YouthNoise | WGO: Politics vs. Video Games: Who will come out on top?

Politics vs. Video Games: Who Will Come Out on Top?

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.



		• Paintball in the Mainstream • Nostalgic Bliss Vs. Infomania • Violence and the Big Bad Media • Almost Too Real?

Sources:

ESRB. "ESRB Game Ratings: Game Ratings & Descriptor Guide." Entertainment Software Rating Board ESRB. 17 May 2005 http://esrb.com/esrbratings_guide.asp.

Gonzales, Lauren. "When Two Tribes Go to War: A History of Video Game Controversy." Gamespot. 16 May 2005 http://www.gamespot.com/features/6090892/.

Kent, Steven L. The Ultimate History of Video Games. Roseville, CA: Prima Publishing, 2001.

Kushner, David. "Smut Police." Official Playstation Magazine June 2004: 56-57.

Samzenpus. "Only 15% of Gamers are internet Addicts." 10 Mar. 2005. Slashdot. 16 May 2005, http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/10/1436220&tid=186.

The Video Game Critic. "Atari 2600 Reviews." 2 Sept. 2004 Video Game Reviews by the Video Game Critic. 17 May 2005 http://www.videogamecritic.net/2600cc.htm.