 Re: Should Video Games Be Cencored?
I wrote an essay on this for English class:
Dating all the way back to the late 1970's, video games have (and still to this very day) have been popular worldwide. In addition to broadening the appeal of interactive entertainment to the mainstream, there is a constant amount of energy and creativity going on the industry into making these titles, ranging from implementing ideas into a title to further enhance the fun factor of a game to unleashing a massive advertising campaign in order to appeal to a specific audience. In order for video games to become a more popular medium than it already is, its only natural that they make progresses in attracting a more mature audience. It's not rare to find violence in a video game as it's almost always a necessity in order to overcome the challenge the game throws at you (be it from jumping on top of turtles in Super Mario to using a firearm to clear a room full of opposing forces in a session of Halo). With that said, there are some extremely violent games currently on store shelves that aren't intended to be played or viewed by teenagers or toddlers. However, politicians and parents around the country beg to differ on my previous statement in saying that those extremely violent games are indeed meant to be experienced by a younger audience. Along with their reaction, they believe that censorship in these violent games would only be logical. I disagree with both politicians and the parents who claim that those graphic titles are aimed at the attention of children and the need for censorship by applying the facts I've gathered from various sources based on this controversial topic.
In the early nineties, there was a slew of violent games that were flowing on the market. One game in particular, titled Mortal Kombat, caught the attention of U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman. The violent nature of the game was unsettling to him along with his peers in the government. Knowing that other games could be equivalent in terms of violence, Lieberman took immediate action and declared that the government's next step would be to make a decision that had the potential to end the video game industry if it hadn't devised a way to conceal the violent nature of its games. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the video game industry for the very first time made a huge collaboration in order to create a solution. The end result? The formation of the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board), which acted as the rating system for all the future software to hit the market. After approving the video game industry's method of rating video games, the politician that called for a solution to conceal violent content, Joseph Lieberman, had given the highest praise to the ESRB in saying, "The ESRB is perhaps the finest rating system seen in any medium..." With a highly revered system rating all the content that's found in any game in place, it may seem as if though there were no further problems to come from video games because it seemed as if though there was a win-win situation: the developers behind these games could still be liberal in creating violent content as they see fit without the need for censorship and consumers would be able to verify the nature of the product they were purchasing. Unfortunately, the happy ending the industry was hoping far is still quite a way off.
A few years later, a number of teenage murders that occurred had convinced society that there were a number of influences to motivate these teens to commit such acts of violence, one of which were violent video games. Parents and politicians claim those violent video games (shooting games, to be more specific) are able to serve as tools of violence that teach teenagers how to kill other living things. This statement has been repeated time and again, but it seems as if though there is lack of effort being put into discovering the other factors involved in determining what caused the murders in the first place. As we all know, killing a living thing in reality isn't done without reason. A video game, as violent as it may be, does not send the message out to the game's player to run rampant out on the streets with a gun in their hand to go on a killing spree. If that were the case, why would the consumer even bother playing the game the developer created when the player has a sick affinity for doing it in reality? People who tend to disagree with beliefs such as mine tend to be the defendants of these murderers, in which they find an opportunity to make a large amount of money by pointing their fingers and suing multi billion dollar publishers for distributing these violent games. In this process, it ends up harming society's perception of the video game industry as a whole and it leaves room for sympathy for those who committed to the crime in the first place as if they were the victim of using these "tools of violence"
As you may be reading or hearing this, you may be wondering, "Why would anybody want to create these violent games in the first place?" As the appeal of video games escalates more and more each year, the need for more adult oriented titles is a necessity in order for video games to remain profitable. Would the common thirty five year old be content with the latest installment in the lighthearted Super Mario series? It's a strong possibility, but chances are that he or she would likely be seeking a game that would involve more than just running around and collecting shiny coins in addition to having an appetite for mushrooms that would triple their body size. With the utilization of the ESRB, adults can determine for themselves what kind of content they expect to get out of a game rather than playing through a game that doesn't appeal to them and if they're a responsible parent, what their child should be playing. If the gaming industry wasn't currently supplying varied types of games to consumers, it's likely I wouldn't be discussing this topic right now.
In conclusion, I believe there is no reason that there should be censorship in any video game whatsoever. The video game industry has proven that there is a way for consumers to be aware of the content in their games without making any compromises in harming itself. The only people hurting the industry's reputation are the ones who cannot accept the responsibilities of their actions in blaming the violent actions they commit on the lack of censorship in violent games. Quite frankly, I find that both are simultaneously disgusting and disappointing. | 
