Censorship In Video Games Essay Research

Censorship In Video Games. Essay, Research Paper

Censorship In Video Games

The first point is on the ESRB1. (Electronic Sanction Rating Bureau ) At fist

glance it would appear that the ESRB is the main problem….or solution to some, in video

game censorship. Many uneducated gamers see the ESRB putting “Mature” or “18+”

ratings on games. These stand as warnings, like in a movie theater, but not enforced. This

can occasionally deter sales, and for some gamers with strict parents this may cause them

to not play the game at all.. The ESRB only gives a warning, and this is only fair, for the

young impressionable gamers that should not play these games.

Others like to point the finger at the ESRB, saying that because of content the

ESRB forces game companies to go back and edit things out of a game. Turning a

potentially ultra violent game into a run of the mill mildly violent game.

Another group would LOVE the ability to say that the ESRB has the authority to say

whether or not a game is released. These same folks go out and set up web sites,

encouraging people to boycott certain companies because of editing games under the so

called “power” of the ESRB. And once again these guys rear their ugly little heads,

whining and complaining that the ESRB should be eliminated and that there should be no

rating system at all.

I feel as though I should give a brief history lesson, on video games of course. It all

started one summer day, a small child walks into a pinball arcade and notices a man

putting in a very short looking pinball table. On closer examination the child notices no

flippers, no spring piston. The owner plugs it in and gives the kid a free game. This child

was my brother, and he now has owned every system that he could get his hands on.

Anyways, the game goes on to make history and create wave of new video games. Then

nothing really happened for a long time. Until 1992, The game Mortal Kombat is

released, it starts a uproar with angry parents and kiss up senators. The fans did not lay

down and die, oh no, they rose to the occasion. They fought on and pressed harder for the

control of their games. And by god they didn’t even come close. But they found a happy

medium in the creation of the ESRB.

The fact of the matter is that the ESRB does NOT have any control over the

market, as well it cannot and does not pressure any companies into editing or changing

their product with threats or scare tactics. The ESRB does what it was appointed to do,

that is to give a fair and just rating on all games evenly. They do not give a game a higher

rating just so that it sell less copies. They do not put a harsh rating on a game so that

parents wont let kids play them. The ESRB does not do any of these things, nor does it

force companies to tone down games or destroy games. They do just the same job as the

surgeon general who puts a warning on cigarette packages.

But WHO? Who would do all of these thing to games?

Read on.

The game companies do. It is them who do all of these heinous things to games.

Yes, the same corporations that millions upon millions of gamers fork over

$40-$80 bucks to. And for what? A toned down, edited, over priced, bloodless kiddy

version that was made that way so that some 8 year old punk can rent it without

“mommy!” throwing a fit over the rating! And this is who I am supposed to give my cash

to? No thank you! I do not care if some kids mom has a problem with what there kid is

playing. And I don’t think the game companies should care either. Under no circumstances

should a game manufacturer compromise the quality of a game to satisfy the complaints of

the cry baby parents and conservationists, who can’t stand change in a developing world.

Game companies find ways to sponge us enough as it is, with corny sequels and over

priced additions to games.

A prime example of this is CAPCOM, a leader in video game production.

CAPCOM released RE(Resident Evil) and it went platinum within one year. Selling over a

million copies is a landmark in the video game industry, RE is a pinnacle in the history of

video games. It was a game based on solving intricate puzzles while trapped in a booby

trapped mansion that has become infested with zombies. I realize it sounds a little far

fetched but if you read the novel “RESIDENT EVIL/THE UMBRELLA

CONSPIRACY”2 it helps to add to the realism. Any how, when RE was originally

released it caused an uproar on the political side of things, people were going on about the

violence and how they thought it was too excessive.(the same argument that arose from

Mortal Kombat)

But times changed and people moved on, but not CAPCOM, oohhh nnnooo!!

They wouldn’t dream of it. They insist on milking every good product that comes their

way into the ground. For non-gamers, I will give you a brief history lesson on CAPCOM.

(Majorus Sellus Outus) Street Fighter II w

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