EA defends Bulletstorm from Fox pundit allegations
Publisher "stands by the ESRB" as writer accuses game of encouraging sex crime
EA has responded to accusations levelled at forthcoming shooter Bulletstorm by a Fox newscaster, who alleged that the game could well be linked to increasing levels of violence and sex crime.
In his article "Is Bulletstorm the worst video game in the world?", John Brandon asked a number of talking heads to speculate on the possible impact of Bulletstorm's violent nature and sometimes sexual phraseology, expressing concern that "with kids as young as 9 playing such games", psychological damage could be devastating.
One commentator, author Carol Lieberman, went as far as to assert that "The increase in rapes can be attributed in large part to the playing out of [sexual] scenes in video games," whilst offering no evidence for her position. Comments from industry analyst M2's Billy Pigeon, meanwhile, were revealed to have been edited extremely selectively.
EA has pointed out that the ESRB ratings system has judged Bulletstorm to be a "M" for mature rated title, suitable for ages 17 upward only - a fact clearly displayed on packaging and advertising. The publisher issued a statement to this effect to Game Informer, making its position clear.
"Epic, People Can Fly and EA are avid supporters of the ESA and believe in the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) rating system. We believe in and abide by the policies put in place by the ESRB," the statement read.
"Bulletstorm is rated M for Mature for blood and gore, intense violence, partial nudity, sexual themes, strong language and use of alcohol. The game and its marketing adhere to all guidelines set forth by the ESRB; both are designed for people 17+. Never is the game marketed to children.
"Epic, People Can Fly and EA support the right of artists to create works of entertainment fiction for consumers of all ages, including adults who enjoy action adventures like Bulletstorm. Much like Tarantino's Kill Bill or Rodriguez's Sin City, this game is an expression of creative entertainment for adults."
However, Lieberman responded by pointing out that, as the system isn't always enforced at retail, it serves little purpose, allowing young children access to inappropriate content. Britain's own set of ratings, the PEGI system, is currently under debate, having undergone several delays.
There has been a long history of demonisation for gaming in the British press and political arena, too. Labour MP Keith Vaz has issued more than one crusade against gaming, although even he has recently moderated his position, and believes that parents should hold the lion's share of responsibility.
More recently, Minister for Culture, Media and Sport Ed Vaizey has said that parliament needs to move on from only discussing games as an issue of violence.
Yes been here before.. Fox and their talking heads have pulled this before with Mass Effect.
Personally, I found the demo rather fun.
Just about says it all really. As for "the system isn't enforced at retail" I fail to see how we (the industry) can be held accountable for that.
My question to her would be "where are these 9 year olds parents while their kids are playing Bulletstorm?"
[link url=http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=3905371
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In a more serious tone though, I believe this to be yet one more chapter in a problem that's essentially related to the gap in "electronic knowledge" between the average parent and the average child nowadays.
From a few years now people have been growing amidst technology, games and, of course, the internet. So that people like probably all of us here, understand the dangers, possibilities and social dynamics of the digital world.
What comes to my mind is how I am constantly laughing at the phishing attempts that come to my e-mail and how instantly disgusted I was when I saw that Blizzard forced me display my real name on my SC2 profile, under pretty much the certainty that "the internet is a bad place with bad people and I don't want my personal information made public in such an environment".
Yet these are alien lines of thought and understand for many of those people. The problem is that although "the old media" thrives on overreacting to this, it is a reality that the children who are growing NOW are doing so immersed in this world and this world DOES have many dangers. When you were young your father and mother taught you to look forward when riding a bicycle and not down. To never take candy from strangers and to avoid deserted places at night. However those children are pretty much on their own when it comes to learning how to deal with the dangers in this world of which their parents are pretty much oblivious.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Jehferson Wohllerz Curupana da Rocha e Mello on 9th February 2011 8:54pm
There are some colorful quotes about Fox in Futurama that fit them really well :)
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Private on 9th February 2011 8:49pm
Okay, maybe very good is a bit strong. It would be all right. Sometimes.
I can really imagine the same parents that use this to claim games are evil - are probably the same parents who don't look on the game box for the age rating.
On the other hand, for EA - this is fabulous PR - gotta be loving the free (if direly misinformed) advertising.
I asked my fiancée - who's in school for her Psychiatry post-grad while moonlighting as a writer - how she would have been handled if she had put this kind of statement out there, with that level of proof (read: none). Her response: "The derisive scorn directed my way would probably be enough to send me flying out of the room."
I could understand an argument like "Picking up hookers, having sex with them, then killing them to get your money back doesn't teach good values" (aka GTA), but c'mon, really? A close, romantic relationship between two people in high-stress situations does lead to one inevitable conclusion. I think it's exactly how sex should be shown to kids these days.
i thought we were beyond this finger pointing by now.
but i've no doubt in my mind that this reporter is completely right in their claims, it's the exact same with fifa games and the huge increase in fouls committed during matches
I think that the problem here is with the cathartic nature of gaming. When you have an entire group of human beings in an audience in a movie theater, you have a group anger, love, or fear etc. depending on the movies plot.
