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Computer games and video games have been the subject of frequent controversy and censorship, due to the presence of graphic violence, sexual themes, or profanity in some games. Critics of video games include parents' groups, politicians, organized religion groups, and other pro-censorship lobbying groups. Criticism is often voiced by those who rarely or never play video games. Within the video game community, such controversy is known as the common video game controversy, and video game player criticism is frowned upon by hardcore video game players.
Video game censorship is defined as the use of state or group power to control the playing, distribution, purchase, or sale of video games or computer games. The divide in video games, or the video game censorship spectrum, is sometimes divided into right and left wing camps, with those on the right described as favouring video game censorship (hence video game censors), while those on the left oppose it (hence video game proponents). This spectrum is not necessarily related to the left or right of the political spectrum; for instance, some left-wing parties such as women's groups have criticized games, while some right-wing groups such as gun enthusiasts have little problem with them. Video game controversy and censorship are somewhat a controversial subject and a topic of debate.
The video game Death Race in 1976 was one of the first controversial video games. As the video gaming industry has grown it has faced increasing pressure from concerned special interest groups. In 1993 Mortal Kombat, an arcade and console game, was controversial; U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman spoke out against the game during a Senate investigation into video game violence. The following year, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board was established, the controversy over Night Trap acting as a catalyst.
Video games received scrutiny in 1999, following the Columbine massacre, as some commentators accused violent games such as DOOM and Quake as playing a causative role in that massacre and others. In September 2002, Grand Theft Auto III, a console and PC game, revived ongoing video game controversy, and was banned in Australia (but later re-released with censorship) for its violent and anarchic nature. In August 2003 the Entertainment Software Association reacted against these accusations and began to battle against governmental regulation of video games.
Video and computer games are periodically criticized in the media by some parents' groups, psychologists, religious organizations, or politicians for the level of violence, cruelty, and crime that some games allow players to act out. Examples are trivial to find, including Mortal Kombat and its sequels, a series of fighting games by Midway Games which since 1992 has rewarded players for beating up an opponent with martial arts moves, and then for executing a "Fatality" move, a particularly gruesome killing of the defeated character, in which, for example, the head and spine of the victim may be ripped out of his body, the victim may be beheaded with blood gouting out of his neck stump, and so forth. Another frequently-cited violent game is the extremely popular Grand Theft Auto 3 ("GTA 3") by Rockstar Games, in which the principal game activity is carjacking, and once a car is stolen, the player is rewarded for running over pedestrians and shooting rival gang members to death as he runs missions for crime bosses. It is sometimes claimed in the media that in GTA 3, players have to steal a car, pick up a prostitute, have (implied) sex with the prostitute, then kill her and steal her money. All of this is indeed possible in the game, but the player is not actually required to do so.
Critics of video game violence generally agree that violent video games are at least as bad an influence on children as are television shows with the same level of violence and cruelty, and most seem to believe that video games are more threatening to a child's well-being, because the video game player uses the controller to make his on-screen persona act out the violence personally. It was widely reported that the killers in the Columbine High School massacre were fans of first-person shooter games, and had recorded a videotape before the massacre in which they said they looked forward to using their shotguns just as in the game DOOM. One former West Point psychology professor, seen to be interviewed several times after school shootings in the United States, has repeatedly used the term "murder simulator" to describe first-person shooter games. He argues that video game publishers unethically train children in the use of weapons and, more importantly, harden them emotionally to the task of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds or thousands of opponents in a single typical video game.
Defenders of video games in this respect, and video game publishers, state that video games are harmless entertainment, similar to the previous generation's childhood "violent" play of "Cops and Robbers", and that playing video games does not cause acts of violence, but indeed may be a cathartic way of expressing frustration or anger without harming any people. They say that video games are sometimes singled out unfairly from other forms of entertainment that show violence, such as movies, television shows, and even the news, which suffuse the culture, and that even if exposure to violence in the media were proven to cause more violent behavior, then video games should be subject to no more restriction or scrutiny than movies, television shows, or the news. They note that millions of children and adults enjoy video games every day, and the vast majority of them do not become criminals; and that no correlation has ever been shown between the rise of video game popularity and crime statistics. They also note that using a video game controller's or a mouse's buttons to shoot an opponent on a screen is a far different experience than shooting a man with a gun in the real world, and that it seems far fetched to believe that this would harden one to killing, or qualify as a "murder simulator".
Scientific data on the effect of video game violence is scant. Some studies have indicated a correlation between increased aggression on the school playground and children's exposure to violent video games and television shows, but studies have not focused on video games alone.
