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An Eye for an Eye
An Analysis of the Impact
of “Mature”
Games on the MMORPG Genre
“Micajah” Bye
May 3, 2007
Since they became more than just a novelty and developed
graphics beyond moving blocks and balls, video games have come under
fire for every sin that our children (and some adults) can commit.
Everything from addiction to myopia has been linked with playing video
games, and parents are quick to jump on these recent high-tech
creations as the root of all evil. They have heard that games allow
their users to become totally engrossed in the world, and why would
anyone want to escape reality? In a nutshell, video games are the
current favored scapegoat of the United States.
Video game violence is perhaps the most notable among the list
of video game “concerns”. Like the so-called
“link” between Dungeons and Dragons and Satanism in
the early 1980s, the “effects” of violence in video
games have spread from household to household, causing frightened
parents and grandparents to urge their children to stay away from that
monstrous behavior.
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title="A Pic from Grand Theft Auto"
alt="A Pic from Grand Theft Auto"
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style="font-style: italic;">The public has grown fearful of
adult games like Grand Theft Auto.
Old women in the airport, eager to talk to anyone who
lends an ear, quickly turn away when they discover you play video
games. “They’re awful,” one particular
woman said to me. “They aren’t anything but
garbage.” A palpable fear of video game violence has
penetrated our society.
Even our nation’s tragedies are blamed on video
games. Although other violent media has penetrated every screen or
speaker that we own, video games are the easiest source to blame.
Lawyers like Jack Thompson are eager to connect any violent act by a
young male to the violent media that can be played via a joystick,
controller, or mouse.
“The common denominator [in school shootings] being
the immersion of the perpetrators in incredibly violent entertainment,
most notably video games,” Thompson recently stated in a Fox
News interview. While such a generalization is nowhere near the truth,
there still remains a lingering question in the minds of many adults:
Do violent video games engender violence in our children?
It’s a question many gamers would rather see disappear from
the minds of other adults, but it remains a prevalent part of our
national fabric.
Enter the MMORPG
MMORPGs, on the other hand, have been relatively unscathed by
violent video game protesters and crazy lawyers. While MMORPGs have had
their own share of problems with accounts of addiction, divorce, and
online abuse, there has been relatively little violence associated with
our online virtual worlds. But with the current crop of MMORPGs that
are standing on the horizon, those members of our society against
violent video games will quickly turn their gazes towards MMOGs.
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style="font-style: italic;">Age of Conan plans on bringing
violence and mature themes to the MMO genre
MMORPG acts of violence will soon become all too real, and
Funcom’s Age
of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is the vanguard
for this type of “mature” MMO. The developers at
Funcom have declared outright that they are prepared to push the limit
of the ESRB as far as possible when it comes to sex, violence, and the
use of drugs. The world of Robert E. Howard, author of the Conan
novels, was not a pretty one, and it held every sort of morally
incorrect act that folks could think of.
With this in mind, Funcom has created a world where
decapitations run aplenty, women (and men) try to
“thank” the player with certain
“favors”, and players are encouraged to kill each
other. This raw, rich world is a complete fantasy – but the
avatars are still very human and the action is equally as gritty as
anything you might see in any of the
style="font-style: italic;">Grand Theft Auto
titles.
And Age of Conan is not the only upcoming game to aim for a
“M for Mature” rating.
style="font-style: italic;">2Moons from Acclaim
has been
marketed as a game where there is no mercy for the weak, and players
have been encouraged to submit dialogue with quotes including nearly
every swear word in the book.
The World of Darkness MMO, announced late last year by
CCP|White Wolf, is also primed for a more mature world. If you look
through any World of
Darkness, Vampire
the Requiem, or Werewolf
the
Forsaken storytellers manual, you’ll see
numerous images of
blood, gore, terror, sex, and even some sadism. If that isn’t
a recipe for a mature game, I don’t know what is.
All of these games are looking to go beyond the typical
“T for Teen” ratings that most other MMORPGs have
been granted. They are striving for worlds that are a bit more adult in
nature, which adds another layer of complexity to all the other
“baggage” that MMOs have been carrying for years.
