3/28/2005
Video Games Put On Defensive
The San Bernardino County Sun began an article: Columbine. The Washington snipers. Gang shootings in Oakland. Violent video games were blamed in all of them. The latest exhibit in the People v. Video Games involves an Alabama teen who an attorney says was inspired by the "Grand Theft Auto' franchise to steal cars and shoot three people.
As the electronic entertainment industry prepares to defend itself in that case, Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, is lobbying for his second piece of legislation targeting games this time a call to re-evaluate the rating system designed to keep violent games out of children's hands.
Critics also are seeking a connection between video games and this week's school shooting in Minnesota. The shooter reportedly was an avid gamer, but no official connection has been made.
The $11 billion industry is taking its turn on the spit of public opinion, roasting on the same fire that left scorch marks on works of literature, some musical genres, and movies, the article concluded.
"It's just the newest political football for everyone to play with,” Lawrence Walters, a Florida-based First Amendment lawyer whose firm often defends the video game industry, said in the article. “Neither side plans to drop the ball.”
“Columbine is to video games what 9/11 is to terrorism,” said Jack Thompson, a longtime critic of the game industry, who was quoted in the article..
The Miami-based attorney is bringing the more than $600 million lawsuit against four companies for letting the Mature-rated games "Grand Theft Auto III' and "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City' get into the hands of then 16-year-old Devin Moore, who is accused d of fatally shooting three men and stealing a patrol car after the shootings in Fayette, Ala. His trial on murder charges starts in July.
But recent court rulings have favored the game industry. In 2001, the wife of slain Columbine teacher Dave Sanders sued 25 gaming companies, including Nintendo of America and Sony Computer Entertainment, seeking $5 billion in punitive damages. The suit was dismissed in March 2002 by U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock in Denver.
Another lawsuit that was dismissed concerned the Paducah, Ky., school shooting where 14-year-old Michael Carneal shot at a student prayer group at Heath High School in 1997, killing three students. Nintendo, Sega and Sony were among those named in the $33 million suit.
The article pointed out that legislators have kept an eye on the game industry for years, with people including Sens. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., attempting to call out the industry on its content.
In the past, the battle has been focused on control, with various bills proposed to prevent the sale or rental of heavily violent games to minors.
One of the more recent cases is International Digital Software Association v. St. Louis County (Mo.), in which a St. Louis County ordinance that barred minors access to video games with "graphic violence' was struck down by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
California Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, also is pitching a bill that would make the sale or rental of violent M-rated games illegal, along with a label that reads, "This game may not be sold to anyone under 17 years of age.”
In 2002, psychology professor Jonathan Freedman analyzed all the research done on the subject in his book, "Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression,' and concluded that no such link between video game violence exists. Freedman even goes on to say that there haven't been well over 1,000 studies it's more like 200.
As the electronic entertainment industry prepares to defend itself in that case, Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, is lobbying for his second piece of legislation targeting games this time a call to re-evaluate the rating system designed to keep violent games out of children's hands.
Critics also are seeking a connection between video games and this week's school shooting in Minnesota. The shooter reportedly was an avid gamer, but no official connection has been made.
The $11 billion industry is taking its turn on the spit of public opinion, roasting on the same fire that left scorch marks on works of literature, some musical genres, and movies, the article concluded.
"It's just the newest political football for everyone to play with,” Lawrence Walters, a Florida-based First Amendment lawyer whose firm often defends the video game industry, said in the article. “Neither side plans to drop the ball.”
“Columbine is to video games what 9/11 is to terrorism,” said Jack Thompson, a longtime critic of the game industry, who was quoted in the article..
The Miami-based attorney is bringing the more than $600 million lawsuit against four companies for letting the Mature-rated games "Grand Theft Auto III' and "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City' get into the hands of then 16-year-old Devin Moore, who is accused d of fatally shooting three men and stealing a patrol car after the shootings in Fayette, Ala. His trial on murder charges starts in July.
But recent court rulings have favored the game industry. In 2001, the wife of slain Columbine teacher Dave Sanders sued 25 gaming companies, including Nintendo of America and Sony Computer Entertainment, seeking $5 billion in punitive damages. The suit was dismissed in March 2002 by U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock in Denver.
Another lawsuit that was dismissed concerned the Paducah, Ky., school shooting where 14-year-old Michael Carneal shot at a student prayer group at Heath High School in 1997, killing three students. Nintendo, Sega and Sony were among those named in the $33 million suit.
The article pointed out that legislators have kept an eye on the game industry for years, with people including Sens. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., attempting to call out the industry on its content.
In the past, the battle has been focused on control, with various bills proposed to prevent the sale or rental of heavily violent games to minors.
One of the more recent cases is International Digital Software Association v. St. Louis County (Mo.), in which a St. Louis County ordinance that barred minors access to video games with "graphic violence' was struck down by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
California Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, also is pitching a bill that would make the sale or rental of violent M-rated games illegal, along with a label that reads, "This game may not be sold to anyone under 17 years of age.”
In 2002, psychology professor Jonathan Freedman analyzed all the research done on the subject in his book, "Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression,' and concluded that no such link between video game violence exists. Freedman even goes on to say that there haven't been well over 1,000 studies it's more like 200.
