Eight Values of Free Expression

The Eight Values of Expression are theories suggested by experts who analyze why the 1st amendment has contributed to America’s success as a nation to not collapse like other countries. They claim that a big part of America has not experienced government failure due to the amount of freedom that is given and protected by the Bill of Rights. The 1st Amendment gives the right to freedom of speech, religion, assembly, press, and petition. Specifically, freedom of speech has helped the United States become one of the most innovative countries in the world because the government is not allowed to censor citizens' opinions and rights. 

Through my reading about the eight values of free expression, I think promoting innovation resonates with me the most because it relates a lot to the reason why I chose to be a game design major.

     

I decided to become a game designer major because I admire the idea of being able to make my own games and art without being censored if someone disagrees with my choices.

    I think this theory is the most personal to me because video games have been a stable part of my childhood and ways for me and my family to bond through hard times. Video games have helped me become who I am in a way because I love art and programming with my own creativity.

    

    The video game industry is a community that heavily relies on the 1st Amendment specifically to freedom of speech and press. The freedom of speech also ties into freedom of expression and creativity as many video games discuss many difficult topics that society does not want to address. Then freedom of press, video games are a form of media, and this amendment allows for games to be published and distributed without government interference. 

    Video games have been viewed as controversial as the last few decades as it has been blamed for increasing violence and aggression in children.

     Games such as Grand Theft Auto, Assassin’s Creed, and Call of Duty are very popular video games among young adults, teenagers, and children. However, these games have been blamed by legislators for why children’s behavior has been growing increasing violent. 

    

    Cases such as Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association(2011) was a law in California that prohibited the sale or rental of “violent video games” to minors as it exposed them to obscenity, violent, and sexual materials. The Supreme Court ruled that this law is unconstitutional because it violates the 1st amendment and justices argued that some books that are actually advertised to children should be banned as well if they would have passed this law. Justice Scalia argued that America has a “long tradition of violent themes in books”. The justice's decision is important because this law tried to strip freedom of speech away from young children as this law censors their right to express their opinion.

        In the present day, violent crimes have increased and there have been many cases where legislators continue to bash video games for making individuals more “aggressive” and being a factor into why the individuals committing crimes. Cases such as the Sandy Hook school shooting have been blamed on video games by the National Rifle Association as they claim that video games breed killers. Also, in the recent case of Nicholas Prosper, who blamed his crimes due to his obsession with a character named Clementine from the series, "The Walking Dead" (pg. 3).

  

     In these cases, the suspects were not minors, but they were still young adults whose cases are being used against video games. However, my question is why is social media and books not held to the standards as video games, all of these forms of press that can contain or describe violent themes but why do video games only get ridiculed? Why do parents not monitor and research games that their children are interested in to see if the game is age appropriate?

     Most video games that are considered violent are not even marketed or advertised towards minors as games are required to have a content rating that describes the content in the game before being sold to the public. It is a system that helps determine what age group is suitable to play the game. Also, games are required to have warnings and labels warning to its users to remind them that the game is not real.

    For example, Grand Theft Auto is a M rated game meaning mature audience for ages 18 and up. I think the problem is parents and legislators are looking for something to blame for these horrific events, but they are ignoring a key factor of why these crimes happen is due to a lack of mental health awareness.

    Despite video game having a somewhat of a negative reputation among the government, video games have change art and innovated new trends in so many forms over the years. Especially for children, video games have help children in education by promoting creativity and critical thinking.

    

     In 2012, a survey of 491 children were assigned to play video game frequently and experts noticed a positive outcome in the children's thinking ability has improved (Jackson et al). The games challenged the children to come up with multiple ideas to get to the next point in the game and be creativity on how to get around obstacles.

    Some of the games that they noticed positive changes were Minecraft, Portal 2, and Serious Sam, which is a shooter game. Video game does not only have negative content but as well as positive that are help people develop skills that are useful to everyday life.

        However, video games are still ostracized by the government and some states are even considering banning video game as a whole or games that they view as "violent". Most recently, Illinois is current trying to go through the process of potentially banning all sales of violent video games. Legislators believe that video games have influenced and encouraged crime in the state. I think that video games should not be banned but people should who have children should monitor their kid's consumption of media. It is unconstitutional to strip a community's ability to create art and stories due to someone else's actions.

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