Controversies

The dangers of Pictochat were exposed by an ABC affiliate from Philadelphia on February 14, 2003. The article (presented as “an important warning for parents”) explained how the Nintendo DS could potentially “put kids in harms way.” The report described the DS as a “mini-computer” and suggested that predators could potentially contact unsuspecting children via the Pictochat feature in order to “lure [them] to dangerous places.” The article did eventually note that respective DS systems had to be within 65 feet of one another in order to communicate via Pictochat, but the language of the article contradicted this. For example, the article described how gamers could use their DS to connect with “players from across the room or across the world.” It also suggested that gamers could “play somebody they’ve never met.” The article was completely disingenuous and a textbook example of sensationalism.

Although it’s not a documentary by any stretch of the imagination, Battlefield 1 is set during World War I and is inspired by historic events. When asked why there were no female soldiers in the game, a developer reasonably explained that they were “going for realism.” This explanation was completely logical, but the usual suspects accused the developers of somehow ignoring history. The simple reality is that women did not have a significant presence on the battlefield during the First World War. Women were mobilized in unprecedented numbers, but the vast majority of them were drafted into the civilian work force to replace conscripted men. While women served in crucial support roles like nursing, the only belligerent to deploy female combat troops in substantial numbers was Russia. Even there, the Russian Army had 1,000 male combatants for every woman. (There were an estimated 6,000 Russian women combatants in World War I, but only about 1,400 were deployed to the front lines since women battalions were largely viewed as propaganda instruments by Russian officials.) There were over 50 million combatants in World War I and almost all of them were men. It’s perfectly reasonable to suggest that there would have been zero female combatants present in any of the battles that took place during the game. Women were an underrepresented group on battlefields during World War I, so it’s disingenuous and distasteful to complain about them being underrepresented in Battlefield 1. In the end, the accusations that EA DICE was somehow ignoring history were leveled by those who would prefer to rewrite it.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is an open-world RPG set in the medieval Kingdom of Bohemia. While many games in the genre feature fantastical elements like dragons and magic, Kingdom Come: Deliverance puts a focus on realism and historical accuracy. Warhorse Studios even brought in historical consultants to ensure the game’s world would be as accurate as possible. It’s a novel approach to trade fantasy for realism, but the concept is lost on those who are already unhinged from reality. Prior to the game’s release, a handful of spiteful critics complained that the game didn’t feature any people of color. When studio head Daniel Vávra explained that the game was an accurate reflection of what Bohemia would have looked like in 1403, the critics branded him as a xenophobe and a racist. Vávra was completely right, of course. It would have been very unlikely to encounter a black person in early 15th-century Bohemia, and this is especially true when you consider the game’s map only covers an area of six square miles. To his credit, Vávra refused to cater to the authoritarian calls for historical revisionism. Instead, he told his story as he initially intended and laughed off the controversy. Irrelevant critics continued to signal their virtue and boycotts were staged by people who don’t play video games. In the end, their voices only served to raise awareness of the game. With a million copies sold in its first two weeks, Kingdom Come: Deliverance was an undeniable success.

The “Hot Coffee” mini-game from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas depicts a sexual act between the game’s main character and his in-game girlfriend. The name of the mini-game is a euphemism for sex, and the mini-game itself is normally inaccessible to players. The “Hot Coffee” mini-game was completely disabled before San Andreas hit store shelves, and its existence was only discovered after a user-created mod was release for the PC version in June, 2005. Remnants of the mini-game could also be found in the console versions of the game via the use of hacking tools. The fact that the “Hot Coffee” mode can only be accessed by modifying the game’s original code didn’t seem to matter to the powers that be. Activist lawyer Jack Thompson quickly took the opportunity to lash out against Rockstar Games, and U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton called for new regulations to be put on video games sales. Within a matter of weeks, the ESRB announced that it was changing the rating of San Andreas from Mature (M) to Adults Only 18+ (AO). Every major retailer in the country pulled the game from the shelves the next day. Rockstar was forced to modify the game and remove all assets relating to the “Hot Coffee” mini-game in order to retain the M-rating. The most ridiculous thing about the entire controversy was that the “Hot Coffee” mini-game in of itself was relatively tame. While sexual acts were depicted in the mini-game, none of the scenes even involved nudity. The same retailers that pulled the game from their shelves were more than happy to sell movies that were much racier in content. Heck, there are other video games with more graphic sexual content than what was seen in San Andreas! Ultimately, the controversy surrounding the “Hot Coffee” mini-game was a clear indication that America’s priorities were out of order. The game lets players steal cars, shoot cops, and run over hookers, but a few scenes that depict sexual activity are enough to get the game pulled off of shelves.

Pokémon seems like a relatively harmless video game, but the brand has faced severe criticism from several Christian, Jewish, and Muslim groups over perceived occult themes. For instance, a ministry for the “ChildCare Action Project” argued that Pokémon encouraged a “lust for power, control, and independence” and suggested that the concept of “Pokémon evolution” conflicted with the biblical account of creation as related in the book of Genesis. The Vatican responded to some of the controversy in 1997 by suggesting that Pokémon was “full of inventive imagination” and had no “harmful moral side effects.” It was further suggested that the games encouraged “intense friendship.” This line of thinking was not shared by everyone, however. In 2001, Saudi Arabia banned Pokémon games, alleging that the franchise promoted Zionism in violation of Muslim doctrine.

