“Breaking news tonight at 11, three students dead, several wounded after manic depressed teen lashes out with a handgun…” Americans serve witness in recent decades to this scary yet familiar occurrence. The cause of this familiar scene is minors suffering from social disorders and aggression. The major focus of blame is the entertainment industry including television, movies, books, and recently video games. The state of California decided to address the concern of video game violence by passing a law banning minors from purchasing games that are considered “violent”. However, the law is unconstitutional and unnecessary. The law is simple: any game that humanoid characters are maimed, killed, or tortured is considered violent. Labels that clearly state 18 must be placed on all games falling under this definition. The law requires that any individual purchasing a game in this category must provide proof of age. Additionally, retailers must obtain proof of age before selling the game or face fines. The law’s purpose is to protect minors from games that contain violence. Unfortunately, the California law ignores the Constitution. The First Amendment covers minors’ rights to obtain video games, because the games enjoy the same protections granted to other forms of protected speech. Carmen Hoyme (2004), notes in the First Amendment Law Review that since video games share properties that other protected media forms have, the same protections are extended to video games and restrictions affecting minors' access are allowable due to incitement (pp. 318-385). Holning Lau (2007), writing in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, explains that minors have the right to obtain expressions protected by the First A... ... middle of paper ... ...Freedom of expression and interactive media: video games and the first amendment. University of North Carolina School of Law First Amendment Law Review, 2(377), 377-402. Retrieved September 22, 2014 www.lexis.com Lau, H. (2007). Pluralism: a principle for children’s rights. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 42(317), 317-372. Retrieved September 22, 2014 www.lexis.com O'Holleran, J. (2010). Student note: blood code: the history and future of video game censorship. Journal on Telecommunications & High Technology Law, 8, 571-612. Retrieved September 22, 2014 www.lexis.com Wood, R. (2009). Violent video games: more ink spilled than blood - an analysis of the 9th circuit decision in video software dealers association v. schwarzenegger. Texas Review of Entertainment and Sports Law, 10, 103-121. Retrieved September 22, 2014 www.lexis.com
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A major concern about violent video games comes from the innocence of a child. The media easily influences children and teenagers. Kids dream of becoming professional athletes from watching their favorite sports stars on TV. Ad agencies strengthen this desire with ads containing slogans such as, ?like Mike, if I could be like Mike,? referring of course to Michael Jordan. Yet there is no concern that they could get seriously hurt from having the dream to be an athlete. In fact, most youth are encouraged to go out and play, and practice to get what they want.
However, varying core aspects of video games have ignited the prevailing collective interests, including the intent of lawmakers. Conversely, the core purposes of video games is perceived to instigate differing implications ranging from; formulating competent scholarly video plays to act as tutoring, as well as inspiring models in intellectual environs. As noted by Ferguson & Rueda (2010), this might also make aggressive gaming progressively more insecure when contrasted to the scary television scenes. Alternatively, the invention of modern ultraviolent film games over the 1990s, as well...
The first reason video games are an issue is that many video games made today possess content that many people would consider to be obscene. The term obscene covers violence, profanity, and sexual images (obviously). Such videogames are usually branded with the M (mature audiences only) rating on the front of the videogame cover. This means that only players seventeen or older should be playing such games. However, many children around the ages of twelve and under are acquiring these video games as gifts or are purchasing the games themselves. Therefore, it can be assumed that the parents are purchasing M-rated games for their children, and that stores are willingly selling these young children M-rated games. As Paul Keegan says, parents are not following these ratings and stores are not enforcing them, thus allowing young children to view content that is considered obscene (6). Thus, if parents understand and follow the various video game rating labels, and if stores enforce the videogame rating system, then young children will not be as easily able to view mature material.
Video games have been a rapidly expanding industry since their inception in the 1970s. Along with their growth have come concerns about violent video games and their effects on aggression and violence in young people. The endless numbers of school shootings have pushed this issue to the forefront. These events brought about the question: do violent video games induce aggression in youth? That’s the question I set out to answer by looking at research. The research shows that there is a link between playing video games and increases in aggression in adolescents. What implications does this fact have ethically? It means that video game producers and distributors need to be held responsible for their releases and the way they end up in the hands of kids.
The debate about media violence has been going on for hundreds of years. The newest form of media being scrutinized is videogames. I will be taking you through this debate and sharing with you some things that you may find surprising. This is not a new topic and has ...
“Contrary to the claims that violent video games are linked to aggressive assaults and homicides, no evidence was found to suggest that this medium was a major (or minor) contributing cause of violence in the United States.” (Markey, 290)
“On Tuesday, November 2, while the rest of the country was voting, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in Schwarzenegger v. EMA, the landmark case in which the state of California is petitioning for the re-instatement of a California law banning the sale of deviant or morbid violent video games to minors” (Macris). This case is a current example of the opponents of video games trying to prove video games are a bad influence on children and teenagers. Violent video game opponents have always tried to disprove the positive effects of video games. They also have been known to make up and mislead with tales of terrible side effects. This essay will prove to the reader that many of these various statements against video games and their creators are false. Contrary to opposition arguments, video games actually present benefits to gamers by reducing stress, providing entertainment, and helping to develop motivation that could not otherwise be achieved through conventional means.
Kravets, D. (2011, June 27). States may not ban sale, rental of violent video games to minors. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/06/violent-video-games-scotus/
Video games have been a growing industry for about 30 years and has never been bigger. As a whole, the industry made around $66 billion last year, and is expected to make even more this coming year. Because of this growth, gamers have sought better graphics, better stories, and even more violence. Developers have satisfied this want with more M rated games that include heavier violence, stronger language, sexual themes, and intense blood and gore. Past acts and laws have been put in place to try and eliminate violence in video games. These laws have stiffled the industry's freedom of expression and caus...
In 2008, the computer and video game industry has made $1.7 billion in revenue. Of this, 16% was made through the sale of violent video games (FYI: Video Game Statistics by the Entertainment Software Association | Critical Gaming Project). Many parents are concerned about these violent games because of how they can affect their children. Many think that these games are dangerous and should be banned. Others believe that the sale of these games should go unregulated. Whereas still others believe that there is a middle ground between these in restricting the sale or rental to minors.
“90% of pediatricians and 67% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior among children” ("Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?”). Pediatrics and parents are aware that kids that play violent video games see a change in their behavior. Many cases they see the kids with anger problems and causing them to do violent acts. Violent video games have been around for many years where some older titles, such as ‘Mortal Kombat’ and 'Grand Theft Auto’ both are some of the most controversial ones. The video game industry has been growing and with the large amounts of violent video games being produced. “Total US sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to