Censorship on computer games

[Andy Strawn]

Hello, in my English 11 class, we just finished Huck Finn and as a wrap-up we're writing a paper on censorship. I chose to do censorship specifically on computer games that contain graphical display of violence (e.g., blood and gore), sexual content, and other things.

I'd appreciate any informative stuff on the subject that you might have because frankly I don't know where to begin. I haven't decided which individual games to deal with so your opinions, etc. are welcome. Thanks in advance.

[fable]

Could you be a bit more specific on what you're looking for? Are you seeking games that are the result of censorship, or games that are unusually violent (like Realworld--oh, wait a minute, that's where we all actually live), or what...?

[Andy Strawn]

Well, I need to mention whether or not computer games should be censored, how it should be censored (like, who gets to decide?) and why. I think I'll focus on the influence the games have over teenagers (i.e., make them aggressive, isolate from society, and so on.) So if you have a good argument on the subject I might as well adopt that.

[C Elegans]

Hello Andy and welcome to SYM

There was a thread here recently about the potential risk of developing addiction to computer games, you can find that thread here:
http://gamebanshee.com/forums/showth...threadid=15220

There have been other discussion here about assumed dangers with computer games, you might want to try a search in this forum.

Personally, I think the debate regarding both censorship and general effects of computer games have been very similar to the previous debates about TV, movies, video, etc.
There is a Swedish psychologist who recently did his PhD about effects of computer games on children, and contrary to what many people believe, he actually found mosty positive effects. However, he did only investigate a few games of the puzzle type, not any shot-em-up games and no on-line games.

[fable]

Computers seem to be a rather cool medium, to use McLuhan's old term, vs television. It still amazes me that parents who don't pay any attention to Johnny's television habits and never speak to their kids after dinner nonetheless find sufficient time to rail against the evils of CRPGs and the like.

[Stilgar]

Originally posted by Andy Strawn
Hello, in my English 11 class, we just finished Huck Finn and as a wrap-up we're writing a paper on censorship. I chose to do censorship specifically on computer games that contain graphical display of violence (e.g., blood and gore), sexual content, and other things.

I'd appreciate any informative stuff on the subject that you might have because frankly I don't know where to begin. I haven't decided which individual games to deal with so your opinions, etc. are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Welcome to sym.
I think all of the first person shooter have a gore level that you can set (if i´m not mistaken)

And a game like carmageddon is a lot of sencorship about (i know that in germany all the pedestrians are replaced by robot's.

And there is a version with aliens and green blood.

If this is what you're looking for

[Tamerlane]

Germany's Censorship laws have gone beyond the green blood and mutants. RtCW has the wolf clan as a replacement to the Nazi's. I'm absolutely certain thats not the only game thats been changed.

In Australia, there was a furore about Grand Theft Auto 3 for the PS2. Due to the mission where you had sleep and then beat a prostitute. Haven't played the game so I'm not certain if that is in the game. Working off the unreliable media over here. Anyway the game was pulled off the shelves and the Classification Board reviewed its policies. In the end, that part of the game was removed from the Australian version. Total of 8 seconds was removed in total.

Soldier Of Fortune recieved an R rating in a country, can't remember which one exactly. However as a result the game could only be sold from an adult venue.