In the United States, the ESRB ratings system was established in 1994 as the video game equivalent to the MPAA film rating system. The ESRB was created as an industry response to criticism from politicians, notably Senator Joe Lieberman, over the easy availability of violent video games such as Mortal Kombat to children, and over the resulting alleged corruption of public morality. At the time, some politicians who lent their voice to this cause threatened legislation relating to video game violence. Nearly all video games are now rated with ESRB ratings, which are primarily intended to inform parents about the content of the games that their children have purchased (or want to purchase). Some important retail chains, such as Wal-Mart, have a policy to check the identification of young purchasers of games rated "Mature" to ensure that the purchaser is at least 17 years old, as recommended by the "Mature" rating. Senator Lieberman stated in 2002 that in his opinion, the video game industry's rating system had become the best rating system of any medium, including the film industry. However, many video game players have criticized him for his stance on video games. Some of them believe that Lieberman's stance on video games and the entertainment industry at large cost him votes in the 2004 Democratic Party Primary leading him to drop out of the Presidential race.
Interestingly, video game violence was not an issue of public concern until the technology improved and characters started to appear more photographic in quality. There were video games before Mortal Kombat that had high levels of violence -- for example, The Bilestoad for the Apple II computer featured a top-down view of two knights in combat with battle axes, with pools of blood forming on the ground and limbs regularly amputated -- but the game looked like an animated cartoon and not at all photorealistic. This may imply that most people are not actually concerned about children acting out violence as long as it looks fake.
From time to time, local officials attempt to restrict the playing or selling of violent video games. Predictably, video game publishers always oppose this, and retailers usually do as well. For example, the city of Indianapolis, Indiana in 2000 passed an ordinance barring minors from playing arcade games with graphic violence unless parental consent was given. It was generally thought that this law was intended to target the game House of the Dead, in which players use plastic guns to shoot at the game screen in order to mow down hundreds or thousands of zombies that have returned from the dead and try to kill the player. The ordinance was struck down at the appellate Federal court level, on the grounds that in the United States, video games enjoy some measure of First Amendment free speech protection because they contain real expression of ideas, and children have constitutional rights before the age of 18, and given this, the city did not demonstrate an overriding public interest in passing the ban.
Canada also uses the ESRB ratings even though Canada has no official involvement with the ESRB.
In Germany, video games, as with other media, are subject to censorship, or "decency standards", that are strict by the standards of other European nations. For video games there is the index, also known as the "banned" list, which is a list of video games considered immoral. Games showing the killing of humans with blood or severed body parts involved, or in general showing cruelty to humans, are placed on the index, at which point it becomes illegal to advertise the games, display them on store shelves, or sell them to anyone under 18. This of course dramatically impacts sales, so most video game companies selling games into Germany elect to create a special German version that narrowly avoids the index by changing the graphics. Instead of red blood coming out of a wound, green blood is shown, implying that aliens are being killed and not humans; or gears and springs are shown coming out of the wound, implying that the victims are robots.
Also, due to its law concerning the swastika symbol and the Nazi Party, several games were also censored due to reference to the Nazi Party and the swastika.
It is not clear how many German video game players skirt the intention of the index by purchasing their games from other countries, by mail order or by taking a shopping trip.
Due to cultural preferences, Japanese video games tend to be less bloody than their American counterparts, so Japanese critics tend to focus instead on the brutal pornography found in some Japanese games (which have generally not been released outside of Japan).
Violently pornographic games came to national attention in Japan in 1986 with the release by dB-soft of 177, a game where the player takes the role of a rapist. (The game's title originates from the number of the Japanese law criminalizing rape.) 177 was not actually the first game designed around this premise, but it was unusually explicit. The game caused debate in the Japanese parliament and was eventually recalled and re-released with the most controversial scenes removed. In 1992 the pornographic game industry formed the "Ethics Organization for Computer Software", setting industry guidelines for acceptable content and packaging.
See also bishōjo game, hentai game.
Video game violence is similarly controversial in South Korea, and similar "no blood" regulations apply.
In July 2002, the Greek Parliament passed Greek Law Number 3037, entirely outlawing electronic gaming. This controversial law has been frowned upon, not only in Greece, but elsewhere in Europe and in the United States, and petitions were made against it. In December 2003 it was restricted to only affect Internet cafes in accordance with a letter from the European Union.
In December of 2003, Manhunt, a PS2 game, was banned in New Zealand. While in Australia Grand Theft Auto 3 was also banned for a period, but a version without the action of assaulting the prostitute was released.
Western video game publishers have not explored sexuality in video games to nearly the degree seen in movies, books, or even television shows. Almost no American video games display nudity. However, sexual themes are very common in Japanese bishōjo video games, although companies such as Nintendo and Sony refuse to publish these games. The following is a list of the few American games containing sexual elements.
Custer's Revenge was a game for the Atari 2600 released under the brand "Swedish Erotica" that featured a naked General Custer advancing across the screen, dodging arrows, until he could mount a naked Native American woman who was apparently tied to a pole or cactus. The game was controversial for its racism as well as its sexuality, and in television coverage in the United States, when game animation was shown, parts of the screen were concealed with black rectangles in order to avoid showing nudity. This seems unnecessary from today's standpoint, because the graphics on the Atari 2600 were very crude and blocky, and one video game critic has described the naked woman as resembling "a hot dog made of Legos".
