Talk:Video game controversy/World

Asia
Violent games are tolerated, as demonstrated in the Japanese created game series Biohazard (known as Resident Evil outside of Japan), Devil May Cry, God Hand, Samurai Spirits (also known as Samurai Shodown, which was censored in the US), and Dead Rising (Though Dead Rising was made with US audiences in mind). However, games in which depictions of violence and gore are deemed unnecessary, extravagant, and unethical are censored, such as Mortal Kombat. Consequently, Japanese critics tend to focus instead on pornography found in some adult Japanese computer games, which have generally not been released outside of Japan. Since 2002, a non-governmental organization, CERO, is reviewing games and issuing an age recommendation for all products that have been submitted.

Violently pornographic games came to national attention in Japan in 1986 with the release by dB-soft of 177, a game where the player takes the role of a rapist. (The game's title originates from the number of the Japanese law criminalizing rape.) 177 was not the first game designed around this premise, but it was unusually explicit for that time. The game caused debate in the Japanese parliament and was eventually recalled and re-released with the most controversial scenes removed. The controversy was ignited again in late 1991, when a junior high school student stole Saori: the House of Beautiful Girls. The game included scenes of abduction, incest and homosexuality. In 1992 the pornographic game industry formed the "Ethics Organization for Computer Software", setting industry guidelines for acceptable content and packaging. Those games deemed inappropriate by this organization for minors are released only to people 18 years or older.

Through new laws the Chinese government has said it plans to restrict gamers to three hours of consecutive play, using a “fatigue technique” in games. Children and teenagers are strongly encouraged to play online games no more than 3 hours per day through this method. After 3 hours their character abilities will be limited. Gamers who spend more than five hours will have the abilities of their in-game character severely limited. Players will be forced to take a five-hour break before they can return to a game with the character back to full capacity. In some cases further playing is locked down through their IP identification number or account with the online game vendor. The operators face little choice as they need government approval to offer online gaming.

The MMO genre of games is big business in China since subscription based games avoid software piracy, and most gamers use Internet cafes as they do not own a personal computer. The company that runs the popular World of Warcraft in China, The9, is listed on the NASDAQ market exchange so they must release an annual report which includes much information on how MMORPGs work in China. Abbreviated versions of the sources have been published.

China has also banned certain video games for their content. Foreign Internet games are subject to content examinations by the Ministry of Culture before being allowed to enter the Chinese market. Games such as Hearts of Iron, I.G.I.-2: Covert Strike, and Command & Conquer have all been banned for offenses such as "distorting history and damaging China's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and "smearing the image of China and the Chinese army".(However, it should be noted that Command and Conquer: Generals portrays China as a protagonist, aiding the U.S. in destroying a fictional terrorist cell.)

Video game violence is controversial in South Korea, and "no blood" regulations apply. South Korea also regularly bans games that depict North Korea and South Korea at war, or that demonize North Koreans. Ghost Recon 2 and Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction have been banned for these reasons. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was also banned in South Korea due to the destruction of the South Korean capital Seoul in the game; however, the ban was recently lifted in late 2006. The South Korean government banned Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Manhunt for cruelty and violence.

However, with launch of the Game Rating Board (Oct. 2007), tolerance for violence in games has been improved significantly. (Prior to GRB, Korea Media Rating Board, an organization responsible for rating various media such as theatrical movies and videos was in charge of rating video games.) With GRB in place, Korea is seeing lots of controversial games released with 18+ ratings. For example, PS2 and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto were banned (by KMRB), but Grand Theft Auto for PSP were released with 18+ rating (approved by GRB).

South America
In Argentina, federal legislation (Law No. 26.043) states that Manufacturers and/or importers of video games are required to display the warning "Overexposure is harmful to health" on the packaging in which such products are marketed. The rating "Suitable for all ages", "Suitable for persons aged 13 or over" or "Suitable for persons aged 18 or over", as applicable, must also be displayed.

Around the 1990s, Brazil did not have a video game rating system, such as ESRB, but some games such as Carmageddon, Postal and Grand Theft Auto were banned in the whole Brazilian territory via juridical decision. Due to a gunman's rampage through a movie theatre in Brazil, Duke Nukem 3D was also banned in that country along with Quake, Doom and several other violent first-person shooters. The Brazil rampage (named Mateus da Costa Meira) was allegedly inspired by Duke Nukem 3D's opening level "Hollywood Holocaust" (Episode 1, Mission 1), where a firefight with aliens takes place inside a cinema. Despite this ban, Duke Nukem 3D was subsequently being published in a computer magazine (Revista Senha), and other titles such as Quake and Doom are still sold openly in Brazil.

