While many of the news outlets are running stories today about the Supreme Court decisions involving free speech, many of us are looking at related issues that run close to home. Manhunt 2 has been rated as AO by the ESRB, and both Sony and Nintendo responded that they weren’t going to have any AO titles on their systems. At the same time, England’s advisory board refused to rate it because of content, thus making sales of it illegal. Meanwhile, the ESRB has been actively working to control content on the Internet by asking for online trailers to be removed due to mature content.
I first have to say that the ESRB is in a pretty difficult position. They are a self-regulatory board, which means they aren’t a government institution. They are often pressured by governmental forces to take greater stands against violent and sexual content in video games, and are constantly assaulted by local and national legislation restricting the content altogether. The ESRB’s position is that the rating system in place should be enforced so that children do not have access to questionable material, and adults still have the chance to buy the material they want. At the same time, the ESRB is a bit like the MPAA, in that the ratings that they hand down do not have a particularly structured code that they follow to assign ratings, and the whole process can feel quite arbitrary. While they have no governmental power, the ESRB can do major damage to game’s sales, and even (like with Manhunt 2) effectively kill the game based on its rating. (I highly recommend the movie This Film is Not Yet Rated about the MPAA and its use of NC-17.)
Gamers, as a whole, don’t like being told what they cannot do. The rating of Manhunt 2 has caused some outrage, at least over at Destructoid that has been doing quite a bit of coverage on these issues. At the same time, there are a few people who come out of the woodwork to say “It’s only a game!”
Ultimately, if games are to come into their own as the art form that I’ve argued they are, it’s important that there are not massive creative restrictions. There’s already a weird balancing act between creativity and business concerns, especially when it comes to high budget video games that are now such a huge industry. Certain ideas need big budgets, and big budgets are only given to those that the company thinks will make back that money by being sold in stores. Games are only going to be sold in stores if the ESRB gives the go ahead.
And a bigger question, of course, is where does it end? As mentioned before, there’s no magic checklist as to what gets rated what- in video games, movies, anything. Nor is there any cross-media overlap: films like Hostel and Saw get rated R (instead of the kiss of death NC-17) whereas Manhunt 2, which according to many, is much more tame than either of those two movies. Maybe the argument can be made that video games, because of their interactive nature, require extra standards. But the research doesn’t seem to bear that out, and indeed, some studies have been made into the cathartic benefits of video games.
While we have touched on the subject of video game violence before, especially how it seems to be blamed for all of society’s ills, this recent spate seems to represent a pretty major shift in any progress that was being made towards loosening the restrictions. Anti-game crusaders may not have the media and politicians as much as they once did, but we are still fighting an uphill battle. Video game censorship cuts across party lines, almost universally for censorship. It’s just not sexy enough an issue to matter on the campaign trail, and a worried mother is far more likely to vote than a Halo 2-playing-20-something.
What I find the most bizarre about the most recent developments is Sony and Nintendo’s until now hidden policy of not carrying any AO games. Nintendo stated specifically that they were courting publishers to make more mature games for the Wii to try to shake off their “kiddie image.” And Sony… I mean, come on! High definition violence with guns is fine, high definition violence with sharp objects is not?
It’s unfortunate that all the news appears to be universally bad, with seemingly no way to reverse the trend. Maybe gamers will get to the point where they move beyond just posting outrage-filled comments online, and manage to mobilize behind such ideas as Gamers for Gaming. It might also help if some charismatic leaders were to actively mobilize the base (you listening, Penny Arcade guys?) But for now, the future looks bleak for a non-watered down Manhunt 2.
Considering there were Turok games for the N64 which featured a weapon called the Cerebral Bore, in which a missle/drill bored into your opponent’s head as blood gush out in a stream, Nintendo definitely seems to be making over-arching statements when they should simply be condemning Manhunt 2. The fact that a wii controller could, reasonably, be used as a real life garrotte makes some sense, but that’s the next step of interaction that we love about the system!
The crap part of the whole thing is that a Mature rating is 17+ while Adults Only is exactly that, Adults Only which at least here in the US means 18+ It should really be put into perspective to everyone that the difference between these ratings is so negligible that the whole thing becomes ridiculous. If retailers will sell Mature rated games but not AO, then the AO rating really becomes nothing more then a blacklist of games that should be avoided at all costs.
