If the recent disappointing Attack of the Show debate between Jack Thompson, G4's Adam Sessler and GameDaily's Mark Friedler left you yearning for some real give-and-take, I've got some suggestions.

Would you like to hear a lively debate that lasts more than eight minutes, involves in-depth discussion of game-related issues, and features speakers who are eloquent and well-mannered? Well, thanks to Gamasutra, now you can.

Available as part of a series of weekly podcasts alternating between original Gamasutra content and Game Developers Conference recordings, readers can download last March's Murder, Sex and Censorship: Debating the Morals of Creative Freedom panel. As reported by GamePolitics, the lively discussion, moderated by the IGDA's Sex SIG chair Brenda Brathwaite, featured IGDA Executive Director Jason Della Rocca, California Assemblyman Leland Yee, architect of his state's controversial video game law, and author James Gee (What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy).
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Political debate highlighted yesterday's events at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Jose.

The fireworks took place during a conference session titled Murder, Sex and Censorship: Debating the Morals of Creative Freedom. Panel members included California Assembly Speaker pro tem Leland Yee (D), author James Gee (What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy), Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, and Brenda Brathwaite, leader of the IGDA's Sex in Games SIG and author of an upcoming book on sex in games. Yee, of course, is the architect of California's contested video game law, which is expected to be reviewed by a federal judge in May.

Next-Gen has some coverage on the session, including Yee's comment that, "The bill I was able to pass limits the sale of ultra-violent games to children. It does not prevent the sale of violent games... We believe that this law stands the test of First Amendment exceptions."

Yee also said, "Those involved in government aren't interested in getting deeply in involved in how kids are raised. However, we see the consequences of inappropriate child rearing and we have a responsibility to protect children. It was government that stopped kids from working in factories... Some of these games are about cutting off heads and urinating on people..."

Gee, a University of Wisconsin professor, offered counterpoint. "I argue that playing videogames in the right context can be good for you. We spend a lot of time asking about how games can be bad for you, but not how they can be good for you. We rarely hear about how games could revolutionize the school system. I wonder how many people have been hurt by games, and how many have been helped by games? I suspect if we split those two groups up and put them in two rooms, one would be full, and the other would contain a relatively small group of people."
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