GamePolitics

Here's how I know this is a good column: everyone's mad about something.

Some readers take issue with some of my comments. I've also been blasted over this by Jack Thompson and the game industry people are upset as well. It's a grand slam! Or a triple play... or something.

Pressure the game companies to do what, exactly?

How is this going to pressure anyone but Sony in regard to this one particular game which used a virtual representation of the Cathedral?

@Probot - you're right, the ESA has no say regarding what publishers do or don't do, make or don't make. But the ESA prez has a bully pulpit. Lowenstein talked about these content issues at just about every E3 keynote I ever attended.

ESA prez is a tough job. You work for several dozen big bucks companies who don't answer to you but look to you to sort of guide the industry. Lowenstein did, to a point, but the thing eventually got away from him. Gallagher? We'll see...

For the literary critics who objected to the style of today's piece, what can I say? I could have written a "5 things the new ESA Prez should know" or some such, but that idea bored me beyond tears, so I decided to have a bit of fun with it. Well, I thought it was fun anyway...

;-)

@jkid... oh, absolutely you are correct, and I don't mean to imply that they are. The ESRB *has* made positive progress. However, they still have issues (such as the one you mention) that cause concern to some observers.

@copa - the coverage is not about debating game violence with Thompson. It's about reporting what is happening out there.

Are you aware, for instance that Thompson worked with state legislators in Utah, Delaware and Louisiana on game legislation last year? And in Utah and Massachusetts so far this year?

If you read GamePolitics you would be. It's important to cover these things. The gaming press is watching closely and understands the issues involved. The mainstream media generally isn't.

@Tony - I'm saying that hiding our collective heads in the sand and pretending that Jack doesn't exits is foolish. If every game site in the world stopped writing about him tomorrow, he would still be on mainstream media outlets, and where's the counterpoint then?

@Waimea - I personally do not care to play SCMRPG. As I said, I find it disturbing. However, I recognize Danny Ledonne's right to create the game.

That being the case, I am looking at this from a practical standpoint. SCMRPG exists. That can't be changed.

All I'm saying here is that the game industry exists in a larger society of which many members have zero understanding of games, much less subtleties like this is an industry game or that is an independent project. And that is clearly beginning to present a problem.

Need another example? Last year when Louisiana was considering its video game law, which would ultimately be ruled unconstitutional, the bill sponsor told the legislature about the racist game "Border Patrol." Now Border Patrol was another free game, author unknown, a Flash product distributed on the web. The Louisiana law, which dealt with retail, would have had ZERO effect on Border Patrol. But these issues are unclear to non-gamers (like most politicians)...

@Carl - I never said games were a money-making enterprise **only** or that making a profit and making art are mutually exclusive. But the games biz *is* a biz and there are pragmatic considerations afoot. In fact, a healthy games biz provides a lot of opportunity to the creative types to do their thing and make a living at the same time

@Dave - at some level the industry does self-censor. Almost any mass consumer business does.

Think about the extreme end of the spectrum. Would the industry publish a rape game, for example? Or a KKK game? Obviously not. In addition to any other considerations, it would be commercial suicide.

It's important to understand - if I did not make this clear - that I don't advocate banning SCMRPG, nor do I dispute Danny Ledonne's right to create the game.

However, Ledonne is in the business of making art, or a statement. The game industry is in the business of making games, but they also exist in a market, and have to make money to survive.

That's why they need to differentiate themselves.