The Current State of Video Games and The Law
The relationship between law and video games have changed over time. The hysteria over violent video games was once something that ocurred in the 80's and 90's. The law's view has differed, and violent video games have changed. Video games as a whole has changed over the decades, and the ones that are rated for adults are even more violent than the ones that were released during the 80's and 90's. The law's view of violent video games has changed a lot, but has still remained the same slightly.
In an article titled "Are Modern Video Games Too Complicated?" from the The Boss Rush Network it states that "Recently at a social gathering with new friends and acquaintances, the subject of video games came up, and someone quipped that modern video games aren’t as good as older games. The graphics have improved, but the gameplay has not, they claimed. Another person vocally agreed. The insinuation was that modern video games are overly complex, and as such have lost their sense of fun. Was this just a statement of someone pining for something intangible from their youth, or is there some truth in the assertion? Are modern video games too complicated?" The author says that video games have become too complicated for people to enjoy playing, and therefore are not fun as the older games from the past. However, the article has elements of nostalgia in it, what this means is that it uses comparison to see what has improved and what has been devalued. Thanks to modern tachnology games have gone from pixelated and laggy to smooth and high quality. One good example of this are the realistic graphics shown in games. Video games have also garnered much attention, and are in a way on the same level as movies, comic books, and TV.
Violent video games have evolved in how violent they can be, and not only are lawyers, politicians, senators, or any other person in politcs and law, but journalists who write articles for games as well. Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto series will be heavily focused on due to the series' longevity, and this longevity containing depictions of pure violence, drugs, sex, and crime. Grand Theft Auto are a series of games that has the player play as gangsters and killers, and in these games you can do whatever you want such as drinking while driving, shoot gangsters and police officers, have sex with prostitutes, and deal drugs. This freedom committing all these acts without consequences, catering to teens, and exposure to children has caused much controversy. in the articles"5 times Rockstar attracted controversy with the GTA franchise" and "Grand Theft Auto's greatest controversies" it lists off the many controversies that these games have been involved in.
Some of these controversies include Jack Thompson who was an activist and attorney who was anti-video game, and tried to spread the word about how it's content will negatively affect children, and lead to real life violence. A sexually explicit and erotic minigame in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas caused a lot of controversy due to the nude and explicit sex scenes. In Grand Theft Auto 5 there is a section in the game where you torture somebody which lead to outrage from people thinking that they were glorifying and supporting torture methods. This series has been around since the 90's to today with the announced release of a new game, and this game series is the perfect example to show the evolution of violence in video games from shooting small blocks to torturing a person. Not just in Grand Theft Auto, but in any other adult oriented game it allows people freedom to do whatever they want without consequences, and modern violent games are detailed and in depth, which allows the player to explore these violent, almost reflective world of our own that can show sexual content, allow the player to cause harm and kill, and display violence and obscene scenes to us.
A lot of this occurred during the 2000's, and while this was a long time ago it was an enitrely different era from the 1980's and 1990's, and much of how the law and how video games work is connected to the way they are today. There have been a lot of court cases made to be against video games, and to censor them. Two examples which are talked about in "Video Games" from The Free Speech Center are the "American Amusement Machine v. Kendrick" and "Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association" the former which puts down that "A constitutional challenge to an Indianapolis ordinance that sought to limit the access of minors to violent video games." The latter lays down that "According to the court, obscenity was unprotected not because it affected anyone’s conduct (as was alleged for violent video games), but because it violated community norms about the permissible scope of depictions of sexual activity. Thus offensiveness, not harmfulness, was why obscenity lacked any constitutional protection." and "Prohibited the sale or rental of violent video games to minors without a parent present. The decision rejected the concept of violence as obscenity, reasoning that the concept of obscenity is relegated to areas of sexual expression. The Court’s decision also showed a gradual move in American courts to recognize that video games were a medium of expression deserving of free-speech protection." As is shown here both cases directly go against each other, and the Brown case was one that tried to overturn the Kendrick case by trying to reason that video games were protected under the first amendment as it does not violent social and community norms, that they were a form of art, and that minors needed their parents in order for them to get the game. The Kendrick case tried to limit the sale of video games to minors as they saw it as bad for children, and were unable to handle the harshness portrayed in these games. This topic has continued on, and has been debated, and was something that was debated before video games, back when it was books, poetry, movies, and comic books.
These years the law has somewhat changed their views on video games, and the discussion has faded away somewhat, but that doesn't mean it has disappeared it will return one day whether it be on video games again, or another art form it will come back. The idea presented by some attorneys, lawyers, and parents that video games cause real world violence and have a bad effect on children's mind has been now decided by many people to be untrue. Things have calmed down over the years.
Works Cited
Dutta, Mridul. 5 times Rockstar attracted controversy with the GTA franchise. Sportskeeda, October 19, 2022.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/gta/5-times-rockstar-attracted-controversy-gta-franchise
Garry, Patrick. Video Games. Free Speech Center, September 19, 2023.
Knisely, Patrick. Boss Rush Banter: Are Modern Games Too Complicated? The Boss Rush Network, April 21, 2022.
https://bossrush.net/2022/04/21/boss-rush-banter-are-modern-games-too-complicated/
Winkie, Luke. Grand Theft Auto's greatest controversies. PC Gamer, September 23, 2022.
https://www.pcgamer.com/grand-theft-auto-controversies/
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