The Smallest Ripple
In my estimation, the rise of violence (and other adult
themes) in MMORPGs will bring a great deal of attention to the MMO
marketplace. While MMOGs are still essentially video games, the
immersion and inherently addictive nature of MMO gaming may cast a
different, harsher light on the violence in MMOs. For, despite the
violence located in Grand
Theft Auto, the player was still only
“killing” computer generated images. In MMOs,
you’re killing other players who are controlling computer
generated images. Pllayers who can talk, interact, and have a vested
interest in the world around them.
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style="font-style: italic;">2Moons features gore
and adult-oriented dialogue.
You see, many of the arguments you see in the defense of
style="font-style: italic;">Grand
Theft Auto, revolve around it being “just a
game”
that emulates reality rather than employs it. These aren’t
real people that you’re killing, they’re just
artificial simulations. Even multiplayer shooters like Quake, Unreal,
and Halo can escape the critics and protestors because of the quick and
painless concepts behind the game. These are people who are also trying
to kill you, who have guns, and very rarely interact with you.
It’s more like a high-tech version of paintball rather than a
immersive world.
But in Age of Conan, 2Moons,
and the World of Darkness MMO,
we’ll be stepping into a whole new realm. From the
descriptions I’ve read of Age of Conan in particular, there
will be battlefield areas…but those areas will have elements
that aren’t strictly for PvP. Thus, a totally defenseless
person could get “ganked” and beaten to a bloody
pulp without even realizing there was somebody stalking him or her.
Include blood and gore,
and it may be a totally different experience than any sort of
“PKing” we saw in other MMOs.
The World of Darkness MMO – if PvP is included in
the
final release of the game – may be the most problematic of
the entire bunch. And this is because the World of Darkness is set in a
pseudo-version of our reality. You’ll have police officers,
restaurants, and a host of modern “people” to kill.
Guns, baseball bats, chainsaws, these things may all be included in the
final release of the game. Imagine the sort of criticism GTA
received…now put that in an MMO space.
The repercussions could be enormous.
Creates the Biggest Wave
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title="Provacative Material from the World of Darkness"
alt="Provacative Material from the World of Darkness"
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style="font-style: italic;">The World of Darkness MMO will
certainly have sex and violence.
Once the analyzing gaze of the public falls on MMOs, there
could be very dire consequences for MMO gamers and developers. People
are already fearful of violent video games, and they have qualms about
the addictive nature of MMOGs (just look at the WoW South Park
episode). Combine those two elements together, and we could see some
severe limitations on the forthcoming generations of MMOGs. Every one
of our past, present, and future MMOs will be dissected from top to
bottom. Every piece of cyber sex, griefing, and abuse will be aired to
the public. Not that we have a whole storage bin of dirty laundry, but
we do have a collection. No one likes seeing or smelling dirty laundry,
but it is bound to happen if things progress down the worse possible
scenario.
However, at GDC I had the opportunity to discuss the future of
the Age of Conan with Funcom, and Jørgen Tharaldsen, Product
Director for the company. He said that they would be working very
closely with the ESRB to make sure the game was rated correctly and
that there wasn’t anything that could push the NC-17
boundary.
Still, at least this journalist hopes that all of the
developers of these upcoming “mature” MMOs are
very, very, very careful when it comes to marketing and developing
their games. I think the upcoming adult MMOs should hide nothing, and
let everyone know that the games ARE violent. Don’t hide
behind pretty pictures or fancy words. These are violent games, but
players are being violent in a “fantasy” world.
It’s a world of make believe, and nothing more.
In the end, I look optimistically at the upcoming mature MMOs
as the next step in the growth of our genre. I want these games to be
released to the market and to find popularity and success. My
only worry is that egomaniacal voices like Jack Thompson or
quick-blaming parents might find these games as the answer to their
prayers. They want something to blame for our nation’s
tragedies.
As MMO gamers and developers, we just need to make sure that
they don’t lay their blame on our favorite past time.
What are your thoughts or feelings? Do you have concerns about
the violence or “adult” themes in these upcoming
games? Let me know by emailing
me!
Ten Ton Hammer is your
unofficial soure for
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/index.php?name=News&catid=34&topic=">Age
of Conan,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/index.php?name=News&catid=130&topic=">2Moons,
and the World of
Darkness MMO news and features!
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Age of Conan: Unchained Game Page.
