North Carolina considers game bill

Last year, North Carolina legislators pondered giving companies that make games in the state--like Gears of War developer Epic Games--a 15 percent tax credit for equipment and labor costs. This year, the state's lawmakers are considering game-centric legislation of a different sort.

As reported by Game Politics, North Carolina State Senator Julia Boseman introduced Senate Bill 87, which would add violent video games to the list of material considered harmful to minors. If it became law, the bill would make it illegal for anyone except a parent or legal guardian to sell, rent, or otherwise expose a minor to a game deemed harmful to minors.

Retailers and arcade operators would not be able to advertise that the games are available or display them except in a separate section of their stores labeled "adults only." Also, all retailers and arcade operators, regardless of whether they carried games that qualified as harmful to minors, would be required to post signs explaining the industry's game-rating system.

As for what games would be covered, the law would classify as harmful to minors any game featuring "the realistic visual depiction of serious injury to human beings," if it was found to fail a modified version of the three-pronged obscenity test. The graphic violence in the game would need "a predominant tendency to appeal to a morbid interest of minors in violence," the violence would have to be "patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community concerning what is suitable for minors," and the game would have to lack "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors."

If it comes to a vote, the bill appears to have a good chance of passing the North Carolina Senate; 29 of the state's 50 senators have signed on as coauthors of the bill. If passed by the Senate, the bill would then need to be passed by the House of Representatives and approved by the governor to become law. If it passes all that, it would go into effect December 1.