I’m pretty pleased about this, actually. There has GOT to be a line somewhere – creative freedom is one thing, but there’s a point where creativity ends and sensationalism begins. I’m off to work in a sec, but I’ll be happy to expand upon my thoughts this evening 🙂
Yea…the MPAA is indirectly to blame…
Since the dawn of NC-17, it has been avoided at all costs since tv, theaters, and most other mediums will not advertise such films…Showgirls tried to beat that rating by convincing newspapers to show their ads and getting theaters to play it…it may well have broken the taboo against NC-17 movies…had it not sucked…
I want to picket an important building somewhere…
Bartoneus: Yep, the AO rating seems only designed to be a death sentence.
Suc: While I disagree that there has to be a line, the point here is that there are worse things out there than Manhunt 2 that are rated R, so this type of censorship is inconsistent at best.
Mike: The MPAA is also to blame for the kind of operating procedures the ESRB chose to emulate, which are flawed.
There is a line, and whether or not you think it needs to exist, that line is called the Mature rating. Rather than create a whole rating that is simply a dead end, can’t they simply refuse to rate it which would force the company to re-work the product?
From what I can tell, the fault here lies squarely in Nintendo/Sony’s lap. I mean, the ESRB, flawed as it is, felt this game warranted an AO rating, but they DID NOT KNOW it would result in the game being banned on two platforms. As far as I can tell (and I’m not 100% sure) that announcement was made after the game got the rating. Its tantamount to a movie being rated “R+” and then every major cinema chain decling to show it. While its dissappointing for Manhunt fans, this is the industry shooting itself in the foot rather than the typical ignorant interference by non-gamers that I cannot stand.
For some reason, possibly purely the interactive aspect, I view uber-gore movies like Hostel far below uber-gore videogames like Manhunt, but maybe that’s also my bias on holding movies to higher standards than I do most videogames.
Bartoneus: I’m talking about the line that exists at the upper end of the spectrum. I agree that there are things that should be AO rated, and games SHOULD be produced that are AO, and furthermore, I should be able to purchase the game as a responsible adult. Or else, as you suggest, what’s the point of having the rating?
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As to your interactive claim, I highly recommend checking this out: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=24250
“People who do not play games raise concerns about their engrossing nature, assuming that players are also emotionally engrossed. This research suggest the opposite – a range of factors seem to make them less emotionally involving than film or television,”
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MainEvent: How do you feel about the BBFC refusing to rate Manhunt 2, thus making it unreleasable in the UK? Or the ESRB now working to censor internet video trailers?
DAMNIT! I was really looking forward to Manhunt 2. I completely agree with Bartoneus in that the line should be with the mature rating. I say this with what my understanding of the rating, that is, the games cannot be bought if under 18 without a parent/guardian present. Is this right? I know there are some irresponsible parents out there, but it should still be their decision. I also back what The Game said and recommend seeing This Film Not Yet Rated.
As an aside, AO has always been my favorite rating because it’s my initials :P. Also, when was the last time a game received the rating and which game was it?
ESRB is overstepping its bounds censoring internet trailers, although ‘rating’ trailers would be OK. As for GB’s decision not to rate something, that’s governmental action, and I alluded to that the fact that I wold not be too thrilled with that.
O: The “AO” rating has only been used twice before. Once on a game that was never released, and the “Hot Coffee”-d GTA was retroactively re-rated AO, causing it to be recalled from shelves. The functional difference between Mature (supposedly can only be sold to those 17+) and AO is apparently nothing.
You’re actually way wrong Dave, according to Wikipedia there have been 24 games rated AO, mostly for the computer. Most of htem look like playboy or pornographic games but still, the rating has been used more then twice but it is still amazingly sparse.
You’re right, what I should have said was only two violent games have been rated AO. And GTA was for both violence and sex.
Isn’t this an issue of corporate censorship? Corporations bowing to the whims of other more powerful corporations?
Despite the AO rating, stores should still carry it…it’s the responsibility of the parent not to buy such a game for their kid…
I’d whine some more, but I’m busy and concise…