People have been playing games a very long time. I wonder when people began arguing over the importance and impact of games? Like any human craft, there are brilliant artists creating masterpieces (Civiliation) and hacks creating games that fail in any of a seemingly endless and dreary variety of ways (let's not even put their names into the blogosphere). As we're seeing a lot of fear expressed about gaming, it's useful to remember that other forms of entertainment have been attacked for the bad influence they supposedly exerted on a vulnerable and malleable public: you know that rock & roll and rap have been accused of encouraging anti-social behavior. But did you know that the waltz provoked a huge outcry from parents? Seems nutty now, but at the time the waltz was introduced in England (around 1812), men simply did not hold a woman close and certainly didn't induce dizzy intoxication in their partners by spinning and twirling while hanging onto one another. All this rambling leads up to two new developments in the battle over videogame content. Leland Yee, Speaker of the California House of Representatives, has introduced assembly bill 450, an effort to beef up last year's AB1793 (passed and signed by the Governator). The new bill requires games be stickered and imposes a $1000 fine on retailers who rent or sell violent games to minors. Yee believes the current voluntary ratings and ID-checking practices are inadequate. Although I differ with Rep. Yee over the best way to keep adult-themed entertainment out of the hands of children, I do understand his perspective. And Jack Thompson has filed another game-related lawsuit, this one alleging that GTA caused a 17 year old boy to kill three police officers. More details on that in a few days.