Video game violence documentary trailer
Dean Takahashi points to the trailer for Spencer Halpin's new documentary, Moral Kombat. Halpin, the brother of the Entertainment Consumers Association founder, Hal, interviewed many people about videogame violence; Jack Thompson, Joe Lieberman, and other frequent speakers against videogame violence join developers, journalists -- including Takahashi -- and others in the movie.
It's hard to read tone into the trailer, but we hope the movie presents a balanced look at the issue. Takahashi notes that production has been finished; we hope to see the full documentary soon.
[Via A+E Interactive]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
untitled @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:02PM
I like the name, Moral Kombat... they should make that into a video game!
Dave @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:06PM
I mean they put age restrictions on the games. Its the parents faults for buying there kids those games.
Judd @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:07PM
The movie is called Moral Kombat, not MorTal, otherwise Midway might sue.
I guess it's not fair to judge a movie on a trailer, but from the 2:39 it seems to kind of take the anti-video game stance. It implies that because there are flight simulator games, terrorists fly planes into buildings. Therefore, if there are games were the gamer shoots people, they'd be real life murderers.
And that sounds like Henry Jenkins at the end.
Zack Stern @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:13PM
Thanks, Judd and others for correcting the name. My eyes kept seeing "mortal."
Kris @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:18PM
How lame, I feel like i watched the whole documentary already.
FMB @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:20PM
Morality?
How dare you relate 9-11 to playing videogame.
ChaoZ @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:21PM
Moral Kombat, not Mortal Combat. Nice play on words, will definitely watch it when its available.
Vlad @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:22PM
I hate how video games have become the scapegoat for all the other violent mediums. It's downright hypocrisy for letting little 9 year old Billy sit down with an M-rated game that his parents bought for him, and then have the parents blame video games when he blows up a school.
And to go on a tangent, was that the E3 footage of Halo 2? And Frame City Killer? If you're gonna make a documentary about video games, at least use current stock footage.
Ciaran @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:24PM
Seriously!
Video games SIMULATE violence. That's the whole fun of it. Violent video games help relieve stress because violence can be a natural answer to stress.
I play first person shooters all the time, but I'm fully aware that guns are dangerous and I'm totally against the fact that people are able to walk into stores in America and walk out with weapons.
I haven't even made the connection between guns in video games and guns in real life.
If a columbine disaster did take place (times ten...), then it would only have happened because some people are stupid enough to sell them in shops.
Guns are an extreme form of violence and video games have actually educated me in the sense that guns=deaths.
Ciaran @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:25PM
hold on hold on!
He says that most of his students used to want to be movie makers!
Movies are just as bad as video games!
Most movies ever made always involve violence to some extent, and we all know that many many films are violence all the way through.
Magarnacle @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:31PM
It's too bad that all my hours in Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer did not get me a chance to fly the SR-71.
If the terrorists had not been certified on Flight Simulator they would have found an alternate way to bring down the towers. It was fanaticism and resolve not video games.
If the planet gets invaded by locusts all those antivideo game people will sure be singing a different tune after I save their asses with my chainsaw bayonet.
Durandel @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:32PM
The funny part is, I doubt anyone involved in the production of that documentary plays video games.
Anyways, if people who aren't responsible play these games, maybe it would be a better idea to just lock THEM up instead of getting rid of the games. It's been mentioned far too many times that if you aren't itching to go out and kill someone already, a shooting game isn't going to convince you to...
On the other hand, I'm sure that this will make some money :)
Timkell @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:33PM
Christ what a joke, I know I haven't even seen it but the quote where the guy says "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be" is just laughable I'm sceptical that I would be able to take seriously a film which draws on views from people who say such idiotic things. I could be wrong but I don't hold out much hope for the neutrality of this documentary. And relating 9/11 to video games is just shameful.
FlyByWireN391AJ @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:36PM
"You are what you pretend to be, so you must be careful about what we pretend to be."
