Video games are misunderstood, misrepresented by policy makers
By Robert Esposito
Oct. 17, 2002 9:00 p.m.
Middle children always seem to get the shaft, and the
entertainment industry is no exception.
Today, my gripe concerns the growing number of video games being
crucified at the hands of poorly informed policy pushers. I call
this the diarrhea movement (DM) for reasons unimportant.
The video game industry is a very special middle child. It comes
second not in age or audience, but in profits. Misunderstood by
policy makers and misrepresented by a handful of games, the
industry is young and still changing. At $20 billion a year, the
video game industry outweighs Hollywood’s $8 billion annual
intake by $12 billion, though it reaches a far narrower
demographic. But the video game industry is monetarily dwarfed by
its oldest sibling, the music industry, and has a comparably
impotent support alliance (i.e. adolescents who aren’t old
enough to vote).
Thirty years ago, Phil Donahue ran a show that condemned
violence in video games. The diarrhea movement gained real strength
when people like Joseph Lieberman and John Ashcroft first started
fussing in the mid ’90s. They have been fighting interactive
entertainment for a decade, successfully spearheading a campaign to
censor video games. The result was a ratings system known as
the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board), adopted voluntarily
by interactive content providers to pacify Capitol Hill. My problem
isn’t with the ESRB; it is with the fact that the ESRB was
just a concession to prevent Lieberman’s true intention of
actually censoring video games.
The fact is no study has proven that violent games cause violent
acts. Retired Army Lt. Col. David Grossman founded the Killology
Research Group in 1995 to find such proof. His book “On
Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and
Society” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. After 1300
studies, results are still inconclusive.
The DM recently lost two battles in St. Louis and Indianapolis
when bans on games were overturned due to a lack of evidence of
causality between violence in games and real-world
violence. Likewise, a decision by U.S. District Court Judge
Stephen N. Limbaugh that precluded video games from protection
under the First Amendment was overturned by the Seventh Court of
Appeals.
These types of legal battles have continued ad nauseam, and by
the look of things, may continue if a precedent is not established.
This year, Attorney General John Ashcroft spoke to the American
Society of Newspaper Editors, claiming graphic video games lead to
violent behavior in children. His speech hinted at a willingness to
forego First Amendment rights.
Let’s begin to concentrate on the actual effects that the
DM has had on games now available to the U.S. market. Last year,
Take-Two Interactive released “Grand Theft Auto III”
for the PC and Playstation 2. The game features an ultra-realistic
urban setting and no-holds-barred action centered around gang life.
If you decide to beat an old woman to death on the street, the game
will allow you to do so. Players can evade police if players hijack
a car and drive into a parking structure fast enough.
It is certain that violence sells, as the game quickly became an
all-time bestseller on the PS2, selling 7 million copies in less
than a year. The sale of GTA III was made illegal in Australia
until the developer removed offensive content from the game, but
the game never had a hitch in the United States ““ chalk one
up against the DM.
So where does this leave us? True, games are no more violent
than they were five years ago, but the realism of human characters
and virtual cities is approaching feature-film quality ““ all
rendered in real time and directed by whoever is holding the
controller. This scares the DM.
According to Take Two programmer Leslie Benzies in an interview
with ignps2.com, “Although (GTA III) is a criminal fantasy,
the main goal is definitely not to kill as many people as possible
because that cheapens the gameplay experience and insults the
intelligence of the player. The violence has always been bridled by
comedy … these games are not meant to be taken seriously, and the
styling, we hope, makes this very clear.”
A full sequel to GTA III named “Grand Theft Auto: Vice
City” has already pre-sold more than 4 million copies,
according to retail sources. Viva la Résistance.
