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Monday, June 27, 2011
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Supreme Court Upholds First Amendment Protection for Video Games
The Supreme Court has today upheld the ruling that video games, even violent video games, are protected under the US Constitution's First Amendment.
In the US today, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the decision that the First Amendment to the US Constitution was also applicable to video games, and that bills in Vermont and California aimed at banning the sale of violent video games would be overturned permanently. In 2005, California introduced a bill aimed at severely limiting or outright denying the sale of violent video games to minors. The bill was placed on hold, as representatives from the video game industry fought the bill, citing protection under the first amendment.
Today's Supreme Court decision confirms that video games, even those with acts of violence in them, are fully protected under the First Amendment. Games have long been vilified as being too violent, or causing kids to act violently or commit acts of violence. This is a stance that most gamers, industry professionals and supporters have vehemently denied. Avid gamers have been known to role play as their favourite characters, or take an extreme interest in the collectibles that come with popular franchises; however, outside of extreme examples of younger children, games are not often a target for reenactment.
Movies, music, even novels have contained gore and violence long before video games existed. Childrens' stories, best-sellers, even multi-award winning films have been known to contain violence, all of which are protected under the US Constitution's First Amendment. Now, thanks to the Supreme Court, video games finally fall into this same category. A small victory, or the end of one road which starts another for the detractors?
Sources:
CNET, 2
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Posted by Apollo on 06/27 at 10:36 PM
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