Pa. Task Force Discourages Video Game Legislation

After a year of study, Pennsylvania’s Task Force on Violent Interactive Video Games has strongly recommended that the state legislature there not enact any laws restricting or regulating games based on their content.

The task force, which began meeting in November 2007 and took testimony from household names on this subject, discourages any laws “similar to those that have been invalidated by the federal courts.” Instead, it recommends the legislature fund a program to educate consumers about video game issues, and additional research into the effects games have on young people.

Representatives from the Entertainment Software Association, Motion Picture Association of America, and Recording Industry Association of America testified or participated in the group’s work. Others included the Entertainment Software Ratings Board’s Patricia Vance; Cheryl Olson and Lawrence Kutner, who wrote “Grand Theft Childhood,”; and social scientist Dr. Patrick Markey of Villanova University.

“Although there were disagreements at times, I think the members of the task force worked together extremely well and came to a fairly ‘common sense’ conclusion,” Markey said,

GamePolitics reported this news yesterday; it has a link to the task force’s full 69-page report.

Pennsylvania Task Force Says No to Video Game Legislation [GamePolitics]