Politics vs. Video Games: Who Will Come Out on Top?
Terri
there is an increasing trend for politicians to include how they regard
the "gaming community" in their community and what kind of
regulations/laws should oversee the industry. Not only that but there
is also awareness of the strong link between violent video games and
the military mindset.
Adults (and politicians) need to give increasing thought and attention
to the video game industry and its impact!
Terri
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Politics vs. Video Games: Who Will Come Out on Top?
By NOISEmaker Kestrel666 (17, M, NH)
How will video games affect politics? Many people appear to believe
that video games are toys for children. However, a national survey
taken by the Official Playstation Magazine© found out that the average
Playstation© gamer is 23 years old. Because of this misconception, it
appears that politicians have ignored video games in their campaigns.
As these "kids" come of voting age, politicians will begin to shift
their platforms more to address video games.
In the beginning, there was pinball. Ever since then, games have been
under fire. Back in the 1960's there was a media analyst by the name of
Marshall McLunhan who stated "the games people play reveal a great deal
about them." He probably did not think that we would be in the era of
first-person shooters or Grand Theft Auto, but he definitely understood
the dangers associated with electronic media. Since then, there have
been a number of investigations into gaming, the latest of which was
conducted in 2001 by the Surgeon General, David Satcher. The report
states: "The impact of video games containing violence has recently
become a focus of research because children are theoretically more
susceptible to behavioral influences when they are active participants
than when they are observers. To date, violent video games have not
been studied as extensively as violent television or movies. The number
of studies investigating the impact of such games on youth aggression
is small, there have been none on serious violence, and none has been
longitudinal."
Arguably the two most controversial video games of all time could be
Death Race and Custer's Revenge. Both of these games were done on 8-bit
platforms, and the government banned both games. The point of Death
Race was to run people over using cars. Custer's Revenge, made in 1983,
had the main point of getting "Custer" across a field, to an Indian
female, who is tied to a pole, where he would rape her. Now you can see
why Custer's Revenge was banned.
Barkid insists, "The games teach basic military thought more than
anything else."
"...military thought..."
Of course these two games are not the only controversial video games.
Of late there have been many video games that have had eyebrows raised
at them. One is the Grand Theft Auto series. Currently this series has
five games in it, each one topping the last in sex, drug use, language,
violence, and blood. Of course, as any true fan would tell you, these
issues come as the cost: the cost for an ever-evolving world where the
player can do almost anything he/she likes. Another such video game
that has made eyebrows raise is Everquest. This game is part of the
genre called Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG, for
short). Such games are coming "under fire" because of the sheer amount
of time one is required to put in to truly play the game. A lot of
people are saying that players are addicted. However, one doctoral
candidate named Jeffrey Parsons conducted a survey and found that only
15% of the gamers that responded would actually meet the criteria for
being addicted to their specific MMORPG.
After Custer's Revenge was banned, the government gave the gaming
community an ultimatum: if the gaming community did not find a way to
self-regulate video games, they would have to step in. Because of this,
the big video game producing companies got together to come up with a
way of self-regulating. From this meeting and melding of minds came the
ESRB.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is now a company that
has roughly 125 employees. About 100 of these employees get fired every
year, and another 100 get hired. This is an effort to make the rating
of video games as fair and unopinionated as possible. Essentially the
mentality of ESRB is one where they want everyone to get their turn at
rating video games. These employees literally watch video game footage,
write reviews on it, and submit them. The companies do not have to go
through the ESRB. However, they choose to, so that they still have the
freedom of that choice.
These companies send in the most graphic, sexual, profane videos of the
game that they wish to have a rating put on. The ESRB then assigns
roughly six people to watch the footage and to write reviews, looking
for profanity, blood and gore, sexual content, violence, or drug use in
the footage. The reviews are then read and compiled into one report,
given a rating (E-AO), and this is the rating of the game.
There are five different ratings that are currently being used.
Everyone (E), is a rating given to a game that has nothing that could
offend anyone. The next step up is the Early Childhood (EC) rating. The
rating above EC is the Teen rating (T). The next and most controversial
rating is the Mature (M) rating. The highest rating is the Adults Only
(AO) rating. It is games that have the M ratings that are really
causing problems with the mainstream audience. This is because gamers
under 17 tend to buy these titles just as easily as the T or E rated
games.
There are three people in politics who have made video games a platform
for their campaigns. These three seem to be forward thinkers, already
establishing themselves as concerned for the gaming community. They are
Senator Joe Lieberman, Senator Herb Kohl, and Congressman Joe Baca. For
the past seven years Senator Lieberman and Senator Kohl have been
working together to stop kids from buying violent or adult rated games
in storefronts by imposing penalties to the stores and the kids.
Congressman Joe Baca has been working to penalize the companies that
make the games for having them sold to gamers under the appropriate age
rating.
These three politicians have been bringing forward bills to their
respective houses to try to get laws passed. Within the past two years,
Massachusetts has passed a law heavily penalizing stores that sell
video games to gamers under the age rating. EB games has decided that
they will comply completely in all of their store fronts so as to not
have this same law passed in other states.
How will gaming affect politics? An analyst for the Official Play
Station Magazine © said that as more and more gamers become old enough
to vote the way that the candidates feel about video games will affect
who they vote for. This appears to be true, because already some
politicians are including video games in their platforms. What is
happening right now in Congress and the Senate will continue to happen.
However, these debates will take more precedence. Video games are
coming to an age where they will affect everyday life.