Wed 3 Dec 2003
I wrote a “soapbox” article for the October ‘03 issue of Game Developer magazine titled “Regulation is Everyone’s Business“. One of the points I was making is that the government’s current fascination with violence (and to some extent sex) in games may broaden to other areas. Meaning, many developers feel “safe” or OK about regulation if they’re not personally making violent/questionable games… Well, recent news in Australia demonstrates that we all need to care about these issues!
The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported on one of the gov ministers wanting to ban Project Gotham Racing 2. He stated that the game, which is rated E for everyone (and includes no blood or violence or sex) promotes reckless driving in the streets of Sydney. While I do not think that this threat has much weight behind it, it still shows the level of “fear” and anxiety these games can instill within the clueless.
Back to the US anti-violence crusade, we have a Californian law-maker trying to propose new legislation to restrict games. It is quite ironic that the new state governor has his own violent first person shooter on the market ;) Further, we’ve got the Haitian community up in arms about GTA:VC. What’s more, Lieberman has made yet another vow to squash games.
A very telling email volley with Jack Thompson demonstrates the somewhat questionable motives behind the very people who purport to be saving our culture and our humanity. Just wait until they all take notice of the latest gorefest, Manhunt… Oh my…
December 3rd, 2003 at 9:14 pm
Thompson’s web site (http://www.stopkill.com/) is already talking about Manhunt. Haven’t seen it, personally, but it sounds awful. I notice that he is propagating the unfounded claim that Doom resulted in Columbine, going so far as to say they “trained” in it. Can’t he tell the difference between a rifle and a mouse and keyboard?
As your link to buzzcut demonstrates, these people have agendas, which are well served by the lowest common denominator sensationalism in certain games. I have mixed feelings about violent games (GTA is a bit disturbing sometimes, but I certainly love the Quake series), but as long as the United States contains a cultural current of shifting blame and acting without thinking, this stuff is never going to stop.
December 5th, 2003 at 4:53 pm
Everyone needs to read Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence by Gerard Jones, before they start running for office, that’s my new rule.
A VERY belated and gigantic thanks to Greg for talking about that book.
December 11th, 2003 at 4:38 pm
Shakespeare is rife with violence, for example Titus Andronicus. Sure, you don’t control the ‘action’ but it’s still a counter argument to the ‘violence begets violence’ claim.
On the other hand, my personal taste is for narrative elements to serve a purpose…the best books or movies are the ones where action (dramatic and physical) is used as a metaphor or as part of the story. For example GTA3, you are a gangster…the whole point of being a ganster is to use violence to get what you want. People in real life would never do that, but it allows a player to fantasize what it would be like to be a ‘might = right’ kind of guy.
Games like Manhunt don’t satisfy any need I have…I don’t REALLY want to fantasize about the goriest way to kill someone. It’s more of a geewhiz kind of thing…like watching a guy being hung by hooks…sort of like “I can’t believe he just did that!”.
January 16th, 2004 at 6:30 pm
thanks for your site and keep it up.