The game is free to play and needs to be censored to protect the innocent minds of the developing minds of children.

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the sale or rental of adult video games to minors.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 

United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Protect Children from Video Game Sex 

and Violence Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
        (1) The video game industry has grown into a $10 billion 
    market for game software publishing, wholesaling, and 
    retailing.
        (2) The use and observation of video games that contain 
    sexual or violent content can be harmful to minors and 
    reasonable restrictions will significantly decrease the number 
    of minors using these games.
        (3) On July 26, 2000, six of the Nation's most respected 
    public health groups, including the American Medical 
    Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American 
    Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Academy of Child 
    and Adolescent Psychiatry, found that viewing entertainment 
    violence can lead to increases in aggressive attitudes, 
    behaviors, and values, particularly in children.
        (4) The ratings and content descriptors of video and 
    computer games issued by the entertainment industry reflect the 
    notion that certain video and computer games are suitable only 
    for adults due to graphic depictions of sex or violence.
        (5) In December 2001, a study by the Federal Trade 
    Commission showed that retailers allowed 78 percent of 
    unaccompanied minors, ages 13 to 16, to purchase games rated as 
    ``Mature'' by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
        (6) The sale of video games and computer games 
    substantially affects interstate commerce because they are sold 
    in interstate commerce on a nationwide basis.
        (7) The Nation has a compelling interest in preventing 
    minors from purchasing video and computer games that are only 
    suitable for adults due to graphic depictions of sex or 
    violence.
        (8) There is a need to enact narrowly tailored legislation 
    to restrict the sale and use of video games that contain sexual 
    or violent content that is intended for adults only, and that 
    such legislation not restrict adults' access to these games.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON SALE OR RENTAL OF ADULT VIDEO GAMES TO MINORS.

(a) In General.--Part 1 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

by adding at the end the following new chapter:

``CHAPTER 124--PROHIBITION ON SALE OR RENTAL OF ADULT VIDEO GAMES TO MINORS

Sec. 2731. Definitions As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply: (1) The term `graphic violence' means the visual depiction of serious injury to human beings, actual or virtual, including aggravated assault, decapitation, dismemberment, or death. (2) The term content harmful to minors' means video game content that predominantly appeals to minors' morbid interest in violence or minors' prurient interest in sex, is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors, and contains-- ``(A) graphic violence; ``(B) sexual violence; or ``(C) strong sexual content. ``(3) The term minor' means a person age 17 and younger. (4) The term `nudity' means the visual depiction, actual or virtual, of the human male or female genitals, pubic area or buttocks with less than a fully opaque covering, of a female breast with less than a fully opaque covering of any part of the nipple or of any portion of the breast below the nipple, or the depiction of covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state. (5) The term sexual conduct' means acts, actual or virtual, of masturbation, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person's clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person be a female, a breast. ``(6) The term strong sexual content' means the visual depiction, actual or virtual, of human nudity or explicit human sexual behavior, including acts of masturbation, deviate sexual conduct, sexual intercourse, or fondling of genitals. (7) The term `sexual violence' means the visual depiction, actual or virtual, of rape or other sexual assault. (8) The term `video game' means any copy of an electronic game that may be played using a portable electronic device or with a hand-held gaming device using a television or computer. Sec. 2732. Prohibition on sale or rental of adult video games to minors Whoever sells at retail or rents, or attempts to sell at retail or rent, to a minor any video game that depicts nudity, sexual conduct, or other content harmful to minors, shall be fined under this chapter. Sec. 2733. Penalties (a) First Violation.--Whoever knowingly violates section 2732 shall be fined not more than $1,000. (b) Second Violation.--Whoever knowingly violates section 2732, having previously been fined under subsection (a), shall be fined not less than $1,000 and not more than $5,000. (c) Subsequent Violations.--Whoever knowingly violates section 2732, having previously been fined under subsection (b), shall be fined not less than $5,000.''. (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of chapters at the beginning of part I of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

``124. Prohibition on sale or rental of adult video games to 2731''. minors. <all>

@RainGnyu said in What did they remove due to political correctness?:

Did you guy ever read the first pages of the thread posts? Did you guy noticed who and which people set the tone of the conversations. Just read the Original poster comments after his or her initial opening Thread post.

