GDC Radio: 'Murder, Sex and Censorship'

Gamasutra is proud to present a series of weekly podcasts will alternate between two sources under the overarching GDC Radio brand - the Gamasutra podcast, a new original podcast show, and GDC Radio Archives, which will feature exclusively the best lectures, tutorials, and roundtables from this and previous years' Game Developers Conference. Today's GDC Radio lecture comes from our extensive archive of Game Developers Conference recordings. This week, we present 'Murder, Sex and Censorship: Debating the Morals of Creative Freedom,' the GDC 2006 panel moderated by game designer Brenda Brathwaite that addressed government legislation against video games on the wake of the "Hot Coffee" scandal. An extract from the official panel abstract follows: In the last year, over a dozen bills targeting video games were put before state Assemblies and Senates throughout America. In other countries, video games were banned outright. Legislators seek to control their sale and their distribution. They complain the industry is out of control and ratings do not work. And in the wake of the "Hot Coffee" scandal, we face irate politicians and the FTC again. What does this mean for game developers? Should they tone down their content? Should they let government regulate the sale of videogames? Exactly how harmful are games? This panel brings together the leaders in the games debate – Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the IGDA and Assemblymember Leland Yee of California, sponsor of numerous bills seeking to regulate the sale of video games to minors. Also joining the panel will be Prof. James Paul Gee, educator, video games researcher and author of "What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy."" You can now read more about the lecture, and click through to download the entire audio recording for free (no registration required).