rickymcmillan.com: 2015-11-01

Video Game Violence

Ever since video game designers were able to put red pixels on their imaginary characters that had died, there have been people crusading against video game violence. The outrage at video games seems to run in cycles, fading very briefly, way into the background before exploding again into the public eye with vigour.

The controversy seems to have sparked up again in recent times, with numerous crimes being blamed on the corruptive influence of video games. Not to mention the various 'scandals' involving games that have scenes of a sexual nature like The Witcher 3 or GTA V.

The first game which received widespread criticism and media attention was fighting game Mortal Kombat. This game included large spurts of blood emitted from attacks and also the now infamous "Fatalities" that could be performed on stunned opponents after their defeat.

These Fatalities were often gruesome animation sequences showing the winner killing their defeated opponent in a vast variety of ways. Gamers loved this new experience and the controversy surrounding the violence caused mass hype in the media this in turn let the less informed gamers know that the game was out there. Consequently more gamers played and bought the new game primarily to find out what all the fuss was about, thus greatly increasing revenue.

One of the largest sparks of controversy EVER was the Hot Coffee modification for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA:SA). This involved unlocking a sexually oriented mini-game that had had player access to it removed from the game before release, it was not removed from the source code though..

However this did not stop one fan of the game when he found out about it, leading him to modify the code so that you got access to the Hot Coffee content. Even though Rockstar had removed access to the content, as they had apparently realized that this content was in someway inappropriate, that didn't stop lawsuits being brought against Rockstar for including such content in their game, although the validity of the lawsuit was questioned...mainly because if the game was simply purchased and played as intended by the developers, this admittedly tasteless and inappropriate mini game would never be encountered....unless you downloaded and installed the modification!

This led GTA: SA to be re-rated in America and banned in Australia. Strangely the admittedly gratuitous and encouraged violence in the game went largely unnoticed in the wake of the "scandalous" sex scenes involving clothed, cartoonesque people!

When looked at objectively almost all games contain a certain amount of violent content. This includes the adventures of a certain plumber. The Mario games by Nintendo feature a character stomping on animated creature's heads!

In fact most games, even children's games, involve the protagonist warring against an enemy horde of some sort and generally "disposing" of them in some manner. Whether it be hitting them with a weapon or body part (feet, hands, possibly a tail depending on the nature of the character)!

The only difference is that in a children's game the baddies are likely to bounce backwards in a cute manner and explode with a humorous puff sound whereas in a game oriented towards older and allegedly more mature players, the characters are more likely to have realistic deaths, including the obligatory geyser of blood gushing over the floor!

When some young person somewhere in the country commits a violent crime these days it seems to me that people very quickly point the finger of blame at video games, from Duke Nukem and Quake being accused for the Columbine High massacre, to a much more recent incident involving a group of teenagers, all of whom were at the time under 16, attributing their violent actions to the Mortal Kombat video games.

There is NO solid evidence to say whether or not video game violence actually has much of an influence on players. To really be sure you'd have to put it to the test. Probably with a control group of isolated children that have never seen a violent movie or ever played a bloodthirsty video game. However history teaches us that brutal crimes were committed long before video games or even movies came into existence!

Children are, as I know being a parent very easily influenced by something that they're excited about, from experience I've seen my boys play a wrestling video game which has lead them to scream raucously and then try to pin each other down on the ground, after they've finished playing the game.

We've all seen the rowdy group of teenagers punch and kick their way out of a cinema in terrible combat stances after having watched the latest combat movie. In my opinion current content rating system in place is not aimed at consumer restriction; it is largely used to inform the public about what they are going to experience.

Legal restrictions are not actually put in place until the higher ratings, just the same as in x-rated films. The way I see it it's up to the parents, guardians, and society in general to start taking an interest in who is viewing certain types of content.

So instead of moaning about the game a child is enjoying, the parent would be there at the beginning checking the rating that is printed clearly on the packaging, and convincing the child that the game is not suitable. A simple "I don't think that's suitable, how about this game? It has a lizard!" distracts the child an amazing number of times.

It's my experience that children genuinely just want people to take an interest in what they're doing, and not just murmuring indistinctly, "Yes dear, that's nice." as the child installs the newest violent game, while the parent checks the latest kitten picture on social media!

So what about the children that are playing the games in the restricted ratings categories? I hear you ask. Think about this; The ONLY way that they can even get their hands on a game with a restricted rating is if a parent (or someone of legal age) buys the game for the child, or if the shop disregards the rating guidelines in place, and sells it to them anyway!

Either way the fact that a game's content has fallen into a minor's hands is not the fault of the game developer, and can be laid squarely at society's door! Rather than simply banning questionable content in video games shouldn't we (and by we I mean society!) be studying why this content is so appealing to today's society?

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