Leland Ye is a Moron

Leland Ye, author of the violent video games law that was just struck down today is officially a moron. In a prepared statement, Ye made his opinion known:

"As a result of their decision, Wal-Mart and the video game industry will continue to make billions of dollars at the expense of our kids' mental health and the safety of our community. It is simply wrong that the video game industry can be allowed to put their profit margins over the rights of parents and the well-being of children." -Leland Ye (D), California

Ye is a child psychologist, which is where he got his ideas that video games are destructive to the mental health of children. Unfortunately for Ye, study after study has proven that video games are not as harmful as previously thought, typically generating an adrenaline rush that only lasts for 10-15 minutes, similar to having just watched an action movie or participating in sports. Despite all that, the reason the law was struck down had nothing to do with children's mental health, it had to do with how over-restrictive the law was.

Ye truly believes that the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Entertainment Software Association because it's all about how much money Wal-Mart will make. Ye needs to take a lesson in economics. For every new video game sold, the retailer makes about $2. Video game consoles make retailers about $5. Are either of those profitable? Not on your life. In reality, the majority of profit by retailers goes to video game accessories (not counting controllers) which generally have no MSRP. If any retailer truly makes money on selling games, it's Gamestop which is the king of used video game sales.

As far as the "safety of our community" line, it sounds like Ye belongs back in the mid 90s when there was intense debate about whether or not Mortal Kombat made children more violent or if Castle Wolfenstein played a role in the Columbine shootings. These days, we know that video games have no correlation to violent behavior, but do have correlation to neglectful behavior, especially in the case of Starcraft among South Koreans.

Ye left with one more little quote that really boggles the mind.

"While we did not win today, I am certain that this eight year legislative and legal battle has raised the consciousness of this issue for many parents and grandparents... and has forced the video game industry to do a better job at appropriately rating these games."

What. The. Fuck. Is he talking about? I'm going to go grab a copy of the game in my library with the most explicit content. Just a sec.




OK, I found Grand Theft Auto IV & Episodes From Liberty City. On the cover, there is a big ugly label that has a big fat M and above it, it says MATURE 17+. On the back, it says why it was given an M rating. The back has an even bigger label to accommodate the reasons for the rating:

Blood and Gore
Intense Violence
Nudity
Strong Language
Strong Sexual Content
Use of Drugs and Alcohol

I really don't understand Ye's last comment. That very appropriately summarizes every single explicit thing in GTA IV. How can you "appropriately" rate games better than that? Does Ye want the box to say in big fat letters "You can kill anyone you want"?

I've never been a big fan of most child psychologists, most arguing that new media is almost always to blame on bad behavior, but Ye's comments are just unbelievably ignorant and just wants to look good in his district so that he can get re-elected or make a push for national office. This defeat isn't going to look good on his part, wasting tax payer dollars on a law that was only in effect for a few months and eventually having the whole thing struck down by the Supreme Court.