Video Games Protected as Art

[gregweller]

In a court case that strikes a great blow for intellectual freedom, the US 8th circuit court of appeals ruled that minors could not be prohibited from purchasing violent video games since they enjoy the same first amendment protection as any other art form. The court said that "We note, moreover, that there is no justification for disqualifying video games
as speech simply because they are constructed to be interactive; indeed, literature is
most successful when it "draws the reader into the story, makes him identify with the
characters, invites him to judge them and quarrel with them, to experience their joys
and sufferings as the reader's own," American Amusement, 244 F.3d at 577."

The court also concluded that "If the first amendment is
versatile enough to "shield [the] painting of Jackson Pollock, music of Arnold
Schoenberg, or Jabberwocky verse of Lewis Carroll," Hurley, 515 U.S. at 569, we see
no reason why the pictures, graphic design, concept art, sounds, music, stories, and
narrative present in video games are not entitled to a similar protection. The mere
fact that they appear in a novel medium is of no legal consequence. Our review of the
record convinces us that these "violent" video games contain stories, imagery, "ageold
themes of literature,” and messages, “even an ‘ideology,’ just as books and
movies do."

For those interested in seeing the complete decision you can get it at :

http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/03/06/023010P.pdf

So, a big Huzza! and a Hey Nonny Nonny! to the 8th circuit court of appeals!

 

[Ranger REG]

LOL! I think Playboy Enterprises should take the same path, and declare their magazine and nude photo layout an art form.

Isn't this the same appeal court that prohibit/forbid students and faculty to say "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance in school?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Isn't this the same appeal court that prohibit/forbid students and faculty to say "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance in school?

No...I THINK that one was the 9th...not the 8th. Not completely sure though.
Oh, and perfect ruling because...why? Its TRUE.

 

[Destil]

Okay, I'll be one of the first people to defend games as art, but... huh? Then what's up with NC17 moves (and really the entire movie rating system)?

 

[gregweller]

As I understand it, the movie ratings system doesn't have the force of law. It is voluntary industry system. In other words, a theater can say that they won't allow people under 18 to see a movie, but that there is no law that says they have to. The library I work for, for example, does not enforce any kind of ratings for movies. Any patron of no matter what age can check out any movie (or book for that matter). This follows the general policy of the American Library Association to not discriminate on basis of age. The library doesn't see themselves as attempting to try and enforce values that should be left up to parents. Taken to it's logical extreme if we didn't do this, we'd never be able to loan books to minors, because there would be some parent somewhere that would object to just about any book you could think of. What the law that was struck down attempted to do was to make it illegal to sell a violent video game to a minor. This was clearly a step beyond what the movie ratings system does.

 

[Mallus]

LOL! I think Playboy Enterprises should take the same path, and declare their magazine and nude photo layout an art form.

Well, the award-winning short fiction that runs in Playboy, from some of the finest contemporary writers, is 1) art and 2) protected by the 1st Amendment.

Besides, T&A isn't already art?

And on the topic... narrative content in games has increased exponentially over the years {consider the journey from from Pong to Metal Gear Solid 2 and FFX...} Therefore, game narratives deserve the same protection as narratives in other media. Doh!

 

[Welverin]

And on the topic... narrative content in games has increased exponentially over the years {consider the journey from from Pong to Metal Gear Solid 2 and FFX...} Therefore, game narratives deserve the same protection as narratives in other media. Doh!

I haven't played FFX so I can't comment on it, but MGS2 is a horrible example, Pong had much better story and plot.

 

[Mallus]

I haven't played FFX so I can't comment on it, but MGS2 is a horrible example, Pong had much better story and plot.

I wasn't talking about the quality, just the quantity...

 

[Welverin]

I wasn't talking about the quality, just the quantity...

Ah, ok then.

 

[Sixchan]

So what is the plot for pong?

In your youth, you always had two loves. Table Tennis and Gemma Ping, your childhood sweetheart. But one day, as you were walking and holding hands in the park, your archnemisis, John McEvilson, ran out from under a Bush and swept her off her feet, kidnapping her. Now he has set you a challenge: you must defeat him at the greatest, most animated, fastest paced state-of-the-art game in the history of mankind: PONG!

Or is it:

You are a bat. Hit the ball and don't miss to win.