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Violence
Violence in videogames, is there any need to worry? Most people think not; but others think there is. Senator Joseph Lieberman is among those who think there is a problem. He stated that if game companies don't cut down on the violence the government would step in. He said "We're here today to talk about the nightmare before Christmas. Not the movie, but-unfortuanately- the violent videogames" He said this as he addressed the Congressional Intervention ball on December 1, 1990. The games that brought this on to the gaming community are Mortal Kombat by Midway and Night Trap by Digital Pictures. Mortal Kombat shows graphic scenes of digitized people getting maimed in one way or another. Night Trap shows a woman being assaulted in her apartment. Game companies decided to invoke a ratings system to advise what games are appropriate for what gamers. The categories in the ratings system include Early Childhood (Will not contain any objectional words or depictions whatsoever), Kids to Adult (Ages 6+; Games in this catefory could contain mild animated violence such as one might find in a 'Road Runner' cartoon, games might also include comic mischief.), Teen (Ages 13+; Could contain depictions of violence or suggestive sexual themes.), Mature (Ages 17+; Could contain more intense depictions of violece and sex), and Adults Only (Ages 21+; May contain graphic depictions of violence, strong sexual content, and the extreme depiction of profanity, alcohol and tobacco use, or drug abuse.)
Most gamers are mature enough to not be negatively affected by the violence in videogames. The next generation game systems are too expensive for the young gamers so most of the games now being released are geared toward a mature audience. Young gamers might be influenced by the violence but that might only be if the parents are negligent. Adults are becoming game players along with teens and kids. With this parents are becoming aware of what their children are playing. Nintendo used to have a "no gore" policy. When Nintendo refused to allow blood in Mortal Kombat they lost a lot of money. The Sega Genesis version sold in record proportions because Sega allowed blood on their system. When Mortal Kombat 2 came out Nintendo allowed all of the fatalities and blood on the game. Mortal Kombat 2 was the first title on any of Nintendo's systems to have blood in it. Other companies watched this closely and promptly allowed blood on their games. Atari tried to get even more blood on their games than the other systems.
Girls don't seem to be interested in videogames. There have been a few videogames made specifically for girls, like a Barbie game. Girls that play games have voiced their opinions. They don't want any more Barbie games, just more games that might have the lead character a female. One of Nintendo's most popular games of all time stars a female character. The game Metroid stars Samus Aran, a bounty hunter. The founder of Atari and creator of Pong, Nolan Bushnell, claims to have discovered what genre of games girls seem to be interested in. It is said that the female population is an untapped source of players. Do girls have a different view on violence? Most studies say yes.
Game developers claim that they use violence to enhance the game play. They want to add suspense to the game and therefor create more interest. It is considered a fact that you can't have an interesting plot without any sort of a conflict. Most of the game developers agree that the only way to go too far is to make violence the game and not just a way to enhance the game play. Others also use violence to shock the players and try to "barrage the player's senses". Most people �will know the difference between fantasy and reality. No one's going to play a game and mistake it for the ten o'clock news. Jay Wilber, Business Manager at Id Software who are the creators of Doom, says "Doom was successful because all of the pieces of the puzzle were in place, and the violence is an important part of this puzzle." When asked if his game would have been as popular without violence Tom Zito President of Digital Pictures, replied "I don't know the answer to that. Could Oliver Stone have made Natural Born Killers less violent? Sure he could have... But would it have worked? I don't know."
Culture also has a lot to do with the popularity of violence. Mortal Kombat is one of the biggest games in the United States, but in Japan Mortal Kombat never became a big seller. The Japanese tend to play games that require the player to solves puzzles and riddles to uncover a complex storyline. These games are more passive while the games that are popular in the United States are more violent in nature. The game Blood Storm has an option to turn off the blood. Leif Marwede Project Manager at Incredible Technologies the creators of Blood Storm, stated "If you're just selling a game to the American Market, then you need lots of blood. Fine, but if you want to sell a game internationally (to countries like Germany or Japan), then these guys don't want blood. So
Blood Storm comes with dip-switches to turn all the blood off, and so, of course, it has to perform in both modes. I mean, I know this makes American kids look bad, but we're pretty much the only country that likes all this blood and gore in our games."
Does exposure to violence in the media cause a higher propensity for violence in the audience? When asked the same question Jay Wilber replied "Playing videogames is a great release of violence, and this is a belief that is echoed back to me by countless experts in the field. I would ask the people who claim that violence is caused by videogames to explain the Crusades, one of the most violent periods in history, and yet these people did not have videogames. So what made them do it? Their entertainment was the Bible..." Gilbert Austin, writer, designer and president of Maelstrom the creators of Harvestor, replied to the same question. He said "It's complete bullsh*t.
I just want to ask these guys to look at all the violence in Haiti, and yet how many of them have Nintendo decks? How many watch the "A-Team" on TV? And yet they are happy to show all this real life violence on the TV news because they justify it by saying that it's real, therefore it's significant. But I think ideas are significant also, and should be free for exploration."
If a person is brought up in a stable environment with a lot of love then whatever violence the child sees in the media should not make much of a difference. Parents are the influencing factor in one's life, not videogames.
It is claimed that the violence in videogames will "desensitize" a player when they see it in real life. So blood on TV will always look the same if you see it in real life? Most people think not. Tom Zito said "I've been a newspaper reporter, I've seen decapitated people and I guarantee you that even if I'd played Mortal Kombat all my life it still would have shocked me." Parents often don't give their children enough credit in being able to determine the difference between real life and videogames. If one watches movies like "A Nightmare on Elm Street" a hundred times it may take an even more shocking movie to get a reaction from them, but if they see this kind of violence in real life chances are they will still be shocked.
The difference between violence in movies and violence in videogames is that in a movie the person is just watching, but in a videogame the player is controlling what is going on. The interactivity of games may only enhance the positive effect on the gamers. The players will now understand that there is a correlation between doing something in the game and then something happening in response to the action. Gilbert Austin said "They have shown that kids tend to be more "aggressive" imediately after playing violent videogames, but hey -they're kids. And all that the game has done is hype them up with energy which doesn't necessarily translate to ill will. There's been no proof that there's lasting effects, and kids are naturally rough-housing, violent little animals anyway."
Violence in videogames has no real effect on the people who play them. There may be a short period after playing is done when the player may feel more active, but this has no long term effect. The only long term violent behavior has more to do with the parents than the videogames. Parents don't want to admit they are doing something wrong so they try to find something to point to for their mistakes. Videogames make a good scapegoat for these parents. The violence will not make the player insensitve to real life violence.
Game companies will always put violence in videogames as long as it enhances the gameplay. The ratings system has had a good reception by the gaming community. It provides more information on which to base a decision on which game to buy. If game companies start to drop games because they might recieve a bad rating then many in the gaming community will aggresively protest.
To take away the creative freedom of anybody, so a few can continue their crusade, is indeed a story of sorrow.