How Video Games Changed the World Page #8

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Elvis Presley's hips

or video nasties or whatever, then,

in the '90s, it was video games.

It was games like Doom,

you know, and Mortal Kombat,

that had what were perceived

to be super gory terrible graphics

which, when you look at them now, is

ludicrous, cos, of course, it's just

basically like people made

out of Ceefax getting blown up.

Just as controversial was

the frankly crappy Night Trap,

which came on the exciting

new CD-ROM format,

threatening to turn games

into full-motion video nasties.

Five teenage girls have disappeared,

after spending the night

at the old Lakeshore winery house

of Mr and Mrs Victor Martin.

It's like a television programme

in a lot of ways

and the purpose is

you're part of a crack team

that's protecting some girls

on a slumber party.

So the gameplay is, basically,

clicking on the CCTV cameras

and setting traps for these kind of

vampire things that are coming in.

And, because it's video

and not graphics,

and especially at the time

I think, it was life-like,

because it wasn't the clunky

graphics of the '80s,

- this was film you are watching.

- What are you doing?!

And it is quite disturbing

to watch it, actually,

because it does feel

very voyeuristic.

I understand why

it was controversial, um,

because even today,

if you made a game today

where the concept was spying on,

you know, college girls

in their lingerie,

via various security cameras,

and kind of stalking them

around this house,

that would be

very controversial now! Back then,

I can understand why people had

the reaction that they did.

It has been... quite a leap

from Pac-Man to Night Trap.

Night Trap, which, just to be clear,

was a deeply sh*t game,

was such a hot potato,

it featured heavily

in a US Senate hearing

on video game violence,

which led to Toys "R" Us

taking it off the shelves.

Mortal Kombat and Night Trap

are not the kind of gifts

that responsible parents give.

Night Trap, which adds

a new dimension of violence,

specifically targeted against women,

is especially repugnant.

Significantly,

it led to the creation of

the US video game ratings system,

a voluntary code designed

to alert parents to content

that might be unsuitable

for their disgusting children!

This had a twofold effect.

On the one hand, the games industry

was aware it was being watched.

But on the other hand,

the introduction of ratings

meant that games could now be

conceived and marketed

explicitly as not for children.

Suddenly, developers

had a green light

to pursue nasty games

for nasty adults,

leading to further controversy,

with the death-packed

pedestrian-splattering Carmageddon

being briefly banned

in the UK in 1997

and the MP-alarming Grand Theft Auto

making its debut that same year.

Lots of people at that time,

moral campaigners were trying

to link video game violence

with real-life violence

and we saw this later on

with, um, the Columbine tragedy,

which lots of people

tried to suggest that

the two kids that were involved

in this were heavy games players.

Every time there's any

sort of violent act in the news,

it's always reported like,

"And the shooter was a big fan of,"

you know, "Grand Theft Auto

or Call Of Duty."

It's like, well, that's

because he's an 18-35-year-old man.

That's probably why he's a fan,

not because he's a psychopath!

Recently, in the USA,

the National Rifle Association

has tried to shift blame for

a spate of mass shootings away from

the availability of firearms and

onto the shoulders of video games.

Through vicious, violent video games,

with names like Bulletstorm...

Grand Theft Auto,

Mortal Kombat,

and Splatterhouse!

Ironically, the NRA make

some crude target shooting

and varmint hunting

games of their own.

Furthermore, not everyone is

convinced of a link between

violent games and violent behaviour.

I think there might be violent people

that play these video games,

but I don't think these video games

turn you into violent people.

We should move on.

We should talk about

some of the positive aspects

of video games

or some of the genuine challenges

we can make to the industry,

like where are the positive,

er, female role models in games?

But you know, if we carry on

with this debate...

It amazes me that

it's lasted me for so long.

Dedicated gamers tend to reflexively

scoff at any suggestion

games might be too violent,

but it's clear that even the most

hard-core splatter movies

don't dwell on

biological destruction

to quite the same gleeful degree

as many games do.

Increasing graphical fidelity means

the debate will intensify,

as the portrayal of violence does.

It's easy to laugh

at the low-tech depiction of death

in the early Mortal Kombat games,

but the recent Mortal Kombat 9

features extreme

and upsetting imagery

that would be almost entirely

unthinkable in most other mediums.

Despite scenes that shocking,

Mortal Kombat 9 failed to

generate any real controversy,

but then, many games still fly

somehow under the cultural radar

and, consequently, aren't

called upon to justify themselves.

I'm traditionally quite nonchalant

about violence in video games.

I played the sh*t out of things

like Doom and Sniper Elite,

but even I find that

basically unacceptable,

which either means I've become

a terrible wuss in my old age

or games are becoming

so forensically graphic,

they're reaching a tipping point.

Some games have a more mature

and responsible attitude to

depicting violence than others.

Some are outright irresponsible.

Others, I think, do it in a much

more mature and responsible way.

And so, um, I don't think

there's anything inherently bad

about expressing or exploring the

subjects of violence in video games,

just as there is in any medium, but

there is violence in the real world,

there will be violence in

any artistic, er,

reflection of the real world,

and video games are no different.

And when women in games aren't

being gruesomely sawn in half,

they're often being simplified,

patronised and objectified.

But the games industry's

treatment of what

I tactfully won't refer to

as "the titted gender"

was about to be challenged,

as we'll see after this break.

Picture the scene.

It's the mid-1990s and no-one knows what to

make of humankind's poxy existence any more

because OJ Simpson has just left

court an entirely innocent man.

Barings Bank has collapsed thanks to

rogue trader Nick Leeson

and in the world of pop,

middle-class Kinks fans Blur

are going head to head with dirge-spewing

musical chimps' tea-party Oasis

in a battle literally no-one gave

a sh*t about, even at the time.

Meanwhile, bruised by the beating

it took over flogging violent

games to kids, the games industry

suddenly hit on a new target market.

People off their faces on ecstasy,

or clubbers as

they are technically known.

Have you seen any drug-taking? Aye!

Did you take any yourself?

Here we have a normal, healthy young

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