Warren Spector Warns Gamers about Upcoming SCOTUS Hearing

During his keynote address at PAX last week in Seattle, Wa., Junction Points founder and Deus Ex creator Warren Spector warned the crowd that they must help fight against the California video game law set for review before the US Supreme Court November 2. The court will rule on an earlier ruling of the California Appeals Court, which struck down the law as unconstitutional.

Spector said that it was important for the games industry and gamers to embrace the mainstream to achieve "social acceptance" and become "an art form worthy of study."

"We spent 20 years trying to convince people that we were cool trying to show them just how cool games were ... and we won," Spector said. "But we need to get past not wanting to let other people in the club. We won, and we feel bad about it."

"When your grandmother and little sister are playing games, it's harder for people to look at it as a way to make political points," he added.

He has a point. But by the same token, politicians aren't trying to control games like Epic Mickey or Super Mario Galaxy 2; they are looking at games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and the upcoming Duke Nukem Forever...

But his main point is that "November 2nd could be the start of a timeline where we're the first entertainment medium denied first amendment protection."

That's some strong medicine. You can check out Spector's full PAX keynote address here.