What??? That is crazy. I am 15 and ive been playing Halo 2, GTA, and GOW for a long time now and im not some kind of killer now. I have never even touched a gun and I havent got into a fight since the 5th grade. If anything these games let me get rid of some of the everyday stress that fills a teenagers life.
BTW: That flight sim part was total bull. Even trying to relate video games to 9/11 is crap. The terrorists wanted to kill before training in the simulators. The simulators didn't make them kill.
canebi @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:36PM
I think he says most of my students wanted to be phone makers (Not film makers)... MIT doesn't have a film program to the best of my knowledge.
ThorzHamer @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:36PM
I believe the Title is actually "Moral Kombat" not mortal combat..... looks like more BS crap to me though...."rock and roll will destroy our children's lives".... "video games male kids violent".... bad parents make bad kids... its really that simple most of the time you mental giants.
El Chino @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:43PM
Great!!! Another movie for the obsessed breeders (Excuse me I mean "parent groups") to rally on!!! *sigh*
BillyBastion @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:43PM
I didnt realize the Abe's Odyssey games were so controversial with their violence against alien things.
Seriously I can think of 10 different games they could have used other than the Abe's Odyssey series. Go back and watch the trailer again, hes in there at least twice.
I'm surprised Soldier of Fortune wasnt referenced in the videos they showed. It had great violence in it; shoot a mans and that leg will fall off damnit! The way it should be.
Ivan @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:44PM
The thing that I do not understand is that when one of the people being interviewed says "What do you think happens when a 9 year old boy sits down plays a first person shooter game that rewards him for killing cops?" Who the hell are these parents buying 9 year old boys mature rated games? I do not see why they are blaming the video game companies when the real perpetrator here is the mother or father purchasing kids these violent video games.
El Chino @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:46PM
Another movie for the obsessed breeders (excuse me I mean "parent groups") of America to rally on!!! *Sigh*
Random Insanity @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:51PM
From http://p2pnet.net/story/5668:
"Even if true, this does not necessarily mean violent media has created aggressive people. It is more likely that aggressive people are attracted to violent media. Blaming violent media would be like going to the opera, noticing that most people there are rich, and concluding that opera makes people rich. (Classical opera, by the way, is chock full of lust, incest, murder, suicide, and revenge.)"
Doug @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:52PM
My favorite is that they said that GTA "rewards" you for killing police officers. Yes it does, by having them relentlessly hunt you down and murder you.
John Musco @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:57PM
Just from looking at the list of interviewees, I can tell that movie is going to be incredibly bias. Especially since the woman at the end says that getting rid of videogames is a 'win/win situation because it helps the children.' Screw you and the children - the majority of gamers today are ADULTS between the ages of 18 to 35, not children. Be a parent and regulate what your kids are doing, don't regulate everyone else.
There's a rating system in place and if parents fail to recognize it, then that is not the rest of the gaming community's responsibility. The same way it isn't the responsiblity of the movie industry and its viewers' when a kid sees a movie that is rated R. These kind of double-standards make me sick to my goddamn stomach.
Also, the schmuck who said "You are what you pretend to be." is so freaking pathetic. That sentence is completely false, but the filmmakers try to pass it off as practical. If you were what you pretended to be, then you there would be no reason to pretend, now would there? The point of videogames is escapism, first and foremost - I love the Legend of Zelda, but the life of Link, while exciting, is also an extremely lonely one.
Also, just because you are a crack shot at an FPS game DOES NOT mean you are going to be able to fire a real gun accurately.
Kiey @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:02PM
The "We are what we pretend to be line" is one of the things I really don't like in that trailer. Obviously we aren't what we pretend to be, we are what we are, if we were what we pretended to be we wouldn't need to pretend now would we?
Then there is the whole comparing the flight simulators the 9/11 terrorists used as being similar to kids playing FPS games and being "trained." There are a few issues with this, but I'll mention the big one. Those flight simulators were at flight schools, on hardware and in cockpits meant to simulate flying the actual thing. Videogames don't give you a gun, and controllers don't act like guns, that don't even feel or weigh close to one.
