During the last month, criticism of video games has returned to front pages with the release of “Left 4 Dead 2” and the latest addition to the “Call of Duty” series.
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” has been the subject of immense criticism because of a scene that involves the player killing citizens. It’s not revolutionary in entertainment — almost every movie with guns involves the title character killing someone.
In Australia, “Left 4 Dead 2,” the sequel to Valve’s genre-changing zombie shooter, initially was refused classification because it contained violence against “living humans infected with a rabies-like virus,” or, to take all the bureaucratic speak out of it — because of zombies. The Australian government doesn’t think anyone under the age of 15 should be able to inflict violence on zombies.
But there’s no rating higher than 15+, causing the game to be not classified. Unlike the United States, which has a non-profit private rating system, Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification is a government bureaucracy. This means the government has legal power to prevent sales of games not rated by OFLC. Without the protections of a First Amendment, there are no legal grounds to circumvent this ban.
“Left 4 Dead 2” is now being sold in Australia, but only because a heavily modified version without the gore was made exclusively for the country. Essentially, it’s a censored game.
What concerns me most is the movie industry not having such problems. Not only did “Shaun of the Dead,” a parody but still fairly violent zombie movie, get rated in Australia, it was given a 15+ rating, making it less violent than the version of “Left 4 Dead 2” played by Americans according to the Australian government.
Additionally, there are two ratings above the 15+ rating for movies in the OFLC, both allowing for adult-themed and violent movies to be legally sold in the country. The man blocking the 18+ ratings for games claims his constituency wants nothing to do with games of the type. But it’s not just Australia that has this problem with video games.
There have been many tragedies during the past decade that have been blamed by the media and its watchdogs on video games. Immediately following the tragedy at Virginia Tech, several anti-gaming spokespeople blamed the PC shooter “Counter-Strike: Source” for the tragedy.
Early in the investigation, it was believed the shooter had played the game obsessively. Former lawyer Jack Thompson, the thorn in the gaming industry’s side, appeared on several media outlets, including Fox News and MSNBC directly blaming Valve’s popular game for the rampage. During his airtime, he also connected shootings in Minnesota, Kentucky, Montreal and the Columbine tragedy to video games.
All of Thompson’s claims, including the VT shooter’s link to “Counter-Strike,” have been refuted by several news organizations and gaming sites. Since that time, Thompson has continued his anti-game crusade, filing lawsuits blaming “Grand Theft Auto” and “Doom” for their role in these shootings.
However, none of those lawsuits were successful, and he has been disbarred. Although it’s certainly possible to blame video games for their part in these shootings, clearly they are not the only factor in such events.
Gaming can be dangerous, yes. But under similar circumstances, novels can be just as dangerous. Given to mentally unstable minds, nearly anything can be transformed into a basis for a tragedy.
I feel the problem is the transition of news from a vital information source to a business. Previously, the industry lived off reporting stories for the sake of informing people. Now it’s all about getting more viewers. More viewers equates to more money from advertisers. And viewers aren’t scared of movies — they’ve been around for more than a century.
Novels have been around since the beginning of the intellectual movement. Video games, however, are relatively new.
The media capitalizes by portraying this new medium as scary and a threat to children so that viewers tune in. Thus, ratings go up, advertising money goes up, and producers hesitate less when hearing a potential link to video games. That doesn’t make gaming any more or less to blame.
Still, elected leaders listen to the media, as the game of politics naturally pressures them to address issues brought up by the media. Many feel the media is the voice of the people. In a previous era, perhaps it was. Walter Cronkite’s reporting from Vietnam essentially pressured former President Lyndon B. Johnson to not seek re-election.
But in the modern era of the Internet, the news is simply another revenue source for the networks. They will do absolutely anything to get viewers. Unfortunately for gamers around the world, “absolutely anything” includes using video games as a scapegoat.
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