Hooray for Mature Content

by G. Carr 

While it's true that developers can make excellent games without including "mature" content, it's just as true that such content can add significantly to a game without warping the minds of the unwashed masses.

The first thing that should be known about this issue is that the term "mature" does not refer to the content itself, but rather to the audience. I should hope that the designers do not think that blood, murder, and foul language can be called mature. They put this content in the games under the assumption that those who willingly buy the game will be mature enough to handle it.

Violence can have an affect on developing children. One editorial writer cited an interview in which one Rep. Silver was humiliated by an interviewer saying "um" and asking for proof. What Silver said about desensitization is absolutely true, with some conditions. For one thing, a child must be exposed to a massive amount of violent media to achieve such a desensitization. For another, the parent of a given child must allow this to happen. Many parents edit TV and movies to avoid such exposure, and otherwise try to instill in their child values such as "hitting suzy with a brick is wrong." If they fail in this capacity to such an extent that the child is anything but shocked and frightened of blood and gore by the time it is a teen or above, then this is largely the fault of the parent. Now, the parent can control the games bought as easily as the TV. As for arcades, like I said, if Mommy gives little Johnny a handful of quarters and sends him into a Mortal Kombat intensive arcade, that's their choice and responsibility. Personally, I enjoy violence in video games, but not gratuitous violence; there is a difference. The sort of violence in FF7, for example, occured rarely but added significantly to the storyline and was, I thought, a bold and refreshing atmosphere in a console game. However, the violence in, say, Nightmare Creatures, is frequent and extreme. I hesitate to say gratuitous, since violence is almost the entire point of that particular game. (note: Nightmare Creatures has an ESRB rating of 17+: mature audiences only)

As for religion, the same applies. If you use religious content, it should mean something. Another editorial writer cited FFT on this issue, which is a good example of bad use of religion. After a point, it does seem to be Christian-bashing, and even if you're not religious, it gets on the nerves. However, there are countless other ways to focus your attention while playing that game-- defeat the empire, save the dragon guy's wife, find out what's up with Delita, try to figure out what the heck is going on with that ending, and so on-- and realize in the end that whatever one thinks about whatever religion, the game's still a blast to play. The bottom line is that whatever your belief system, you should be secure enough in that belief that you don't care what some random programmer in Japan thinks about it.

The most important thing to remember about the content of video games is that you, the gaming consumer, are paying for the game. There is nothing about these games that is forced on anyone; it's not propoganda, and it's not hate campaigning. Each one of us that picks up the game at the store pays for the right to have that game and everything it contains inside our household. It's our choice that exposes us to that content.

The second most important thing is that a game's first priority should be to provide an enjoyable gaming experience. If you hate FFT, it should be because you don't enjoy the battles, not because the guy who worked on the storyline wanted to work out his vendettas in the 30 minutes of story out of 60 hours of battle play.

Perhaps the third most important thing (or perhaps these aren't even ranked in order of importance; you be the judge) is that video games are mild in comparison to most other forms of media available. As was stated in that interview, a violent game may have the same affect as a football game or WWF match. And, of course, half the shows on TV or movies in the theatres contain violence and death. Again, if you consider yourself mature and ego-formed, this should not present a problem. You should understand the reasons behind what you're seeing, the meaning of the act(s), and know for sure that it is not something you'll be doing anytime soon. If you're trying to raise a good Christian child, don't show him Braveheart, and don't let him play Tactics (which, incidentally, has an ESRB rating of teen, 13+).