Sierra's Leisure Suit Larry computer games were popular tongue-in-cheek adventure games for adults in which the protagonist constantly attempted, usually without success, to convince women to have sex with him. The games did not excite much controversy despite showing partial nudity with increasing graphical quality over the years.
Eidos's Tomb Raider series of games were action-adventure games which featured a woman protagonist named Lara Croft with improbably large breasts. The game series did not explore sexual themes at all, but Lara Croft was featured in video game magazines as a sex symbol of sorts, and it is generally believed that the success of the game series over the years was due to the prominence of her breasts in the game's advertising and packaging.
Acclaim released a bicycle motocross game called BMX XXX in 2002 which included a topless woman as the game character riding a bicycle, and rewarded players with video footage of topless strippers. It is generally believed in the industry that the game was of low quality -- its average review was about 55% in an industry where a 70% score is considered poor -- and that Acclaim decided late in the game's development to attempt to stir a controversy and hopefully prop up sales by including some nudity. The attempt at publicity was rather successful, with television reports that Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, and a few other major retail chains in the United States declined to carry the game in their stores due to the nudity. Consequently, sales were poor: under 100,000 copies were sold. The game was not greeted with controversy or with much sales interest in Europe.
Industry response to controversies over sexuality is generally in the form of indignation that video games are singled out where movies, books, and television shows are not. Retailers have sold "R"-rated movies showing nudity for the past several decades without any moral problem in doing so, and the moral problem they claim to have over video games with nudity is seen as hypocritical by some.
Some psychologists and parents' groups have criticized video games because they believe they cause children to sit alone in the television room for many hours in a row, interacting with a machine rather than running and playing outside as they exercise and improve their social skills by playing with other children. This sounds like the same effect that television shows have on many children, but some claim that video games are more addictive to children and therefore more likely to isolate them socially in this way. Some studies have claimed that there is a correlation between depression and playing computer games.
A typical industry response is that video games can enhance children's social interaction because many video games are multiplayer games, where two or four players can have fun competing on the same television screen, and that if a child is isolated and antisocial, this is not the fault of video games, but perhaps of the child's inborn disposition, or perhaps of the parents' lack of attention to making sure their child has enough opportunities for social interaction with other children. Presumably, parents who allow their children to play video games too much would also allow them to watch too much television for their own good.
Much of the criticism of video games from outside the video game community originates from religious sources. Some conservative Christian denominations, usually denominations that are believed to be cults of Christianity, based on the teachings of religious artist Jack Chick and preacher , impose lifelong restriction and scrutiny on video games, especially through the belief that parents should impose or inculcate their religious beliefs onto their children. Some video game proponents consider these conservative organized religious denominations mind controlling and enslaving cults and enemies of the video game community, and they consider video game criticism from religious organizations an offense to the video game community. They usually oppose religious criticism and restriction on video games. The criticisms originating from whatever religious organizations are accused of totalitarian religious structure are aimed at violence, crime, sexuality, nudity, human castration, rebelliousness, materialism, occultism, and references to Christianity. Many of those who criticise Grand Theft Auto: Vice City are religious figures. Enforcing a recall on a video game from the store shelves on religious grounds is unconstitutional and a violation of the separation of church and state.
References to religion found in games are often criticized by religious groups. Games such as Xenogears, Final Fantasy Tactics and Grandia II contain references and even outright criticism to Christianity and organized religion in general. Often, role playing games in particular make use of a corrupt and powerful church as the game?s antagonist. It is commonly thought that Xenogears was almost not released in the U.S. because of its religious themes.
In response to potential criticism, religious content has been censored in some U.S. releases of Japanese-origin video games. Nintendo in particular would censor many of its U.S. releases back in the NES and SNES era. Castlevania, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and other games containing such references as crosses, the words "holy", "monk", and names of Biblical figures were censored for their U.S. release.
Within the video game industry, there is not much self-criticism about excessive sexuality or violence, as it is known that video games are not exclusively for the consumption of children, and hence it is generally believed that video game publishers have as much right to explore adult-oriented, mature themes as do movie studios or book publishers. Some developers and publishers find some of this type of content distasteful and do not produce it, but in general there is not much agitation to set limits on adult content for the industry as a whole, beyond the presence of the ESRB rating system, which has come to be viewed by most people as a good move for the industry. There is some criticism over the use of violence in games as a crutch for creativity; it is alleged that if a developer cannot invent an original, fun activity for the player, he'll end up giving the player the time-honored task of shooting a monster.
Most criticism of video games from within the video game community usually has to do with game quality: linear story structure without much plot, lack of originality, lack of character development, unrealistic aspects of graphics or game play, or simply not being fun to play.
Other criticisms include an apparent lack of games that appeal to women and girls, and a strong and increasing tendency of video game publishers to avoid risks, and only fund games which are practically guaranteed success prior to the expenditure of any development dollars. In particular, there has been an increase in:
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