Censorship in Video Games

Photo by Mathew Rym on Unsplash

Everyone knows the game Mortal Kombat. Developed by Midway Games in 1992, the video game ended up being synonymous with violence. How many of you know of the other two video games that are responsible for bringing about the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)? Mortal Kombat, Night Trap, and Lethal Enforcers brought the early 90’s to a screeching halt and Senate hearing dates were put in place to talk about the issue of violence in gaming. People were scared, for their kids and for themselves.

Things were changing so fast: MTV was mainstream, rap and rock were popular and video games were evolving at an alarming rate.

The Parents Music Resource Center made a list of 15 songs they labelled as the Filthy Fifteen, demanding that these songs be banned from ever being played on radio. Television was walloped by parental groups, as well. While these forms of media were under fire by parents, so was the video game industry.

“Lacking its own ingenuity, the parasite fears the visionary. What it cannot plagiarize, it seeks to censor. What it cannot regulate, it seeks to ban." - Andrew Ryan

Owned by Irrational Games

Because of all this scare and fear in the media in addition to the political aspect, people started to demand more information. The government gave the video game industry two choices: one was to create their own rating system, one that could inform parents and children just what kind of content was in the game. The other choice was to allow the government to set up a rating system of their own. Many people disliked the idea; people called it censorship, with few people believing that the industry was doing an effective job policing itself. Sadly, the other side of this debate was much louder — many wanted video game producers to quit making graphic video games.

This resulted in the formation of the ESRB, an independent organization. People on either side of the debate raised concerns that the standalone watchdog would start pushing to silence creators for their ideology or their inclusiveness, as Abdul R. Siddiqui points out in his own conversation of the censorship in video games.

For those who do not know the ratings of the ESRB, they are:
E - For everyone,
E10+ - For children above the age of 10,
T - For Teens,
M - for Mature (17+), and finally:
AO - Adult only.

Currently there are only 27 AO-rated games, and you cannot get them in any store. Most retailers will not sell games with an AO rating.

I am sure many of you are wondering why am I so fixated on the ESRB when there are other organizations like it around the world. Well, for me it's rather simple: where do we draw the line when we put an age restriction on art?

Owned by Naughty Dog

Video games are an art form and there is a large movement to have the medium recognized as such. To a majority of gamers, these games force us to experience another person's life. Or a play that gamers can directly control. Or a symphony to inspire tears. Or a novel that can make you fall in love. Or cinematography that could rival the greatest of cinema. (And also — how great is this scene?!)

I can understand putting ratings on video games. You cannot expect a 10-year-old to go through the streets of Rapture in Bioshock and be able to pick up on Ayn Rand’s philosophies. You cannot expect a child to understand the connection of a father to a daughter like in The Last of Us. These games make gamers think, feel and experience something that they themselves can direct. How can we allow art to be held back from fully realizing itself? By censoring video games, by making it unprofitable to express a story to its full conclusion, is that not infringing upon freedom of speech?  

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Art by my good friend, Ari.

Jacky-lulu

Hello reader, this is Jacky, a long time gamer and an admirer of the written word. As an Algonquin student, I have learned much in this program, and I can't wait to learn more. Here is hoping that it does not blow up in our face! Watch the train wreck as it happens in slow-mo.

Halloween Special, Horror Game Lineup

Photo by BESCHTE Photography on Unsplash

Good evening, boils and ghouls, to a beautiful and chilly October. How many of you have rituals for this hallowed autumn? With tomorrow being Halloween, some people like to carve a pumpkin and toast some seeds, while others want to turn on a horror movie to get the spooks going.

Like many of you, I love being scared. There have been some studies as to why humans enjoy the thrills and chills, chemicals bouncing around in our brains to the point where we want to laugh and scream. Margee Kerr Ph.D. studies the science behind fear and how it gets us going.

I am not going to talk about science. No, I am here to talk about the video games that give me the creepy heebeegeebees. These are the games that I replay through the years without a doubt, and still get the same feeling of fear now as when I first played them.

