Terance Taylor
Communication 211 – 1:00 PM
General Purpose: To persuade
Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience against video game legislature.
Thesis: Video game legislature does nothing but waste the time of the courts and the money of the
taxpayers.
Pattern of Organization: Spatial
Introduction
I.
II.
III.
IV.
After the Virginia Tech shootings, there are people quick to blame gun control shoot for
the restriction of firearms altogether.
Over the past weeks, I have had the opportunity to research about video game
legislature.
Video game legislatures has done nothing but violate the first amendment and cost the
state governments money.
This will be shown by looking into the result of states passing laws restricting the sale of
video games to minors.
Body
I.
II.
Conclusion
I.
II.
Jack Thompson, a lawyer from Florida, is one advocate who strive for video game
restrictions.
a. He was quick to jump on Fox News and blame the Virginia Tech shootings on
violent video games, even before the shooter was discovered.
b. He went after a game called “Bully” before it was released, trying to get court to
ban sale of the game claiming it was a public nuisance (Judge).
c. This just led to wasting courts time and Take 2’s time to get Thompson to stop
suing to stop games from Take 2, like “Bully”, from being released (Jones).
There are a couple of states that have decided to try and pass legislature to restrict the
sale of violent games to minors.
a. Each of these laws has faced opposition from Entertainment Software Association
(ESA) and Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA).
b. Each of these laws has been declared unconstitutional and in most cases has cost the
state government in legal fees.
1. Despite other states failed attempts at similar laws, Louisiana passed a law
trying to restrict sale of violent games back in June 2006 (Bangeman).
2. This law was later declared unconstitutional, and as a result the Louisiana
state government is forced to pay nearly $100,000(Brown).
3. Some states have had it worse such as Illinois, who was ordered to pay
$510,260 in legal fees to the ESA and EMA (Video Game Industry).
Efforts to regulate the sale of video games have resulted in the expenditure of
unnecessary money by state governments.
While the idea of protecting minors is a noble practice, it should be done through
constitutional means like parental enforcement.
Bibliography
Bangeman, Eric. Louisiana passes video game lawl lawsuit to follow. 8 June 2006
<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060608-7019.html 23 Apr. 2007.
Brown, Penny. La. ordered to pay video game attorneys’ fees. 16 Apr. 2007
<http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/politics/7039262.html> 23 Apr. 2007.
Cohen, Peter. Minnesota video game law overturned. 2 Aug. 2006.
<http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/08/02/minnesota/index.php?lsrc=mwrss> 23 Apr. 2007.
Entertainment Software Rating Board. <http://www.esrb.org/index-js.jsp> 23 Apr. 2007.
Jack is Back to Beat Up on Bully. <http://www.bittech.net/news/2006/08/15/Jack_is_back_to_beat_up_on_Bully/> 24 Apr 2007.
Judge And Jack Thompson To Play Bully -- Will It Convince Them To Shoot Up A School?
<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20061011/221139.shtml> 24 Apr 2007.
Jones, K.C. Grand Theft Auto Company Settles With Jack Thompson. 20 Apr. 2007.
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20070421/tc_cmp/199200271> 24 Apr. 2007
Video Game Industry to Illinois Guv, Pay Up. <http://gamepolitics.com/2006/11/28/video-gameindustry-to-illinois-guv-pay-up/> 24 Apr 2007.