BC passes video game legislation, industry ESRB ratings likely to be adopted

British Columbia’s plan to introduce a ratings system for video games won’t necessarily result in more red tape or higher costs for game makers and retailers, suggests a key BC official with the attorney general’s office. Barry Salmon, planning and priorities manager with the ministry’s public safety branch, says he understands the software industry’s outcry over new legislation that will restrict retail access to video games, but he offers hope that adoption of an international ratings system would alleviate many of those concerns. "I think it’s fairly obvious that industry would prefer to not have any regulation," he told CNM. "I have some sympathy for them because it would be difficult for business to operate nation-wide if each jurisdiction has a different piece of legislation. You end up with the same kind of Balkanization that video tape people tried to deal with." Before receiving Royal Assent on April 12, the Canadian Interactive Digital Software Association (CIDSA) mounted a very public campaign against Bill 19, the Video Games Act (see story on page 7). The act is the first of its type in North America, and gives the BC director of film classification new power to rate and restrict the sale of video games with violent or adult content.For the first time, retailers will be required to have licences to sell video games, and restricted product will have to be physically separated from other inventory. The law also requires warning labels on packaging. CIDSA has painted the legislation as an unworkable and expensive scheme. The BC government has been in extensive discussions with the NYC-based Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a self-regulatory body which classifies programs such as video games (CNM, Sept. 20/00). It’s made up of the industry’s largest producers, including Nintendo Corp and Vancouver-based Electronic Arts. The board was established in 1994 as the industry sought a non-legislative approach to dealing with violence in video games. Sen. Joseph Lieberman had co-sponsored a bill in Congress which would have put a ratings system into law, then withdrew it with the promise of effective self-regulation. ESRB is now being used in several countries. Salmon says it hasn’t been decided yet how to put the legislation into practice. "The legislation that’s drafted is best described as enabling legislation. It gives the statutory authority to the province to deal with the issue of rating video game product – either by creating a rating system ourselves, or by adopting an existing one. Our preference, right now, would be to adopt the ESRB." Salmon says there are several advantages to adopting the existing ratings system. National systems would be less costly for producers to comply with, and parents would know that ratings would be the same online as at the check-out counter. Even if the province adopts the ESRB system, it would likely still require some special provisions. For example, Canada has different age ratings for film products. In the United States, 13- and 17-years-old are thresholds for purchasing or viewing some films while Canadian film boards have almost universally adopted 14 and 18 as benchmarks. The current ESRB ratings system carries no age guidelines, though some producers, such as Nintendo, pro-actively put such warnings on game boxes and in advertising. BC would require age guidelines in harmony with its film ratings. BC officials are also asking for advance copies of games to screen for prohibited matter – forced sex, bondage, underage sex, torture and bestiality. "If ESRB could provide us with the same version of the game that they used to rate it, then we could do it as quickly as they do," says Salmon.

BC passes video game legislation, industry ESRB ratings likely to be adopted

Broadcast | April 19, 2001

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