Okay, I don't want to be THAT guy, but this one's grinding my gears...

Yesterday, Gamasutra ran an article discussing a recent poll sponsored by Common Sense Media, stating that the results found that 72% of parents surveyed support California's proposed violent video game bill.  The rest of the game media industry ran with this story, apparently putting as much research into it as Gamasutra did.

Unfortunately, Gamasutra did not apparently bother to read said poll, as the poll asked respondents if they would support a prohibitive law on video game violence, not the specified Californian law.  Let me quote the poll itself, here:

"Would you support or oppose a law that prohibits minors from purchasing video games that depict killing, maiming or sexually assaulting an image of a human being?" 

With vagaries like that, yes, or course, most people would support keeping death and violence out of the hands of minors.  The poll never asks about the First Amendment questions the proposed bill brings to the tables.  This poll is not at all representative of the proposed California bill and should not be taken as such.  It's a blanket poll about blanket feelings to minors playing violent games, and trying to attribute the results to a specific bill is first off a bad application of both statistics and scientific method, as well as irresponsible.

This oversight, of course, was unnecessary, as the original post from Business Wire states quite plainly that you can contact Common Sense Media for your own copy of the poll for the price of an e-mail.  Or, you can read my copy here, as I did just that.

Thanks for getting everyone up in a frenzy, Gamasutra...