Immediately some of you will automatically tune out as soon as I mention Video Games, whatever the reason many people simply scoff at video games. I do love video games they are a huge part of my life, but this is something bigger this is something that could change all of America.
A few years ago California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger passed a law that prevents the sale of “ultra violent” video games to minors. On the surface you might think, “Good for them some of those games are too violent for kids!” I would agree with you that kids should not play violent video games, so what is the problem with the law you might ask? The California law would make the Government the decider of what makes a video game “ultra violent”. Because of this the California Court of Appeals over turned this law, but Gov. Schwarzenegger appealed the decision and the law is under review by the US Supreme Court.
Many of you still might not see the problem with this law, but think about it this way. The law would allow the Government to decide what content is appropriate or inappropriate. This would be a clear violation of the First Amendment and would bring back “I know it when I see it” legislation! However, considering this court’s previous rulings on Free Speech laws it is doubtful that they would justify this law. But if somehow the Supreme Court rules that this is a constitutional law then the Government would then start deciding which games are appropriate, and then what would stop a politician from then trying to expand this to movies or anything else! Hopefully the Supreme Court realizes the ramifications of the decision and decides that this would indeed be a violation of free speech.
For those of you who don’t know much about video games, they already have a content rating system, The ESRB which is much more thorough then Movie Ratings. The problem with the ESRB is that it relies on parents to decide which video games are acceptable for their kids to play. The ESRB has a user friendly website in which you type in the game title and it provides a rating, and an explanation of the rating with specific examples from in the game. They even have an iPhone APP so you can search a game while in a store. This leaves no reason for why a parent should not know if a video game is appropriate for his or her own child.
Despite what you may hear there has been no scientific evidence to link violent video games with violent behavior. That doesn’t mean I think kids should play mature rated games the same as I wouldn’t want a child to watch an R rated movie. Once again it comes down parents keeping track of what children are doing.
Sorry for the rant, I love video games and I see them as the next great story telling medium. Unfortunately they get attacked left and right by politicians who don’t want to blame the parents, aka voters, for allowing their kids to play games but they want to blame video games. I truly am interested in your thoughts or opinions so leave a comment or if you have a link tweet it at me @gator_burton. Thanks for reading!
