My Views on the Censorship of Violent Video Games

    Could you name a more iconic duo than creative work and censorship? It seems that as long as there have been creative works being made by people, whether it's music, movies, television, and yes of course video games, there has always been this opposing element of people demanding that these different forms of art be subject to censorship.

   You could track this activity back to the 1800's when Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein. Many people of that time found the book to have blasphemous elements in it. Books through out history have been censored due the controversial subject matter that they talked about. If you look back at the Silent Era of film, movies such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari were also the subject to controversy due it's early depiction of on-screen violence. Movies have been referred to as the defining art form of the 20th century, and as movies progrssed and got more advanced, they also got more daring in experimenting with what they could and couldn't get away with. From profanity, sex, and of course violence, films have constantly been subject to calls for censorship. Eventually a rating system was put in place to monitor the content of films that would be give a wide release to the public. Miller vs California was a landmark Supreme Court decision that was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court modifying its definition of obscenity from that of "utterly without socially redeeming value" to that which lacks "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value". Ultimately, this meant that if you could prove that the controversial content in your movie had some artistic value in it, then it technically could not be censored. 

  This leads us to video games, the new kids on the block. Video Games have officially joined the ranks of books, movies, and television as yet another form of media that has been subjected to the threat of censorship. Video Games have faced many controversies over the years, but to me, the one that stands out is the claim that video games could cause violence among adolescents. First person shooter games especially come under fire due the use of firearms in their games. The Columbine Massacre shed a light on video game violence, and the industry was shook because of it. Since then, parent groups and politicians have fought for regulations and censorship of these violent video games. 

   Here is an important fact to consider in this debate. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed a challenge to a California law regulating the sale or rental of violent video games to children. Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia ruled that video games qualify for full First Amendment protection, similar to books, plays, and films. 

  This means that in this country, video companies are allowed to put violent content in their games, and if you ask me, I'm all for it. I'm not saying that I enjoy the violence per say, I just think that this country, the United States of America of all places, should be a place where artists and content creators should be free to make their content and art any way they want, without fear of censorship. In my opinion, censorship of media sets a bad precedent on the future. That to me is giving the government too much power and influence. I have always felt uncomfortable with the idea of the government decided what can and can't reach the masses. There are countries on the planet that are in favor of censoring media. Those countries are places like China and North Korea. The United States should not strive to be like them. The US should be a beacon for creative thought and expression. 

  As for the people against video games, I have a simple solution for them. Just monitor the content that your kids are watching and playing. Ultimately it is the responsibility of parents to make their children are not consuming content that isn't even made for them. The government should not be limiting the rights of media companies for the sake of partners not wanting to do a better job at monitoring what their children consume for entertainment.

Sources
“Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973).” Justia Law, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/413/15/. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023. 


“Video Games and Children & First Amendment Law.” Justia, 19 May 2023, www.justia.com/child-safety/online-safety/video-games-and-children/#:~:text=In%202011%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Supreme,books%2C%20plays%2C%20and%20films. 


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