Something I will never, ever understand

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

You know how in the early nineties (and for a considerable time afterwards) there were these huge, completely overblown debates about videogames and how they were the root of all evil? You surely remember how the likes of Doom and Mortal Kombat were forever linked to violence and the corruption of our youth, being accused of almost singlehandedly pushing kids into lives of crime and junk.

Now, of course, that's BS... but I find it remarkably amusing that not a single finger seemed to have been pointed to the incredible amount of games (some of which were actually Doom and Mortal Kombat clones) that did all of that and had actual porn on top.

There was no shortage of games either hiring actual porn stars or going there with their FMV cutscenes, yet no-one ever accused them of anything (at least not to my knowledge).

In the minds of out-of-touch lawmakers, your kid being able to chainsaw a sprite to death or ripping a digitized actor's spinal cord was far more troublesome than him (or her) engaging with pornography and that's just a perfect representation of that troubled era of gaming, specially because this was largely before the rating system and during the age of lawlessness governing game stores (which many didn't even see as legit businesses anyway and could, therefore, get away with selling these to children).

Nineties, man XD

 

[Lod 10]

Você se lembra de como, no início dos anos 90 (e por um bom tempo depois), havia aqueles debates enormes e completamente exagerados sobre videogames e como eles eram a raiz de todos os males? Certamente você se lembra de como jogos como Doom e Mortal Kombat foram para sempre associados à violência e à corrupção da nossa juventude, sendo acusados de praticamente empurrar crianças para vidas de crime e vícios.

Ora, é claro que isso é uma grande besteira... mas acho extremamente curioso que ninguém tenha apontado o dedo para a incrível quantidade de jogos (alguns dos quais eram, na verdade, clones de Doom e Mortal Kombat) que faziam tudo isso e ainda tinham pornografia de verdade.

Não faltavam jogos que contratavam estrelas pornôs de verdade ou que exploravam esse tema em suas cenas de vídeo FMV, mas ninguém jamais os acusou de nada (pelo menos não que eu saiba).

Na visão de legisladores desatualizados, o fato de seu filho poder matar um sprite com uma motosserra ou arrancar a medula espinhal de um ator digital era muito mais problemático do que ele (ou ela) consumir pornografia, e isso representa perfeitamente aquela era conturbada dos jogos, especialmente porque isso ocorreu em grande parte antes do sistema de classificação e durante a era da ilegalidade que regulamentava as lojas de jogos (que muitos nem sequer consideravam negócios legítimos e, portanto, podiam vender esses jogos para crianças impunemente).

Anos noventa, cara XD

Eu possoI can tell you about my experience in my country. There's a TV station in Brazil called Record that always speaks badly of video games, saying they're very harmful and they hate anime.I used to have a deep-seated hatred for them, but I've matured and no longer feel that hatred; I even agree with them nowadays.

 

[MasterEn]

You know how in the early nineties (and for a considerable time afterwards) there were these huge, completely overblown debates about videogames and how they were the root of all evil? You surely remember how the likes of Doom and Mortal Kombat were forever linked to violence and the corruption of our youth, being accused of almost singlehandedly pushing kids into lives of crime and junk.

Now, of course, that's BS... but I find it remarkably amusing that not a single finger seemed to have been pointed to the incredible amount of games (some of which were actually Doom and Mortal Kombat clones) that did all of that and had actual porn on top.

There was no shortage of games either hiring actual porn stars or going there with their FMV cutscenes, yet no-one ever accused them of anything (at least not to my knowledge).

In the minds of out-of-touch lawmakers, your kid being able to chainsaw a sprite to death or ripping a digitized actor's spinal cord was far more troublesome than him (or her) engaging with pornography and that's just a perfect representation of that troubled era of gaming, specially because this was largely before the rating system and during the age of lawlessness governing game stores (which many didn't even see as legit businesses anyway and could, therefore, get away with selling these to children).

Nineties, man XD

you can have the most disgusting, vile, inhumane shit in a movie, game, comic, book or tv show; but if no one notices it; it doesn't get attention, and slips by everyone.
and even without a rating system, the x rated stuff was kept out of sight, just like with the movie counterparts.
and another thing to keep in mind, video games are unique in the fact that they usually have demos play to catch and draw someone's attention. you get a chance to see what the game is about before you even try to play it. you can't do that with a movie unless it's on tv or a movie rental's in store tvs.
also, people like to scapegoat other things and other people for their inability to teach and parent children correctly. and people have always blamed new advances in tech for the downfall of humanity.
i read in a uncle john's bathroom reader that some one back thousands of years ago said that written language would make people stupider.
people hated radios when they first came out, cars as well; tv was disliked heavily until it was marketed as a way to shut kids up for a few hours. i think books were hated for a while as well, comics too. heavy metal, rock and roll, pokemon, yugioh, magic the gathering, dungeons and dragons, and so on and so on.

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

Probably bc those other games werent as popular

 

[RageBurner]

Eh, the legislators at the time were just interested in boosting their own careers (though thankfully the power of hindsight makes them look rightfully ridiculous). They had no real perspective on the topic or the knowledge to back their absurdist claims (not that they could, even if they did).

It was just a media circus, a smokescreen to hide real issues that never get addressed, and this tactic hasn't changed any, it's just that video games aren't the small guy anymore, you can't complain about a multi-billion dollar industry willy-nilly now and try to win the day, so the daily cursed effigies to get burned kind of rotate a bit more.