Analyzing Game Controversies

Abstract

This chapter discusses some of the controversies that have surrounded digital games and in turn shaped the public view of them. Most such controversies are initiated by the launch of specific titles such as Grand Theft Auto. Games from the 1970s and 1990s differ with regard to gameplay, visual qualities, means of distribution, and cultural impact. Nevertheless, their violent content underpinned related public debates during both decades. The chapter focuses on debates from different eras of computer-game history and focuses mainly on debates from these decades, rather different stages in the development of digital games as a commercial medium. A media panic is a heated public debate that is most often ignited when a new medium enters society. During the 1980s, digital games stirred public controversies, most notably after the release of the so-called rape game Custer's Revenge. Despite the visual differences between the games of these decades, both debates revolve around the norm-breaking nature of the violence being depicted.