Vox ex Machina » FCC

FCC Considers Universal Media Rating System

Nelson Williams — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:18:03 +0000

You know, those little tags at the bottom of the game boxes you never look at because of the guns and boobs up at the top? Those are ESRB stickers, slapped on by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. They show the game has been rated in a voluntary process for guns and boobs, then assigned an appropriate label so kids know just how many guns and boobs they’re getting. It’s the industry regulating itself, and it works.

The FCC, who a while back totally freaked out over mixing sports and boobs during that Janet Jackson affair, is considering a single rating system for all forms of media. Games, movies, TV shows, anything the FCC can get its lustful tendrils into. This system, if it ever develops, may well be based around the one used by the ESRB and video games.

CNet has a blog article on the subject.

FCC Commissioner Blames World of Warcraft and MMOs for College Dropouts

Nelson Williams — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 03:50:40 +0000

Okay, sure, we all know that one guy who spent so much time off in EverQuest or NetHack that he forgot to go to class, but is that sort of thing epidemic? Deborah Taylor Tate, FCC Commissioner, seems to think so. In a speech on telecom policy and regulation, she mentioned online gaming, and specifically World of Warcraft, as a major reason for college dropouts. She also used the term “gaming addiction,” which we know is just a buzzword. Actual study of troubled gamers shows little evidence of true addiction.

Being the cynical type, I have to wonder if the lady Commissioner’s comments represent the beginning of a campaign against online gaming. Perhaps the FCC has been watching the gaming scene and pondering how to get their regulatory claws on the millions of gamers — and billions of dollars — that make up modern video gaming.

To our readers, I really just have one thing to say on the subject; do your homework already, jeez. You want to flunk out or something?

FCC Transition Team co-chairs are also Warcraft players

Helvetica — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:29 +0000

President-Elect Barak Obama may have just hit pay dirt with the gaming generation, he’s appointing people who have actual MMO experience under their belts. Not only last week did we have our first YouTUBE Presidential address, but now we’re starting to see more people put into positions of authority who play the same games we do!

From the titular Gigaom article,

Werbach’s involvement in WoW is worth noting as it raises the possibility that in the coming months, he and Crawford will craft strategic policy positions relevant to online games and worlds, including broadband usage, content regulation, etc. Along with Ito and like-minded academics, Werbach sees both as important to the future of work and technology:

“What [Warcraft] does,” he continued in that post, “is provide an incentive for people to develop new software and ideas for collaborative production. Many of those ideas will translate to other group activities, including those within the business world. I think MMOGs will be, at a minimum, a significant testbed for these new technologies, because users see a direct benefit and are willing to experiment with new things.”

We are obviously on the cusp of a brand new, amazing administration. Even in the face of this economic recession, soon depression, the world has seen a boom in information technology. Copyright and IP Law loom large on the horizon, the behavior of the FCC has been questionable, and the Internet dominates commerce, communication, even eclipses media as it was once known.

Here I am, gamer geek, writing up something on a blog for gamers. Hearing about people interested in virtual worlds, thinking about the universe of community that we’re generating for ourselves, who will become part of the FCC is an amazing step forward.

Now, I’m sure everyone is wondering the same thing.

Is Werbach Horde or Alliance?

I certainly hope he’s Horde!