Calif: Ban on violent video games thrown out (ban on selling to minors is unconstitutional)

[Kadie]

Ban on violent video games thrown out
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, February 20, 2009

(02-20) 12:00 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court ruled today that California's ban on selling violent video games to minors is unconstitutional, saying the state was trying to interfere with free speech and had failed to show that simulated mayhem causes psychological damage in young people.

The law, sponsored by state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2005 but was blocked by a federal judge before it could take effect. It would bar anyone under 18 from buying an interactive video game that is so violent it is "patently offensive," according to prevailing community standards for minors, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

Those games would carry a large "18" label on their packages. Anyone who sold such a game to a minor could be fined as much as $1,000.

In defending the law, the state argued that violent content should be judged by the same obscenity standards as sex. Just as the government can prohibit the sale of explicit pornography to minors, state lawyers contended, it should be allowed to establish an adults-only category of ultra-violent video games.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco disagreed. A 1968 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed tighter restrictions on selling explicit materials to minors than to adults applies only to sexual content and not to violence, the appellate panel said.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/20/BAI9161PAJ.DTL&tsp=1

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Great news.

Scratch up another one for the forces of good over the forces of darkness.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

2. In NJ, there is no such law, but stores often check for ID on violent video games

It's ridiculous at times. On two different occaisions I was carded buying a Grand Theft Auto game. The first time, I had my ID and was able to get the game. Meanwhile, later on, I go to buy a bottle of whisky and was not carded.

Another time, I was carded and was denied sale because I didn't have ID. I'm 25, and I wasn't allowed to buy a video game. I had to go find my wife at Lenscrafter's and get her to buy the game for me.

I can see not selling one to a little kid, but I'm obviously an adult.

[Iggo]

3. Sex bad. Violence good. Okay. Got it.

God Bless America...lol.

[Locrian]

5. Sex bad. Violence good. Okay. Got it

My reaction as well.... so.... is porn ok now? Of course, any kid with a computer has access to ANYTHING goes.

[progressivebydesign]

4. that's too bad. Obviously parents aren't smart enough to understand child development..

.. so sometimes the law has to step in. How fucking stupid is the court to not see study after study that equates violent entertainment with changes in children's brains and behavior.

I mean how fucking stupid are parents now, anyway? Even if they just have a passing knowledge of how a child's brain develops, they'd KNOW to keep violent games and shows away from their kids until it's age-appropriate (though i still cannot figure why why violence is so damn entertaining to some people.)

Your child, yes.. even your teen.. needs BRAIN appropriate "entertainment" for a reason. The age when I see lots of kids renting violent movies with their parents, playing violent games, is usually around 9. That's the age when your brain is developing EMPATHY. Where's the empathy in GTA? There is a reason, before ultragraphic violence (WITH LITTLE CONSEQUENCE) became a billion dollar industry, that kids watched kid entertainment and played with kid games. There has always been some sort of violence in our media, BUT.. the big difference is that the violence USED to show consequences in entertainment. Now it's all about a bunch of kids and young adults thinking they're all gangsta and hard-ass because they've been raised thinking that there is no consequence for being violent.

Too bad so many people, including here on DU, are such fans of graphic violence without any understanding of what's good for kids... hell, your damn brain isn't actually FINISHED until you're in your twenties. And what you watch and play, actually changes the structure and connections of your brain. That's why they suggest playing an instrument when you're a kid, because it CREATES specific wiring in your brain.

But... I guess parents who try to be their child's cool friend, will never understand.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. Save it for the Harry Potter book burning, Adolf.

:rofl:

[rd_kent]

11. how about instead of BANNING videogames and getting upset

when its deemed unconstitutional, we just get PARENTS to BE MORE INVOLVED and take charge of THEIR children and what they do.

Its not "too bad", its REAL GOOD that this was struck down.

[serrano2008]

7. Banning games is stupid. My 5 and 7 year old nephews had the best time playing Grand Theft Auto 4...

...over here when they stayed the weekend a few months ago.

Kids like video games so telling kids they can't buy video games is stupid.

