Is it over for Child Friendly Content in Games?

Video games have long been a gold mine for purists trying to demean new media. Violence, sex and sometimes violent sex are all bullets right wing politicians and adults left in the dark all keep shooting. This has led Obama to pump $10million into a study which will examine the effects of violent video games. To this date there has not been a single reliable study which has concluded that violent video games have an adverse effect on the audience, those that have concluded such have often been heavily criticised for flaws in their study. Nevertheless, the vast majority of big name titles offer some kind of content that is not for the eyes of little children. As a child I was a huge Crash Bandicoot fan, but he has since disappeared along with other ‘child friendly’ games. Are the days of 3+ games (or ‘E’ in America) gone?

A nice addition to FIFA?

First of all, the answer to that question is no. 3+ games will always exist, especially with the boom of the casual market and you’ll never see a FIFA game where John Terry shags Wayne Bridge’s girlfriend, or where Wayne Rooney shags a granny or where Ryan Giggs…you get the picture, footballers don’t play very much football. Nevertheless, a FIFA mode called ‘Balotelli’ would be very interesting. The real question is will there be a great deal of amazing 3+ games in the near future and will they attract the mega bucks of big publishers and developers.

So let’s look back at some of the games of 2012, at the moment I’m only going to look at proper games for PC or console that are sold at retail with an actual box i.e. proper games. On metacritic if you look at all the games this year in score order, the first proper 3+ game is FIFA. After that, it just took too long to find one and I got bored, this was at a metascore of about 89. If you go to other sites you may find others, for example IGN has Pokémon up there, but generally there are next to none with 90+ ratings, so what’s the problem?

Some say that video games are at fault because they require the audience to be active, the fact that the audience is controlling what is going on, hence they are more immersed. Thus, games need to be more exciting, more fast paced and hence ‘need’ violence in them to make them interesting. But film is not necessarily passive, people who watched Inception were very active (and unsuccessful) when trying to understand the plot, just because your fingers aren’t active, doesn’t mean your mind isn’t.

Another issue is that the video game industry is trying incredibly hard to shake the stereotype of a gamer being a nerdy teenager in his bedroom, even though the average age of a US gamer is now roughly in his thirties (though this does include casual games on handheld devices too). In doing so, the market is trying to be more grown up and in doing so is trying to rival the film company. When adults can play video games without any stigma, only then will video games have truly hit mainstream, publishers may be making millions, but in terms of society, television and film are still way out ahead. So then maybe this issue stretches beyond the world of gaming?

Let’s look at the Oscar nominations for best picture, there is not a single U certificated film there, only Life of Pi with a PG and in fairness Amour is probably not that inappropriate (unless you’re disgusted by old people [shame on you]). BAFTAs, again Life of Pi is the only PG. So, the problem lies in the film industry, what about TV? Golden Globes, all the TV nominations (I’m not talking about winners because Homeland won pretty much everything) are littered with post watershed programmes. The only shred of hope is that animation has its own category where the films are U/PG and even then, this isn’t always considered a major category.

The Fallen Kings, now reduced to this

So the problems is more with society and not just games. In our eyes, a TV show or film isn’t great if its ‘safe’ and ‘child friendly’, it makes it seem as though what we are watching or playing is childish or not exciting. From teenagers up we all like to feel as though we are adults, with adult lives and watching childish things somehow makes us less able to be part of this adult life. In the early 90s Mario and Sonic were kings of the gaming industry and now they are seen as ‘kids games’ by many.

A lot of these media are based on escapism and the fact that we want to see a different life. We however want a balance, we want a different life, but one that seems real enough that we can imagine it. In our minds the real world is a dangerous place where people get killed and where people only have relationships within a group of 10-20 people. We have this perception of the world where everything is out to get us, so something that doesn’t show as such isn’t realistic and thus we can’t escape into it. There is a theory in media known as cultivation theory that suggests that it is because of the media we think the world is a more dangerous place, so maybe it’s a vicious cycle.

Even go to literature and in 2012, 50 Shades of Grey is the biggest seller. This idea of content that is not ‘child friendly’ is everywhere, it is in everything we consume, even advertisements are hugely sexualised, there is no escape and we’ve gone from a world where Video Games were the bad boys to a world where everything is, so is it possible that Video Games are actually the best at offering great experiences with child friendly content?

Earlier I looked at the metacritic list but ignored a lot of games, I can’t speak for iOS/Android games as these don’t have strict content certificates, but handheld a console digital download games (Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network) do exist on the list of great games in 2012. Bastion and Cave story both are up there and though they may contain violence, it is very cartoony so isn’t a problem (you wouldn’t condemn Tom & Jerry would you?). They are both right at the top, with great reviews. Slightly further down is Journey, which is not violent at all, you don’t kill anything in the game and nevertheless Journey has been the recipient of countless game of the year awards, it is peaceful and calm, it is slow and focuses on storytelling. The game achieves great heights without hurting a fly. This is regarded by many as the best game of 2012 and it can be played by anyone. Previous games of the year however do not spare any blushes. The same is true for the Oscars and BAFTAs, most of the Best Film awards go to films with age certificates of 12 or over, often 15s, with the exception of the Artist. So like the Artist, is Journey a one off or an avenue the industry may explore further?

Didn't it just?

It could be then that it is with blockbusters that the problem lies, in films, TV and video games. The majority of successful 3+ games are not retail copy games in the same way most successful U films are animations. Maybe each industry can only have one channel in which to distribute these kinds of products. Or maybe it’s just that only indie developers are willing to take the risk and that big-name publishers want to stick to the tried and tested method, is money the root of all evil?

Though the days of 3+ dominance may be long gone like with Sonic and Mario, it is not entirely over for 3+ games. As a society however, we are going to have to want games without sex, without fear, without violence. Developers make games that consumers want and if there is only demand for killing then that is what they will give us. On the flipside however developers need to inspire the community and show people that games can be successful without violence, without being fast paced. Though full of zombies, The Walking Dead showed that you don’t have to hack away at zombies but that you can actually avoid them (maybe even love them [not really]) and Journey showed how centralising an incredible story can make an incredible game. Even Limbo, thought it is largely based on killing little children (sounds fun, I know), the story is deep and ambiguous and with a great use of devices only usually found in Literature (metaphors, pathetic fallacy) it is truly something different. The rise of storytelling type games is hope, but it will likely be a while before that metacritic list has a significant number of 3+ mainstream titles.