Just recently a US Federal judge has struck down a law in Minnesota which was designed to prevent minors from being able to purchase M or AO rated video games. On game sites such as Evil Avatar and others this was heralded as a win for the gamers of the world. I was almost tempted to join in on the cheering but something approaching rational thought stayed my hand.

Why is it a good thing that children are allowed to access adult game content? In Australia we are used to the idea that certain content is not appropriate for children and should be restricted as a result. In the US this also applies to film but they are much more lenient in such classification largely due to the fact that their Constitution guarantees them freedom of speech, ours doesn't.

The Minnesota law was struck down as it was unconstitutional but that doesn't mean it was bad law. I'm far from a prude. I enjoyed Manhunt and was very disappointed when it had its classification revoked in this country. Despite that I would never let a twelve year old child sit down and play through the game. It isn't appropriate material for children as far as I'm concerned.

I might not agree with his strategies or beliefs regarding video games but all Thompson and others like him are trying to do is introduce laws that restrict the sale of adult content to minors. As Australian gamers we should be more worried about the lack of an R rating for video games; a major hypocrisy that is much worse than anything being perpetrated by US conservatives. If laws such as the one in Minnesota were upheld the adult games would still get made, released and bought. That's one up on our situation where they can't even grace shelves because the government refuses to acknowledge that adults play games too. I know which scenario makes me more cranky.