Violence in video games - DD1000

Right, i have gone through the violent nature behind board games, Christian has gone through the violence of the past games and sports ( http://christian-whelan-dd1000.blogspot.co.uk/ ). So now its time to go into the big one, violence in video games.....

I will be splitting this topic down into 3 different posts. Firstly I will be looking at a few examples of games that have caused controversy over the years. The second post will look at the arguments for and against limiting violence in video games, and finally i will look at a few case studies of times where people have taken game companies to court of the level of violence in a game. 

Controversial Video Games

There are hundreds of video games out there and sifting through them all would take years so this list comprises of the five games that I personally think have caused the biggest and most controversial issues of the years.

1976 - Death Race by Exidy for the Atari 2600 console

In death race one or two players drove cars with a steering wheel and acceleration pedal with the aim of running down 'gremlins'. As the player hit the creatures they would let out a scream and a tombstone would appear in there place, as more gremlins were killed the screen got more and more cluttered with tomb stones which the players had to avoid. 

With the working title of the game being 'Pedestrians' the violent controversy surrounding this game was there from the get go. Despite denial from many of Exidy including Paul Kaufman the companies president about the games intent to promote violence it didn't stop the game from hitting the number one spot on many controversial game lists with the National Safety Council labeling it sick and morbid. 

1993 - Doom by id Software for the PC

The most famous first person shooter game of its time Doom has raised a lot of controversy over the years. In the game the player plays 'Doomguy' a bad ass space marine that blasts his way through hoards of devil like creatures to complete the three nine-leveled episodes (with a four being released in 1995). Doom is known for popularizing first person shooters as well is a pioneer of multiplier gaming, 3D graphics and support for mods and expansions.

Of coarse a game can't get to that level without picking up a few demons along the way (no pun intended). Slated for its intense gore and satanic influences it has gained the attention of a wide range of groups all of which weren't overly pleased with the way the game way going. But these were minor issues compared to the storm that hit them April 1999. Columbine high school students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into school one day and open fired killing a total of 13 people and injuring a total of 21 more causing the deadliest shooting to ever occur at an American school. Later during an inquiry it was found that both students were avid Doom players and there was even rumors that they designed a doom level that was styled on the school in which the shooting took place (later found to be untrue). 

More on the columbine shooting in a later post.

1997-present - GTA by Rockstar Games for PC, PS1, PS2, PS3, Xbox and Xbox360
Although the characters differ the theme of Grand Theft Auto remains the same between game. You play as some sort of low life criminal starting of driving people around of doing back ally drug deals, but as time goes on you start to get noticed by bigger fish who take you under there wing (until you kill them, which happens quite a lot) until you own the entire city's criminal mafia.

As far a controversy Grand Theft Auto has manged to successfully tick every box again and again over the years. Sex, Drugs, Violence, Nudity (in the case of GTA: San Andreas), Foul Language, Drink Driving, Cop and Civilian killing, Prostitution... and that barely scrapes the surface of this series long history of fueling of every person opposed to video games with enough ammo to keep them going until the rapture. The games most controversial scene (i know its hard to chose just one) is a feature found throughout most of the newer games in which the character can hire a prostitute then kill them which there 'job' is done before taking the money back off them. 

2003 - Manhunt by Rockstar Games (that's there second appearance in the list) for PS2 

In this stealth based horror game you play as death row inmate thought to have been killed, he had actually been freed from jail by underground snuff film director Lionel Starkweather. The player is the forced to take part in a snuff film where he has to kill more and more gang members in the most horrific and torturous ways possible.

This game has had a lot of negative press over the graphic nature of the game, the game is so bad that it has been banned in some countries including Germany, Australia and New Zealand.
The game was so bad that even member sof the development team at Rockstar North were grossed out, some thinking that this game crossed the line of acceptable behavior in a game. 
The murder of British school boy Stefan Pakeerah (14) by a friend Warren Leblanc (17) did nothing to help the games standing after police discovered that both boys were strong fans of the game and the murder was set with the same weapons found in the game. The family filed a law suet against Rockstar and Sony for the death of Stefan but later dropped the charges after the police found the motive of the killing to be robbery, A spokes man for the police stated: 'the video game was not found in Warren LeBlanc's room, it was found in Stefan Pakeerah's room. Leicestershire Constabulary stands by its response that police investigations did not uncover any connections to the video game, the motive for the incident was robbery.' 

2009 - CoD: Modern Warfare 2 by Infinity Ward for Xbox360, PC, PS3

Call of Duty has become the iconic first person shooter of its age. Playing as a number of different secret 'black ops' military groups around the world, defending against terrorists.  The mission that has caused the most controversy was in the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 during a mission called 'No Russian' in which an under cover CAI agent is working in a Russian terrorist cell attacking an airport. The main issue comes from a scene where the player guns down multiple unarmed civilians.