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Games As The Mainstream Media's Demon
1up has an editorial up exploring the biased nature of mainstream media gaming coverage, especially in light of the recent Hot Coffee scandal. From the article: "...Are CBS, Donny Deutsch, and Ed Bradley actually informing their viewers--or just inflaming their fears in a culture already on edge? Many, certainly many in the videogame industry, believe it's the latter. There's no shortage of gaming coverage, but it seems that what's out there, outside of enthusiast coverage, focuses disproportionately on certain kinds of games or on partial information that does no justice to the industry's successes. "
What about the real Gaming Demons? The ones that tell me to do bad things and hurt people...you know when you play the game backwards....
I was pretty sick of hearing about how games were corrupting people, so I wrote the following letter to the editor. It ran in the Bergen Rocord a few weeks ago.
"I'm 18 years old, I'm going to college in the fall, I volunteer twice a week, and I play a lot of computer games. I hold in my hands a copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which I received as a present before the pornographic content debacle. In the past few weeks there has been much attention paid to games and their content by the media, and as one who plays a lot of games, I'd just like to share my thoughts on the matter of content and the rating system.
A woman is suing Rockstar Games (the publisher of San Andreas) for misleading her into thinking that the game was an appropriate present for her 14 year-old grandson. I have the game right here, let's see how she was deceived. On the front there is a big black "M" and it says "Mature 17+." On the back, next to another big black "M" there is a more detailed explanation which reads, "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs" That seems pretty honest and unambiguous to me, not deceptive at all.
According to an article in Computer Gaming World, the Entertainment Software Review Board, ESRB for short, does not actually play the games it rates. ESRB is given videos of a games most extreme content and bases its rating on that. Knowing this, it's easy to see how something like San Andreas' pornographic content slipped by, and how other objectionable content could be slipped by. ESRB needs to start playing games. Until they do, things will slip through, if for no other reason than some people want to push the envelope and test the system - it's the class clown mentality. ESRB needs to play games, and they need to play them more than once. They need to release detailed reports on the content of every game they rate. Until they do things will slip, people will be mad, and they will call for Congress to hold hearings on how the gaming industry is corrupting children.
I think that rating games is a good idea, even if the current system is flawed. I think being able to look at a box and see what kind of content is in a game is a good idea, I think that before parents allow their kids to play games, they need to know what's in the game. If you think that your child is too young to be handle a game's content, don't let them play it. Get involved, teach your kids what's right and what's wrong, what's educational and what's just entertainment. That's what my parents did, and while I play games that turn the stomachs of Joe Lieberman, Jack Thompson, and Hillary Clinton, I've never gotten so much as a parking ticket.
People are outraged, absolutely. But we don't need Congressional hearings over whether games are corrupting our youth. We need parents to teach their kids values and the difference between reality and entertainment, and ESRB needs to be more comprehensive in its ratings. My final thought is this: Without following instructions posted on the Internet, San Andreas still has graphic violence, gangs, drug use, corrupt cops, and crime galore. We knew about that, it's right there on the box. What does it say about our priorities and our values when we allow all that, but are incensed and call for Congressional hearings when we find out somebody hid a little sex in there?"
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