Dear Reader,
Somewhere in his busy days full of impregnating house maids, Arnold Schwarzenegger found the time to sign a California bill that would restrict the sale of violent video games to minors. While appearing reasonable on the surface, the problem with such legislation is that it implicitly suggests that games are not a form of artistic expression protected by the First Amendment. It also callously ignores the exhaustive ratings system the gaming industry employs, which other art forms either cannot match or do not even attempt.
Thankfully, the Supreme Court has released a 7-2 ruling against Arnold and his army of quote-unquote “concerned parents” (read: lazy people who want the state to raise their children). They spell out pretty much exactly what we wanted to hear from them: games are protected free speech, good science can’t back up some bogus connection between gaming and violence, etc. It’s not just a victory, it’s a victory for the right reasons.
This is important for us, people. The Supreme Court giving us the respect we deserve as an artistic community is a major coup, and hopefully the first step towards continuing to educate people and change minds/hearts about who we are. When the Court ruled in support of film being an art form, it was a massive turning point in that young art form’s ascent into the public consciousness. Hopefully, this is the beginning for us as well.
Strong work, Supreme Court. You made the right call, and you have my thanks and gratitude.
–AA
i was misinformed
7 Comments
Excellent! Too bad not every one of their decisions are this sound, but… good for us and common sense.
I figured it was pretty damn obvious to anyone with a brain that video games are art though? It’s really sad it took seven out of nine authoritarian figures to decide this for everyone. But at least it happened, and there were that many who agreed.
I guess there’s too many ignorant Jack Thompsons running around for the world to make sense. You can guarantee that dude had one hell of a conniption today!
Sometimes I miss Jack Thompson. He was always good for a laugh. Though there is one thing I wanted to comment on:
“It also callously ignores the exhaustive ratings system the gaming industry employs…”
They actually called out the ESRB ratings as being inadequate. This is really frustrating and insulting to the game industry, which takes more pains than any other entertainment market to educate parents about the content found in games. I don’t even understand what more they could possibly do, short of sending an ESA representative door-to-door (ugh) trying to teach people about the misinformation in our world (sort of like Jehovah’s Witnesses, but for video games).
We can only hope that as more and more people who become parents nowadays, who were once or currently still are gamers themselves, won’t be as out of touch with video games in general as were/are the parents of gamers (typically) and contemporary critics, religious leaders, legislators and political figures and representatives.
As far as I’m concerned, if they don’t actually play the games or do any research to match the content with the ratings, who the hell are they to judge the ESRB? Is there a closet gaming justice? Who knows, but I doubt they’re all experts on the issue. Yeah, they get paid to fill in the blanks with insight and reason, but sometimes it seems to be more about propogating personal agendas at first glance….
Anyhow, this ruling didn’t really have much to do with the ESRB though and they seemed to draw more of a parallel to just violence in general in other media and stories told to children at a young age. The old fairy tales cited in the ruling were freaking snuff films in comparison to most video games, and I’m glad the justices apparently have the common sense to realize we’re all constantly subjected to violence, and violence in video games is virtually no different than of that found in other media, despite the interactive nature of games.
On the other hand, I’ve never personally paid attention to the ESRB. I haven’t had to. The ratings weren’t around when I was a kid. My parents never really cared what I played as Nintendo never showed any pixelated boobage in their games. I mean, they never walked in on me playing Bionic Commando in time to see Hitler’s head explode, but I don’t think they would have snatched the controller away from me and thrown the NES in the trash. When it comes time for my son and any future children I may have to pick up the controller, I’m playing the games first (I get first dibs, I paid for this shit, yo!) or doing research on them to see what’s in them, and if I don’t think they’re mentally or emotionally developed enough to able to handle what they see and understand that you don’t pull that kind of crap in real life without serious consequences, they don’t get to play that game. It’s not that freakin’ hard to figure out.
This has got me wondering though. If video games are now officially protected by freedom of speech, does that mean there will be sales of A rated games on the horizon, like sometime within the next 10 years? I know retailers lifting that sales ban will still generate a ton of backlash from parents, and I know retailers still have the right to not sell things if they choose not to, but there is honestly an avenue of gaming we have not yet experienced (with the exception of Q’s rape games) with strictly adult themed games. I get the feeling someone may use this as an excuse to develop a “tester” just to see how the water is. Yeah, if that door is opened there’d be games with a ton of sick and pointless violence and sexual perversity just because, but maybe there’d be some really damned good games thrown in there too.
Guess we just gotta wait for the old and prejudiced to die off, and our kind can step up to the plate, lift the bans on this silly shit. Then, with that settled, we’ll have plenty of time to go after whatever newfangled youth-corrupting media that comes out when we’re old!
Great, Leland Yee is at it again http://sfappeal.com/news/2011/06/mayoral-candidate-yee-isnt-done-fighting-for-video-game-sales-restrictions.php
From the article: “Yee said today, “Unfortunately, the majority of the Supreme Court once again put the interests of corporate America before the interests of our children.””
HAHAHAHA!!! Where the fuck was he whenever the SC decided corporations were people, or that corporate funded campaign contributions were protected free speech?
Unfortunately, Leland Yee once again put the interests of his career and “low hanging fruit” vote pandering before the interests of children and any real problems of California or the US.
I live on the other side of the country and it still pisses me off. But what else is new.
Upon further research, Yee was not around in the late 1800s when the supreme court ruled corporations had citizenship. That’s no excuse though!
He has to say SOMETHING, he just suffered a crushing loss. It’s like when a dude gets walloped in a bar fight, and stumbles away saying, “You’re gonna regret this! I’m gonna come back with twenty guys!” It doesn’t mean anything.
Don’t let him get in the way of savoring your victory, sir. This is no time for bitterness.
Meh. Knee-jerk reaction 😀