Support
Violent Video Games
By Gerry Wachovsky
Summer Forty Niner
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 80's. I used to bring my Game
Boy everywhere with me: trips,
restaurants, beaches, you name it. As the
game systems began to get more advanced
I play mostly PC, Playstation 2,
Gamecube, and XBox games but sometimes I
will take out an old system and play with
it. I consider myself an expert on video
games and hold electronic entertainment
close to my heart. It saddens me to see
my favorite hobby under so much fire in
U.S. courts.
Video games have been scrutinized, but mainly
because they are increasingly featuring
more: sex and violence. In my opinion: the
more sex and violence a game has, the better
game. Luckily the battle is tilting in game
players' favor. Earlier this year, the Eighth
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a
Missouri ruling that would have made it
illegal to sell mature-rated games to minors
on grounds that the ban violated the First
Amendment. The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals shot down another law when an
Indianapolis judge that banned kids from
playing "violent and sexually explicit
video games issued a city ordinance"
unless a parent supervised them. Currently,
a Washington State bill is threatening the
future of video games. House Bill 1009,
passed in June of 2003 and created by Democratic
Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, makes it a crime
to "sell a game depicting violence
against police or other
public officers" to a minor. Thankfully,
the two precedents set by the previous cases
are going to make Washington's defense of
House Bill 1009 extremely difficult. "It's
hard to imagine that the Supreme Court would
be interested in hearing an appeal,"
said Ken Jones, Missouri attorney involved
in a prior case, in the September issue
of PC Gamer.
All these cases have 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. I can say this for sure:
it will be fun to see Dickerson's arguments
crack and crumble before her eyes.
I would like to urge everybody reading this
to do something: go out, buy a Playstation
2, and pick up 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
these games. 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! Gerry Wachovsky is
a journalism major at Cal State Long Beach
and be contact at senorbucho@aol.com.
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