On December 9, 1993, the joint Senate Judiciary and Government Affairs Committee held a hearing on video game violence. During these hearings, an FMV-based game called Night Trap was cited as “ultra-violent” and slammed for encouraging players to “trap and kill women.” It should be noted that these claims were hyperbolic in nature and flat-out misleading. Firstly, the goal in Night Trap was not to “trap and kill women.” Rather, the goal was to protect women from being harmed. Secondly, no nudity or extreme acts of violence were ever filmed or incorporated into the game. The controversy was heavily covered by the media, however, so the Sega CD version of Night Trap was promptly removed from store shelves at Toys “R” Us and F.A.O. Schwarz locations across the country in direct response to the hearings. During the hearings, Night Trap was described as “shameful,””sick,” and “disgusting.” While I agree with this assessment, I don’t think it has anything to do with the game being too racy or violent. Night Trap essentially amounts to an interactive movie with content comparable to a hokey low-budget vampire film from the 1950s. The comments made during the hearings obviously came from individuals who hadn’t bothered playing the game.

Former Florida attorney Jack Thompson gained a lot of attention by attacking the video game industry. He has repeatedly referred to video games as “murder simulators” and once described them as “physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it.” As ridiculous as these statements are, they don’t even rank as the most ridiculous controversy that he’s been a part of. On July 22, 2005, Thompson set his sights on The Sims 2 – claiming that the game promoted nudity. Thompson insisted that players could potentially use a mod or a cheat code in order to remove the comical pixelization that occurs when the characters in the game remove their clothing. In an interview with GameSpot, Electronic Arts executive Jeff Brown responded to the claims by saying, “This is nonsense. We’ve reviewed 100 percent of the content. There is no content inappropriate for a teen audience. Players never see a nude Sim. If someone with an extreme amount of expertise and time were to remove the pixels, they would see that the sims have no genitals. They appear like Ken and Barbie.” Thompson charged that the content was much more graphic than EA was claiming and suggested that the game publisher was to blame for users illegally modifying the game in order to include sexually explicit images. I don’t doubt that it’s possible to find a user-created mod for the game that contains sexual content, but the argument that EA is somehow responsible for this content is completely absurd. That would be akin to blaming Microsoft for someone drawing a sexually explicit image in MS Paint.

On January 21, 2008, a Fox News segment (with the heading ‘”Se”XBOX?”‘) discussed Mass Effect. As a point of entry to the discussion, host Martha MacCallum stated that the game leaves “nothing to the imagination,” and further explained how it features “full digital nudity and the ability for players to engage in graphic sex.” Psychology specialist and author, Cooper Lawrence then suggested that video games were effectively teaching adolescent boys to view women as sexual objects. Video game journalist Geoff Keighley challenged the accuracy of the claims. He explained that the sexual content in the game was not nearly as graphic as they were claiming. He also noted that players were given the choice to play as either a male or a female protagonist, and pointed out that the brief sexual situation was an optional scenario that represented the culmination of a romantic relationship that had developed over the course of a 30+ hour game. When pressed by Keighley, MacCallum and Lawrence both admitted that they had not even played the game. As a result of her misleading statements, Lawrence’s most recent book attracted a number of negative customer reviews on Amazon from users who admitted to not having read her book. Days later, Lawrence retracted her earlier statements about the game, expressing her regret and noting that she had “seen episodes of Lost that are more sexually explicit.”

In recent years, we’ve seen an influx of social justice warriors and activist bloggers expressing concerns over “problematic” depictions of female sexuality in video games. Their voices are loud enough that artists and video game publishers often feel compelled to restrain themselves. One example of this can be seen in how Capcom altered certain camera angles and animations in Street Fighter V in order to shield the easily-offended from the sexiness of R. Mika. R. Mika is a shapely and charismatic professional wrestler who wears skimpy clothing and takes pride in her body. When she was first revealed in the game, one of her maneuvers involved her slapping her own ass in a playful manner. There was no nudity involved and nothing even remotely pornographic about her actions. Moreover, R. Mika was an adult, and there was nothing about her behavior that suggested that she was being victimized in any way. Nevertheless, enough people complained about it that Capcom felt compelled to hide the animation before the game was finished. It’s not unusual for developers and artists to tweak games before they are released, but Capcom admitted that this particular change was made because they were worried about offending people. (Apparently, slapping your own ass is offensive, but kicking someone in the face is perfectly acceptable.) There is nothing wrong with sex appeal. There is nothing wrong with revealing outfits. There is nothing wrong with a grown woman playfully slapping her own ass. Slut-shaming women in real life is inappropriate, but slut-shaming fictional characters is just plain weird.

The most ridiculous video game controversy stems from a news story written by Jacqueline Lapine on March 11, 2009 for Missouri’s ABC 17 News. The story dealt with the potential for sexual predators to use games like Animal Crossing: City Folk to target children. Sadly, the report was so busy trying to scare parents that it neglected to mention that the game is set up in a manner which makes it impossible to connect directly with strangers. (In order to connect with other players via the Internet, players must first exchange “friend codes.” Because these codes must be exchanged outside of the confines of the game, it is not possible for Animal Crossing to be used as a point of initial contact between individuals.) Not only did the reporters lack any knowledge of how communication on the Wii worked, but they also lacked an understanding of the game itself. At one point, the report showed video footage of Mayor Tortimer and suggested that there was no way of telling who he really was. They even implied that Tortimer might actually be a suspected child predator from California. This seems rather unlikely, however, given that Tortimer is a computer-controlled character. Remarkably, the ignorance reached even greater heights when Andy Anderson of the Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force was interviewed. Anderson insisted that “there is no reason an adult should have this game,” and further explained that adults playing Animal Crossing and similar games are “likely doing it for the wrong reasons.” Evidently, Anderson was completely oblivious to the growing popularity of casual gaming and hadn’t realized that the demographics of the industry had expanded. (In fact, Nintendo’s advertising campaign for Animal Crossing was clearly aimed at older audiences.) The insinuation that a person who plays Animal Crossing must have ulterior motives is insulting, and the fact that these ignorant comments came from an individual who runs a task force is downright disheartening.