King Bashes Massachusetts Legislation

The battle lines over the video game issue have been drawn some years back and the opposing forces are easily distinguishable. On one side stand politicians, moral crusaders and parents concerned that the forces of evil will corrupt their easily influenced children and leave them drooling, amoral crimefiends with a lust for anarchy and chaos. On the other side are a bevvy of teenagers, college students and adults who are for the most part less fanatical about their belief that it’s just a harmless hobby. In the wake of the state of Massachusetts’ announcement that they were going to be re-examining the “games as porn” bill that would restrict M-rated video game sales to people 18 and over legally, the pro gaming side has gotten an unlikely ally. Stephen King, author of horror tales a-plenty and the popular ‘Dark Tower’ series, has chimed in via a column in Entertainment Weeklytitled “Videogame Lunacy”. He criticizes the proposed bill, stating that the politicians need to cease persecuting pop culture in general. He said “It’s easy for them, even sort of fun, because the pop-cult always hollers nice and loud. Also, it allows legislators to ignore the elephants in the living room.” He went on to point out that even if the bill passes it’s likely to be ruled as unconstitutional as several similar laws have been deemed as such in the past. Mr. King goes on to point out that legislators were quick to claim that the Virginia Tech shooter was a fan of Counterstrike (which was completely untrue) but never said a word about how tragically easy it was for him to obtain a 9mm handgun. Say what you will about King’s books, he’s an articulate and intelligent man– and also an admitted non-gamer. It’s one thing to listen to testimony from hardcore gamers but when someone completely divorced from the industry comes out in defense of it, everyone should take notice.