BILL NUMBER: AB 1179   CHAPTERED
   BILL TEXT

   CHAPTER  638
   FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  OCTOBER 7, 2005
   APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  OCTOBER 7, 2005
   PASSED THE SENATE  SEPTEMBER 8, 2005
   PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 8, 2005
   AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 8, 2005
   AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 2, 2005
   AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 23, 2005
   AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 30, 2005
   AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 12, 2005
   AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 31, 2005

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Yee
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Coto, Leslie, Levine, Mullin, and
Vargas)
   (Coauthors: Senators Florez and Kuehl)

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2005

   An act to add Title 1.2A (commencing with Section 1746) to Part 4
of Division 3 of the Civil Code, relating to violent video games.


   LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1179, Yee  Violent video games: sales to minors.
   Existing law regulates the sale of certain merchandise, such as
political items and sports memorabilia.
   This bill would require violent video games to be labeled as
specified and would prohibit the sale or rental of those violent
video games, as defined, to minors. The bill would provide that a
person who violates the act shall be liable in an amount of up to
$1,000 for each violation.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Exposing minors to depictions of violence in video games,
including sexual and heinous violence, makes those minors more likely
to experience feelings of aggression, to experience a reduction of
activity in the frontal lobes of the brain, and to exhibit violent
antisocial or aggressive behavior.
   (b) Even minors who do not commit acts of violence suffer
psychological harm from prolonged exposure to violent video games.
   (c) The state has a compelling interest in preventing violent,
aggressive, and antisocial behavior, and in preventing psychological
or neurological harm to minors who play violent video games.
  SEC. 2.  Title 1.2A (commencing with Section 1746) is added to Part
4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code, to read:

      TITLE 1.2A.  VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES

   1746.  For purposes of this title, the following definitions shall
apply:
   (a) "Minor" means any natural person who is under 18 years of age.

   (b) "Person" means any natural person, partnership, firm,
association, corporation, limited liability company, or other legal
entity.
   (c) "Video game" means any electronic amusement device that
utilizes a computer, microprocessor, or similar electronic circuitry
and its own monitor, or is designed to be used with a television set
or a computer monitor, that interacts with the user of the device.
   (d) (1) "Violent video game" means a video game in which the range
of options available to a player includes killing, maiming,
dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being, if
those acts are depicted in the game in a manner that does either of
the following:
   (A) Comes within all of the following descriptions:
   (i) A reasonable person, considering the game as a whole, would
find appeals to a deviant or morbid interest of minors.
   (ii) It is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the
community as to what is suitable for minors.
   (iii) It causes the game, as a whole, to lack serious literary,
artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
   (B) Enables the player to virtually inflict serious injury upon
images of human beings or characters with substantially human
characteristics in a manner which is especially heinous, cruel, or
depraved in that it involves torture or serious physical abuse to the
victim.
   (2) For purposes of this subdivision, the following definitions
apply:
   (A) "Cruel" means that the player intends to virtually inflict a
high degree of pain by torture or serious physical abuse of the
victim in addition to killing the victim.
   (B) "Depraved" means that the player relishes the virtual killing
or shows indifference to the suffering of the victim, as evidenced by
torture or serious physical abuse of the victim.
   (C) "Heinous" means shockingly atrocious. For the killing depicted
in a video game to be heinous, it must involve additional acts of
torture or serious physical abuse of the victim as set apart from
other killings.
   (D) "Serious physical abuse" means a significant or considerable
amount of injury or damage to the victim's body which involves a
substantial risk of death, unconsciousness, extreme physical pain,
substantial disfigurement, or substantial impairment of the function
of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty. Serious physical abuse,
unlike torture, does not require that the victim be conscious of the
abuse at the time it is inflicted. However, the player must
specifically intend the abuse apart from the killing.
   (E) "Torture" includes mental as well as physical abuse of the
victim. In either case, the virtual victim must be conscious of the
abuse at the time it is inflicted; and the player must specifically
intend to virtually inflict severe mental or physical pain or
suffering upon the victim, apart from killing the victim.
   (3) Pertinent factors in determining whether a killing depicted in
a video game is especially heinous, cruel, or depraved include
infliction of gratuitous violence upon the victim beyond that
necessary to commit the killing, needless mutilation of the victim's
body, and helplessness of the victim.
   1746.1.  (a) A person may not sell or rent a video game that has
been labeled as a violent video game to a minor.
   (b) Proof that a defendant, or his or her employee or agent,
demanded, was shown, and reasonably relied upon evidence that a
purchaser or renter of a violent video game was not a minor or that
the manufacturer failed to label a violent video game as required
pursuant to Section 1746.2 shall be an affirmative defense to any
action brought pursuant to this title. That evidence may include, but
is not limited to, a driver's license or an identification card
issued to the purchaser or renter by a state or by the Armed Forces
of the United States.
   (c) This section shall not apply if the violent video game is sold
or rented to a minor by the minor's parent, grandparent, aunt,
uncle, or legal guardian.
   1746.2.  Each violent video game that is imported into or
distributed in California for retail sale shall be labeled with a
solid white "18" outlined in black. The "18" shall have dimensions of
no less than 2 inches by 2 inches. The "18" shall be displayed on
the front face of the video game package.
   1746.3.  Any person who violates any provision of this title shall
be liable in an amount of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000), or a
lesser amount as determined by the court. However, this liability
shall not apply to any person who violates those provisions if he or
she is employed solely in the capacity of a salesclerk or other,
similar position and he or she does not have an ownership interest in
the business in which the violation occurred and is not employed as
a manager in that business.
   1746.4.  A suspected violation of this title may be reported to a
city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney by a parent,
legal guardian, or other adult acting on behalf of a minor to whom a
violent video game has been sold or rented. A violation of this title
may be prosecuted by any city attorney, county counsel, or district
attorney.
   1746.5.  The provisions of this title are severable. If any
provision of this title or its application is held to be invalid,
that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications
that can be given effect without the invalid provision or
application.

