Is ignorance truly bliss? I have to ask this question after reading
this article. This man attacks a well-known and very well-received video game for the Xbox 360, Mass Effect. It calls the game out for having a (very well-known and well-publicized) sex scene. This is not a repeat of the "Hot Coffee" incident from a few years ago. The developer, BioWare, made no attempts to hide the fact that this scene exists. Yet, this man isn't even attacking it for this. He accuses the game of being a sex simulator. This man is either an outright liar, trying to stir up controversy, or he is incapable of double-checking his facts. Either way, he must be set straight.
If you scroll down to the comments section on the article, you will see many people correcting the errors of the article. Every one of them is absolutely correct. While columnist McCullough makes it seem as though the point of the game is sex, the single scene containing sexual content is, in fact, very short, and only accessible if one chooses to follow the correct path. As for the scene itself, which McCullough describes as "graphic," it would not be out of place in a PG-13 movie, or even on some late-night television. In fact, it is readily available on YouTube, if anyone cares to check. The only things about this scene that could appear different depending on the play-through are the player's character, which can be customized to an extent.
Beyond even this, he claims that the game is marketed to "15-year olds," even though the game is clearly marked as rated M, meaning it is not meant to be played by anyone under the age of 17, the exact equivalent of an R rating on a movie.
The most disturbing part of this is the people who commented on the article and did not criticize the writer's errors. These people took his words at face value, also not bothering to double-check, ignoring the hundreds of other comments saying that the information presented is false, and have basically begun rallying against Mass Effect. Most of them had never even heard of the game before.
To be perfectly honest, I'm not too worried about this kind of thing. The same attempts at controlling media have been done before, with every medium currently in existence, at some point. The thing that depresses me is the fact that so many people don't seem to be able to see the fact that we are repeating history, and that the whole battle is pointless.
I'm just tired of people picking on video games. I've started following a website called
GamePolitics, and they have almost daily updates on ways in which video games are being singled out for their negative effects (almost all of which have been shown to A) not be true, B) only be true in very unique situations, or C) cannot be proven one way or the other). As I said before, these same battles were already fought with literature, music, and movies. Do we really need to waste millions of dollars fighting a battle to which we already know the eventual outcome?
That is all.
May the Force be with you.
Qantravon
