Censorship has been around since the dawn of time, or at least I think it has. I imagine that people have always tried to put down other people’s creative ideas or creations. Nevertheless, I am not here to give you that descriptive of a history lesson, seeing as how video games have only been around since the 1970s. With their creation, they have spawned (pun intended) more than their fair share of people attempting to shut down the developers behind the games themselves. Unfortunately, no one will ever agree on all the content a developer creates, and that is ok. What is not ok is trying to shame an artist, yes, that is what developers are. Trying to make them cater to your specific needs is not what games were intended to be. Their initial reason was to bring fun into people’s lives, eventually, they evolved into storytelling experiences that can be more moving than any book or movie you will ever experience. To accomplish some of these things, they will do things that people don’t like. Instead of complaining about this, don’t buy the game, that speaks louder than any tweet or petition ever will.
Controversial Gaming Genres
The first controversial game that I could find was a game called “Death Race.” Released in 1976, Death Race was a game where the main objective was to run over what the game referred to as Gremlins. The public was so outraged of course that it led to the game being pulled off shelves. But the first genuinely notorious games to make headlines was “Night Trap” and “Mortal Kombat,” both released in 1993. These were the two games that truly started the negative connotations that came with violent video games. Mortal Kombat was especially criticized because of the “realistic” violence that was portrayed. Obviously looking back on that is silly, but of course, at the time, that game looked as good as MK11 does now. 1993 was in no way helped by id Software’s “Doom” being released that year as well. This game shocked your parents because of all the demons and that nonsense. There were news outlets all over the country that would run stories on how these games poisoned young children’s minds. Calls to take the game off shelves were heard everywhere you went; when in all reality the simple way to fix this is to not let your child play these games. I truly don’t understand how a parent can attack a developer for wanting to make a game like Doom when the same parent turns around and watches films like Friday the 13th or Halloween with their children. Is the difference just that you control the fictitious character that is committing these actions?
Entertainment Software Rating Board
With all the classics that 1993 brought us in the world of video games, it also brought forward the birth of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, ESRB Rating for short. Believe it or not, I think the ESRB rating is a beneficial creation. The ESRB gives parents the ability to see what content is in a game before they purchase it for their child. In 2019 it is even more accessible to find out what is in a game by going to the ESRB website, there you are given a summary of what is explicitly in the video game in question. You would think this would solve a lot of the issues parents have with games. Before the ESRB, any kid could walk in a video game store and buy whatever game they wanted. Because of the ESRB Rating, there are age restrictions on particular games. This, of course, was not enough. The call for restrictions on the content of a game has only gotten worse. With games like Manhunt and the GTA series, games have only gotten significantly testier as time went on.
The Grand Theft Auto Series has received most of the criticism for video games since the turn of the century. They are not only the most popular games when they come out, but they are almost always under the biggest microscope in the national media. However, they are not the only games to fall under similar circumstances in the 2000s. Games like Postal and Manhunt show extreme violence regularly. Ubisoft’s Far Cry 5 got on some people’s nerves for seemingly taking potshots at gun culture in the United States. Finally, who could forget the mission “No Russia” in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2? A mission where you literally commit a mass shooting inside of an airport, just because you are trying not to blow your cover with a Russian war criminal. All of this has been used in recent talks by the media to try and connect mass shooting with video game violence. I understand that in most cases, they are not solely blaming games for these people’s behaviors, but before you blame video games for such actions, you genuinely need to look at these problems with a plan of action. It isn’t productive to look for something to blame and not look for a solution. Video games are being used as a scapegoat for what is causing these acts of violence. People who understand video games know that this is not why developers make these games.
Censorship Restricts Creative Freedom
I Understand that this is a very hot button issue; people’s opinions will not be the same as mine. I just feel strongly for creative freedom; in my opinion, developers can add whatever they want to their game. Just like any singer can sing what they want, any author can write what they feel, and any director can put on screen what they want their movie to be. One thing news outlets fail to realize, is that when you talk about how horrible and appalling these games are, you are actually doing them a huge favor. Think about it, often when a game is in the news, the sales don’t go down, they go up by quite a large amount. Take GTA 5 for example, there is a part in that game where you get to choose the method of torture for a man, and that game has made more money than anything, ever! I just ask this much out of parents and your average person who gets offended all too easy, if you don’t like a game, don’t buy it. I am probably beginning to sound like a broken record, but there isn’t a more straightforward way to put it. Let artists be themselves, games are a beautiful thing. If you don’t like a particular game, you probably aren’t alone. So, play something else, that’s what I encourage you to take away from this article.