===================================

If this actually gets upheld it will destroy our gaming and the games we can play. Every one of your favorite games will be banned and all new games will be forced to remove the kind of content that makes games fun. We gamers play games for many reasons but mostly its to escape the stress of the real world or to live out a fantasy that could never happen in real life without major problems as a result. It is our human right to choose what we will and will not do with our time, not some group of pompous wigheads trying to think for us. Every individual has the right to do as they see fit with there time, and our gaming should not be censored in any way. This has already been shot down by the 9th Circuit Court  & they say that the ESRB system if fine. There is no need to make a new set of rules to restrict the content in games simply inform the public of the content and let them choose.

What may be some crusade for these power hungry lawyers is nothing more tan the first step into tyranny. If we are unable to spend our free time relaxing and enjoying the kinds to games we want as humans it will not be long before the government tries to pass a citizen slavery act to force a daily schedule of tasks for us and they may even tell you what your going to be and who you will marry, How many kids you will have and at some point they may just remove your brain for lack of a need to have one. They must be far better at thought then we are anyway. Cause we can make the right choice when it comes to the games we play and the things we look at.

The current feel of the game is slow and sluggish. There is no visible speed affects in the game. It does not matter how fast you fly the game does not feel any faster no matter how fast you go.

There is also the OFF mode issue as last time and so far this mode seems worse than before. It is even harder to find yourself after switching modes, as you are in the middle of several planes most the time and there are no markings or labels by your plane to help you. You are just stuck with trying to guess what move to pull or when to pull it. As Tom Clancy does not think that cockpit view is good enough to fly in OFF MODE. I for one am very disspleased with the whole HAWX game attemt. They have given us some of what we want in a flight game yet forced us to deal with things no pilot would ever dream of. So much for SA as thay say in the air. You can't keep your awareness when nothing is how it should be. Speed perception is off & your planes arnt allowed to be used to there fullest with out jumping out of the plane and watching from a birds eye view of the fight. What kind of problem will we see next time.

