Digital Cream

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District has ruled that a California Law that would require stiffer penalties for minors purchasing violent video games and more stringent labeling requirements is unconstitutional.

“We hold that the Act violates rights protected by the First Amendment.” - The Honorable Judge Callahan.

Once again another court joins to rule that games are a form of protected speech. Read more about it here at the Video Game Voters Network.

Though this only affects Australia, I still want to highlight the issue as a global one and urge people to take action. I wrote about this in a previous post and unfortunately, nearly three years later, this beast lurches on. In a nutshell, the current coalition (led by the Labor party, the main left party here in Oz) wants to impose two layers of ISP-level net filtering. I fully oppose one and partially oppose the other. They are discussed well at the EFA and the blog Somebody Think Of The Children; I will summarize here. (continued »)

Gday me heartys! So it be that on Talk Like A Pirate Day a story swings upon me decks. Though ‘t be a sore burden t’speak o’ video game laws in this gamesome tone, the laws o’ the sea be the laws o’ the sea, and speak like a landlubber may I not.

Grab yer tankard and roll a barrel to the foredeck as I give ye the news from Oklahoma, far over the rollin’ waves in the New World. It just so happens that a right wise wig-wearin’ man o’ the law there, deemed he a stop t’a law forbiddin’ young scalawags from buyin’ certain video games. (continued »)

Video games, like movies and books, are a nascent but promising form of artistic speech and as such must remain outside the power of any state to outlaw them by a different standard. This kind of law has been defeated on unconstitutional grounds in many states. Pursuing this kind of law wastes taxpayer money and defuses the impetus to take real, effective action against the serious problems of youth violence and antisocial behavior, both at home and in society at large.

Californians, please consider visiting this site opposing this video game law and pass it to other Californians. It helps you urge the governor to give up on his efforts to pass a law making it illegal for minors to purchase certain categories of games.

I posted to an IGDA discussion group something about video game addiction, its relationship to drug addiction and the use of the term “addictive” in the game industry. In the course of this I rabbited on a bit about drug law and treatment. I think it’s worth sharing, as the discussion led me to more nuanced opinions and a lot of new things to think about. (continued »)

This article at ZDnet upholds what I have asserted before: too many things are being sloppily called “addictions”. Having experimented with cigarettes, being a slave to daily caffeine, and remaining in a wary waltz with my family nemesis alcohol, I know the difference between something which is addictive and something which is so pleasurable that maybe it absorbs more time than it should. There are many things I like a great deal, and which I need to check myself from doing so much of that they take time away from things I enjoy less but know I *should* do. But compelling, tempting enjoyability does not make those things addictive. To call them that is an insult to addicts and a blurring of a very important medical term.

Besides, if video game addiciton gets classified as a bona fide addiction syndrome and therefore gets insurance coverage, Blizzard may as well open up an HMO, haul it in from both ends, and eventually buy America. To which I would respond: Nerf SUVs.

Hm, interesting how the media jumps all over it when a shooter appears to be (like the vast majority of kids in USA) a player of video games which have violent content. But how relatively silent they are when the harebrained “cause” might be religion. Examples abound, not the least of which are those, whether they be Christian, Muslim, Jew or other, (hm, few Buddhists…) who readily discard their lives or that of others to pursue a religious ideal in act of “war”, as they define it. To be more direct, I notice that in an article about the Viginia Tech shooter Seung Hui Cho, aka “Ax Ishmael”,  his putative religious delusions are described but in no way commented on as a cause of his horrific act. As well they should not. (continued »)

Video Game Voters called on developers to write a testimonial for lawmakers to read, so I posted a response. (continued »)

Of course lots of Political Left publications are wary of government regulation of video games, but some on the Right, such as the author of an article in the National Review, also agree it’s none of the government’s business to do so. I welcome any allies in this battle.

The leader of the major Left party in Australia, Labor, advocates making it the law that Oz ISPs by default block certain kinds of offensive material, unless otherwise requested by the ISP customer.

I think this is horrid and I oppose Labor’s stance. I am eager to get citizenship so I can speak out on this kind of thing but in the meantime I’ll just try to yammer on to you Aussies who can take action. (continued »)