On January 18 2008, the Brazilian justice banned the games Counter-Strike and Everquest. Counter-Strike was banned due to cs_rio — a map which simulates a favela in Rio de Janeiro.

In April 10 2008, the game Bully was also banned by Brazilian justice claiming "The aggravating factor is that everything in Bully takes place inside a school."

Australia and New Zealand
In Australia video games are rated by the Office of Film and Literature Classification, which also rates other media. Unlike movies however, no R18+ or X18+ category exists for video games, and as such if they do not fit into the MA15+ category (suitable for 15 year olds and over), they are refused classification and effectively banned, because video games can not be sold in Australia without a rating from the OFLC, unless that video game applies for, and receives, exemption from being rated. This fact means that games deemed unsuitable for 15 year olds are banned entirely from sale and distribution within the country, even for use by adults. This situation has been a point of much debate for many years now, as the video gaming community view this as restrictive and archaic. Recently the Victorian government has announced plans to try and get an R18+ category introduced. A comprehensive list of games that have been banned in Australia can be found at Refused-Classification. The "argument for" states that adults are allowed to see and hear whatever they like. Much of the controversy seems to be caused by the perception that video games are only targeted at children.

In 1996, Duke Nukem 3D was refused classification because of the presence of minor nudity in a section of the game. It was modified so that it was sold with the parental lock on, removing the nudity, but a mix-up meant that the unlocked content was sold on the game's disc. This led to the majority of the Australian player base gaining access to, and playing, the banned version of the game. The OFLC attempted to have the game recalled, since the version that was being sold was functionally the version that was refused classification. The OFLC was unsuccessful, however, because the distributor had notified them that the uncensored content was on the disc when the modified version was classified. Six months later, the unmodified version of the game was officially reclassified as MA15+, and was allowed for sale throughout Australia.

In 2002, Australia banned Grand Theft Auto III for allowing certain actions against virtual prostitutes; the game was later reinstated when this action was removed. Specifically, the player could solicit services from a virtual prostitute, and then kill her. The ability to solicit sex from prostitutes in the game was the action that was removed, but the player could still kill them; note, however, that this is not a necessary part of the gameplay and the character can pretty much kill anyone in the game. The sequel, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was also modified for the same reasons, and in the same way for release in the Australian market. Similarly, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was banned in July 2005 following the revelation that sex scenes were included in the content files on the game's disc. Ordinarily, one could not access these scenes, but third party modification, known as the Hot Coffee mod, allowed the player to access these scenes within the game itself. The inclusion of the scenes on the game disc took the game outside the MA15+ category. The MA15+ rating was re-instated after a modified version was released by Rockstar Games, omitting the content files for the sex scenes. In 2005 the game 50 Cent: Bulletproof was banned for encouraging gang violence (a version without the game's Arcade Mode and excessive gore, and with an automatic Game Over for killing innocents was later submitted and given an MA15+ rating), and Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure was also banned for glorifying illegal graffiti tagging. Reservoir Dogs was banned because the Australian government disliked the fact that the player was able to shoot the heads off of hostages during a bank heist.

Two other games banned in Australia are the highly violent (and controversial) Postal and Postal² from Running with Scissors.

The most recent video game of the Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto IV, has also prompted editing in the Australian (PAL) version. In the American release, sexual encounters with prostitutes occur inside the player's vehicle and the player has the ability to rotate the camera for clearer view of what transpires. This ability is absent in the Australian version in which the camera is fixed behind the vehicle.

It was recently announced that an R18+ rating for video games was in the works, though South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has stated he will fight against this plan. Atkinson is solely responsible for maintaining Austalia's status of being the only developed democracy without an adults only rating for video games, despite overwhelming demand for such a rating.

The relevant law for New Zealand is the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993. Apart from age restrictions, a publication can be declared objectionable:

For the purposes of this Act, a publication is objectionable if it describes, depicts, expresses, or otherwise deals with matters such as sex, horror, crime, cruelty, or violence in such a manner that the availability of the publication is likely to be injurious to the public good.