AssemblyLineHuman @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:04PM
"Whoever tells the stories defines the culture. Now, the storytellers for millions of our kids are video games."
The opening has a few very revealing fundamental flaws already. First, they have the cause and effect reversed. Stories do not create a the culture; the culture creates the stories. There is no doubt that people can be influenced by stories, but more of the way people think and act comes from culture in general -- the media, family, friends -- than any impermanent story. The second sentence seems to reveal that there is some political motive in this video. If you notice, they're not afraid to use game industry statistics later in the video when they want to point out that "half of America plays video games," but in the opening, violence in video games is treated like an attack against our children.
"Violence has always been with us. It's been with us since Cain slew Abel. But we've always recognized violence as a vice and not as a virtue."
This is Jack Thompson, and this has very little relevance to video games. I'm not dipping my toes into religious debate, so I'll have to pass on any qualms I have with this comment.
"We issued a challenge to the video game industry. We said, 'We don't want to get into this, and have the government regulate video games or force you to adopt a rating system. But if you don't do it yourself, we will.'"
This is Joe Lieberman, and he's telling the plain and simple truth. We all know that the government has been trying to regulate video games and failing. This is history, though, and it's pointless to argue with the notion of government regulation on this point.
"Our culture is willing to accept a different level of violence in our products, whether they be film, television, or video games."
I don't recognize the speaker, but there is one thing that irks me about this statement. He refers to things that are all possible modes of expression as "products." When something is just a "product," it's easy to regulate to protect the consumer just like you would regulate food or appliances for safety reasons. It is very important that we, as a part of the game industry, get people to understand that these games are not just products and that regulating them is an assault on the most fundamental American value, the First Amendment.
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be."
No. We are not what we pretend to be. When I was five, I pretended I was a Power Ranger. Am I a Power Ranger? No. I hate to be so rude and brief with my rebuttal, but this comment is just stupid.
"If you take a step back and you realize that people sat down in front of an equivalent of this -- a flight simulator -- and learned enough from a flight simulator to fly jets that they'd never touched before into the World Trade Centers, what do you think happens when a nine-year-old boy sits down and plays a first-person shooter video game that rewards him for killing cops?"
Once again, the speaker has a few very basic flaws in the fundamental points of his argument. First of all, he is aligning video games that do very little to actually simulate the actions taking place on screen with a flight simulator that purposefully and intentionally teaches the user how to pilot an airplane. But that's not the main problem with his argument. If you think about it, what he is doing is equating the knowledge of how to fly a plane with the choice to fly buildings into airplanes. If the ability of humans to commit crimes is the problem, perhaps we should devote our money to making sure the public education system keeps everyone as ignorant as possible. This argument is scary because it proposes that knowledge is the problem, and that is the polar opposite of the American ideal of informed democracy. Knowledge often allows corrupt people to take corrupt actions that they previously could not have, but that does not mean censorship is the answer. That is the fundamental point where this extends beyond a war on video game violence and becomes a war on our very freedom as American people.
"There's going to be a Columbine-like incident, maybe to the factor of ten, down the road. Then, there's going to be a human cry within the halls of Congress and elsewhere to ban these games altogether."
Again, Jack Thompson is the speaker at this point, and he is making simple-minded assumptions. I'm not going to argue with him about the future because there is no evidence to base the future on. Maybe there will be a Columbine-like incident happen in the future; it's impossible to know right now. But what I do know is that censorship is not the answer.
"This type of issue is, politically, a win-win type of issue. It's an issue where you're protecting the children."
This seemingly innocent comment is, in my opinion, one of the scariest statements in the entire video. This infers that we must censor to protect children. When we've opened that door, the government can do anything without repercussion.
