Judges Ruled: Game Laws are Unconstitutional
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that laws passed in the state of California mandating games be labeled and strict age requirements are unconstitutional, going against free speech.
Surprisingly, three judges ruled unanimously against the mandates, agreeing that violent video games haven't been proven to cause psychological harm to young players. This has been an ongoing debate for many years. Gamers themselves likewise argue that the violence they experience in video games don't carry out with them into real life interactions.
"Even if it did, the Act is not narrowly tailored to prevent that harm and there remain less restrictive means of forwarding the state's purported interests," the court said.
There have been crossed opinions on how to judge whether a game is "too violent" and up until now, a private group of officials have been the judges behind the labels. The court judges however, said that the labeling and requirements unfairly allow the state to label games, barring them from sale to minors.
If I remember correctly, the first time I played Super Mario Bros. on my NES, I was killing many things, and most of them animals. But clearly, it was all for a good cause of saving a princess in distress. The essence of SMB was that you had to "eliminate" the baddies. I still play violent video games today, as well as other genres, but I don't become violent against other people.
Unfortunately, examples such as the kid who shot his parents, killing his mom, for vengeance over the opportunity to play Halo 3, doesn't bode well with state legislators.
If you're a gamer, do you feel playing violent video games influences your behavior and temper? What do you think about restrictive laws on video games?
The parents of these families have nobody to blame but themselves for not voting AGAINST this judge.
However it is sad what happened!
Regardless of that, I actually felt that I could handle my anger and rage better after playing games like Halo. So, all in all, no downside from my experiences ... well ... other than just losing some sleep at times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar!
That was 1962. Considering what the 60s were like you could theorize that video games promote drugs but not violence.
Also our definition of children has become anything less than 18 here in the US. However this isn't recognized everywhere and most likely no where in the else past. Children in the past have been known to be violent and young teens would even serve in armies and die on battlefields throughout history. So certainly we can't blame video games or any other modern type of hobby or activity for the violence we see today in our youth.
Now, I'm not stupid and I know that with a troubled mind, participating enactments of violence or just watching acts/enactments of violence, can have a profound negative effect, and because of that we should be mindful. For the majority of us who are stable enough to know reality from fantasy, and how to keep things that way, yes of course this is silly. But it only takes one messed up kid with Halo in one hand and a shotgun in another to ruin it for the rest of us.
On that note:
Some days when I get home I don't know what I'd do without my good ol' N64 and it's amazing Perfect Dark game... So I'm a bit behind in the console wars, deal with it.
That particular example, had more to do with parenting, addiction, and psychological problems with the child. The video game itself was not the cause there, IMO.
I kind of have to agree with the judges in this case. However, I hope this ruling will not prevent folks from preventing very young children from buying software/games which display adult content (nudity, porn, etc). That goes beyond free speech, and begins to intrude on another person's rights (which is why you can't run naked in public without being arrested).
I've played video games since I was 5 or 6 years old. I've played most of the GTA games, Halo, COD, and lots of FPS games. I've never had the inclination to hurt another person due to this.
there was murder and violence going back in time, pre-electricity (aka no video games), what do all the researchers blame then?
It would seem the laws/rules that apply to video games should apply to all other forms of media, no? So I guess the Ninth Circuit will soon be striking down a bunch of other rules.
Hmm, by this logic, X-rated films ought to be open to minors. The ratings systems is largely the same for movies as it is for video games (different notations but the same general idea behind their use).
Amen brother!