current video game ratings system.
The future of video games becomes more exciting every year. To maintain the creative vision and trust that keeps the audience for games expanding, we must continue to establish and enforce sensible standards for age appropriate content."
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