Supreme Court rules ban on violent video games unconstitutional

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of game producers on California’s legislations to ban the sale and rent of violent video games to minors under the age of 18, the CNN reported Monday.

The legislation in question addresses the problem of a delicate balance between First Amendment rights of minors and the state’s duty to protect these teenagers from exposure to excessive violence.

The court determined that games are a type of art, a form of expression protected under the Bill of Rights.

The U.S. First Amendments guarantees the freedom of speech and press much like the Korean Constitution article 21 does. The Supreme Court determined that restriction on excessive violence violates the constitutional rights of the minors regarding their right to access the press interpreted to include art and other types of media.

Upon viewing games like “Medal of Honor” and “Resident Evil 4,” the Supreme Court justices decided that the industry set standards are sufficient and that state or federal legislations to restrict access to them would be in violation of the constitutional rights of the minors.

Korean legislation recently passed the “Cinderella Law” restricting all minors under the age of 16 from accessing online games past midnight starting in November this year. A coalition of game developers in Korea are currently known to be preparing legal action against the new legislation.

Considering the similarity in restriction to what the U.S. had considered “Constitutional Right,” the Korean gaming industry now has a similar question to answer: “Is gaming restriction on minors a violation of their Constitutional right?”