Objectionable publications can be seized any time by an Inspector from the Department of Internal Affairs, a Customs officer or a member of the police, and mere possession is an offense, punishable with up to five years imprisonment for an individual. Supply, distribution, display, or exhibition to any other person, or possession for this purpose, can be punished with up to ten years in jail under certain conditions.

Manhunt, Reservoir Dogs, Postal and Postal² were dubbed "objectionable" under this law.

North America
Canada (including French-speaking Quebec) uses the same ESRB rating system as the United States. However, in British Columbia and Ontario, their respective provincial governments re-rated the video games Soldier of Fortune and Manhunt as R (Canadian film rating), which unlike the United States' R rating, these games are restricted to those 18 and over for their depictions of graphic violence.

After the economic crash of the video game industry in the early 1980s, the home console industry was revived, and both Nintendo of America and Sega of America imposed censorship guidelines upon software publishers.

However, hardware manufactures never sought to impose such content censorship rules on the creators of computer games. If there was any objectionable content in a computer game, the publisher might put a generic parental advisory label on the game's packaging, while such content was often removed from a video game prior to sale.

In the early 1990s, Sega of America, who had more liberal censorship polices, introduced the Videogame Rating Council in effort to develop a formal rating system for games sold on its Sega Genesis, Game Gear, and Sega CD. It was during this era that a second wave of controversy erupted over the content of certain video games (i.e. Doom, Mortal Kombat, Lethal Enforcers, Night Trap and Primal Rage).

The criticism came from interest groups and politicians, liberals and conservatives alike, who believed that the content of these games was too mature for children, promoted real life threats to public order and morality and, often, proposed greater government oversight of the industry. Senators Joe Lieberman, Herb Kohl and Byron Dorgan held high-profile hearings on the video game industry and instructed the industry to engage in effective self-regulation, or risk federal intervention.

The industry's response was to establish the ESRB, which would be charged with giving each video game sold within the United States a content based rating, similar to the MPAA film rating system. Initially computer game companies supported an alternative rating system, but the ESRB ratings would eventually be used for both video and computer games.

A third wave of national controversy erupted over the video game Grand Theft Auto, especially the "Hot Coffee" mod. Once this mod is downloaded it allowed the player to engage in graphic sex with a virtual girlfriend. This was not intended to be available in the game, but the code was not removed. This allowed someone to make a mod that allowed this code to run. The ESRB was not aware that this code existed, and more scrutiny was placed on the industry and its rating system.

Several States are considering, or have already enacted, legislation that would prohibit certain games being sold to minors. The Constitutionality of such legislation remains in dispute, as under the Miller test, before any expressive materiel can be deemed obscene, or restricted for the supposed "public welfare", it must be proven to be utterly devoid of significant literary, artistic, political, or scientific content of merit. (This is called the SLAPS test.) Seeing as how computer and video games are written (e.g. they are programmed), they automatically have significant scientific merit due to their very nature (as works of code), and furthermore, it is rare to find a game that lacks any expression in the artistic, literary, and political categories. Thus, games are, in essence, core political speech, and subject to the almost absolute freedom of speech protections ("Congress shall make no law...restricting the freedom of speech") retained by all persons under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Senator Lieberman stated in 2002 that in his opinion, the video game industry's rating system had become the best rating system of any medium, including the film industry. However, many video game players have criticized him, citing his work as too broad and unaware of the industry as a whole. The ESRB itself has, on numerous occasions, blamed any continued problems with video games on parents. It boasts an extremely high approval rating on its ratings, and claim that the labels are there and are properly used. It says that parents need to be more aware of what their children are buying and what they are buying for their children.

In December 2004, Hal Hal, the president of the retail trade association announced that all IEMA member companies - which included every major retailer of computer and video games, including such notable names as Wal-Mart - would now have policies to check the identification of young purchasers of games rated "Mature" to ensure that the purchaser is at least 17 years old, as recommended by the "Mature" rating. The association also required its members to post ESRB signage in every store and begin training retail clerks about the ratings system in order to help parents understand the process more thoroughly.