"We literally enter into a world that is so realistic that we forget that it's a make-believe world. Now, we're not there yet, but we keep getting closer."
We'll see what happens when we get there. That's for the future.
"Here at MIT, when I started teaching here 15 years ago, most of my students wanted to be phone makers. Now, they want to be a game designers."
Okay...
"We cannot fathom what this medium will be in forty years, and I bet my life on it."
Yes! That is the beauty of the video game industry. We're a part of something that is growing into one of the most interesting mediums for expression that we have ever come to know. In forty years I imagine we will see fantastic things coming out of the video game industry that are imperceivable at this point.
Peter @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:04PM
1) Jack Thompson stated that "(violence) has always been a vice."
Ever heard of the colosseum in Rome? What about The Crusades? What about virtually all wars before World War I, when war and violence were considered honorable and even noble?
While one can legitimately argue that we have transported real violence into television, movies, and videogames, it's quite difficult to argue the other way around. We have replaced our need of actual violence with simulated violence.
Personally, I prefer simulated violence existing in society than actual violence.
Doug @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:06PM
This is just as stupid as people playing Monopoly and turning into raving, money hungry psychopaths. Maybe if people did some f-king parenting and stopped letting the damn TV raise their children, we wouldn't have emotionally disturbed psychos making pipebombs in their garages. Just a thought. Also I've been playing and viewing violence since I was 4 and I have no thoughts about hurting anyone, and I consider myself to be agressive. Maybe it's because I have no real problems.
TeddyN @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:13PM
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be."
That doesn't mean that if we change what we pretend to be we will change what we are. What we 'pretend' is a reflection of what we are, rather than the other way around.
Sure, media can have an impact and change us, but the media is originally inspired by Us.
AssemblyLineHuman @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:14PM
I really should proofread my comments.
"If you think about it, what he is doing is equating the knowledge of how to fly a plane with the choice to fly buildings into airplanes." I meant "airplanes into buildings." Obviously, buildings don't fly.
otakucode @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:20PM
I'll watch it but I fully expect it to not go and debunk the abolutely unfounded BS that people like Jack "I'm batshit insane" Thompson and Joe "I'm a politician, so everything I say is a lie" Lieberman.
The documentary should end with "People harmed in the making of this documentary: 0" "People harmed in videogames in all of history: 0" "People harmed in that last football game you watched: 4"
AssemblyLineHuman @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:24PM
otakucode: I believe you are forgetting about wiihaveaproblem.com =P
Wiggydee @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:27PM
Thanks to all these people the gaming industry at last has that last bit of credibility we have always been striving for!
Behold! The first ever movie based on video games worth watching!
AssemblyLineHuman @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:39PM
Oh yeah, one thing I intended to say and forgot to add:
Don't take my criticism of the trailer as a criticism of the documentary itself. I've yet to see it, and I have no idea if it presents all sides equally, but the documentary was heavily presenting the pro-censorship side of the argument. Whether this is a reflection of the film or is solely to get people to come see it remains to be seen.
Eric @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:47PM
I think everybody who is against video games should read a book by Steve Johnson. It's titled "Everything Bad is Good For You". He talks about how popular culture is making us smarter, and he devotes a big chuck of his ideas to video games. It's nice to see someone who is writing books for video games and not against!
bill pullman @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:48PM
i liked the trailer. it was well edited.
Ross @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:50PM
I am what I pretend to be?
I guess this means I'm a level 58 Human Mage and a Spartan.. Oh does this mean I'm also a Counter-Terrorist!?
Please, it's not the industries fault if a few badly brought up children can't distinguish the difference between reality and fantasy.
Stories influence the culture? Correct, except the "stories of old" they were referring to influenced primitive - old age morons that thought the world was flat. We're above that now.
