14 DAY TRIAL // The Supreme Court of the United States of America has just passed a ruling in the ongoing debate over violent games, and rejected the proposal of the State of California that wanted to make the act of selling violent video games to children a crime.
The debate over how violent games affect players has been raging on for many years, ever since people were able to depict more complex scenes on TV or computer screens.
While many have argued about the subject, with scientific studies backing either sides of this debate, a proposed bill created by the state of California gained the most traction, demanding the act of selling violent video games to be outlawed and anyone found doing such a thing would be fined.
The proposal has now been rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled 7 votes against and 2 for the project today, via Kotaku.
The court, led by Justice Anton Scalia, stated that the law violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and that the basic freedoms can't be overlooked even when talking about a new and different type of entertainment.
Video games were defended in this case by the Entertainment Merchants Association and the Entertainment Software Association, which revealed many issues with the law project at the first hearing of the case that took place at the end of last year.
Basically, the two entities demanded that video games have the same benefits like movies or books, and that their sale should not be regulated by a governmental body.
Instead, the ESA highlighted that the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, an independent entity funded by the video game companies, does a perfect job by rating the games depending on their content, and stores that sell games have no problem imposing the age limits on customers.
The law project would have just cluttered up a smooth process, according to the EMA and ESA, and created precedents for other states in the USA to pass similar laws.
Luckily, for gamers in the US, the Supreme Court has now ruled against the project, so video games will continue selling just like they are now.