[seabeyond]

15. that is sad. i just had a talk with sons this afternoon, adults that give inappropriate material

or behavior to a child they are intrusted with no longer gets the privilige of my kids company. i told them to clearly know when a parent abuses my trust, that parents child will no longer be able to have my kids over. i expect my children to tell the adult, as hard as it may be for them, .... no. because too many adults feel they have the right and take a prideful glee in giving to children things that arent appropriate.

this is a game that you know many parents would not allow their children to play, yet you fed it to very young children intrusted in your care.

i hope there is more to this story than you just allowing very young children to play a computer game not meant for them.

[Javaman]

8. man, this never gets old! LOL

(I originally posted this back in 2006 )

There you go! Video games are the root of all evil....
You know I was just saying to a friend while I was playing grand theft auto, "you know, I have this crazy urge to go out to kill and main people souly for my own enjoyment, what do you think, bob?"

Bob thought for a moment and said, "well, dave, I have had this unquenchable thirst for blood lately, as well, and I believe that a little mayhem and destruction are in order."

So bob and I walked out to the car, pumped up with excitement from our afternoon playing grand theft auto and filled with delusions of grandeur, we hit the road with a mission.

As bob and I casually mowed down one pedestrian after another, I turned to him, mid killing spree, and said, "you know bob, I have been thinking, do you think it's the failure of society that has turned us to this life of mayhem? Or do you think it's the failure of strong parental images, guidelines and lack boundaries set for us that has lead us down this road?"

We both momentarily chuckled at my pun, but bob thought for a moment, looking but not really "seeing" as one innocent person flew over our hood after another, then turned to me thoughtfully and said, "you know dave, you might just have a point there, I feel that if my parents were more like parents and not wanting to be my "best friend" (bob loves doing that finger thing for parentheses), I would have had the structure in my life that I so desperately crave on a deeper emotional level".

I really enjoyed bobs introspective moments that allow me to explore the deeper issues of life. "I concur", I stated and slammed the breaks on the car, just short of a family of 5 in the middle of shopping mall.

We exited our vehicle and turned ourselves in. We both felt better at taking responsibility for our actions.

Now as bob and I sit in our maximum security cell here in texas awaiting our death in the gas chamber, I look back and think of all the errors I have made. But also at the irony. bob and I killed people and now we are being killed to show that killing is wrong. Life is just so kooky, ain't it?

[KittyWampus]

9. what you feed your subconscious has an impact of you and your environment. Simple fact

a lot of DU'ers refuse to accept.

And you can SAY you don't consciously want to engage in violence or be a victim of it. But your subconscious simply doesn't differentiate between such a thought and actions you engage in habitually.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

If you don't endorse violence then don't play violent games.

[Javaman]

10. LOL read my above reply.

I love arm chair psychologists. :)

[KittyWampus]

13. Oh, I read your reply. My favorite response when this topic rolls around are people who claim

that playing violent video games do it to relax.

I suppose someone who says the earth is round is an armchair scientist.

Was Ghandi an armchair activist?

[LanternWaste]

14. I concur...

I concur. Last week, a story was posted on DU regarding a game sold in Japan in which the "hero" of the game stalked and raped a virtual woman. The outrage on DU was loud, sudden and extreme (as I think it should be).

But for some reason, we find that simulated violence and murder is not bad-- righteous even, when compared to simulated rape. And in that thread, replace the words "rape" and "stalking" with the words "violence" and "guns", and yours is the position the vast majority of DUers on that thread took.

I myself find little to no moral differences between rape and murder... and I find little to no difference between simulated rape and simulated murder, either. However, it would seem as though many people do see a relevant moral difference between the two.

Although I could not find the relevant thread concerning the game I mentioned, here is but one story on it...

*****************************************************************************************************



A Rapelay videogame being hawked on Amazon by a third-party merchant was deemed inappropriate and the product's page taken down after it was brought to the US web firm's attention this week.

"We determined that we did not want to be selling this particular item," Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith said of the computer game.

The Rapelay game was reportedly created exclusively for the Japanese market but a couple of "like new" copies were being offered on Amazon by a US seller specializing in Hentai items.

The game was released in 2006 by Illusion studio, based in Japan. Other titles from the studio include Battle Raper and Artificial Girl.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,25049028-5014239,00.html?from=public_rss

[NeedleCast]

12. Good

but the ban brigade will be back...