The Gaming industry would still be big enough, it would merely move all its cash and workplaces to Canada, Japan and Europe ... at most it would be a small slump, As i frankly don't believe that they'd be all that good at policing such a ban, specially as i don't believe anyone but the moral guardians would give a rats arse about it, and the deep American pockets that funded the games would still do so, merely doing so though companies with their HQ outside US law.
Wouldn't such laws make selling of games illegal as well, not just producing them?
When did that ever stop anybody ... specially as we're just on the curb of digital marketing being a valid business plan as the broadband is getting up to speed (remember, this is just about the time where stuff such as Kazaa and Napster surfaced), and it would get to a organized state of proper online marketplaces faster if there suddenly is a relatively large market for whom its the best/only choice. After all ... OTL steam was launched back in 2003, even though for the first handful of years it was basicly valve games only as none of the other publishers joined up
Which interestingly enough might help the Music market as they can catch on to that slipstream, getting their digital distribution up and running faster, having the gaming industry trailblazing.
Game producers might try convice banning being unconstitutional and there will be case in Supreme Court.
Movie industry might be quiet worried when they ban violent movies and TV series.
And rest of world keep American legistators total nuts.
Well, it would still be illegal and people distributing such games would risk arrest and jail. It would also be (legally) impossible for companies to market in US and if they are still distributing it from outside would face prosecution and/or be banned from operating in US. How many comapnies would risk that?
As long as they don't intend to go to US i don't see anyone 'selling' their inhabitants for doing something thats not illegal where they're doing it, no matter if its 'in theory' possible that Americans have access to it ... If America have a problem with it, its their problem, not whereever they're making a living by legal means, just because its illegal other places...
US didn't try to arrest and jail Canadian shopowners that sold booze to persons (most commonly Mobsters admittedly) that happened to ship it across the border doing the prohibition did they?
I said something along those lines. Non US companies couldn't market to US or sell directly. So they'd have to rely on circumventing US laws and advertise to other countries in a way Us consumers would see it. Which would be problematic. Nor could they sell it there and would have to rely on smugglers, either distributors or individuals.
either way, not a good business model and would see large drop in sales because Us market would remain alrgely untaped.
The United States is once again upheld as not a true democracy by the world over
tl;dr While US could certainly make it a law, I highly doubt that they would get anywhere close to having a snowballs chance in hell to actually follow through on it, without only being a annoyance to US companies, and a creative brain-drain to Canada and Europe.
BTW, the topic is ostensibly "The US senate bans violent games" How does the US Senate pass any laws on its own? I thought the House was needed, too...
And as I noted in a post above, such a ban *even with respect to minors* was founded unconstitutional by the Supreme Court by 7-2 in *Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n.*
Thompson has also criticized a Christian video game based on the Left Behind series. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, players participate in "battles raging in the streets of New York," according to the game's fact sheet. They engage in "physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world." Thompson claims that the makers of the game are sacrificing their values.[113] He said, "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game."[114] Left Behind author Tim LaHaye disagrees, saying "Rather than forbid young people from viewing their favorite pastime, I prefer to give them something that's positive."[113] The dispute over the game has caused Thompson to sever ties with Tyndale House, which publishes both the Left Behind books and Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way.[114] Thompson has not seen the game, which he says has "personally broken my heart," but claims, "I don't have to meet Abraham Lincoln to know that he was the 16th president of the United States."[115]
What if the hardline moralist wings of the american society, with the help of activists like Jack Thompson and members of the republican party managed to passa bill banning violent games in the late 90s or early 2000s? Problably after Postal 2 and GTA III had been released?