Censorship and You.

The important thing to remember about censorship is that for families, that boilerplate group that contains 2.5 kids, is that both parties want to court them. Whatever inroads the ESRB has made, or whatever a political wonk tells you, the simple fact remains that no mainstream candidate has any desire to court the gamer vote. However this may change in the future.

There are those who say that the candidacy of Hillary Clinton and the Democrats in general is hostile to violent games. This is, in fact, true. It is also true that the past 8 years of a Republican presidency has led to more censorship in mainstream mediums such as song broadcasts. The conservative mouthpiece Fox News is trying like heck to issue an apology to EA, for facetious comments made about Mass Effect.

Politics are not good for video games. They are not, and have not, been good for movies or music, either.

The fascinating thing about American censorship is how cyclical it is. Unlike Germany , Britain , or Japan , who have very strict laws, the interpretation of ours are always in flux.

This is a good thing for gamers. Bill Clinton was also good to gamers. It was during his administration that the ESRB was founded. Games like Mortal Kombat pushed the genre into bloodsport, Doom was the FPS de rigeur, and Grand Theft Auto 3 was being programmed.

If you look at tv’s, movies and at music, right now they are enduring a greater push for censorship now than in the past 3 years. It is compulsory that something similar happen with gaming. The best news for TV viewers is that Michael Powell, former chairman of the FCC, and chief inquisitor behind Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction, was effectively run out of Washington for his myopic views. The new chairman is much more concerned with hammering out the digital signal transition and cable’s various scheming.

What should further buoy gamers is that the strict sort of treatment towards gaming has been met with reliable support from the judicial system. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich famously tired to make a law prohibiting the sales of games to minors, which was struck down soundly.

My point, however, is that the government is reliably hostile towards gaming, and that is something we should be used to. True sea change will not occur at that level with this current generation of politicians.

And I wouldn’t worry too much, really. Movies survive, tastes are what change. A writer on Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles lamented that you couldn’t make that movie today. That is due more to cautious executives.

Now radio is being hammered, but not with any new legislation. The rules have a Reagan or pre-Reagan date, it’s only now that they are being enforced. The fines are higher, but that’s what the current dominating generation supports. We, as gamers, are not it. Yet.

And our tastes, in video games, often lean towards. As long as you can make the case that people will buy it, people will make it. Manhunt 2 may in fact have sold better because of its added attention, not in spite of it.

So don’t vote or think about voting based on video game legislation. Because no one is non your side.