Violence and controversy

Violence has always been one of the allures towards video games, but not because people are violent. Virtual violence can be a way for a person to vent what could otherwise turn into real violence, in a controlled virtual environment. In addition to this controversy, usually over excessive violence is a very common occurrence; however this only increases the (intended audience’s) desire for the game.

This generated “controversy” was used in the advertising for Dead Space 2, with a series of videos titled “Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2” in which mothers are made to watch footage from the game and comment on it in a “market research” environment.



Using the idea that when something is forbidden it becomes more desirable to the younger audience made this an effective marketing strategy for the game

Another controversial story in videogames came with the launch of Left 4 Dead 2 in 2009 where it went up for classification by the Australian “Office for Film and Literature Classification” and was promptly refused. This is due to Australia not having an R18 rating for videogames. The game had to be heavily censored, with elements such as "decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies" being removed, along with the “riot cop” zombie, because it is bad to shoot zombie police (?).



Finally, a video game that partially deserved its controversy would be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. This game had a sequence where a group of terrorists shoot up an airport full of civilians. This scene was leaked about 2 weeks before the game was due to launch and sparked massive debate whether the game “glorified terrorism”. However, the leaked footage lacked context, which we know is incredibly important for videogames, especially violent ones. Because of the missing context the moral panic was even greater. The context being that the character you were playing is an American CIA Agent is undercover in the Russian terrorist group.

This part of the game can also demonstrate choice on behalf of the player. Not only can you choose to not shoot anyone throughout this sequence, but you can also skip this sequence entirely.

Here is the video if you are interested.