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If At First You Don't Succeed...

By Chris Bennett, Tudor Carsten, Michael R. Coburn, Sarah Dale-Harris, Pablo Guzman, Danielle (Dani) Lemon, Chris Metcalfe and David Spratley

Sounds like Massachusetts is getting ready to take another crack at banning violent video games, this time by defining violent games as harmful to minors in a manner that mirrors the legal standard for restricting pornography. The Bill reads:

'Matter is harmful to minors if it is obscene or, if taken as a whole, it'-- depicts violence in a manner patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community, so as to appeal predominantly to the morbid interest in violence of minors; is patently contrary to prevailing standards of adults in the county where the offense was committed'-- and lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.'

The bill was drafted with assistance from Jack Thompson, the notorious crusader against violent video games. Similar bills, also authored with help from Thompson, were struck down as unconstitutional in Utah and Louisiana.

Coverage available at GamePolitics.com.

Posted by Michael Mjanes

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Full post as published by Video Game Law Blog on March 25, 2008 (boomark / email).