Come Walk With Me

I believe that the first game with a warning label was Techno Cop for the Genesis. Titles like Death Duel and Slaughter Sport made it to that console soon after. The Genesis, after all, was a console for big kids and who didn't want to be as childish as those who still played the NES. Cut to the 90's. Eric Harris was a DOOM fanatic before he rampaged through Columbine High School. In 2003, two Grand Theft Auto III players acted out the game, killing one person and putting another in the hospital.

When I mentioned the GTA case to one friend (Rothgard on EQ2), he said, "well that's the audience that that game is aimed at."

Right now, the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA) is fighting a bill that would restrict the sale of violent video games to minors, while yesterday, GTA creator David Jones talked about All Points Bulletin, his upcoming MMORPG about gang war. As quoted in the TeamXbox article, GTA Creator Unveils All Points Bulletin, Jones states that "it has been [his] dream to create an online game experience that provides the player with the ultimate freedom to do whatever he wants." I wonder what he sees the average player of that game as.

All art is aimed at an audience. Is it ethical, then, to design games that appeal specifically to an audience prone to real-life violence? The answer: I don't know.