Video Games: A Censortive Subject
*First published in The LINC Magazine, Winter 2004
Government Ministers and executives from the UK video games industry struck a deal recently which will see violent video games, or games with an 'adult' theme, issued with high-profile warning labels to give parents guidance on the most suitable titles for their children.
The relationship between the government and the gaming world has not always been this co-operative, particularly when it comes to censorship.
From Hollywood blockbusters, to platinum selling rap artists via rock music, theatre and TV, the entertainment world is often blamed for everything bad about modern society, especially its youth.
Computer games are no exception, frequently taking the rap for influencing young people towards violence, crime and debauchery.
Perhaps one of the most famous cases of computer game censorship in recent memory occured in 1997, with the release of 'Carmageddon', which was refused a certfication from the British Board Of Film Classification (BBFC).
The original version of the game saw players intentionally running over and killing innocent bystanders. The BBFC decided this was unacceptable and subsequently refused it a certificate on the grounds that it contained images of human fatality and red blood.
However, SCi, the game's creators, came up with an absurdly simple way to get around this censorship and, with a little graphical engineering, switched the colour of the victim's blood from red to green, thus creating "Zombies", and getting "Carmageddon" out to the masses under an 18+ certificate.
"Fears about computer games such as Carmageddon are based on an assumption people cannot distinguish between the fantasy of games, and reality", said journalist Dave Amis at the time.
Amis has a point. The "Grand Theft Auto" series, is one of, if not the most successful and popular series of games in which players rape, steal and murder their way through America's seedy underworld.
Yet how many times do you hear of a young person stealing a car, killing the driver then committing a drive-by shooting, whilst successfully avoiding prosecution by simply blowing up the pursuing police car with a bazooka?
"GTA San Andreas is one of my favourite games," says 15 year-old Luke Smith from Lowton. "But it never makes me violent, and I actually normally end up going on it when I'm feeling stressed or angry. I reckon GTA is more influenced by what's going on in the world today rather than the other way round."
But even gaming enthusiast Luke admits some games can take the violence too far, branding games like the hit zombie-slaying 'Resident Evil' series as 'fairly disturbing'.
However, he stresses that even those games, with their gruesome gore and disgusting deaths are 'just fantasy'.
"I think people are just kicking up a fuss for the sake of it. We might be young, but we're not thick," he adds.
Indeed, it does seem a bit insulting to suggest that not only can young people not grasp the concept of imagination versus reality, but also that they do not understand the basic human principles of right and wrong.
Wigan's main video game retailers 'Game' and 'Gamestation' refused to comment independent of their central headquarters. Looks like they too have been well and truly censored.
By Chris Skoyles