Some people just need to learn that fantasy isn't for everyone.
ck @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:53PM
This whole trailer - the music, the quotes, the images - make it seem that video games will tear apart our social fabric as an American society and destroy civilization ("We've always recognized violence as a vice, not a virtue." Like video games will turn humans , mainly children in to vice-loving sociopaths). Most of the people that were quoted are definitely politically motivated (Thompson and Lieberman) & religiously motivated. "Violence has always been with us - it's been with us since Cain slew Able." I'm sorry, I don't remember reading the Bible as a factual source of history. All this just shows the lack of research by the filmmakers. Where is the voice of reason? This trailer makes it seem like this is all one-sided and to me, this is not a documentary, but propaganda.
I will say at the end when the lady talks about how it's a win-win situation, I think she's speaking as an outside party - that is, she's saying this is why the political groups are committing so much energy, time and money to this cause. So hopefully there is a counter-balance to the anti-video game violence stand. But I watch this movie when it comes out and judge for myself how biased it is.
Dave @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:53PM
Maybe I'm just getting old, but I'm starting to get a little bored with shooting games.
Don't get me wrong - that documentary looks like sensationalist, biased excrement. But now I don't covet the latest FPS so much, I'm starting to notice how many of the top tier games involve shooting and excessive violence.
I'm totally against censorship, though. If adults want these games I have no problem with them being made - I just won't buy them. But the fact that so many top-selling games are violent is surely playing into the hands of the anti-games lobby.
Unfortunately I think it's a bit like the sequalitis problem - violent games sell. Even a bad game with realistic blood effects is likely to sell better than a bad game without. Making a game is becoming so expensive that most game studios don't want to take risks by doing something different.
But hey, in a way I'm preaching to the converted. I don't need to tell Joystiq readers to support innovative games like Viva Pinata or Trauma Center, and I'm sure many other gamers read Tycho's praise for Bookworm Adventures on the PA site, then played it and got horribly addicted like I did.
But stereotypical view of a gamer which is reported in the media these days is a late teen-early 20s male who simply buy the latest madden, GOW, Halo3 etc and wouldn't dream about buying such a kidsy game.
How do we convince them to play innovative games, eather than the just latest FPS? Because if we can't convince people who buy games that there is more to gaming than headshots, how can we convince right wing politicians who have never picked up a controller?
gnooly @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:54PM
Makes me want to grab a hammer and start smashing barrels.
Ocho @ Jan 3rd 2007 8:01PM
I always felt kind of dorky playing video games, but after watching that trailer, I'm convinced I'm a badass.
adam @ Jan 3rd 2007 8:04PM
soooo...based upon the assumption by jack thompson and the other quacks:
play violent video games = commit violence.
here is one of my anologies:
listen to jack thompson = kill jack thompson.
seriously though, he lives in florida, i do to. man sooo many coencidences. anyone free this weekend in florida, have nothing to do and just tired of his bs?
Jake @ Jan 3rd 2007 8:04PM
In my opinion, anyone who uses 9-11 to push their agenda loses credibility right there. This video certainly seems like it will be anti-gaming.
Also, there IS a rating system. It is parents, peers, and retailers that break the law that get these games into the hands of kids who are too young to handle the content. This is the same problem as with alcohol, tobacco, pr0n, guns, etc.
But, you can use rhetoric and assumptions and pretend you know what you are talking about all you want. I am an engineer and I look at facts. The bottom line is that our nation's murder rate has dropped considerably since 007, Doom, and other ultra-violent shooters started coming out. If violent games come and our violence as a nation reduces, it is difficult to attribute one to another. Basically, you are arguing that it would have dropped much more if it weren't for the games.
AssemblyLineHuman @ Jan 3rd 2007 8:13PM
Jake, #42: "Also, there IS a rating system. It is parents, peers, and retailers that break the law that get these games into the hands of kids who are too young to handle the content. This is the same problem as with alcohol, tobacco, pr0n, guns, etc."
