CEI: “Supreme Court Should Strike Down California’s Video Game Law”:
Tomorrow the State of California will battle the video game industry before the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue is a 2005 California law barring the sale of violent video games to minors. California lawmakers maintain that violent video games cause “feelings of aggression” in children. Lower courts have thus far held that the law violates the First Amendment.
[…]
“Time and time again, appellate courts have ruled that state laws barring the sale of ‘violent’ video games to minors run afoul of the First Amendment,” said Hans Bader, CEI Senior Attorney. “Hopefully, the U.S. Supreme Court will affirm these lower courts and settle the matter of video game content regulation once and for all. California has not demonstrated that video game violence is a so serious a problem that it overcomes the profoundly chilling effects that California’s law would wreak on video games, a form of protected speech that millions of adult Americans enjoy.”
“Over the last two decades, even as video games have grown ubiquitous among America’s youth, violent crime has declined steadily. While safeguarding children is an important governmental function, mitigating the allegedly harmful effects of video game violence can be accomplished through means far less restrictive than California’s video game law. At a time when parents have access to more information than ever before about video game content—indeed, about all forms of entertainment content—onerous governmental mandates are hardly necessary to educate and empower parents to protect their kids,” stated Bader.
“History has illustrated that the best content ratings systems emerge and evolve in response to market forces,” said Ryan Radia, CEI Associate Director of Technology Studies. “When politicians and regulators meddle with these institutions, parents are deprived of the information they need. While the private, voluntary Entertainment Software Rating Board provides valuable information about video games and empowers parents to decide what’s best for their children, the government’s own regulatory system for radio content provides practically no useful information to parents. Ironically, allowing California’s law to stand will harm the very parents and children it purports to protect.”
“Video games deserve the same level of legal protection as other forms of artistic expression. Critics whose gaming experience consists of simplistic arcade games like Pacman or ultra-violent shooters like Postal argue that video games are devoid of artistic merit. But anybody who has played Bioshock, Myst, Oblivion, or even the maligned Grand Theft Auto series knows better. Increasingly, video games offer poignant criticism of the harsh realities of our society and insightful commentary on human nature—and their artistic depth rivals that offered by less interactive forms of media,” stated Radia.
You can probably guess where I stand. I cut my baby teeth on horror movies — and I wrote my tenth-grade term paper on Portnoy’s Complaint, Goodbye, Columbus, and The Breast.
I feel like I’m better for having not been sheltered — and even better than that for having not been parented by government legislators pretending they give a shit about action in my frontal lobes.
But that’s just me. You all are you.
Discuss.
the O!-hairplugs video game is pretty violent
More liberty is always better than less. Hopefully the state California will fail to convince the Supreme Court.
I actually heard a younger caller on the Limbaugh show bring this up and Rush basically said, hey, it’s happening all over the place, if it takes them butting their noses into your video games, then good, welcome to the party, progressives are assholes.
Paraphrasing, of course.
– This is one of those issues that, while it looks so damn significant in terms of the emotions and desires involved, along with the potential for censor abuse and child abuse, just doesn’t really matter.
– The gamers would just move everything onto the internet.
– Preoccupation with this and other crap like the Pot BS is a symptom of “out to lunch” governance and law enforcement.
I do have to wonder if California understands how many people are employed in California developing video games.
On second thought, considering how they ran the movie industry out of their state, maybe they’re perfectly aware…
This is who the modern left is.
Mr. McClintock opposed this bill it should be noted cause of some people are very broadbrushy and unfair about how sometimes he doesn’t stand up for individual liberty against the state but this time he sure did so good for him
I remember playing Atari’s “Adventure”. It immediately made me want to start raping women and sacrificing virgins. It took 2 years at a child psychologist where they finally convinced me I wasn’t a little yellow square.
Adventure had the hidden rooms if you found the secret dot
I still go there sometimes
in my mind
You can still play it online. If you really want to find the magic dot and get to see the flashing names of the developers. It’s here: http://www.atari.com/play/atari/adventure
hah I better not right now but thank you I bookmarked it
I know. I played it once and started reaching for the knives on the kitchen counter….
Grateful Dead – Bertha 4-12-78
Grateful Dead – Scarlet Begonias – 4-27-77
@#8 -I’ll vote for you in 2012, Sockpuppet. Oh, wrong thread.
from one of the footnotes in the amicus brief they link (p33)…
that’s a lot of failshit states what think they should be the arbiters of video game content instead of real people
that makes a whole dozen in fact the way I read that
throw shit hope it sticks
“Cause”…?
I don’t think it means what they think it means.
karl the rover is throwing shit on greta
There used to be a great Dead cover band named Uncle John’s Band out of Chicago.
karl the rover is trying to get jeb in the “game” for 2012
So let me get this straight.
