Comments for Boston Post Mortem http://bostonpostmortem.org Games and Grog, once a month Sat, 17 May 2008 05:34:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 Comment on May Chapter Meeting by Nerfbat » Boston Post Mortem @ May 2008 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/05/08/may-chapter-meeting/#comment-1284 Wed, 14 May 2008 10:39:16 +0000 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/05/08/may-chapter-meeting/#comment-1284 [...] can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS feed. Feel free to leave a response or trackback from your ownsite. [...] […] can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS feed. Feel free to leave a response or trackback from your ownsite. […]

]]> Comment on April Meeting by Ryan Shwayder’s Nerfbat » Boston Post Mortem + April 2008 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/04/03/april-meeting/#comment-1280 Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:10:57 +0000 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/04/03/april-meeting/#comment-1280 [...] can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS feed. Feel free to leave a response or trackback from your ownsite. [...] […] can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS feed. Feel free to leave a response or trackback from your ownsite. […]

]]> Comment on What I said at the hearing by Boston Post Mortem » Blog Archive » Stephen King Speaks Out Against HR 1423 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/18/what-i-said/#comment-1279 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:52:47 +0000 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/18/what-i-said/#comment-1279 [...] I was surprised (to put it mildly) to see an article in Entertainment Weekly written by Stephen King, decrying the HR 1423 bill that Kent Quirk (along with the ESA and IEMA) testified against. King’s article mostly takes a common sense, “shouldn’t the parents be protecting their kids?” standpoint. You can read the full article here. [...] […] I was surprised (to put it mildly) to see an article in Entertainment Weekly written by Stephen King, decrying the HR 1423 bill that Kent Quirk (along with the ESA and IEMA) testified against. King’s article mostly takes a common sense, “shouldn’t the parents be protecting their kids?” standpoint. You can read the full article here. […]

]]> Comment on What I said at the hearing by videogames + violence, part 1 « HUGE GUTS http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/18/what-i-said/#comment-1278 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:07:11 +0000 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/18/what-i-said/#comment-1278 [...] <p>Next up was a panel of entertainment industry folks. Gail Markels opened the panel by laying out the industry’s self-regulation associating, the ESRB. Since the ESRB had its own representative present, she didn’t go into detail, but quickly moved on to mention that nine similar laws that passed in other states were struck down as unconstitutional, as video games had been time and again declared ‘protected speech’, and therefore covered under usual First Amendment protections. This, although may seem common-sense, is apparently not. Markels’ suggestion was that the combination of parental ‘lockout’ controls and retailer restraint are both constitutionally viable as well as sufficient to protect kids from access to harmful content. The next speaker, a representative from the ESRB, spoke about the rating system itself, saying that it was an effective tool for parents to judge game content. They pointed to the existence of both the general age-range ratings as well as the labeling of individual content issues, which they argue provide more information than, say, the music industry’s labeling of “EXPLICIT LYRICS” for music. Statistics came into play here, as the speaker suggested that 87% of parents with kids who play, know about the rating system and its levels content. The third panel member was the owner of a video retail store in the Dorchester area, who argued that the ESRB system in effect in his store was more than enough; they carded everyone and no child was allowed to purchase content rated ‘M’; they offered something like like 67% ‘denial of sales’ rate. I’m not sure exactly what that means (67% of total sale attempts are stopped because they’d be in violation of ESRB guidelines? 67% of violations are caught? google doesn’t help here!); I’ll break chronology to say that the 5th panel member was from the <a href=”http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301990_pf.html”>Entertainment Merchant’s Association </a>, and continued this line of argument, saying that retailers don’t <em> want</em> kids to get hold of these games and work hard to keep everyone appraised and informed about the existing ratings, and again reminded the Committee of earlier laws with much the same word.</p> The fourth panel member, Kent Quirk, is a Boston-area developer and organizer of Boston Post-Mortem, who wrote about his words <a href=”http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/18/what-i-said/#more-71″> here</a>. In brief, he presented an economic argument about the strength of video games in the Massachusetts economy. He mentioned developer luminaries like Harmonix and Linden Labs, academic programs at WPI (not <a href=”http://gambit.mit.edu”> others</a>, but I digress). Games are big, they are growing, Massachusetts is home to some big names who soak a lot of money in the state, and that all goes away if the state puffs up its chest at them.</p> [...] […] <p>Next up was a panel of entertainment industry folks. Gail Markels opened the panel by laying out the industry’s self-regulation associating, the ESRB. Since the ESRB had its own representative present, she didn’t go into detail, but quickly moved on to mention that nine similar laws that passed in other states were struck down as unconstitutional, as video games had been time and again declared ‘protected speech’, and therefore covered under usual First Amendment protections. This, although may seem common-sense, is apparently not. Markels’ suggestion was that the combination of parental ‘lockout’ controls and retailer restraint are both constitutionally viable as well as sufficient to protect kids from access to harmful content. The next speaker, a representative from the ESRB, spoke about the rating system itself, saying that it was an effective tool for parents to judge game content. They pointed to the existence of both the general age-range ratings as well as the labeling of individual content issues, which they argue provide more information than, say, the music industry’s labeling of “EXPLICIT LYRICS” for music. Statistics came into play here, as the speaker suggested that 87% of parents with kids who play, know about the rating system and its levels content. The third panel member was the owner of a video retail store in the Dorchester area, who argued that the ESRB system in effect in his store was more than enough; they carded everyone and no child was allowed to purchase content rated ‘M’; they offered something like like 67% ‘denial of sales’ rate. I’m not sure exactly what that means (67% of total sale attempts are stopped because they’d be in violation of ESRB guidelines? 67% of violations are caught? google doesn’t help here!); I’ll break chronology to say that the 5th panel member was from the <a href=”http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301990_pf.html”>Entertainment Merchant’s Association </a>, and continued this line of argument, saying that retailers don’t <em> want</em> kids to get hold of these games and work hard to keep everyone appraised and informed about the existing ratings, and again reminded the Committee of earlier laws with much the same word.</p> The fourth panel member, Kent Quirk, is a Boston-area developer and organizer of Boston Post-Mortem, who wrote about his words <a href=”http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/18/what-i-said/#more-71″> here</a>. In brief, he presented an economic argument about the strength of video games in the Massachusetts economy. He mentioned developer luminaries like Harmonix and Linden Labs, academic programs at WPI (not <a href=”http://gambit.mit.edu”> others</a>, but I digress). Games are big, they are growing, Massachusetts is home to some big names who soak a lot of money in the state, and that all goes away if the state puffs up its chest at them.</p> […]

