By: Brian Crecente

Denver's mass transit system voted down this week a proposal to ban video game ads from its buses and trains, deciding to side with common sense rather than Boston and Portland.

Earlier this week the Regional Transportation District rejected the suggested ban 12-3, citing concerns about freedom of speech.

The ban on adult-rated games was recommended by a committee to the full board after the Parents Television Council and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood floated the idea.

"It was a tough decision because I think our hearts as a board were with trying to limit exposure to advertisements that promote violence," Boulder board member John Tayer told the Associated Press. "But the overwhelming weight of the legal advice was that if we pursued this, we would face an uphill battle in court."

The council was not present at the vote this week, but a representative said in February that by running mature and adult rated video game ads RTD is doing the residents of Colorado a disservice "with its tacit approval for the dangerous content in the mature-rated video games."

On Wednesday Peggi O'Keefe of the Entertainment Software Association said the proposal was unnecessary and unconstitutional. The industry's Entertainment Software Rating Board enforces strict guidelines about which games are appropriate for minors and how those products can be advertised, she said.

Current RTD policy prohibits deceptive, illegal or obscene material and ads for tobacco products, while requiring that ads be "of a reputable character."

The Council's call for the ban comes after both Boston and Portland put similar bans in place for their mass transit systems.

I spoke with Gavin McKiernan, the National Grassroots Director for the Parents Television Council, earlier this month about the council's decision to try and have a ban passed in Denver.

He said the original idea came from the council's Denver chapter director after he spotted a Grand Theft Auto ad on an RTD train.

"He had seen some of the success in the group we had partnered with in a similar campaign in Boston," he said. "And decided to pursue it in Denver."

I asked McKiernan why they had decided to make their proposal so specific, asking only for a ban on adult or mature-rated video games and not for other things like mature television shows, movies or alcohol.

He said that while the group would be interested in expanding the ban to include adult programming on television, the current rating system would make that quite difficult.

"With advertising television programs its difficult to tie (a show) to a specific rating," he said. "With video games they have the ESRB ratings. "

"We don't put any credence in the television rating programs because they rate their own."

Is it the desire to ban adult and mature video games then, I asked, spurred in part because of the medium rather than the content?

"It's a bit of both," he said. "The bigger concern is with the medium."

What about movies, would the council seek to have ads for adult movies banned?

"There's a difference," he said. "For one, movies and movie theaters have a good history of policing themselves about who can see what. Anecdotally most people assume there is a law saying you can't go see an R rated movie if you are under a certain age."

"The video game industry doesn't have a good history of keeping adult video games out of childrens' hands. We don't anticipate having a similar campaign for movies because of the lack of enforcement (of ratings for) video games."

At least he's up front about his ignorance of the system.

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