With the announcement last week by the NPD that the video game industry has vastly surpassed the movie industry in overall revenue growth, rising by 28.4% compared to the movies meager 1.8% in the U.S., the dawn of a new era is upon us.
Video games can no longer be considered children's toys or a passing fad, like the slinky. It seems that the games with which we grew up and still enjoy today are entering the mainstream of American culture. And kicking a little ass in the process.
The financial reports released late last week state that video games are now a 18.85 billion dollar a year industry, which is still expanding year by year with no end in sight. With so much money being raked in, the spotlight was inevitable. It was only a matter of time before video games became a hot topic of discussion.
Around water coolers throughout America, co-workers compare their high-scores in "Wii Sports: Bowling.” In bars everywhere, groups of friends gather to rock out to "Guitar Hero” and "Rock Band”. Online players from around the world compete in everything from free-for-all death matches in "Halo 3? to gridiron clashes in "Madden”. Regardless of what you might think, it is not only America's favorite pastime, it is quickly becoming the world's favorite way to relax and unwind too.
With the increasing popularity of video games, an unfortunate paradigm has emerged. One in which the mainstream media feels no obligation to handle themselves with integrity, or honesty. One in which gamers are depicted as fat, lazy, violent, uneducated slobs, and in the opinion of many detractors, video games are to blame for an epidemic of listless youth wasting their lives staring at TV's, inviting their brains to turn to mush.
With the alarmists at a feverish pitch this week over the Microsoft published "Mass Effect” for the Xbox 360, the tactics of a major news organization were laid bare for all of the world to see. And what we saw was an ugly attack on an innocent game that has done nothing but attempt to push the bounds of artistic expression in a blooming medium, which is just now starting to evolve from its primitive roots into a bona fide vehicle for compelling storytelling and narrative delivery. It would seem they have picked the wrong game to attack.
As most of you know, Fox News recently aired a segment attempting to stir controversy over the popular game released in November, claiming that the game was marketed towards kids and included scenes of graphic full frontal nudity and the ability to engage in graphic sexual encounters. The controversy, dubbed "Sexbox”, showed a quote by Microsoft brass stating that they felt they were very responsible in their approach to content control, and that the onus was on the parents to monitor their kids behavior.
A "debate” began between popular games journalist Geoff Keighley and Cooper Lawrence, author of the recently published book, The Cult of Perfection (oh the irony, lol). Lawrence incorrectly cited a Maryland Study, "Boys that play video games cannot tell the difference between what they are seeing in the game and what they see in the real world, if they don't have a real experience…” and earlier stated that games prompted adolescent boys "to see women as these objects of desire, these hot bodies…” I'm pretty sure puberty does that all by itself, with little to no help from video games. But, whatever
She later recanted her statements, revealing "Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it's like pornography.” Additionally she added that after seeing the game played for about 2.5 hours, regretted ever making her comments. Keighley for his part defended the game admirably, pointing out the brief sexual encounter revealed "the side of an alien boob” and was "about 2 minutes out of a 30-hour experience.”
Although targets in the past like "Mortal Kombat”, "Grand Theft Auto”, "Bully”, and "Manhunt” (the last 3 published by maverick pop-cult favorite-RockStar Games) may have been easy pickings due to their visceral depictions of violence or wayward sexuality, "Mass Effect” is a modern day soap opera, set in a fictional universe akin to "Star Wars” or "FireFly”. And in no way could, or should be held up as an example of degenerate trash.
The story which aired on Fox News not only misrepresented the game and it's content but also seemed to go out of it's way to tarnish video games as a whole, with a round table discussion after the initial debate piece where clearly uneducated individuals weighed in with their opinions on not only the game itself, which none of them had actually ever played, but about various topics related to the industry.
For example, one woman on the program wanted to know why this game "…didn't get an adults only rating….?” and then went on to state that the ESRB, "…needs to have it's head examined”, insinuating that there needs to be stricter controls put in place to restrict the access kids have to mature games. She then went on to state that this all "made her feel old.” Another example had one of the commentators pressing the point, "Who can argue that Luke Skywalker meets Debbie does Dallas is a good thing? It's just not.” Is this what passes as intelligent debate in this country nowadays?
Given Fox News' history, I suspect intelligent debate was not really their objective, but what was the point? To smear a beautiful game for the sake of it? Ratings? Boredom? Or is something much more sinister afoot? And why does it seem that every time the video game industry is covered in the mainstream press there is convolution, distortion and a disturbing lack of responsibility.
In a time when so much reporting is required to be transparent, somehow video games are not deserving of the same respect that other entertainment industry's receive.
However, money talks and one can only hope that attitudes will change over time. As reported a little over a week ago, the ESA has formed a political action committee in an attempt to gain some footing with the people who most directly effect change: lawmakers. But that is municipal. The people who effect people's opinions oftentimes are not necessarily the people in Washington, but rather the producers of news conglomerates in Hollywood, New York City, and the countless staff of newspapers throughout the country. And they have a a duty to the masses to be fair and balanced in their coverage.
Why exactly video games are being held up to a different standard is another important question that demands attention. Why is "Mass Effect”, "Call of Duty 4?, or "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” viewed any differently than movies like "Star Wars”, "Saving Private Ryan”, or "Scarface”? The corollary seems obvious to gamers, but to the average person who has not played these games there is a difference.
The argument is often made that the difference is that games offer you the opportunity to engage first hand in acts of violence or sexual situations, and therefore must be treated as a possible trigger for destructive behaviors. But as comedian David Cross once famously asked, "What were the violent video games that Hitler played as a kid?”
The point being made is that complicated issues are rarely explained by oversimplification and scapegoating. Violence, and people's attitudes towards other people are rarely a reaction to art, but art usually is a reaction to violence and ignorance and therefore a very necessary part of human culture. Humans are by nature violent, and obsessed with sex. It's in our DNA to be aggressive. Society has bred us to be different from what our instincts tell us, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But it is what it is.
As cavemen we were driven to procreate as much as possible in order to keep our gene pool alive, giving our tribes a better chance for survival. Likewise, if something threatened our existence we were driven to protect ourselves and those around us from harm. Human nature and instinct are so deeply ingrained in us that you can't expect a few thousand years of civility to change that.
If anything, video games allow people to live out those instincts without fear of repercussions, and therefore should be viewed as a healthy outlet for the darker side of humanity that cannot be suppressed. But that is just my opinion, and I am willing to say without a problem that which is my opinion (I'm a evolutionist obviously). The problem with the media is that often times opinion is presented as fact, mixed with inaccuracies presented as facts, with perhaps a fact or two mixed in, and packaged into a two-minute format that is heavily influenced by the powers that be.
The current industries of old; television, movies and newsprint, are all aware. They are aware of the movement which video games represent in the new millenium as a vehicle for evolving the mediums they began. $18.85 billion dollars can't be ignored. Television and movies have held the crown for storytelling since the playhouses took a back seat to the technology that emerged in the 20th century. Music has been a primary source of emotional venting, core to how we relate to the outside world and newspapers have told the story of what was happening in a rapidly changing world. Video games affect the bottom line of all these industries.
Technology is evolving so quickly that the old guard is being put to rest right now. This is a trasformative time, a transition period between what was, and what will be. Video games represent a catalyst for that change in the same way the internet does, and they're scared to death of that change.
The rise of the internet, people's access to alternative forms of media distribution, and the ease with which people are getting this stuff scares the hell out of them. Fox doesn't want you to spend 30 hours playing "Mass Effect” because that's 15 movies you didn't watch. Or 30-60 shows you didn't see. And that's revenue out of their pockets.
And that's the bottom line.
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