Yes, we noticed. And?

Does that make the sides enemies? Does that make this into a war? I'll answer for you. No, it doesn't. It just makes two sides of a debate where none of us have any changing power, but all the right to speak about either against or in favor of something. As much as you decry it, there's no agenda here to whatever it is you think there is. Nobody cares about changing your mind, so it's useless to bring that into the argument.

By now, I feel most people are already settled in the notion that the censors will stay and Sega will never say anything about it. All they can do is talk about it. And this talk should be hurting nobody. Sega themselves have not prohibited talks on the subject. And believe me, they actually can add it as a rule of the forum, in the same way Enmasse added rules to their forums prohibiting threads and posts about mods or the so called 'good bye' threads. Sega could easily do that here and you will never ever again see a thread about censoring. And as a bonus, all those posters you seem to dislike would most likely close their accounts and leave. But while they haven't talked, Sega hasn't prohibited the players to talk about it either. All they ask us is to be respectful to others and debate the issues and not the people behind them. And if you are tired of the issue, you can just block the posters and those who start these threads, and you will not see them ever again.

As to those who think these threads make the forums look uglier, I differ. It makes the forums more varied, and assure others that people can talk freely about things that pain them about the game. That at least Sega is allowing this talk even if it's a tiny silver lining compared to the real issues. So I believe this specific thread belongs here and not in suggestions, because this is a discussion thread. Not a suggestion one.

Oh, and also, Rain, this game is not to be played by children. If you know of any parent allowing their child to play this game, report them to the authorities. This is a M 17 rated game for that reason.

@ZorokiHanuke This also is a free to play game. Which falls under another set of sub-rules.

@RainGnyu Nope. Age rules are the same across the board. Doesn't matter if the game is free to play. parents are responsible to monitor and control what their children do or watch on the Internet. If a free game has a M tag, a parent's mandated responsibility according to the rating regulation is to prohibit their child from playing said game. So, yes, all those parents allowing their 12 year old children to play CoD are actually violating the ratings system.

@ZorokiHanuke only if they follow the business code of conduct. Like the sale of alcohol and tobacco in the USA.

@RainGnyu The age rating is pretty much absolute. Now, in reality, what happens is that if a parent allows or does not know their child is accessing a game with a rating they shouldn't access, and the child experiences something there they shouldn't have, if the parent goes to sue, the lawsuit would instantly fail, simply because the rating is explicitly stated in more places than one, before joining such game. And in an extreme case, the parent is actually liable for any mental or even physical damage a child under the age of a rating would sustain caused by the use of such product.

@ZorokiHanuke said in What did they remove due to political correctness?:

@RainGnyu The age rating is pretty much absolute. Now, in reality, what happens is that if a parent allows or does not know their child is accessing a game with a rating they shouldn't access, and the child experiences something there they shouldn't have, if the parent goes to sue, the lawsuit would instantly fail, simply because the rating is explicitly stated in more places than one, before joining such game. And in an extreme case, the parent is actually liable for any mental or even physical damage a child under the age of a rating would sustain caused by the use of such product.

The issue is free to play! It changes the whole dynamic and where censorship is needed.

This game is like candy cigarettes and non-alcoholic beer.

@RainGnyu The only thing that dictates the age group of players is the ratings itself. And the rating is set according to what the game contents portray. The only thing that free to play changes is the monetization model, which is entirely different from the rating issue. Do remember, that there are plenty of other games released in the West and even in United States, which come uncensored and with much stronger content than PSO2. And even some of them are free to play.

It's been seen time and time again, that asian games released in the west mainly get censored beforehand not because of any laws or regulations, but because the developers, many times mistakenly so, believe the west can't handle the uncensored version of their game due to moral or other issues. But the law does not really prevent them from releasing their games uncensored. They just need to abide by the ratings system.

In the dark reality of things, Anime/manga aware Asians may believe that an Asian in Asia playing a sexualized child like character may be seen as more comedy than anything, remembering that such things are seen differently over there by a large group of people, like those into Anime and Manga, with a general population leaning to a more moderate side shaped by Western intervention. They also have a firm grasp on the line between fiction and reality, which allows them to fully divide both worlds in their minds. On the other hand, a westerner in the west doing the same will be seen as evil, and that such person does it either to plain troll or for other more evil purposes. Western culture doesn't see it as comedy either. People may believe that westerners do not have such a strong sense of fiction vs reality, and may interlace them. Translation teams, usually being western based, also seem to think in similar ways. And that's in my opinion why we get censors.