The best thing that they can do now is remove OFF MODEs view and switch it for 3rd person view. This we can all live with and it will still allow for a new style of play. But why would they listen to us we just buy the games and keep them in the lab cooking up the next game.

The topics we had on the table all went fast. We set in motion a few new things that should help make things easy for us all. Lets go over what these new areas are.

1.  GAMES WE PLAY.

            We all know there are way to many games for us to get them all and play every game with each other. We have used the groups idea to help us know who plays what and how often they play. This has only worked once or twice thus far. Its this reason we are changing how we play and what we play. Now don't think the members are required to buy the games we say or play what we say when we say. This is just a streamline idea to allow for more fun and easy gaming. Instead of every member trying to get others to play with them lets just work the four weeks on the month as a gaming week. Each week will have a style of games we play that week and the whole squadron can play together from week to week. This will help cut down on the lack of game play with each other and increase our activity with each other.

• WEEK ONE FLIGHT GAMES
• WEEK TWO FPS GAMES
• WEEK THREE RTS GAMES
• WEEK FOUR COMBAT TEAM PRACTICE.

These are not set in stone but they should help us coordinate our game play with each other. If we play these styles on these weeks will play with each other more often than not and this will build our friendship to a level none can rival.

The COMBAT WEEK is not for the whole squadron just those who wish to be the primary combat members. We will need to forge a STRONG AND POWERFUL team to represent us as a whole so our name is made even greater.

 Those who wish to be on the combat team simply have to say so and on the fourth week we will play together each of the games we want to build rep on. MW2, AC6, HAWX, BF-BC2, ect,...

     2.   MEMBERSHIP RANKINGS

           With the age of our great community we need to be able to show our newest members who has been around the longest and who holds sway with the rules and all things we do. This gave me the idea of yearly service awards to display your age as an Angel.

1. Angel
2. Dark Angel
3. Arch Angel
4. Dark Cherubim
5. Dark Seraphim

Each rank is for one year of service. The longer your a member the more you can do. This will keep our goals and creed from getting swayed by new members who are very active in the short run but can't keep up with the rest of us or stay true to our rules and creed.

     3.  COMBAT TEAMS

With the vast array of games we play we can now set up a couple combat teams that can build rep for the community. There will be three teams that each have a ranking system for organization and coordination purposes only. Every team needs to have its members help keep things going smoothly and without stress on one person.

• General; Strategy & battle rules. This member has to learn and master the rules of play for the team. It is there task to help the team understand how they can win with the rules they have to play by. They must also help each member learn what part they will best fit into for the team based on the rules and that members skills. If your good at something you should help the team by doing it in combat even if its not what you like. We are doing these battles for rep not just fun. So lets all be team players here and do what is most needed for the team to win, not what we want to do or what we like to do when we play the game on our own.
• Colonel; Record keeper & roster keeper. This member works hand in hand with the general to track on paper what the team needs and how to achieve it. If the team needs to fill a task for a match this member searches out a roster member who is good at what needs to be done. They test the member and see who is best at the task. They record what they find and the General makes the call who is best for the task.
• Major; Team contact. This member gets in contact with the other team so the matches can be set up and each side stays in contact with each pother. This task must be done well or the rep of the team will be nothing before the match takes place.
• Captain; Trainer; This member needs to be a very good player able to teach the rest of the team what they need to do. They should be better skilled than even those with higher ranks so that the best member teaches the rest.
• 1st Lieutenant; 1st string member
• 2nd Lieutenant; 2nd string member

 Each of these ranks has a duty built in. There is no power attached to these ranks. As a General in the team you are not more in control than the captain you simply have more to care for. Your task is more important than the others. This is how we know who is able or willing to do harder tasks & duties.

     4. CONTEST WINNERS

    I am pleased to say that the 4  most active members on the site and meetings are Billedwardz, Master Durge 01, AirForceOTW & CS Over Watch. Congrats to all who played and good luck next time. Each one of these members will get 1600 MS points to use as they like. Our next contest is in Nov. Lets get ready and be sure to keep checking the site for updates.

CS Justiceian

Leader for The Dark Angels.