Today the hearing of California v. The Entertainment Merchants Association and Entertainment Software Association (otherwise known as the Video Game industry) begins. So what does this mean and why is this a big deal? Back in 2006 a California assemblyman Leland Yee brought forth a bill making it illegal for video games retailers to sell violent video games to minors. Governor Schwarzenegger signed it into law. The EMAESA then took this to the California Supreme Court where the law was overturned as unconstitutional (restriction of free speech). California brought it before the Court of Appeal where it was the previous ruling was upheld. Finally they have brought it before the Supreme Court.
So why is this a big deal? Well movies, magazines, books, music etc are not restricted in their sale to minors. These industries are allowed to regulate themselves (which is where movie rating come into play). Video games have the same system in place. Based on the content retailers limit who can buy what game. Some retailer (Target) even scan your drivers liscence before selling an M (17+) rated game, making it literally impossible for a clerk to sell the game to someone under-age. But what about R rated movies? It is not illegal to show a child an R rated movie. Like Video Games, the Movie industry restricts who can watch their films based on age. However if they decide to show an R rated film to a minor no law has been breached. There is one exception to this. Pornography. It is illegal to sell pornography to a minor. This is where this law becomes tricky. If passed it will mean that the violence contained in some video-games is the same as the extreme sexual content portrayed in pornographic material. It also insists that video games have no artistic value. If you haven't played video games in several years you might be wondering about this last statement. Video games have changed dramatically over the past decade. They now boast budgets that rival movies (no uncommon for a game to have a budget of 50-100 million dollars) and development teams that surpass most movie crews. They hire hollywood and professional actors and writers to pen and perform. Sometimes even hollywood actors direct them (like the upcoming game from Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo Del Toro). Video games are even now reviewed in the New York Times, which recently said this about the highly acclaimed Red Dead Redemption
Marston straddles more than the border between Mexico and the United States. He also stands between the Old West and modernity — between the celebration of the individual and the collective requirements of organized society — as he tries to salvage a family life from the smoldering legacy of his criminal past. Along the way, he and his creators conjure such a convincing, cohesive and enthralling reimagination of the real world that it sets a new standard for sophistication and ambition in electronic gaming...Like our own, the world of Red Dead Redemption — its cantinas, dusty arroyos, railway stations and cragged peaks — is one in which good does not always prevail and yet altruism rarely goes unrewarded. This is a violent, unvarnished, cruel world of sexism and bigotry, yet one that abounds with individual acts of kindness and compassion. Like our own, this is a complex world of ethical range and subtlety where it’s not always clear what the right thing is. This is a world where revenge often tastes not sweet but bitter, like the dregs at the bottom of a mug long since drained.
Does this sound like pornography? Because this game is violent. Perhaps as violent as they come. But not more violent films like The Pianist or Saving Private Ryan. If it helps make the connection, this game is from the same people who made Grand Theft Auto, a brutally violent tale which tells of the struggles of an illegal immigrant in New York City trying to escape his past and begin a new life but none-the-less finds himself dragged into the seedy underbelly of big city crime.
Video Games are an art form. I understand that not all games are, but frankly neither are all movies nor all music. But that is not for the government to choose. Its for the individual, and in the case of the minor, its for the parents, not a government assembly.
