Violence sex, drugs oh my
Violence, sex and drugs are among the most consistently reflected upon hallmarks of American controversy. Few subjects have caused more debate in relation to our entertainment industry.
These topics have resulted in a ridiculous number changes in American culture: the movie rating systems, parental advisory stickers on music, age limits on certain kinds of content and the "war against drugs" are all a result of the American ideal in protecting children from things we grownups don't deem appropriate.
Laws, statutes and regulations have been passed about obscenity and indecency on broadcast television and radio. Groups, Committees and government organizations have been formed and created to oversee various aspects of what is suitable for viewing in the public.
With the videogame industry recently becoming a multi-billion dollar market over the past decade, bringing in more revenue the film industry the last three years, it has begun to get the brute force butt-end of America's regulatory quest against open violence (especially), sex and drugs as subjects in a medium of entertainment.
It all started over one faithful day in 1993 with the release of Midway's game, Mortal Kombat. The game was a breed of a new kind, taking the one-on-one digital fighting genre to a new level with bloody and gore filled battles, fatalities (or finishing moves) that usually had the opponent disemboweled in some extravagant fashion.
The story goes that Senator Joseph Lieberman, D-Connecticut, heard about Mortal Kombat and decided that it, in addition to a number of other videogames, sent the wrong message to kids. And though his ideals weren't new -- people had been worried about violence in video games ever since the late 1970's -- Lieberman's political clout pushed the debate to a new level.
After a series of senate hearings over the next few months, the game industry leaders were called to talk about games, violence, censorship, ratings and other related issues in the market.
While the true effectiveness of these hearings was debatable at the time, they did result in the formation of the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).
The job of these groups was to come up with an appropriate rating system, similar to that of the movie industry that would rate the content of a game while placing age limits on each level, thus effectively preventing younger kids from obtaining content we don't feel they're ready to see.
The result was a tamely enforced version of what we have seen in the movie and music industries. This was until the Trench Coat Mafia carried out a plan to stage a massacre at Columbine High School.
Media and authorities quickly began to clamor for a scapegoat that wouldn't reflect upon or insinuate the American populous as a whole; the result was violent videogames and evil music.
Once again the subjects that videogames depicted in their interactive entertainment were front and center, this time with more serious consequences.
Debate sparked up once again to develop more strict regulations and enforcement of digital content towards kids, but the entire process feels unnecessary.
The rest of the world doesn't seem to have such a big problem with depicting violence, sex and drugs in their countries. Japan and Europe both have more open policies about what is acceptable to the general populous, and yet still, these subjects maintain a harsh stigma in America.
Entertainment is just that, it can occasionally have some sort of insight into the interests of a group, but just because we can smile and laugh at an explosion in a movie or want to cause destruction and wreak havoc in a digital environment, doesn't mean we as people, want to see the world sent into chaos reflecting the things we've been watching since our conception.
With games like Grand Theft Auto, Splinter Cell, SOCOM Navy Seals, and now Volition's The Punisher and Rockstar Games' Manhunt, it's hard to see the videogame content slowing down. People enjoy concept making things explode, sniping mercenaries in the jungle, pretending to be secret agents, bludgeoning bad guys with bats while steeling cars and shooting opponents.
If anything, the rating system has given developers more a chance to put what they want in games, further specifying certain kinds of content to specific ages.
The future is indeed bright for violence, sex and drugs in videogames and the general populous of gamers are happy about this notion. Why? Because they're the kinds of things that entertain, and more often then not, that is why people play videogames in the first place; in addition to good looking graphics, a compelling story and fantastic game play anyhow.