The U.S. Supreme Court says it wants to have a say about whether states can regulate rental of “violent” video games. California state legislators tried to regulate sales and rentals to children, even though the question of whether video games lead to violence is still wide open.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down the California law, said it was not convinced by the research and the experts the state relied on.
Now, the U.S. Supreme Court says it will decide whether the state was within its constitutional powers. (Read the California law here.)
Video games, like movies, already carry warning labels, but the California law would have made the labels even tougher. It would have required games sold and rented in California to have special labels:
And if a retailer violated the California law, he or she would face a $1,000 fine. The state of California specifically mentioned the popular games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Postal 2 and Duke Nukem 3D.
The Associated Press reported on Monday:
“The high court’s action Monday was surprising, given that justices just last week voted 8-1 to strike down a federal law that banned videos showing animal cruelty. The California case poses similar free speech concerns, although the state law is aimed at protecting children, raising an additional issue that affect[s] the high court’s consideration.
“California lawmakers approved the law, in part, by relying on several studies suggesting that some video games can be linked to aggression, anti-social behavior and desensitization to violence in children. But federal judges have dismissed that research.”
Can retailers do the job without more government regulation?
In 2008, a Federal Trade Commission study found that retailers nationwide were making it much more difficult for minors to buy videos and games rated “M,” or “Mature.” Movie theaters were making it more difficult to attend “R” rated movies, too:
“The survey found that results of the undercover shopping varied by retailer and product. Three movie chains — National Entertainment, Regal Entertainment Group, and American Multi-Cinema — turned away 80% or more of the underage teens who tried to buy a ticket to an R-rated movie. Wal-Mart did the best of the major retailers shopped for movie DVDs, denying sales of R-rated and Unrated DVDs to 75% of the child shoppers.
This FTC chart helps break down the study’s findings:
| Table D: Video Games (M-Rated) | ||
| Chain | # of Shops | % Able to Purchase |
| Game Stop/EB Games | 66 | 6% |
| Wal-Mart | 62 | 18% |
| Best Buy | 35 | 20% |
| Toys R Us | 15 | 27% |
| Target | 28 | 29% |
| Kmart | 16 | 31% |
| Circuit City | 16 | 38% |
| Hollywood Video | 15 | 40% |
Recently, an Australian study surprised everyone when it said that teenagers who play violent games just before bedtime do not lose sleep. The kids fall asleep in just about the same time as those who did not play.
Eight video game violence “myths”
Henry Jenkins, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a list of what he believes to be “myths” surrounding video game violence. Among them:
Myth #1: “The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence.
Interestingly, one federal appeals judge, Richard Posner, has even suggested that it could be important for kids to experience the effects of violence, which video games simulate. Jenkins quoted Posner as saying:
The history of video gaming
You might think of video gaming as being a recent development, but the roots of video games were planted more than 50 years ago.
