May 6, 2010
A Slippery Slope: The Supreme
Court Agrees to See Game Case
By Steven Hopper
Should the government be able to
mandate the sale of M-Rated videogames?
In 2005, Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger of California signed into law a bill that would make selling an
M-rated video game to a minor illegal and subject the seller to a $1,000 fine.
The bill, penned by Senator Leland Yee (D-California), was deemed
unconstitutional by both a minor court and a court of appeals under the rights
of the First Amendment and was overturned in a victory for the ESA and the
Electronic Merchants Association.
However, now it appears that
Governor Schwarzenegger is taking the case up to the highest court in the
nation, the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has agreed to take the case, named
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, v. Entertainment Merchants
Association, and it will be the first time a case on the illegalization of the
sale of mature video games will be seen by the court.
While this is a state law that would
only affect citizens of the State of California, it does set a very interesting
precedent for gamers nationwide. The illegalization of mature video games for
sale to minors would not only serve to undermine the ESRB, the ratings board
that has put specific ratings on video games since 1994, but would also lead to
governmental control on the sale of video games, the only entertainment media
currently in existence to have such a law levied upon it.
There has been a lot of controversy
surrounding the industry and the mature content featured in video games,
particularly in recent times. Games ranging from Grand Theft Auto to Mass Effect
have seen firestorms of media attention due to violent and sometimes sexual
content, and often caught the disparaging eyes of politicians as a result.
However, the video-game industry has always been a self-sustaining one, governing
itself through its rating system and doing what it can to educate parents as to
the content of its games. Additionally, it has always been at the jurisdiction
of the merchant whether or not to sell M-rated games to minors, and as a former
employee of a game store, I’ve been in the situation more than once of refusing
sale of an M-rated game to someone who was not of age and did not have parental
consent.
The motion picture industry is an
example of one that does not have to adhere to any laws, state or federal, when
it comes to selling to minors. The MPAA has its own ratings system that has been
in effect for decades, and movie theaters still continue to turn minors away
from R-rated pictures without any governmental intervention or fines for
admitting them. Additionally, literature with adult themes is still readily
available at bookstores and libraries for readers regardless of age. Shouldn’t
the video-game industry be held to the same standards?
For decades now, videogames have
stepped out of the arcades and become an enterprise that transcends age groups.
What was once believed to be simply for children has become a full-fledged
entertainment form encompassing people from all age groups and walks of life.
There are games on the market which are marketed to children, and there are
games that are most definitely not. No one is saying that children should be
allowed to walk into a store and spend their lemonade stand money on a copy of
Grand Theft Auto IV, but that should ultimately be a decision for that child’s
parents and the seller, not something that should be mandated by law.
Should the Supreme Court side with
Governor Schwarzenegger and put the law back into effect, the results will
eventually be felt nationwide. Other states will jump on the bandwagon,
criminalizing the sale of M-rated games to minors, and should that be allowed,
then video games will no longer be protected under the First Amendment’s granting
of freedom of speech. The next step could be no games will be allowed to feature
Mature content whatsoever, stifling the creativity of countless game developers
and reverting the industry back to a state when it was merely “toys for
children”.
Ultimately, M-Rated games should be
played by those who are properly permitted to play them, namely those who are
old enough to decide for themselves or those who might be young, but have
permission from their parents to do so. It works for the motion picture industry
and other forms of entertainment, and should be allowed to work in the video-game
business. It’s a very slippery slope, and should the Supreme Court allow this
law to pass into effect, the ramifications felt in the video-gaming community
will spread far and wide.
