Metaverse Staff Op-ed: Violence In Games

The game industry went through a significant change after the original joint hearings of 1993 (“Video Game Violence” Senate hearing, check out the C-Span VIDEO). The hearings were mostly emphasized on games with digitized humans, with the thought process being that it would teach our kids to be violent, racist, and even sexiest. These hearings had two major outcomes:

• Any game mentioned in the hearings was immediately popularized. If it was controversial enough to be in a hearing then it became a must have game.
• From these events also came the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board), a non-profit, self-regulatory body (and Metaverse partner), which was established to independently assign ratings, enforce advertising guidelines, and help ensure responsible online privacy practices.

This tribunal would not be the last for the industry with many more attacks to come. Additional hearings that took place in 1999, after a multitude of school shootings and violent crimes were committed by teenagers. These crimes started to occur as far back as 1997, but with the overwhelming atrocity of the Columbine shootings, parents and government officials were outraged, and they needed someone to blame. News broke that the two boys who carried out the shootings were avid fans of the game Doom.  Who better to blame than the gaming industry?

Doom is a first person shooter where players shoot and kill enemies, but the game did not make these kids kill other human beings. A direct correlation between the shooters to the game was never made, and the hearings resulted with entertainment companies agreeing to be more conscientious about who buys their products or sees their movies.

The game industry will always be under fire in one way or another. There will continue to be more hearings and more controversial games, such as the Grand Theft Auto Series, Bully, and Manhunt. Politicians and parents will continue to use games as scapegoats.

There will always need to be direct parent interaction with kids who play games, violent or not.  Despite any graphic nature of the game itself, many companies do care, and hire us to help protect the game community.  We, at Metaverse Mod Squad, cannot change the content of the games we play but we are here to help make the games you and/or your kids play online a safer and healthy environment…. it’s what we do. We work with clients to review interactions, moderation behaviors, and help make the best experience.

Whatever the eventual outcome between the game industry and its opposition, people do care.  If you are curious about your child’s game, do some research!  Check and see what the company/game policies are, and talk to your child about the content of the game.  Being active in your child’s gaming habits is the first step to building a great relationship, and a healthy gamer.

David Follo
Metaverse Mod Squad
Project Manager