Ignorance: The World's Fight Against Games

by: Anthony LeBella

The ESRB: they decide what we should and should not play. Their initial verdict on Manhunt 2 was that it warranted an Adults Only rating. The UK decided to not allow the game at all. Rather than simply shelve the project, Rockstar toned down the game's content and resubmitted it to the ESRB, at which point the game managed to slide back down to a Mature rating. In some people's eyes, forcing Rockstar to alter the game may seem like something done for the greater good. Less virtual violence will prevent any real life incidents, right? But in reality, it's part of an ongoing effort to limit video game developers' freedom.

There is a reason for the ESRB ratings. A 10-year old kid can't go into a store and purchase Grand Theft Auto. Sure, there have been slip-ups here and there by employees, but the rule is set in stone. Despite this, numerous individuals fight to take away violence and sex in video games. It's a parent's job to know what their kid is playing, so shouldn't we be focusing on that? Instead, we get people like Jack Thompson suing Take Two to prohibit the sales of Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV, even to gamers that are of age and should be able to choose any type of game to enjoy.

Let's pretend for a second that there are only a bunch of Wii Sports clones out there, all family friendly games that do no harm. With all M-rated games gone, all of our problems wouldn't be solved. The number of crimes in real life would probably stay the same. People who advocated getting rid of violent games would be scratching their heads, saying "But all the bad games are gone!", or more likely would simply have moved on to the next target. The reality is that games don't have a huge impact like some people think. The average person doesn't go out and buy games like Halo to learn how to shoot people with an assault rifle. It's an escape from the real world that provides a fun experience. They're a form of entertainment, just like a CD or book.

If video games are getting criticized, then the same should apply to movies and the like. People should be out there arguing over R-rated movies, but for some reason that doesn't happen. Movies like Saw and Hostel are out there, and they rack in quite a bit of money. The director gets the liberty of expressing himself in any way he pleases, whether it be with an exciting car chase or a gruesome murder scene, but a video game developer is restricted. It goes to show that people just want something to blame, and video games are easy prey.

The most puzzling aspect of this is how most of the people who are against video games haven't even played them. I highly doubt, for example, that Jack Thompson went out and picked up a copy of Manhunt 2. I thought we were taught to not 'judge a book by its cover'. Maybe if some of those people tried M-rated games, they might feel that they aren't as influential as they thought. That may not be the case, but they won't know if they don't try them out. The lack of willingness makes their fight against video games much less credible, yet more and more people join in their attempt to clean up the video game industry.

First and foremost, the video game industry is a business. It makes billions of dollars every year, and a large part of that money comes from M-rated games. Halo 3, one of those M-rated games, sold $170 million on its first day of release. Somehow, people expect to put a stop to that, just rid the industry of millions of dollars worth of high-quality adult games that are responsible for hundreds or thousands of jobs and are a viable alternative to movies or television aimed at the same audience.

The reality is that video games aren't just for kids. There are plenty of adult gamers out there, and people seem to be neglecting that fact. Everything that they're doing is "for the kids", but everyone else is left out. They assume that the majority of people who play video games are kids, and that ignorance leads them to believe M-rated games should be stopped. But what happened to freedom of expression; did our first amendment suddenly disappear?