In the order, here are my ‘Top Seven Horror Games.’ Do keep in mind that these are my personal preferences - and everyone has their own ideas of what scares them.

property of ea

#7 Alice: Madness Returns.

Everyone has heard of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll, but how many of you have ever seen McGee’s take on the classic tale? Back in the 2000s, McGee came out with a macabre video game version of the children's book where the players follow Alice through ‘Wonderland’ while she tries to get over the loss of her family and her sanity.

In Madness Returns, Alice believes she was the one that accidentally set the house on fire and killed her family. Throughout her travels, something tries to stop her from uncovering the truth. It's up to Alice, and the player, to discover what really happened that night, and maybe find justice for her lost family. The scares in Alice: Madness Returns lie more with Alice trying to figure out what is real and what is madness. As she goes through Wonderland, she finds that it has been tampered with from an outside force. The game demonstrates what lengths people will go to in order to hide their true colours.

What I cherish most about this game is the atmosphere and art. The graphics are phenomenal and well stylized. The mood of the game, the battle for truth, and the fear of the living is what always draws me to replay the game over and over again.

Property of Koei Tecmo and nintendo

#6 Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

Crimson Butterfly is a stand alone from previous Fatal Frame games. Two sisters, Mio and Mayu, want to visit their childhood get-away before new construction destroys the place.

The pair get lost and end up on the outskirts of the what they believe to be ‘The Forgotten Village.’ The twins must find a way to escape before they are made to repeat history. With only a camera as a defence, the game puts you on the edge with how powerless you are in the face of the dead.

The frights in Crimson Butterfly are intense, the atmosphere and the looming sense of dread hang over the whole game. As you and your sister wonder through the village, made to bear witness to how the town became lost in the first place.

The game is dripping with cultural heritage from Japan. Not only does it scream at the top of the hills about its love and respect for the afterlife, but the mastery of suspense and beautifully crafted jump-scares are phenomenal. If anyone has an enjoyment for Asian horror, this is the game for you.

Owned by XSEED Games

#5 Corpse Party

Oh, Corpse Party, a game that is steeped in Japanese horror; it borders on stereotypical and yet is original and innovative. Don’t bother with the anime; after watching the first episode I could tell it was not going to hold a candle to the game. (Sadly, that is not news when it comes to video game adaptations.)

The game starts with a group of high school students telling ghost stories in their homeroom after dark, when an earthquake transforms the school into an old, decrepit place. Playing as each of the people trapped in this school you, the player, must choose how to get out. Can you save these kids from a fate worse than death?

Corpse Party is a unique game than from what other people are used to. It was originally made from the ‘RPG Maker software,’ a tool used for anyone to create a story for the public. Because of RPG Maker, a lot of indie titles have been made and each of them bringing their own unique take on horror.

Scares in Corpse Party lean towards the gory and unsightly, so those with weak stomachs should maybe look elsewhere for their scare enjoyment. The easiest way to tell if you will like Corpse Party is if you can watch the ‘Saw’ movies. With a profound mystery under it and the need to survive, each choice you make could greatly affect the outcome. Each time you play it feels like an exciting new playthrough.

PROPERTY OF Konami

#4 Silent Hill 2

A man receives a letter from his departed wife, telling him that she is waiting in the town of ‘Silent Hill.’ What else is there to do but to go and investigate? James Sunderland is on a quest to find his wife, Mary. Only to meet with strange characters in a town filled with feminine monsters... all but one monster, that is.

To tell you more about the story would be a disservice to the game. The scares in Silent Hill are a beautiful combination of psychological horror, mood, and story that turns the side characters into fully fleshed-out people. Everyone in this game is human, and because of this, the game has something no other Silent Hill has been able to do. When it comes to the game, it's all about symbolism; everything the game shows you has a reason for being there, and as you go through the game, all the puzzle pieces come together.

Some warnings for those faint of heart, Silent Hill 2 touches on some deep and dark subjects, such as: murder, lust, child molestation, rape, neglect, guilt, torture, and despair. The creators of the game went under the skin to give everyone a perspective on these weighty subjects, and this is one of the main reasons why I love the game so much.