In the gaming industry the movie theater has an enormous audience, potentially millions playing at any given time. After all, gaming is, in fact, a reality that does not take place until the device is turned on.
So, in essence, when one starts up a game, one has sat down in a dark movie theater with millions of others and cannot get up from the screen because no one wants anyone standing up in the middle of the movie. This results in uber aggression as the player synchronizes him/herself with the audience.
Frequent breaks created by musical interludes (and my favorite, drinking a gallon of water before gaming to let the bladder rule) will keep the player from being overwhelmed as each game becomes an individual and unique modality.
It is up to the gaming community to introduce this to their audience so that they are not held hostage by their fellow 'licensees'. Call of Duty has been very good at this, by creating 'Acts' and 'Scenes' to portion the mass hysteria into palatable slices.
The game does not necessarily have to be violent to induce anger, take for example Rollercoaster Tycoon, where the learning curve created much anger and frustration within the audience.
It is however, up to the parents to educate the young about catharsis generated emotions from others, once they are aware of this, i.e. that it is not 'them' but everyone playing the game, will they have a better perspective.
Unfortunately many of the parents and Politicians still think that cartoons are evil. From personal experience, I have found that most cannot even operate a computer or prefer bigger games, like the stock market, or politics.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by J. Goldmaker on 10th February 2011 1:46am
Don't get me wrong, this is not to educate parents. It is to educate stupid uninformed journalists, so they can finally stop criticizing violent/suggestive games that are clearly not meant for children!
How is it that these positions can even be given merit, when the research behind them wouldn't be at an acceptable level for a 1st year uni student?
I'm so sick of well argued, logical debaits being rebutted by morons saying "do you really wanna take the chance that your children will be rapist serial killers?"
The term "witch hunt" seems perfectly applicable, when the industry has to go through Salamesque trials of "if we throw the games industry into a river, and it sinks, and violence doesn't decrease, then it must have been innocent" when really games are today's scapegoat for violence, becuase the actual causes of violence are too complex, and too difficult to fix.
But then, everyone reading this can ignore it, becuase you all know this already.
F*** Faux News
I'll be your figurehead of head and animosity.
It would force then to research a litle bit before making this kind of "news".
Andre
At which stage do you blame the parents for not teaching their children to be bloody children? Speak when spoken to, eat your greens, do your homework, go to bed on time, don't pull your sisters hair.
Dear EA,
My 9 year old went into our bedroom pulled out my 9mm, shot his sister, raped his mother, blew up a train and launched our countries nuclear weapons at Iran because he hates muslims. It is all your fault, it was your responsibility to be a parent to my child. Now I'm going to sue you for a $1million.
Kind regards.
(this is the massively edited version, due to the 9 year old readership of course, sigh)
But is it even possible to prove the consequences of playing any particular title? You can always counter-argue that if potential rapists and murderers weren't playing sexually explicit and violent games, where do you think they'd go to get their kicks? What else can you do but release a 'kitten stomping' game in selected locations and monitor kitten death rates (erm, joke btw! I like alive kittens, dislike dead ones).
The bible and other 'holy' books are horrendously violent - are they restricted? No. Yet how many violent crimes have been a direct result of someone's belief derived from doctrine, and proveably so. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone".
The truth of the matter is some people are mal-adjusted, usually as a result of abuse at a young age. These people only need a 'trigger' to set them off, whether it be a computer game, a movie, a book, peer pressure or whatever. If parents (and schools) raise their children properly, teach them about morals, ethics, social responsibility and such, then those parents will have nothing to worry about.
Sadly and increasingly, many parents abandon their children to computer games rather than spend time with them. Children are left to figure our their own morals and ethics based on not only computer games, but what they see on TV - such as the mega-rich superstars struting in their underwear, being sexually provocative, doing drugs, frivoulously spending millions and divorcing each other left-right-and-center.
Hell, even our own governments obviously condone violence, when you see all the wars and police brutaility on the news.
Seriously though, I find it unbelievable the amount of BS these people come out with, and all I can say really is that If Bulletstorm is the worst game ever then I'm going to have a very bad game in my collection and I look forward to playing said worst game very much indeed!!
I’m at the age now where I can say that I’ve been playing games for a few decades (Since the ZX81, vic-20 etc) and I’ve not once had any desire to go rape or kill at all, I’ve had loads of times where I could have thrown the controller through the tv though, but that’s it, never any urges to do harm to anyone, even as a 6ft 2" 22stone ex close-protection / bodyguard I've no desire at all..
These people need to realise that because gaming is a massive entertainment sector that there will of course be the minority that may have a screw loose and want to harm others, but i'm sure that scenes in games such as ME2 and Heavy Rain, Fable III with the choice of protected or unprotected sex or even the pixelated bodypart scenes in Kane & Lynch 2 wouldn't be the trigger any more than a hollywood blockbuster could be!!
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Pete Thompson on 10th February 2011 11:27am
Such stories come up with surprising regularity judging from the feeling of deja-vu I got when reading the article. I didn't think that would hit the news again.
Now if you'll excuse me - I just played ME2 and have the sudden desire to find me some blue alien chicks to rape (that was a joke by the way, in case someone gets the idea of using it as evidence for the next games-are-evil article)...