Ever since video game designers were able to put red pixels on
their imaginary characters that had recently deceased, there
have been people crusading against their subversive ways. The
outrage at video games seems to be cyclic, fading very briefly
before exploding into the public eye once more with renewed
frenzy. The controversy seems to have sparked up again in recent
times, with numerous crimes being blamed on the corruptive
influence of video games. There have also been various
"controversies" surrounding recent video games and their content
in the areas of both violence and sexuality.

The first game to receive widespread criticism and media
attention was the martial art fighting game "Mortal Kombat".
This game included large spurts of blood emitted from attacks
and also "Fatalities" that could be performed on stunned
opponents after their defeat. These Fatalities were gruesome
animation sequences showing the victorious player killing their
defeated opponent in a vast variety of ways. Gamers revelled in
this new experience and the controversy surrounding the violence
caused mass hype that informed the less informed gamers that the
game was out there. Consequently gamers played the new game just
to find out what all the talk was about, thereby greatly
increasing revenue.

One of the largest sparks of controversy has been the recent
"Hot Coffee" modification for "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
(GTA:SA)". This involved unlocking a sexually oriented mini-game
that had been removed from the game before release, although
evidently not from the source code. The creators of the game,
Rockstar Entertainment, obviously realised that this particular
part of the game was not appropriate for the video gaming public
and removed access to it. An enterprising fan of the game found
out and modified the original code to give access to the content
once again. Lawsuits were brought against Rockstar for including
such content in their game, although the validity of the lawsuit
has to be questioned. If the game is simply purchased and played
as intended by the developers, this admittedly tasteless and
inappropriate mini game would never be encountered. It is not
until the user-made modification is downloaded and installed
that the player is able to access the content.

Regardless of who's to blame, "GTA: SA" was re-rated in America
and banned from sale in Australia. Oddly enough the gratuitous
and encouraged violence in the game went largely unnoticed in
the wake of the "scandalous" sex scenes involving clothed,
cartoonesque people.

When examined objectively almost all games contain a certain
amount of violent content. The kid-friendly bright and colourful
"Mario" games by Nintendo feature a character stomping on
animated creature's heads. In fact the majority of games, even
children's games, involve the protagonist crusading against an
enemy horde of some sort and generally "disposing" of them in
some manner, whether it be striking them with a weapon or body
part (feet, hands, possibly a tail depending on the nature of
the character). The only real stand out difference is that in a
children's game the 'bad' characters will generally bounce
backwards in a cute manner and explode with a humorous puff
sound (or simply disappear) whereas in a game oriented towards
older mature players, the characters are more likely to be
(somewhat) realistic, spraying a gusher of red upon their demise.

Whenever some young person somewhere commits a violent crime
these days it seems to get blamed on a video game, from "Duke
Nukem" and "Quake" being accused for the Columbine High
massacre, to a more recent incident involving a group of minors
attributing their violent actions to the "Mortal Kombat" video
games. Without any solid evidence either way it's hard to say
whether or not video game violence actually has much of an
influence on players. To really be sure you'd probably have to
have a control group of isolated children that have never seen a
violent movie or played a bloodthirsty video game. History does
however show that brutal crimes were committed long before video
games or even movies came into existence.

Children are quite easily influenced by something that they're
excited about and I've seen this happen a lot. Playing a
wrestling video game with a group of eight year olds often leads
to the eight year olds screaming raucously and trying to pin
each other down on the ground. Pre-teens will often punch and
kick their way out of a cinema in terrible combat stances after
having viewed a martial arts movie. The current content rating
system in place is not geared towards consumer restriction; it
is largely aimed at simply informing the public about what they
are going to experience. Legal restrictions are not actually put
in place until the higher, more severe ratings like in x-rated
films. Parents, guardians, and society in general need to start
taking an interest in who is viewing certain types of content.
Instead of complaining about the entertainment a child is
enjoying, the parent could be there at the beginning looking at
the rating that is printed clearly on the packaging of all
entertainment. A simple "I don't think that's suitable, how
about this game? It has a lizard!" distracts the child a
surprising number of times. In my experience, children genuinely
just want people to take an interest in what they're interested
in, not just murmuring indistinctly, "Yes dear, that's nice." as
the child installs the newest violent game.

What about the children that are playing the games in the
restricted ratings categories? The only way that they can even
get the game into their possession is if a parent (or someone of
legal age) purchases the game for the child, or if the store
disregards the rating guidelines in place and sells it to them
regardless. Either way the fact that a game's content has fallen
into a minor's hands is not the fault of the game developer.

I'm not out to defend the integrity of artistic vision presented
in video games as many other gamers are. Frankly there seems to
me to be little artistic integrity in rendering blood that is
ever more liquid in appearance. I do however enjoy playing some
games that are quite violent in nature and in many cases the
violent nature of the game increases my enjoyment. Video games
are escapism, there's (arguably) no point in playing a video
game that simulates something you can just walk outside and do
(and yet sports games somehow consistently sell in large
numbers... curious...). Interestingly I have never yet felt the
overwhelming desire to break down into a kung fu stance and
commit murder. Perhaps more important than simply banning
questionable content in video games would be studying why this
content is so appealing to today's society?

About the author:
Daniel Punch M6.Net Web Helpers href="http://www.m6.net">http://www.m6.net

Author : Daniel Punch
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