In the wake of the record-breaking September release of the Halo 3 videogame, which generated $170 million in its first 24 hours (making it the highest grossing entertainment product within 24-hours of release in history), and is estimated to have sold more than 5.2 million copies thus far, the game's ultra-violent realism has restarted the discussions of whether federal or state government should regulate the videogame industry.
For several years, politicians around the country have tried to outlaw the sale of some violent games to children. So far all such efforts have failed.
Federal judges have consistently rejected attempts to regulate video games in eight cities and states since 2001, citing the Constitution's protection of free speech. In Oklahoma, a court has temporarily blocked a law pending a final decision. In all, no such laws have been upheld.
In July, a federal judge in San Jose, California declared unconstitutional a 2005 bill that would have made it a crime to sell or rent certain violent games to minors in that state.
Meanwhile, the European Union justice ministers have discussed a standardized way of regulating the sale of violent video games to children. Their hope is to introduce a list of penalties against retailers in selling violent videogames to minors, however it is up to each country of the Union to decide what is too violent for their own country.The industry currently operates a self-regulated ratings system for video and computer games. However, retailers in most EU countries are not legally obliged to restrict the sale of adult-classified products. The bloc's 27 member states also differ widely on how they judge unacceptable material.
In Germany, for example, video games, as with other media, are subject to censorship, or "decency standards", that are strict by the standards of other European nations. For video games there is the index, which is a list of video games, movies and other media considered having bad influence on children and therefore unsuited for anyone under 18. Articles not suited for anyone under 18 cannot be easily sold through mail order in Germany.
There are a few specialized companies that sell such games, but require a photocopy of the buyers' ID card as age verification, and the package is only handed over to the buyer personally. Certain institutions can request that a game be examined by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons. In some cases it is then placed on the index, usually because it is deemed to glorify violence, at which point it becomes illegal to advertise the games or even review them in a not age restricted medium, display them on store shelves, or sell them to anyone under 18
Back in the United States, New York will probably be the next state to attempt some form of regulation, with the state Senate passing a game-regulation bill in May of this year. The New York bill has been phrased in an attempt to pass constitutional muster, but it will almost surely be challenged by the same game-industry legal team that has successfully opposed game regulations around the country.
To date, the United States Supreme Court has not interpreted the Constitution to regulate violence similarly to sexually explicit material. The Court has allowed states broad leeway in regulating minors' access to sexually explicit material, but has not, however, ruled that states have a similar right to regulate media based on violence.
Most of the city and state video game laws that have been struck down in recent years have tried to ban the sale or rental of certain violent games to minors. In many of those cases, states and cities have tried to translate the legal rules for pornography into a new system for regulating violent media, although the United States Supreme Court has not reviewed this tack.
Back in the United States, New York will probably be the next state to attempt some form of regulation, with the state Senate passing a game-regulation bill in May of this year. The New York bill has been phrased in an attempt to pass constitutional muster, but it will almost surely be challenged by the same game-industry legal team that has successfully opposed game regulations around the country.
In what has become somewhat of a precedent for the rest of the country, Judge Richard A. Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reviewed an Indianapolis ordinance that would have regulated public game arcades. Blocking this ordinance, Posner wrote that exposure to imaginary violence - whether in "The Odyssey," "War and Peace" or Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - can play an important role in the development of a child's moral, social and political outlook.
"Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent, even obsessive theme of culture both high and low," he wrote. "It engages the interest of children from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault are aware. To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it."
Courts around the country in considering video game regulations have generally followed Judge Posner's basic arguments.
Video game publishers claim that the call for regulation is unfounded, saying that a few violent titles are being used to indict an entire industry. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), the video-game industry's self-regulatory labeling body, places ratings and numerous content descriptors on almost every game sold in America today.
Of all the games that ESRB reviewed in 2005, less than 13 percent were rated "Mature" (M) or "Adults Only" (AO), the categories that contain the sort of violence found in games like Halo 3. Less than 1 percent were rated Adults Only. Thus, around 86 percent of all games sold in 2004 were rated either "Early Childhood" (EC), "Everyone" (E), "Everyone 10 and older" (E10+), or "Teen" (T).
But with the explosive sales and popularity of Halo 3, which allows the game player to control a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he wages war in defense of humanity using a variety of havoc-inducing weaponry, proponents of regulation may have some added ammunition in their arsenal.