The U.S. Supreme court has agreed to reconsider instating a ban on the sale of ultra-violent video games to minors in California later this fall. This case will be called Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association.

Schwarzenegger and other activists for the ban of ultra-violent video games argue that the games harm children psychologically in the same way alcohol and cigarettes harm them physically and thus should be regulated in a similar manner as said substances.

The problem with this line of logic is that video games are not a commodity. They are a form of artistic expression and are protected from regulation under the first amendment. This is not the first time an artistic median has faced public hostilities, with the banning of books in schools and restricting movie productions, but each time the industries have been able to self-regulate without government intervention.

Games are evolving from their “little kid” persona to an expression of art. Movies went through the same process and from the days of short cowboy flicks to serious films such as Battleship Potemkin. Filmmakers have been experimenting with movie making as a form of art in the same way video game makers from Pong to intellectual games like Myst and artistic games like Okami.

There are other video games now that stem right from literature. The story to BioShock is rooted with ideas from Ayn Rand’s epic novel Atlas Shrugged. The game was praised for its in-depth storytelling and a story based on morality.

Whether video games cause psychological harm is up for debate. Adults need to take responsibility and watch over what their children do. They still live under their parent’s house. It’s up to the parents to monitor their children and not the government. Parents need to grow up too.

Games with gratuitous images of ultra-violence exist. Movies and books contain those images as well. In the end though, it is really up to parents to decide what is best for their children, and they should be the ones making the decision of what is okay and what is not okay for their children. The state and federal governments should not be involved with something that is an issue of domestic freedom.