Summer/Fall 1999

THE "DIRTY LITTLE SECRET" ABOUT VIDEO GAMES
by Daphne White, Executive Director

How violent are the video and computer games that are being released this holiday season? Lion & Lamb visited the annual industry trade show Electronic Entertainment Expo or "E3" and found numerous ultra-violent games on display.

Even though E3 took place just three weeks after the Littleton shooting, we found the industry to be in denial about its role in promoting violent values and behaviors among children.

Video game developers and promoters are experts in technology, but unfortunately not in early childhood development. They can create virtual reality games, but they dont understand the effects of their work on childrens minds .

Maybe that is why a number of the ultra-violent, adult-rated games including Duke Nukem, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, Mortal Kombat, and Spawn the Eternal are now being marketed to children through hand-held games and action figures.

The idea, according to marketers who spoke at E3 seminars, is to build brand loyalty to these products among young children.

"You want to capture a young audience and you want them to stay with you for years and years and years," said Gale Steiner, Hasbro Interactives director of marketing services.

Steiner should know. Tiger Electronics a division of Hasbro produces a hand-held version of the "Mature"-rated Duke Nukem game that is marketed to children ages five and up.

Building this kind of "brand loyalty" with very young children allows 3D Realms, the company that created Duke Nukem, to boast that "Duke Nukem is the most recognizable male action hero in interactive entertainment today."

And what kind of "hero" is Duke? Here is how one popular gaming site (gamespot.com) described it: "Duke allows you to be an action hero to the tenth power. If it moves, shoot it. If it doesnt move, shoot it. Anything and everything can be destroyed. You slay your way through each scenario ... even shooting wounded adversaries as they bleed on the ground, whimpering for mercy. ... As Duke, you explore everything ... including smut shops, skin flicks, strip bars..."

Duke the movie will be coming out soon, as will television and home video versions.

How can such mature-rated games be marketed to children through hand-held games? Lion & Lamb posed this question to Arthur Pober, executive director of the Entertainment Software Review Board (ESRB), the industry ratings group.

"When you look at a hand-held game in black and white, the graphics are decreased," Pober said. "Were not looking at brand loyalty. We are just looking at each product" as an independent, stand-alone entity, Pober said. In other words, the millions of dollars spent on cross-marketing these violent toys and products is irrelevant when it comes to rating them.

Like most industry representatives, Pober puts responsibility for monitoring childrens play squarely on the shoulders of parents. "Parents have to understand what their children are doing," he says. "Certain types of entertainment are not made for children."

We couldnt agree more. However, the video industry also has a responsibility to help parents by clearly labeling products marketed to children that are based on adult games. Parents who buy "E" ("Everyone")-rated products may feel they are being responsible by paying attention to the ratings but they may have no idea that the game is a "gateway game" for extremely violent and often explicitly sexual fare with a "Mature" rating.

Pobers response is that the industry is now sponsoring a public relations campaign to educate parents about the ratings system. But what is the point of educating parents about a flawed system?

The industry needs to act responsibly to stop the merchandising of adult fare to children, and to clearly label gateway games for what they are. The ratings system needs to be refined and improved. Parents deserve more than a public relations campaign.