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Louisiana games bill becomes law - Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has
signed into law a bill drafted by anti-videogames campaigner
Jack Thompson which is designed to prevent the sale or rental
of violent videogames to minors. [GamesIndustry.biz news]

I'm getting VERY tired of this issue. I think that's Jack Thompson's strategy - to wear the industry down and accept the yoke of oppression because we've already fought so hard that we just can't take any more. It's too bad (for him) that it won't work.

Still, at face value this law isn't as bad as others. I mean, here - let me quote Game Politics for a second:

GamePolitics has confirmed with her staff that Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D, seen at left) signed HB1381 into law last night. Under terms of the legislation, it takes effect immediately. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Roy Burrell (D) and drafted by controversial Miami attorney and anti-game activist Jack Thompson, defines violent video games as "harmful to minors" in much the same way as pornography.

Using language from the well-known Miller test of obscenity, the new law prohibits sales or rentals to minors of games which a judge has determined meets three conditions:

1) "The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the video or computer game, taken as a whole, appeals to the minor's morbid interest in violence."

So, let me introduce you to Trane:

Trane is the main character of a game called Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure. Getting up is about graffiti and it includes urban violence. While you can argue a lot about graffiti (and don't worry, I will), it can be safely said that community's don't like it and they don't like gang violence. So, by the letter of this law, that's strike 1 for good old Trane.

2) "The game depicts violence in a manner patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable for minors."

Well, Trane does beat people up and he does it in spectacular ways:

Your minors might not want to learn the lead pipe smack down so early - it could lead to trouble. That's strike two, isn't it?

So, onto the final requirement:

3) "The game, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors."

Well, Trane does stuff that the law doesn't like, that's for sure:

And if you count tutorial text as "encouragement" the game seems to encourage that behavior... But... Is the game lacking in any serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors?

I suspect that might depend on who you ask, but let's talk about the themes in Getting Up.

As the game starts Trane is basically just a hood rat with aspirations of greatness. He wants the world to see his graffiti and recognize his talent. Sadly, when he tries to put his work out there for the world to see, he gets smacked down by fellow artists, a street gang called the Vandals.

So begins an epic journey for our little hood rat, Trane:

You see, Trane doesn't like being "held down" and he sure as fuck doesn't like his art being censored. So he vows revenge and begins a campaign of reprisal. Covering his rival's graffiti with his own, breaking into their crib and covering it with his own work and even beating the crap of any Vandals who try to stop him... The thing is, he discovers there's a LOT more going on, much like any politician would if they bothered to explore these games they so want to vilify.

Speaking of politicians, here's the mayor of Trane's home town:

The Mayor wants to keep the graffiti off of his beautiful city and he wants his citizens to able to walk the streets without being assaulted by graffiti gangs. It's a noble goal. It's too bad that's not really what he wants at all.

Like all politicians, what the Mayor wants is to stay in power. He doesn't give a flying fuck about the citizens of his "beautiful" city. Fuck, he doesn't even care if his city is beautiful as long as it means he gets to keep his job and maintain his stranglehold on the feckless sheep - I mean "concerned citizens."

He even uses this person to do it:

That's the head of the "Vandal Squad" - they're a group of cops who are tasked with stopping graffiti. The thing is, there're more like Hitler's SS. They bust into houses, take people away, set traps and flat out shoot any motherfucker who disagrees with their goals or methods. And they do it all with the approval of the Mayor.

Trane runs afoul of these guys really quick and he learns to hate them because they aren't out to protect anyone - least of all the citizens. They're a brute squad. In fact, during Trane's war against the Vandals he discovers that they're actually working with the Mayor and the Vandal Squad. The whole goddamn atmosphere of fear and terror created by the Mayor's war on graffiti is a sham - a way to keep the sheep cowed and allow him to do whatever the fuck he wants.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Getting up is a parable. Trane isn't just fighting the Vandals, he's fighting a political system that binds the human spirit and the need to create and tramples over our rights, our freedom. He's fighting a corrupt politician and the artists that compromise their values in order to have a place in the system his corruption has wrought. He's campaigning, using art as his medium, to free our minds and throw down the yoke of oppression created in a society that devalues art because of how it was created, that can't be bothered to look deeper and see the messages, lessons, values and beauty in the art because it wasn't art when they were kids, or because it comes from a violent society.

Like Trane would say, look around. We live in a violent world. That's not going to change. Do you think Graffiti made the world so ugly? Do you think Graffiti made Sadam oppress Iraq, or Bush vow to ban gay marriage? Of course not, so why are games any different? Do you really think games drive people to kill?

This law in Louisiana is wrong, and here's why - Getting Up, a game they would certainly not want sold to minors, can't be banned by this law. It has substantial political and artistic value. It contains many important lessons our children need to learn, like standing up for what's right despite having the majority against you, not to be different but because it's the right thing to do. It fails the 3rd criteria of this law.

Grand theft Auto: San Andreas is a story about the horrors of gang-life. By the end of the story the main character's friends are all dead, his neighborhood is a slum and he never really made the kind of difference he wanted to when the story opened. It's not a glorification of gang life - it's a moral lesson. No matter how fun the ride up, it always ends in tragedy. You just have to actually play the game and pay attention to the story inside (the artistic value of a game) to get that.

This law won't get the games they want off the streets, off the streets. It's a worthless law, both for us freedom loving artists and authors who realize that games are a new medium a new way to express our views & visions and it's worthless for the scared, weak-willed conformists who fear anything new and believe the world is collapsing around them.

To them I simply say: You're blaming the wrong things, the wrong people - You're in power, not us. We're just a product of the world you built. Maybe if you'd had a more open mind and allowed us more freedoms, we wouldn't have had to turn to the activities we did, but you know what? It still doesn't change the fact that games are art with substantial value. Games teach, We agree on that, but the difference is: We still believe learning is a good thing.

- Snipehunter