From time to time, local officials attempt to restrict the playing or selling of violent video games. Predictably, the ESA (representing video game publishers) and the IEMA (representing game retailers) oppose the legislation and have been, to-date, victorious in overturning each bill passed. For example, the city of Indianapolis, Indiana in 2000 passed an ordinance barring children from playing arcade games with graphic violence unless parental consent was given. It was generally thought that this law was intended to target the game The House of the Dead, in which players use plastic guns to shoot at the game screen in order to kill zombies that try to kill the player. The ordinance was struck down at the appellate Federal court level, on the grounds that in the United States, video games enjoy some measure of First Amendment free speech protection because they contain real expression of ideas, and children have constitutional rights before the age of 18, and given this, the city did not demonstrate an overriding public interest in passing the ban. Recently, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich passed a law banning the sale of "violent or sexually explicit" video games to minors under the age of 18. The new law would have taken effect on January 1, 2006, but was struck down by District Court judge Matthew Kennelly. As Kennelly so concisely put it: "In this country, the state lacks the authority to ban protected speech on the ground that it affects the listener's or observer's thoughts and attitudes." In doing so, the Judge confirmed yet again that video games are protected under the First Amendment and deserve treatment no different than film and literature. Illinois was forced to pay the ESRB legal fees, approximately 1 million dollars. About three months later, similar laws were passed by Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The California law, as California Assembly Bills 1792 & 1793, was sponsored by Leland Yee, the Speaker pro Tem of the Assembly and a child psychologist. The laws were deemed unconstitutional by Judge Ronald Whyte on December 21, 2005; preventing it from going into effect on January 1, 2006.

On 2005-11-29, Senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh introduced the Family Entertainment Protection Act to much criticism. The act was intended to protect children from inappropriate content found in video games. The bill expired without going to a vote. Similar bills introduced at state level were found to be unconstitutional.

It should be noted that a large reason that such legislation described above has never been enforced in the United States is because such legislation has been unanimously ruled unconstitutional in US courts. Judges across the nation agree that, if nothing else, video games are a fine art, and thus are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution's guarantee of freedom of press (press instead of speech because video game files are more long-term than pure oral words).In response to this, some proponents of video game liberty are starting to use much cruder ways of expressing their belief. Some even consider Lieberman's and Kohl's threats of legislation if the ESRB was not formed to be completely empty threats, and, ultimately, that the government should "just go shove it."

Europe
In Germany, video games, as with other media, are subject to censorship, or "decency standards", that are strict by the standards of other European nations. For video games there is the index, which is a list of video games, films and other media considered a bad influence on children and therefore unsuited for anyone under 18. Articles not suited for anyone under 18 cannot be easily sold through mail order in Germany. There are a few specialized companies that sell such games, but require a photocopy of the buyers' ID card as age verification, and the package is only handed over to the buyer personally. Certain institutions can request that a game be examined by the BPjM (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien). In some cases it is then placed on the index, usually because it is deemed to glorify violence, at which point it becomes illegal to advertise the games or even review them in an age-unrestricted medium, display them on store shelves, or sell them to anyone under 18. This dramatically affects sales, so most video game companies selling games in Germany elect to create a special German version that narrowly avoids the index by changing the graphics. Instead of red blood, green blood is shown, implying that aliens are being killed and not humans; or gears and springs are shown coming out of the wound, implying that the victims are robots. For example, the Contra series, known as Probotector in Europe, repeatedly replaced the heroes and many enemies throughout the series with robots. In Half-Life, the marines that are fought by the player are replaced by robots. The scientists also cannot be killed in Half-Life, they just sit down and shake their heads.

However, games cannot be examined by the BPjM prior to their release, even if requested by the manufacturers, as that would be considered censorship by German standards, which is illegal under the German constitution. This has led to many publishers thinking with "scissors in their hands" and removing more content than would have been necessary.

Recently, the index has become somewhat redundant regarding video games, as the USK's (Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle) ratings have been made obligatory and only games that did not receive a rating can be placed on the index. Before 2003-04-01 these ratings had been merely suggestions for gamers and the index was the only way to control sales. Now violent games which received an 18+ rating can be sold openly in stores, but the stores are responsible for checking the buyers' age. The self-censorship described above has also decreased because of this. Companies still employ it because a 16+ rating can improve sales, but it is not as excessive as it used to be.

Moreover, because of Germany's law banning public displays of Nazism and the swastika, some games have been banned for using these symbols, even though the rationale behind their use is clearly critical of the Nazi philosophy. Games such as Wolfenstein 3D or Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, which involve Allied soldiers on missions to kill Nazi soldiers, are banned. Although a censored version of Return to Castle Wolfenstein was released in Germany, the original Wolfenstein 3D remains illegal. It should be noted that confiscations of video games based on this law are not common, and most of the confiscated games are openly racist homebrews like KZ Manager.

