Videogames as Free-Speech Issue

On November 2, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument whether to strip First Amendment protection from violent on videogames that critics say appeal to the deviant interests of children.

A 2005 California law prohibits selling or renting such games to minors based on legislative findings that they stimulate "feelings of aggression," reduce "activity in the frontal lobes of the brain" and promote "violent antisocial or aggressive behavior." The law never took effect because lower courts found it violated free-expression rights. The videogame industry says allowing the law to stand could stifle the art form, while the movie business and other media industries worry that a broad ruling against videogames could open the door to restricting their content as well. The industry says its own ratings system already keeps violent games out of children's hands.

A 2009 Federal Trade Commission report found that videogames had a stronger regulatory code than the movie or music industries, and that retailers regularly enforced age restrictions which limit games rated M (for mature) to consumers age 17 and older. California argues that the voluntary system isn't good enough, because some minors manage to purchase M-rated games anyway, and some publishers don't submit games to the ratings board. Game makers say that if the California law is upheld, other states and cities would likely follow with their own restrictions. They say big-box retailers where most games are sold might drop titles that carry restricted labels, much as most movie theaters won't run films rated X or NC-17.