]]> Comment on Hearing details by Dan Scherlis http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/17/hearing-details/#comment-1269 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:34:45 +0000 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/17/hearing-details/#comment-1269 Note, all that the JUDICIARY Committee is looking at this, and had the hearing today on House Bill 1423. The Joint...Technologies gang might be interested, but it's not their bill. Thanks, Kent, for lending your leadership and voice to this. Note, all that the JUDICIARY Committee is looking at this, and had the hearing today on House Bill 1423. The Joint…Technologies gang might be interested, but it’s not their bill.

Thanks, Kent, for lending your leadership and voice to this.

]]> Comment on March Meeting by Ryan Shwayder’s Nerfbat » Boston Post Mortem _ March 2008 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/08/march-meeting/#comment-1268 Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:33:31 +0000 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/08/march-meeting/#comment-1268 [...] can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS feed. Feel free to leave a response or trackback from your ownsite. [...] […] can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS feed. Feel free to leave a response or trackback from your ownsite. […]

]]> Comment on March Meeting by ThaDamnItalian’s Blog » Blog Archive » March Chapter Meeting. http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/08/march-meeting/#comment-1267 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:51:38 +0000 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/03/08/march-meeting/#comment-1267 [...] You can find the original post here. [...] […] You can find the original post here. […]

]]> Comment on Meeting Wednesday! by Daniel Frank http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/02/11/meeting-wednesday/#comment-1265 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:22:18 +0000 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/02/11/meeting-wednesday/#comment-1265 Fantastic talk. I had about 6 questions built up throughout, and all but 2 were answered by the end of it. Doesn't hurt that I like games that break the predominant mold of Bipedal-warrior-blows-stuff-up-and-saves-world - Daniel "Wompa" Frank Fantastic talk. I had about 6 questions built up throughout, and all but 2 were answered by the end of it.

Doesn’t hurt that I like games that break the predominant mold of Bipedal-warrior-blows-stuff-up-and-saves-world

- Daniel “Wompa” Frank

]]> Comment on Meeting Wednesday! by Ilya Sitnikov http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/02/11/meeting-wednesday/#comment-1264 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:07:12 +0000 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/02/11/meeting-wednesday/#comment-1264 Too bad that I was unable to visit it because of a terrible rain. Well, maybe next time... Too bad that I was unable to visit it because of a terrible rain.

Well, maybe next time…

]]> Comment on Meeting Wednesday! by Ryan Shwayder’s Nerfbat » Boston Post Mortem # February 2008 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/02/11/meeting-wednesday/#comment-1263 Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:14:01 +0000 http://bostonpostmortem.org/2008/02/11/meeting-wednesday/#comment-1263 [...] can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS feed. Feel free to leave a response or trackback from your ownsite. [...] […] can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS feed. Feel free to leave a response or trackback from your ownsite. […]

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