Many people love Silent Hill 2, and call it a masterpiece. Others call it a perfect representation of clinical depression. The game always feels like it's going down deeper, and deeper into the darkness of humanity. It's one of those dark loving creations in the horror game genre that I can’t help but lose my mind over.

Property of KOuri

#3 Ib

Ever wanted to go to an art museum? After this game, tell me if you still want to go. In this RPG Maker game, you follow a girl named Ib. Her parents have taken her to ‘Guertena Weiss' art museum. Here, Ib can look around at some of the masterworks of the late Guertena Weiss. As she goes around, people suddenly disappear and Ib is transported from the museum into a world filled with murderous art.

Ib, and two others you come across in this madhouse, try to figure out how they came to be here and how to find a way out. Dark, surreal, creepy, and minimalistic in its way, a lot of players relate Ib with another RPG Maker game, Witches House. Like few RPG Maker games, they don’t try to jump scare you, they don’t try to outright frighten you. They work to haunt you, to make you remember them later, to come back again, and again, to go through the feelings these games can give you.

As you go deeper into the unknown, the museum twists and turns around you, changing its form into something surreal, beckoning you deeper to uncover more. Paintings change and talk, inanimate statues move and hunt after you, puzzles that are sometimes timed, and endless corridors, to get lost in. The game is a wonderful place to explore and immerse yourself fully within the dark setting.

The setting opens you up to let your curiosity run, all while the game is playful and tries to be unique in its own way. You never honestly feel safe, but the game shows so much colour and creativity that I can’t help but fall in love with the game and play it again.

Property of atlus

#2 Catherine

While we are on the subject of creative games, here is one I am pretty sure none of you would ever think would be scary. In your dreams, you are put into a puzzle game where you try to reach the top of a block grid. Easy, right? It does not sound that scary, does it? What if I told you that if you don’t reach the top before the last block falls, you die in real life?

This is the horror that our main character, Vincent, must go through. With hints of a curse, death, and commitment issues in his relationship, Vincent has to navigate through challenging times between his long-standing girlfriend, his friends, and another woman. The game itself is not what people would expect from a horror game, but while I was playing through it, I saw it as such.

The real horror is behind the pink-coloured story of lust, and love. Men affected by a curse, known as the “The Woman's Wrath“ we the players get to see how it changes them and how you can see it visibly warp them. That is the real horror of the game: scared people trying to survive are willing to do monstrous things. If you are looking for a mind-bending fright Catherine is your best bet.

Like with many other games on this list, I love this game for its creativity, stylized animation, its masterful use of music, and the subject matter. When I first got this game, I thought nothing about it other than the colour looked nice, and that it was on sale. Now, it has an honoured spot alongside games that I will always love and hold dear.

Property of World of Darkness

#1 Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines

If you have gotten this far, that means you have passed a mountain of text to get to my number one pick. This game that I want to talk about is one I swore I would write about in this blog somewhere and somehow, and now I can.

Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines came out when true RPG’s were hitting their stride. Fallout was making big splashes in the gaming community, as well as hitting new levels of popularity.

Vampire the Masquerade (or VTM, as it is well known,) had its problems with the creation of the game. Rushed programming, a deadline far too close to have it correctly set up, and terrible work conditions, that killed Troika Games.

Now I am sure many of you are asking “why are you talking about a failed game?”

Well dear friends, this game, much like a vampire itself, gained a second life.

The fans, programmers, artist, and people who just love the game and lore, poured their efforts together to create patches (in-game fixes) that update even to this month. People working together to fix bugs, and bring content back to full potential. VTM is a game that, once mentioned, someone reinstalls it.

This game brings the horrors of vampires to life, as the undead, among other supernatural beings, run wild. Everyone has problems that you are made to fix, and everyone has secrets that they don’t want to let out. It’s a balance of survival, between elder vampires that seem to hold sway over whether or not you live or die that night. Being everyone's stooge, you are thrown into one mystery after another. Supernatural hijinks, and a horror level that even won acclaim from IGN for ‘Level of the Year.’ I can’t help but love this game, through all of its bugs and problems. There is a rich, and welcoming community that lets this undead video game to keep marching forward.

