Button-mashing Politics

Attention! Lock your children up because they'll still be able to buy and play good video games. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling, overturned a 2005 California law that would have fined retailers convicted of selling violent video games to minors.  The law defined violent games as those “in which the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being” in a way that was “patently offensive,” appeals to minors’ “deviant or morbid interests” and lacked “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.” Thankfully, the court recognized that the government isn’t built to determine what is or isn't of “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”

I understand that it isn't desirable to have your children playing Grand Theft Auto or even Call of Duty. I mean how many times have I asked myself "could someone please get those 10 year olds out of my Hardcore Team Deathmatch?" But such actions should not be held responsible by the government, nor should they be delegated by the government. If people are so up in arms about their children getting influenced by violent games, then you, yourself, prevent your children from playing them. I know that it is sometimes impossible for parents to control everything their child does; I have a great nephew who plays Mafia II at a friends house after school. However, if one can't fully control what their children do, how does one expect the government to do so? Game systems are good babysitters, that is true, and it often keeps children's attention without adding additional stress onto the parents. True. However, why must we resort to relying on the government to fix problems that common sense could easily resolve? We can educate parents about the rating systems used to label content in video games. We use ratings to judge what movie is appropriate for our children to watch, why not extend this way of thinking to video games?

Furthermore, by limiting games from being sold to anyone under the age of 18, not only are you cutting off a great majority of potential consumers and profit, you are also limiting how much your children are exposed to...and not in a good way. So many of the video games that are, or would be labeled as having mature content contain a great story, wonderful characters, and fascinating information. Even the campagin for the lastest Call of Duty games (yeah Modern Warfare, I'm talking to you) are so complex and entertaining and eveloping that one can forget one is playing a game. I am 20 years old and I have already learned so much about the military and what our brothers and sisters in arms have gone through and go through every day. I have learned

Additionally, as a writer I am always trying to push a game on my friends that I know has a great story; much like a good movie, I want them to be a part of the experience too. But unlike a movie, a video game is more involved with the viewer and gets them participating, gets them active, gets their brains thinking and working. Is that not better than letting your child sit by and idly watch television? (On a side not, where is the law that prohibits children from watching popular, but way more disturbing things, like Jersey Shore? Just saying.) I am not advocating for children to start playing Assassin's Creed at the age of 10. I mean, Kirby and Super Smash Brothers were enough for me at that age. All I am saying, pleading for people to recognize, is that what is or isn't acceptable for minors shouldn't be decided by the government. The two most important figures in the child's life should be the one to determine what's "detrimental"; the parents and the minor.