© Sony
The God of War games from Sony are considered violent, but the Supreme Court says such games still have protection as art.
Maybe it helps for the nation's highest court to say it, too?
Video games are art, and they deserve the exact same First Amendment protections as books, comics, plays and all the rest, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday in a ruling about the sale of violent video games in California.
California had tried to argue that video games are inherently different from these other mediums because they are "interactive." So if a kid has to pick up a controller and hit the B button -- over and over again until he starts to get thumb arthritis -- to kill a person in a video game, that's different from reading about a similar murder, the state said.
The high court didn't buy that argument, however.
Interactive stories are "nothing new,"
Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the majority opinion (PDF). "Since at least the publication of 'The Adventures of You: Sugarcane Island' in 1969, young readers of choose-your-own-adventure stories have been able to make decisions that determine the plot by following instructions about which page to turn to."
Here's more on why the court thinks video games are art:
"Like the protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas -- and even social messages -- through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player's interaction with the virtual world). That suffices to confer First Amendment protection."
Comment: Video Games may be considered to be "art" but consider the consequences:
Study Bashes Violent Video Games, Links Them to Aggressive Behavior in Kids
Video Games Normalize Killing, Doctors Say
Video Games Linked To Poor Relationships With Friends, Family
Study: Video-game-playing kids showing addiction symptoms
Study: Violent video games affect teens' brain
Study: Too many video games may sap attention span