Transcript Social, Moral issues of Gaming

Social and Moral Issues of
Gaming
• WARNING: These slides contain explicit
images of adult material (violence, nudity,
sexual situations, etc.)
• Anyone not wishing to view this material
may be excused from this presentation
Early Controversies
• 1976 Death Race (Pedestrian)
– Inspired by Death Race 2000
– Featured on 60 Minutes
• 1981 Castle Wolfenstein
– FPS: kill Nazis
• 1983 Custer’s Revenge
– Other Mystique titles:
• Beat ‘Em and Eat ‘Em,
• Bachelor Party
History: ESRB Formed
• 1992 Night Trap
– College girls killed by vampires
– No nudity or rape
• 1992 Mortal Kombat
• Impending congressional hearings
• IDSA (Now ESA) formed ESRB:
– EC,E,T,M,AO
– 7222 “E” , 2638 “T”, 864 “M”, 18 “AO”
– 2001 FTC: 80% retail let minors buy “M”
• 5 Minute Assignment:
– Break into groups of 4
– Go to ESRB.org and look at game ratings
– Is ESRB Effective?
Doom
• 1994 id Software
• 1999 Columbine Shootings
– Rocky Mountain News:
• "His [Eric Harris] nickname, Reb, was inspired by a character in
one of his favorite computer games, Doom, where the goal is to
score high body counts."
• "one of the game's slogans: 'Doom -- where the sanest place is
behind a trigger.'"
• sawed-off shotgun on his lap that he called "Arlene"--a Doom
reference.
– Lawsuit filed against id and 24 companies seeking $25B
• Filed and dismissed in 2001
Grand Theft Auto:
More than just violence
• Violence:
– Highjacking, drugs, porn, killing
– 2001 GTAIII delayed to change NY scenes after 9/11
– Other Controversies:
• "Kill the Haitians : NY mayor, Miami ordinance
• 2003, $246M lawsuit for one family's loss of a member who
was killed and for the other's whose was injured when two
teenaged boys fired upon their cars with rifles--an act the
boys claimed they learned from GTAIII
• March 2005: 60 Minutes featured Devin Moore who killed 3
police officers after stealing car
Some Other Controversial
Games: Violence
– Kingpin: Life of Crime
– Soldier of Fortune
– Manhunt
– Carmageddon
– Phantasmagoria
9/11 Related
• Microsoft Flight Simulator
– introduction included a player commenting on
the possibility of crashing into the Empire
State Building and how "cool" that would be
– Removed images of Twin Towers before
release
• Fugitive Hunter: War on Terror
– track and eliminate fugitives
• #1: Osama Bin Laden
Sex, Nudity, & Gender Stereotyping
• Females
• often captured girlfriends or princesses that need to be rescued.
• often portrayed as being sexy and seductive, irrelevant
characters
• Few American games feature nudity
• Controversial Games:
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Custer’s Revenge
Leisure Suit Larry
Tomb Raider
BMX XXX
Dead or Alive
GTA
Playboy:
• “TheMansion”
• Bloodrayne in Playboy Magazine
• iBod, PSP
Japan: bishojo
• centered around interactions with attractive
anime-style girls
– girls are nearly always "perfect", feminine
– Highschool or fantasy setting
– 14-17 y.o.,cute, Anime
• Circumvent Japanese child pornography laws
– H-games : pornographic content
– ren’ai: dating sims
• Some companies got start in H-games
– Koei: Dynasty Warrior
– Enix: Dragon Quest
• Sample Bishojo games
Other Controversies
• Propaganda
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America’s Army
Islamic Fun
9/12
John Kerry’s Silver Star
Ethnic Cleansing
• Historically Sensitive
– JFK Reloaded
– War Games (Vietnam)
• Religious, Pagan, Magic, Cult
• Characters
Stereotypes
– 64% of characters are male,
– 19% are nonhuman, and only
– 17% are female.
• Ethnicity
– 86% of heroes were white males
– 83% of African American males in games are athletes
• (79%) African American males engaged in physical
and verbal aggression compared to only 57% of
white competitors
– 86% African American females were victims of
violence in the games that were surveyed.
• 2x white females.
– Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Native
American characters are virtually absent.
• Sexuality: homosexuals
Gambling
• US not officially determined whether or not
online gambling is legal
– Federal Wire Act: law prohibiting the operation of
certain types of betting businesses
• The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Wire
Act applies only to sports betting and not other types of
online gambling.
• The Supreme Court has not officially ruled on the meaning of
the Federal Wire Act as it pertains to online gambling.
– DOJ pressured Yahoo! & Google to remove ads
– Credit Card companies don’t allow payments
• What about Yu-Gi-Oh?
• What about Sony’s Station Exchange?
Other Social/Moral Issues
• Child development
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Social interaction
Obesity
Brain Development (Kawashima study)
ADHD (cause/treatment)
Addiction
• Agression
• 210 college students played either a violent (Wolfenstein
3D) or non-violent video game (Myst).
• Later, students who played the violent video were found
to be more aggressive via duration they "punished"
opponent by blasting them with loud noise.
• Public gaming
– Disturbances
– Content
5 Minute Question:
– What should be the responsibility of the Game
Developer/Publisher?
ESA Study
• 802 random adults: 23.4 hours per week on other
activities, compared to 6.8 hours per week playing
games. Avid gamers — those who play games 11
or more hours per week — spend 34.5 hours per
week on the activities
• 79% exercising or playing sports at an average of 20 hours a
month
• 45% volunteer at an average 5.4 hours per month.
• 61% engage in some type of religious activity for several hours
each month.
• 93% read books or daily newspapers
• 62% often attend cultural events, such as concerts, museums, or
the theater.
• 50% spend time painting, writing, or playing an instrument.
• 94% follow news and current events, and 78 percent report that
they vote in most of the elections for which they are eligible.
Assignment:Essay
• Pick a game that has controversy in one of the
areas that we discussed. Describe the game
(theme, gameplay, visuals, etc..) Discuss the
social/moral effects the game might have (both
sides of argument using your views and
research.)
• 3-5 pages double-space (images do not count
toward page count.
• Topics must first be approved. Submitted by
Saturday noon. Notification Saturday evening.