@Anarchy-Marine said in What did they remove due to political correctness?:

@ApollosAmour said in What did they remove due to political correctness?:

The lengths people will go to see half-naked little girls calling them master never ceases to amaze me.

Going to be honest with you here, starting to lose the last bit of respect I had for you with this bait. Also if I named one of my male aux's Alfred, and he calls me handler, it kind of ruins that Batman reference I was making. That said, it would be nice if I could fully customize what my aux is saying entirely, based around each unique creation.

That's fine. It's not directed toward you, since I've never gotten the sense that you're a false actor or a creep or anything of that nature. I'm just fairly jaded toward the subject the more that I see the reality of what's going on. There's just a lot of gross weirdos that are attracted to games like this who will lie to get what they want.

I was playing on an alt and they they still call you master in that scene when you first go to your PQ, which was interesting to see. Tbh I talk to my aux fairly often and I still never notice the change. I wonder if it's because of the personality I've chosen for him (polite) or if I really just don't notice at all.

@ApollosAmour Honestly that baiting crap is for kids. I was answered several pages ago and even when I tried to diffuse some arguments and answer with a statement implying its all concluded till the next chapters were released,

@Raif said in What did they remove due to political correctness?:

wow, so many answers....and some crazy here and there. Guess that's it for most of the changes found though so we'll see what they change in the next chapters.

its still going anyway. If your done with the thread, move on. If your still going to have to make several more pages about this being a bait thread it just makes you more and more like a troll. Go give advice to a new player now or something. Scoot.

Edit: Goes for all of ya, not just Apollo.

Re-edit: Also thanks for the answers

@Miraglyth said in What did they remove due to political correctness?:

The use of "political correctness" in the title makes that pretty obvious yes. But let's not pretend yourself and ApollosAmour don't have the opposite agenda. When neither of you answer basic questions or own up to being called out on baiting, you're not fooling anyone.

I feel like this viewpoint wouldn't exist if I weren't so active in these topics in the past. Because I've posted consistently with the same standpoint, I've likely become the face of the pro-localization side of things, meaning I receive most of the backlash. I've answered basic questions from all different angles, held people accountable from both sides, laid out things in pretty simple terms, etc. If people are still unwilling to believe I've ever done that, then what can I do? I'm not defending myself from revisionist angles of the argument anymore.

As far as baiting goes, I say tongue-in-cheek things to stir the pot sometimes. I don't see where I haven't owned up to that though, since people have called me out on it and I haven't denied it. The topic is too silly sometimes not to be silly myself, which I've said.

I just find the accusation so bizarre because the only criticisms thrown against me that I haven't been able to give a clear answer to are the deluded responses I've received that go into prophetic diatribes or conspiracy ramblings about major corporations and human suffering. Meanwhile, I can't even get anyone on the anti-localization side to understand why it's bad for them to not call out people who are clearly lolicon and why it hurts their argument without a "it's not my responsibility" type of response. Even after the evidence has been dropped, they'll still turn a blind eye and act like it's irrelevant and/or go into full defense mode and protect them.

@Raif In that case, I'm sure the search feature would have served you well. But hindsight is 20/20.

@ApollosAmour said in What did they remove due to political correctness?:

@Raif In that case, I'm sure the search feature would have served you well. But hindsight is 20/20.

Using the search feature? That is for kids.

@ZorokiHanuke

RainGnyu continually walks the line of a troll. I admire your ability to stay centered when dealing with them but I feel compelled to point out that you're basically wasting your time. Still, your last response is a very good explanation of cultural differences and i'm glad people are still capable of seeing this as one of many reasons things get changed/censored.

@ApollosAmour I am curious on your perspective of censorship as i'm not familiar with your face in these topics. And I would prefer to not assume that you broadly accuse everyone who takes issue with censorship is someone who's sexually attracted to kids irl.

@Raif I am curious on why you are throwing everything from censorship under the term "political correctness." I don't believe that term can apply to all censorship/changes that has happened to the game.