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Violence and Video Games
Okay, it’s pretty evident to everyone that violence is
everywhere. It’s on the streets,
it’s in books, and it’s on the news. Another
tidbit brought to you by Captain Obvious: violence
sells. When was the last time you
saw a war movie do crappy—and no, Pearl Harbor does not count?
Now take all that violence, and move it to our games, though, and watch
as the politics of the nation go kablooey. As
with everything else, video games have their share of violence.
Take a look at your favorite games; Street Fighter, Metal Gear Solid,
Twisted Metal, Tekken, and yes, even Super Smash Bros and The
Legend of Zelda all have their fair share in the violence factor.
Even with the new SSBM game, it wears a Teen rating for “comic
mischief” and “violence,” even though there is absolutely no blood
spilled. The main thing that really got me to sit down and start this
rant—and to get the gamers to speak up—is the recent uproar surrounding a
new PS2 game. I’m
sure you’ve all heard of Grand Theft Auto 3.
I sure have. I’ve played it myself, and I must say, it’s an excellent
game. You throw in cars, cities,
guns, pimps, violence….it’s basically a portrayal of gang life in America.
It was when I sat down to watch the news last night though that really
annoyed me. The parents want this
game taken off shelves. Why? Simple.
In GTA3, your main objectives run along the lines of picking up
prostitutes for pimps, carrying out hits for the Mafia, running police chases,
almost any sort of crime you can think of, and the parents don’t want their
children playing it. Now, if you
look at the case of the game, it sports a Mature rating, courtesy of the ESRB.
As most gamers know, the ESRB was created after the shenanigan brought up
by Senator Joseph Liebermann and former First Lady Tipper Gore involving the
violent content in Mortal Kombat. People
are going so far as to say that the games condition children to become
sociopaths. Parents say it numbs
their children from violent content. Even
as we speak, there is a bill going through the United States Congress titled the
Media Marketing Accountability Act. According
to Senator Liebermann’s website, the bill would prevent “entertainment
companies from engaging in advertising or marketing [of products that are
suitable and/or appropriate for adults]” that is either intentionally directed
at minors, put in places where kids are usually found hanging out, or directly
targeted to children. Some people,
such as Lieberman’s Communications Director Dan Gerstein, says that the bill
is simply asking for media companies to take responsibility for their products.
Others, like ISDA President Doug Lowenstein, argue that the bill is
“more than a little troubling, it’s deeply troubling, and in our view,
it’s unconstitutional…the bill puts the government strictly into the
business of regulating the marketing of protected speech.”
Of
course, gamers are going to have mainly similar view as Mr. Lowenstein in saying
that the MMAA is trying to stifle free speech.
The ESRB was already created, what else do the politicians want?
Well, it seems, they want to completely shield us from violence, and
obviously make us believe that there is no such thing as deviance.
In my opinion, that is absolutely absurd.
I personally think this is just a political ploy to get reelection, but
then again, this issue has been around for a few years.
I
mean, think of it this way. This could be taken as the first step to take away our
freedom of speech, guaranteed to us under the First Amendment of the United
States Constitution. If they want
to take away a means of entertainment for us, because it’s too “violent,”
“coarse language,” et cetera, what else are they going to take from us? R-rated movies because they aren’t for everybody?
The music we listen to simply because the artists prefer to use
expletives, morbid and/or sexual themes? Plus,
these are the parents banding up along with the politicians.
Since when is it the federal government’s job to raise the children of
America? The government needs to
keep their focus on their jobs at hand, which at the moment are much more
pressing than a smattering of parents bitching about violent games. The solution to this is simple.
If you don’t want your child playing the game, you don’t
purchase/rent it for them. There’s
a reason why the ratings were given to them; now it is the parents’ job to
keep an eye on the ratings, and screen what their children play, not the
government’s. Now,
in order to prevent the MMAA from becoming a law, we have to band together.
Gamers cannot just sit around, bitching and moaning about how everyone in
Washington is against them and their video games.
We have to make ourselves heard in this struggle for free speech.
Take power into your own hands. If
you can vote, do so, and if you haven’t registered to vote yet, then go do it,
because your vote does count. Look
into the issues surrounding violence and video games.
I have written an extensive paper documenting numerous accounts of
censorship, and also looked into several others besides Lieberman that are
hawking the “evils of video game violence,” and trust me, there are others
that want games like GTA3, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid 2 and the like
off the markets for good. Petition
your Congressman, organize a protest, speak out, vote, do something to get your
voice heard, and to ensure the fact that the games you and I know and love can
continue to be made and sold on the markets and in the arcades. For
more information on this issue and other issues at hand, here are a few sites
you can contact: ·
Senator Joseph Lieberman: http://www.lieberman.senate.gov/ ·
Voting/Voter Registration: http://www.fec.gov/voteregis/vr.htm ·
Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB):
http://www.esrb.com ·
Rock the Vote: http://www.rockthevote.org The
information and quotes I used in this writing were taken from the October 2001
issue of Game Informer Magazine, which can be reached online at www.GameInformer.com
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