There is no law-breaking going on. That's the issue. Lawmakers want to outlaw the sale of violent video games to children; the game industry and the courts are saying "no." In fact, the only form of media that it IS illegal for children to buy and/or view is porn. Everything else is industry-imposed censorship from music to movies to games.
fred-hair @ Jan 3rd 2007 8:14PM
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
i HAVE HAS NOW, VIDEO GAMES ARE TOO VOILENT?
VIDEO GAMES HAVE N
BEEN AROUND FOR 30 FRIGGIN YEARS!!
GAME-MAKERS TAKE INSPIRATION FROM REAL LIFE THEN EXACTURATE IT THEN PUT IN TO A GAME
WHY DO YOU THINK THE STREETS OF L.A AND GTA AND SO MUCH IN COMMON?
megamanfuzion @ Jan 3rd 2007 8:21PM
@23:Not true.I'm 12 and have at least 10 friends under the age of 15 who play videogames,violent or not.Even though this video looks like a bunch of BS to me,maybe it'll have some balanced evidence there(Although with the inclusion of Jack Thompson there's a very slim chance).If anyone does defend gamers though,I hope it's Adam Sessler from X-Play.:)
Philip Wesley @ Jan 3rd 2007 8:42PM
Apophenia.
That's the term for finding unrelated cause and effect. By tying unrelated events to each other because of similarities that mean nothing. In short, it would be like making these assertations:
"If 100 people died in your town and at least 90 of them were smokers at least once in their life, then all 90 of them must have been killed by cigarettes."
"If 90% of the violent criminals in prisons have played video games, then video games must be the cause of their violence."
I call it the Alex Jones school of thought; but most everyone else should see it as what it is: stupid.
Doesn't this documentary smack of that train of thought?
Grail3x @ Jan 3rd 2007 9:24PM
1) If parents followed the rating system like you are supposed to follow them like in the movies, no 9 year old kid will play a game where you shoot cops.
2) If you've ever shot a real gun before it is in no way similar to shooting a gun in a videogame.
3) The Terrorists all did flight training in real planes with real instructors. They found flight sim games at their place but that's not to say they only used games for training. The amount the sim helped them complete their task is totally circumstancial.
4) You seldom become what you pretend... Otherwise I'd be captain of the Enterprise, or a Fireman, or a Pilot, or Wolverine... I'm not... I live in reality. This kind of propaganda makes me ill...
Konchu @ Jan 3rd 2007 9:47PM
Yeah this is definatly way out of proportion. "We are what we pretend to be" is pretty funny, last a checked it was actions that defined the man.
And the whole tieing games to 911 doesnt even belong is this. Flight Simulator is in no way violent. It was unfortionatly used as a tool by individuals that had the intent before hand and not a result of fantasies born of the game. There are many other tools that are everyday things that terrorist use such as Computers, the internet, books, Training programs/classes, automobiles, household products, agricultural products and the list could go on and on.
Blake @ Jan 4th 2007 12:47AM
Paraphrased, "People sat down and played a flight simulator...and learned enough to fly jets in to the World Trade Center. What do you think happens when a boy sits down and is rewarded for killing cops?"
I just thought I'd point out the flaw in this 'comparison'. While the boy plays the game with the intent of passing time, the terrorist is playing with the intent of accumulating information in order to cause mass destruction.
The terrorist was already a killer in mind, if not body, long before he ever encountered a flight simulator. Similarly, the boy is not a killer in mind, and playing a game will not force him to become one.
If anything, what we can take away from this example is the following; games offer a great potential for learning and expansion of the mind, and as with many other forms of media (books, television, movies) it is up to the viewer to show constraint and exercise common sense.
Kevin @ Jan 4th 2007 2:21AM
There's a quick shot in there at around 0:56-- it's the tram ride, from the beginning of Myst IV. That's right... MYST. And they've ADDED buillet holes being shot into the windshield. Yyyyyeah... couldn't they have found a different clip of an actual violent game?
The use of Myst implies that these people haven't actually played any of the games being featured. Something tells me this won't be "unbiased."