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Art by my good friend, Ari.

Jacky-lulu

Hello reader, this is Jacky, a long time gamer and an admirer of the written word. As an Algonquin student, I have learned much in this program, and I can't wait to learn more. Here is hoping that it does not blow up in our face! Watch the train wreck as it happens in slowmo.

Toxicity, The Basics of Massive Multiplayer Team Games.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

For those of you who have never picked up a Massive Multiplayer Game, you have been saved from ever having to deal with what the gaming community calls ‘Toxic Players.’ Toxic players tend to be people playing the game that grow frustrated or mad when their team is losing.

This frustration is then used to lash out on their teammates, sometimes even rattling their confidence to the point where they start to play worse than before, then in turn, the discouraged players turn ‘toxic’ themselves. This ends up becoming a vicious cycle that ruins the game for all involved.

The types of games I will be focusing on here are games that put you in teams with random players from all over. Games like ‘Overwatch’ and ‘League of Legends’ especially. These players are in every MMO, in regular play and in every ranked match. There is no escape even if you are in the top player listing of game mode. This article will talk about how to identify these players, and how best to work with them in hopes to win and enjoy the game.

Games that require teamwork are where you may have the best results in turning your game around, from ‘confidence destroying’ into a ‘win.’ The player that the gaming community calls ‘Toxic’, and they are the ones that talk a lot in-game, mostly about how great they are at the game and how you, personally, suck. A lot of the time they will use strong language to get you riled up. It is these types of players you, unfortunately, have to swallow your pride for.

There is no way to convince them that they are the player in the wrong, so you have to use reverse psychology on them. Tell them that, they are in fact a good player, appeal to their ego and ask them for tips. You should try to get on their good side in order to get them working with the team once more. Once you have that, the team will be back to full power and you can try again.

The one I want to address before I close this topic, is a more specific type of ‘Toxic’ player, one that I have personally encountered in my experience in gaming online. They tend to affect only half of the gaming community, and I come across them almost daily. These are the ‘toxic’ gamer that have an issue with women playing in their team or game.

These types of players will be very disruptive the moment it is even hinted, be it from your username or if the game allows it - your voice. They will latch onto the fact that the player is female and try to destroy the confidence of the whole team, or that one particular female player. They tend to overreact when it’s confirmed that you are female.

If they lose a game, the ‘toxic gamer boy’ will state that you don’t know what you are doing and use all the misogynistic insults in his arsenal. One of their more favored tends to be, ‘go back to the kitchen’, followed by their choice of profanity that relates to the fact that you are a woman.

For those who have never been on the receiving end, you can watch a lot of YouTube videos’ about it.

These are the worst-case-scenario incidents in multiplayer team games. If this teammate is not communicating with the team, or not playing properly with the team, it is much like a child having a temper tantrum. The best thing you can do against these players is to follow the previous steps, or find a new team. In games where you don’t get to pick your teammates you could also try taking a gender-neutral username, and if the game allows voice chat, use only text-based communication, it is true that this is horrible.

The idea that women sometimes need to take such steps in order to make the game pleasant for them. While you are playing the game pay attention to how your teammates talk to each other, you will be able to spot a ‘Toxic’ player within the first five minutes of game-play. If the game is going well, and the team is communicating properly, you then should have no issue joining the conversation in voice chat. This is not a proven method, but it’s one that I personally use to some success.

Have fun out on the battlefield my lovely gamers’, and don’t let the toxicity and the salt bring your games down.

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Art by my good friend, Ari.

Jacky-lulu

Hello reader, this is Jacky, a long time gamer and an admirer of the written word. As an Algonquin student, I have learned much in this program, and I can't wait to learn more. Here is hoping that it does not blow up in our face! Watch the train wreck as it happens in slow-mo.