The display of Nazi symbols in an accurate historical context is permitted. This applies especially to World War II films, which are classified as art and thus exempt from this ban. Video games however are not considered art. There are few World War II video games that are deemed to be historically accurate, but the backgrounds of titles such as Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Call of Duty and Commandos: Beyond The Call of Duty do operate on a historical background, even if the storylines of the games are exaggerated or fictional. Nonetheless, the symbols were removed, although all other references to the Nazis were kept.

In September 2006, due to its graphic violence, the USK has refused to rate the Xbox 360 game Dead Rising. Microsoft does not allow unrated games to be published for the Xbox 360, effectively suspending the production of a German version of the game. The game is available as an import to players of legal age. The same fate occurred to Gears of War as well as Crackdown.

In July 2002, the Greek Parliament passed Greek Law Number 3037, entirely outlawing electronic gaming. This controversial law has been frowned upon, not only in Greece, but elsewhere in Europe and in the United States, and petitions were made against it. In December 2003 it was restricted to only affect Internet cafes in accordance with a letter from the European Union.Now everybody can play free in Internet Cafe's.

In Italy some sporadic attempts at video game censorship have been made. The game Carmageddon was censored when first released, showing zombies instead of people and green blood. This censorship was not applied to the sequels, and apparently even the first game was re-released into its original form after some time; When Resident Evil 2 was released in 1998, it was banned from stores after a protest made by a group of conservative mothers, but it reappeared after few days following the ruling of a judge. In November 2006 Italian politicians inaccurately attacked Rule of Rose for alleged violence against children perpetrated by the player.

The introduction of controversial games featuring photo-realistic images, such as Mortal Kombat and Night Trap, led to calls from the tabloid press for games to fall under the Video Recordings Act. The UK games publisher trade body ELSPA responded by introducing a voluntary age rating system in 1994. The ELSPA ratings were succeeded by the PEGI, in 2003. Nevertheless, although games are generally exempt from the Video Recordings Act, those depicting sexual content, or gross violence towards people or animals, must still be submitted to the BBFC for consideration. BBFC ratings are legally binding, and British law imposes stiff penalties on retailers who sell to under-aged customers.

Carmageddon, in which the gameplay involved mowing down innocent pedestrians, was the first game to be refused classification in 1997, effectively banning it. The game's publisher, SCI, had a modified version created in which the pedestrians in question were replaced by green-blooded zombies, which completed a successful appeal against the BBFC to overturn their original decision. The uncensored, unmodified version of Carmageddon was later released under an 18-certificate.

In 2002 the IO Interactive game Hitman 2: Silent Assassin was withdrawn by a number of retailers due to religious sensitivities. The area in question involved a Sikh sect that were depicted as terrorists involved in arms smuggling and assassination. It also involved a section that many Sikhs believed to closely resemble the 1984 massacre at the Amritsar temple.

In 2004, the parents of a murdered 14-year-old boy blamed Manhunt as having been "connected" to the murder. It was later found not to be, as the game was found in the victim's home, rather than the killer's. Leicestershire police "did not uncover any connections to the computer game." The accusations prompted some retailers to remove the game from their shelves. Nevertheless, following this incident the sales of the game rose due to the free publicity from newspaper headlines. The sequel, Manhunt 2, released in 2007, was banned in the UK by the BBFC. On appeal to the Video Appeals Committee this ruling was overturned however the BBFC launched a successful judicial review into the VAC's decision, forcing the VAC to reconsider its judgement. On 14th March 2008, the VAC again recommended that the game be released, a position to which the BBFC have now agreed. The game now, according to Play.com the game is now reportedly available on 29/08/2008 on all 3 consoles and is available to pre-order.

In June 2007 the PS3 game Resistance: Fall of Man was criticized for the use of Manchester cathedral as one of the games' backdrops. Sony, the publisher of the game, responded by saying "Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is aware of the concerns expressed by the Bishop of Manchester and the cathedral authorities... and we naturally take the concerns very seriously. Resistance: Fall of Man is a fantasy science fiction game and is not based on reality. We believe we have sought and received all permissions necessary for the creation of the game."