Video Games and Regulation: The Journey to Answers

Hello, World! …And such a world it is. Perusing through the May 4th, 2010 issue of New York Times, my attention was captivated by a mystifying fantasy picture of what I instinctively knew as an “intense video game” picture. Being effectively driven by some of Media’s jujitsu, I continued on to read the article, “Wielding Swords in a World of Sharp Tongues.” Immediately I knew what this article was about: Federal video game regulation. I am very new to this topic, but there was something very “touching” about this particular article that sparked a very strong interest for investigation and research. Throughout this blog page, I will tackle this issue by taking various stands and view points, researching, accepting ideas and comments, and advancing my knowledge in this topic to better help our nation make a CORRECT JUDGMENT.

I will express my current knowledge on the topic and then progress to victory from that point onward.

The U.S. Supreme Court has recently taken up the decision to decide whether or not to regulate the sale of certain video games to minors, according to Seth Schiesel in the article, “Wielding Swords in a World of Sharp Tongues” (New York Times, May 4, 2010). Schiesel declares that the way the U.S. Supreme court is going about this by expanding the legal concept of obscenity to include depictions of violence. Yes, I, formerly being an excessive “gamer” myself, was very shocked at the nerve the Supreme Court could muster to make such a statement! Most would agree that the Supreme Court has clearly crossed over their boundaries of power… But! That’s when some my brain kicked in and hit me! Is it really out of the U.S Supreme Court's range of power? Why is it that they would even dare tackle such a far-out issue? Usually, the Supreme Court gives judgments of justice, based on the wellbeing of the people. So what drives them to take up a specific writ of certiorari (a summons of a case from the Supreme Court)?

There are many facts to consider that one could easily pull directly from his logical cup of thinking, such as: Do some video games have positive effects on children? If so, which ones? Do they promote the child’s (or adults) health in anyway, both physically and mentally? On a very positive side, do video games encourage or inspire learning? To answer this vast question of regulation, one needs to research and consider all the vast number of potential harms and benefits. Certainly, one cannot dismiss imperative controversial questions, like:

“Do violent video games induce violence in children’s (and adults’) behavior?” Suppose a child was able to simply amble into a store and purchase a new, graphics enhanced video game for the Xbox 360. The child happily runs home as fast as he can to try out his new video game. This once innocent mind, which is yet unveiled to the outside world, now settles down and picks up his controller to play his Extreme Triple X Volley-ball. Now the question to answer is, will this boy grow up with an undistorted view of women with a normal adolescent view on sex? That’s a hard one to answer because the Supreme Court says, in a simplified answer, that obscenity is whatever the community defines what is obscene at the time.

As I’ll be answering some of these questions later on, I’d like to invite the readers to keep an open mind in the matter of all questions. Feel free to comment, without vulgar language. Also, for informational purposes, I invite the readers to bear in mind that I was once a great “video gamer” myself and have firsthand experience to be revealed in later posts.