June 19, 2008
Feeding the Flames: Sex in
Videogames
By: Steven Hopper
As the debate rages on, is sexual
content in videogames really as big a problem as the media lets on?
It seems that every few decades,
another form of entertainment will come about and become a pariah to the
mainstream. Everything from comic books to rock music has been scapegoated for
provocative content and heralded by some as the downfall of society. Now, it
seems that video games are on the chopping block, at first for violent content
with games like Mortal Kombat and Doom being among the favorites for causing
violence amongst children and teenagers. Now, the industry is under fire for
sexual content, beginning with the infamous Hot Coffee scandal that broke
concerning sexual content in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It seems that
politicians and mainstream media is out for blood yet again to demonize the
industry.
While it may seem that the debate
about sexual content in video games is a recent development, it is anything but.
Sex in video games dates back to the early 80’s, with titles like Custer’s
Revenge for Atari 2600 and Leisure Suit Larry for the PC making quite a stir
among early gamers and advocacy groups. Sexualized content in video games has
continued it a variety of forms and through myriad games, like Fear Effect, Dead
or Alive 4, and Fable.
The Hot Coffee scandal a few years
ago is probably one of the more notorious instances of the media picking up on
the issue. Through means that require a GameShark, enterprising gamers were able
to discover an interactive sex scene in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. While
this content had no bearing on the actual game and was otherwise invisible to
anyone who didn’t know exactly how to get to it, the ensuing media hoopla was
rabid. The sex-in-videogames debate kicked into high gear, with politicians like
Sen.
Hilary Clinton and anti-gaming megaphone
Jack Thompson reprimanding the ESRB’s failure to check content and demanding
reform of videogame ratings, and nearly every national news outlet commenting on
the story to some degree. Take 2 (RockStar’s parent company) had to change the
rating of all existing copies of San Andreas from M to AO, and remove all “Hot
Coffee” content from subsequent shipments. This coupled with class-action
lawsuits and the like could not have been cheap for Take 2.
Even though Take 2’s failure to
disclose the sexual content in San Andreas to the ESRB was indeed a spendy faux
pas that they probably won’t repeat any time soon, was the fallout really
appropriate? The sexuality in the modified (yes, modified) content was mostly
implied, as the characters were clothed throughout. Not to mention that we’re
not talking about sexual content in Super Mario Galaxy or Dora the Explorer, but
rather Grand Theft Auto, a franchise already well known for its mature content.
It begs the question: if the hot coffee content were readily available and
disclosed when the game released, would there have been a controversy at all?
One of the more recent instances of
video game sex being over-glorified in the media was an “expose” ran by Fox News
on the well-received Xbox 360 RPG Mass Effect. In the January 2008 segment
(titled “SE”Xbox, video below) which ran on Martha McCallum’s Front Desk, self-help
author Cooper Lawrence berated the game for its strong content, and then
proceeded to condescend to GameTrailers’ Geoff Kneighly, even while admitting
that she had never played the game.
For parents, video games should be
held to the standards of other forms of entertainment. There are certain movies
and TV shows that parents don’t allow their children to watch, so why not expect
the same kind of final say when it comes to video games? Just like TV and film,
there are things in video games that are geared towards children and there are
games that certainly aren’t for kids. Ultimately, it is a parent’s
responsibility to determine what is appropriate for their child, and the ratings
board is around to help them in that regard.
While we at GameZone don’t condone
sex in videogames, we believe that it ultimately lies with the developer and
it’s their choice as to what content they put in their games. The industry has
made good headway into being a self-regulated form of entertainment, and games
that feature sexual content must the revealed as such and be forthcoming as to
what they put in their games, much like film and TV.
As video gaming moves from a nascent
industry to a formidable force in entertainment, it would make logical sense to
hold it up to the same standards as we do other forms of entertainment, be it
books, movies, or television. We should also realize that all of these other
mediums have sexual content in some form. Unfortunately, a good chunk of society
has yet to understand video games’ potential as a form of interactive
storytelling, but hopefully the market’s recent success will open a few eyes,
and a few closed minds.
