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| Support Violent Video Games! | |||||||
| Video games have been a part of my life ever since I can remember.� I still have that original Nintendo Entertainment System I received for one of my birthdays back in the 80s.� I used to bring my Game Boy everywhere with me: trips, restaurants, beaches, you name it.� Soon thereafter, the gaming systems began to get more advanced, so I purchased a Sega Genesis, a Nintendo 64, and a Playstation.� Nowadays, with the better technology, I play mostly PC, Playstation 2, Gamecube, and XBox games but sometimes I will take out an old system and play with it for a while, and retrospect on the past.� I consider myself to be an expert on the topic of video games and I hold electronic entertainment very close to my heart, which is why it saddens me to see my favorite hobby under so much fire in U.S. courts. | |||||||
| Video games have been scrutinized as of late for a number of things, but mainly because of two elements games are increasingly featuring more of: sex and violence (my honest opinion: the more sex and violence a game has, the better that game is).� Luckily for us gamers, however, the battle is tilting in our favor.� Earlier this year, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a ruling by a Missouri judge that would make it illegal to sell M-rated games to minors on grounds that the ban violated the First Amendment.� In another recent incident, an Indianapolis judge issued a city ordinance that actually banned kids from playing "violent and sexually explicit video games," unless a parent supervised them.� This law, too, was shot down, this time by the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. | |||||||
| Currently, a Washington state bill is threatening the future of video games, but again, the case for gamers is strong.� House Bill 1009, passed in June of 2003 and created by Representative Mary Lou Dickerson (Democrat), makes it a crime to "sell a game depicting violence against police or other public officers" to a minor.� Thankfully for gamers, the two precedents set by the previous cases are going to make Washington's defense of House Bill 1009 extremely difficult.� After a third ruling on what is, essentially, a similar issue argued in previous cases, "It's hard to imagine that the Supreme Court would be interested in hearing an appeal," says Ken Jones, a Missouri attorney involved in a previous case, in a statement made in the September issue of PC Gamer. | |||||||
| This case, like the previous ones, has a similar issue at stake: constitutionality.� Is it unconstitutional for a state government to impinge on the First Amendment?� Yes, I would think so.� Are video games covered under free speech and expression?� In my opinion, yes, just as artwork and literature are considered to be free speech.� Where, then, is the question?� I can say this for sure: it sure will be fun to see Rep. Dickerson's arguments crack and crumble before her eyes. | |||||||
| In closing, I would like to urge everybody reading this to do something: go out, buy a Playstation 2, and pick up what is one of the greatest games in the history of electronic entertainment: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.� After killing your first innocent pedestrian and knocking a biker off his Hog from a head-on collision with your taxi cab, you will soon see how crazy these lawmakers are who want to ban games like this.� Who does not like to pick up a hooker in the world of Grand Theft Auto, use her for her services (which in this case, boosts your health meter), and bludgeon her to death afterwards, reacquiring the money that you just paid her?� Is it better to commit these acts on a television screen or in person?� I think we all know the answer to this question.� That being said, support violent video games! | |||||||
| Copyright Gerry Wachovsky, 2003, and Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. | |||||||
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