To the parents of Illinois:
As parents, it is our responsibility to our children to make sure they are safe and to teach them right from wrong. When we were growing up, our parents had to worry about what dangers we could encounter outside the home, but at least inside the home, we were safe.

Today, with the advent of so many types of new technology, it is a lot more difficult to know what our children are seeing and doing. And with a multi-billion dollar industry geared towards marketing violent and sexually explicit video games to our children, it is harder to protect them.

Too many of the video games marketed to our children teach them all of the wrong lessons and all of the wrong values. These games use violence, rage, and sexual aggression as play. That is not acceptable. When kids play, they should play like children, not like gangland assassins.

In fact, experts have found that exposure to violent video games increases aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Ninety-eight percent of the games considered suitable by the industry for teenagers contain graphic violence.

That's why we passed legislation to help protect our children. Our legislation bans the sale or rental of excessively violent or sexually explicit video games to children under the age of 18. It's also why we created this website – a tool for parents to learn more about the video games being marketed to their children.

Your support of this initiative is critical to its success. Please send us your thoughts and comments so we can work together to help parents protect their children from violent and sexually explicit video games. Thank you.
Sincerely,

Rod Blagojevich
Governor, State of Illinois

Patricia Blagojevich
First Lady, State of Illinois