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Has "Hot Coffee" Killed Creativity? |
Listed in: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, MMORPG Tags: Denis Dyack, Hot Coffee mod, Jack Thompson, Silicon Knights, Take-Two Interactive
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More than a year after the events of the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' Hot Coffee scandal, game developers are still reeling from the effects the scandal's had on games in general. According to an MTV article, one of the long-term effects that have come about as a result has been the killing of creativity.
In addition to fears of getting sued, game developers have also had to endure protests and public demonstrations, as well as a tightening of censorship worldwide. The most prominent example of anti-game sentiment probably lies in the will of Jack Thompson, who has not only sued companies and tried to coerce its shareholders, but also appeared on variety of shows to pursue his agenda.
On the protest side, the Peaceaholics recently protested in front of Take-Two's New York office in preparation for the release of Bully, which some seem to think will be a schoolyard GTA. Lastly, censorship has been somewhat more pronounced, and developers have now begun to go the extra mile in filtering their games to pass scrutiny. As Denis Dyack, head of Silicon Knights, mentions, "We've seen signs that creativity in our industry is being chilled as a result of last year's political and media attention."
On the one hand, games have been watered down somewhat to suit the current trend of censorship. Whereas something like Resident Evil would have had no controversy behind it from ratings boards when the first game came out, Dead Rising has garnered media attention just by being rated. As a developer who wished to remain anonymous put it, "If you're going to the ESRB with a rating and it comes back with an 'oh no, this stuff is bad,' then I've seen cases where the developer is like, 'We'd better cut back these other five things, even though the developer hasn't brought them up, as a good-faith effort to show them we're playing along.' "
There is a good side, however, to all this. Like it or not, the attention does force developers to make titles that will appeal to a broader spectrum. How else would Rockstar even be associated with table tennis, for example? This does increase the general appeal of games and acts as something cohesive rather than divisive pasttime.
In addition to this, the history of video game acceptance is much like the history of movie, television and comic book acceptance in their developing years, as game developers who want certain things to remain in the game, at least in essence, will find other creative ways to make the same emotion or sentiment known. This was the case in the creation of visual metaphors in movies, as well as the art of concealing details in comic books to lessen gore and heighten readers' imagination and ideas of suspense.
Games will continue to thrive, and censors will continue to exist. Hot Coffee showed us that there can be a difference between gaming sense and social sensibility. The task now, if we want games to move in the direction of acceptance that television and movies have earned now, is to find ways to be creative and make a profit without going overboard and losing the respect of the majority.
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Anyway, I suppose the world will never be gentle and fair, if you are harrased you must fight to liberate yourself, and your comrades at the same times. I know the game industry is harrashed all the time so I think we should simply help, how? I suppose everybody can help even with just sensibilisation . I suppose if more normal people could say they play video games, it could help, right now a lot of people are shamed to say they play video games.
Personnally, I would simply ask for the same respect they give to the movie society. But I suppose a win without a battle is not really a win. But at first, the hollywood movies we all know and love was not all that popular at start, Elvis was hated by everybody but yong adults and teenagers ( and some exceptions ), like games are a little bit. I think we are marching the right way and that only time will show us how great the gaming market will evolve.
Thank you for reading my personnal thinking. I suppose I didn't have a lot to do to write as long, I should take my studies more seriously... and finish my university faster maybe. Anyway, I hope you can share you thoughs about what I wrote, just try to forget the numerous errors ( I suppose ), I am not english myself, I'm a french guy from québec, canada, just hoping the society could evolve faster and/or hoping I could be immortal... to carefully observe the world evolving quietly, and sometimes loudly.
my favorite quote:
- God must love stupid people, he made so many of them. -
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what's unfortunate is that instead of the industry, as a whole, standing by their right for creative expression, they crumpled and split, pointing fingers at Rockstar as if they were naughty kids, and behaved as if we had done something wrong, when we're all adults, and the game was for adults.
first things first: Rockstar *was* wrong for lying about the content not being created by them.
but they weren't wrong for putting the content in the game as:
second: the game was not made for anyone under the age of 17. the Mature descriptor on the box stated a few things, and very clearly:
a.) That the game was meant for those over 17 years of age only.
b.) That the game was rated Mature for containing, " Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and Use of Drugs." and that's from the very first, "Mature" release of the game. "Strong Sexual Content" clearly implies more than watching a rocking car with a prostitute in it, that you can clearly see through the windshield of the car (they weren't doing anything).
why is it that the rules of the ESRB apply to every other "M" game but Rockstar games? God of War show's actual boobs (during cutscenes and the sex mini-game), without the need to use a hack to access that material. but that didn't raise any eyebrows. there's a lot of hypocracy and double standards going on.
if the gaming industry as a whole stood firm and strongly stated, "Hey, this game is not for children. Period. and we have the right, like Television, Film, and Music, to express ourselves freely. We are tired and frustrated with being blamed for every one of the world's ills. and it shouldn't be up to the government to raise our children, and teach them about what is appropriate and what is not. We may not approve of Rockstar lying about Hot Coffee, but we agree with their right to express themselves. we should not be judged by a different standard as other forms of entertainment, strictly because we are an interactive media, and are prejudiced by those that don't respect us a legitimate form of art and expression. It is not fair to us, and the thousands of men and women the world over that create these products, and we are not going to stand for this persecution any longer."
as for the article, a simple solution would be to adopt the ratings system of movies, with G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 instead of E, T, M, and AO. it seems to work wonders for film, why not games?
anyway, Hot Coffee is *NOT* Watergate. let it go. it's over, done, finished. get over it, industry. sheesh.
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we know that when something is rated 'mature' then it can contain all the 'hot coffee' incidents it likes... that's the point in ratings.
the problem is that jack thompson and his friends - the american government - are all on the outside, they're out there making their voices heard, they're a minority but minorities are always outspoken and loud.
for something to change it needs the developers, publishers and videogame media to champion the cause of games, cos right now we simply see jack thompson complain and victimise everyone's favourite scapegoat (rockstar) and all rockstar do is make flippant replies to stupid accusations.... but in the end the guy in the suit, a respectable *cough* guy, who can brush himself up and turn up on tv and have housewives listen to him, against some half bearded nerds who don't come out into the daylight.
it's basically an unfair situation, creativity shouldn't be dampened by censorship (publishers do enough of that already) but still, without anyone doing anything FOR games it will.
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And people have the nerve to criticize Jack Thompson!?!?!
I can't believe someone would post that, because his precious video games are being threatened by limits of some kind.
The more "gamers" behave like animals the more justification there will be by others that video games should be regulated.
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sure, sex isn't necessary in games, but when you are going for realism in your game (as Rockstar and Lionhead do in their titles), sex is a part of realism. people have sex. they enjoy it (for the most part. lol). as an adult, i have no problems with the content in God of War, Fable, and GTA. in an industry that supersexes everything (exibit A: DOA), and those titles are blatantly marketed towards teens (isn't DOA rated Teen?), but when a game for adults, and specifically stated to be for adults has adult content in it, uninformed people go mad (i'm not referring to people like Jack Thompson; they know exactly what they're doing. i'm referring to parents and other adults who think all games are for kids, and are toys).
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