California wants to legalize pot, but ban video games…
There’s something incongruous about that.
karl the rover needs a take down and the asshole bushes
bush senior die now. w fuck yourself. rover rub your small penis. jeb suck crist’s cock with spector and mercowski seasoning. wave.
Newrouter is an angry angry person sometimes.
What did Karl Rove say? I wasn’t watching the show.
no i find the “bushs” to be republican kennedys. fuck elites
say it idiot who can throw a baseball on national tv. nice sort of “strike”. man the bush people suck medicare part d
msm is doing “angry” alot in their “news”
What I find suspicious is the fact that Jeff hasn’t raised the issue of Initiative 300, which is up for a vote in Denver.
Whatcha hidin’ JEFF? You tryin’ to avoid the subject? You bubble green acid when you’re punctured in the back of the neck?
Socialism vs Free Markets–Reagan
Good god … this is SOOO Tipper Gore
1) Parents are responsible for the kids. PARENTS, not gov
2) Parents who refuse to buy anything blind will drive the industry to voluntarily adopt their own rating system as cited above.
3) Did I mention parents are responsible for their kids?
Government should butt out.
I could never eat beef liver again after Portnoy’s Complaint.
Not that I cared for it much before.
– Beef liver video games are the work of the Devil.
Video games today, video cameras tomorrow. Here’s why:
Is Obama A Keynesian? Rally For Sanity, 10/30/10
Set your drinks down before you click, folks.
Haven’t seen you around too much lately Pablo. Found another hangout?
You guys have to click Pablo’s link. It is teh funny.
Woah! That video is a riot…Except, maybe, that some of the young folks seem stupid, in a scary kind of way. To think, their vote counts as much as my carefully considered one does!
Well, I guess it’s time to buy a big bag, tune in, and drop out! Play darts using the sample ballot as a target, and wherever the dart hits-BOOM-they’re elected!
Except, well, the wife’s a prosecutor, so maybe that’s not such a good idea. She’d probably feel bad sending me to jail.
That video is priceless: the pseudo-intellectual left exposed! Hahaha….
“Newrouter is an angry angry person sometimes.”
Have to agree JD.
Newrouter it’s like Christmas Eve for conservatives, could ya raise a cup with us? Count a blessing? Or at least not kill the buzz please?
And I though we were silly. Here’s what I get to vote on, Question 1 on the ballot: Amending Rhode Island’s name goes before voters
I still think it was a shame that all references to the King of England were removed from Rhode Island’s constitution back in 2002. I hope that the voters keep the original name.
Nah, Bob, meatspace has been intruding again. I often find that when I show up in aging pw threads there ain’t much to say that hasn’t already been said. You fuckers could at least leave a couple of wisecracks laying around for a guy, you know!
Mike, I think if we really want to do social justice here, we should change the name of Brown, or shut it down altogether. That place was built on the misery of African slaves. Also rum, but I digress.
How about changing the name of Brown to Miskatonic University?
Call it spiced rum university…
RAAAAACIST!
MLK U, amirite? Or maybe Quahog U.
It’s amazing, Vice President Biden holds a free rally in Wilmington Delaware with the Bearded Marxist and managed to draw in enough people to form one mid-sized bowling league. WOW!
As an avid player of video games, both violent and non, I have to come clean.
I like to pretend that I’m Master Chief sometimes and blow things up. This causes problems at work.
I also like to throw bananas out into the middle of the road to trip up the people in the cars behind me.
Often I find myself trying to rescue a Princess. I mean, I’m just a plumber -there’s not much I can do, but with a couple good shrooms, my pet dinosaur, and my map of the cities sewer lines, I think I can go far.
If I’m not too busy with all of this, I listen to a little fairy that tells me to explore dungeons, take other peoples money, and sneak past all authority to do so, just to save some special, albeit unhappy, tree.
Obviously, I do all of this in real life and must be controlled.
Duh.
Although I will say that after a long enough session of Grand Theft Auto IV, it takes a small effort of will NOT to simply bash the slow-ass fuzzy Q-Tip driving the Buick Regal out of my way.
I had a killer comment I was going to put right here, but I drank like four bottles of Robitussin for breakfast and I’m all out of spray paint. I remember something about saving the children from themselves or something… it’ll come to me.
Haven’t seen you around too much lately Pablo. Found another hangout?
Be still my heart!
Nah, Bob, meatspace has been intruding again.
Phew!
To each according to his need, and all. You’ll get nothing and like it.
Miskatonic University…
NOT a library you want to read much from.
I like to pretend that I’m Master Chief sometimes and blow things up.
You would not have wanted to be around me when I was playing American McGee’s Alice. I still feel a little ashamed about everything I put the cat through.
Miskatonic University… Go ‘Pods!
American McGee’s Alice was really beautiful I gave it away before I got too far into it though
I think at one point Buffy was attached to be Alice in the movie… I think this was back when Miramax had the rights – I’m not sure where this is now – last I checked it was dead