A Federal Judge has ruled that video games are not protected speech, saying that the have, "no conveyance of ideas, expression, or anything else that could possibly amount to speech. The court finds that video games have more in common with board games and sports than they do with motion pictures."
If this is the case, why the uproar over Doom contributing to school shootings? Why protest the release of the bigot's favorite game, Ethnic Cleansing (where you are encouraged to kill blacks and Jews).
Of course, it appears that the Judge only examined first-person shooters (and only four of them) without much plot. He missed all of the Star Wars, Star Trek, fantasy role-playing games, etc... is saying that in a society that makes movies based on video games (Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Brothers, Final Fantasy, Double Dragon, Wing Commander, etc...) that the movies are protected speech, but not the game that inspired the movie. What about Deer Avenger which has an anti-hunting message (a deer hunts the hunters)?
What does this mean for online environments like EverQuest which is claimed by some economists to have a larger economy (in US Dollars) than all but 17 of the world's 162 or so nations?
Basically, this guy is saying, I don't see the value so it isn't protected speech. Of course, he left pornography, Harlequin Romances, and supermarket tabloids in the category of protected, so we know what level he's operating at.