- Ross Erickson, Editor/Publisher
There is no escaping the reality that electronic gaming software and its facilitating hardware have come a long way since the first computer game - the game of Life - was programmed on an MIT mainframe some forty years ago. There is also no escaping the fact that the presentation of contemporary software is of a very sophisticated nature, with hi-res digitised graphics and full stereo (or better) sound effects and music. The corollary to this in the minds of the luddite fringe of technophobes who haunt the corridors of power in this nation and abroad (usually the very same people who still can't program their home VCR) is that the increasing sophistication of gaming software must invariably lead to increasing corruption of society, with especial emphasis on society's youth.
These same forces, the ones with the VCR problems, have failed to acknowledge the undeniable fact that today's gamers are commensurately more sophisticated than those of ten or twenty years ago. The accepted 'wisdom' that children can no longer differentiate between fact and reality is no longer valid. The youth of today are undeniably more comfortable with technology than their parents, and far less influenced by what they see and hear than what many adults would care to admit.
Without any reference to facts, studies or the opinions of those they seek to control, our pollies have taken it upon themselves to legislate on our behalf; to save us from ourselves, presumably. Initially this will take the form of banning or censoring 'violence' in video games. This will undoubtedly satisfy the wowsers in our community, who fresh from this sort of control maneuvre will seek out other factors that they can moderate. Next will come depictions of sex, then maybe 'non-family values', later representations of ecological issues and so on and so forth.
Clearly what we in the community are faced with is not a bunch of well- meaning elder gentry, whose sole intention is the creation of a better society, it is the forces of the same group of control-freaks that seek to daily regulate every other aspect of our lives. These people are the same ones who seek to institute 'right-thinking' or 'politically correct' ideas on a populace that while unwanting of these infringements, is often cowed into accepting them for fear of labelling.
We are familiar with the labelling that is used in order to justify attacks on civil liberties. If you disagree with affirmative action policies then you are sexist. To disagree with Mabo legislation is to be branded racist, as is the topic of increases in immigration quotas and makeup. The desire to maintain one's privacy is to have something to hide and so on. In reality the desire by these forces to control the level of violence in gaming software has little or nothing to do with that issue itself, but is rather merely a handy toe-in for greater controls of everything to do with the expanding information community.
It is no coincidence that the 'furore' over gaming software happens to coincide with measures being taken abroad and within Australia to police the growing computer networks. These 'radar traps on the information superhighway' are the first steps by governments to control an environment that they have traditionally been totally incapable of understanding, or effectively legislating for.
While it is strictly outside the parameters of any group solely interested in gaming issues to further lobby for freedom in cyberspace, the larger issues involved should be noted and taken into consideration whenever any strategic plan is implemented or revised. Further, the leadership of any such group should take it upon themselves to liaise effectively with other groups such as BBS operators, the Electronic Frontier Foundation/Association and other similar groups so as to present a consolidated front to any government organisation or State regulatory body.
The electronic gaming community is not a homogenous whole, rather it is composed of a great number of complementing facets, each with its own individual concerns and specific tactical plans. In essence the community is composed of the industry providers (those who manufacture the software and/or hardware); the consumer or gamer; and the media that exists in order to chronicle and review the community's progress.
Industry providers represent the most complex group by far. These are people and companies who work to provide the machines and software programs that are then purchased either on a time basis or outright by consumers. The hardware providers sub-group consist of many different markets, each with their own concerns, however they can broadly be summarised as follows
Coin operated machine vendors: Arguably the most powerful grouping, coinop arcade machines in many instances provide the driving force behind future technologies. Many of the concepts and hardware principles that first find focus in the arcades, eventually finds its way into the home. Coinops can basically be divided into the two groups of pinball and videogame machines. Large manufacturers here include Sega, Namco, Bally.
Console home videogame systems: Probably the most widespread of systems, the home gaming console is cheap to manufacture and easy to use; its two greatest selling points. It is this unlikely dichotomy of raw power and ease of use that has seen the creation of two of the largest companies in the world - Sega and Nintendo.
Home computer manufacturers: The essential difference bewteen computer manufacturers and other manufacturers in the gaming community is that computer manufacturers rarely produce the attendant software that runs on their machines, preferring instead to concentrate on hardware development.
Virtual Reality amusement outlets: This final category is the most difficult to adequately assimilate as it contains many subindustries that bear only a fleeting resemblance to the form. Although far from an exhaustive list, this category would include space combat games such as Q- Zar and Lazer Zone; VR theme parks such as Sega's in Japan; VR head to head systems like Virtuality's; passive VR experiences such as Disney's Body Wars and Star Tours; and semi immersive technologies like Battletech.
Software providers are an even more diverse lot than the hardware that they provide for. Due to the high costs of R&D, many software providers are forced into convoluted licensing agreements with larger distributors. Many forego the security that a contract would provide, and instead freelance on a job-to-job basis, or start small backyard operations providing low cost software via the shareware principle.
It is worth pausing to note here the relevance of this last group of shareware authors and the effects that any form of controlling legislation would have on them. Moral arguments aside for the moment, most of the larger companies and distributors would, at least from a strictly fiscal perspective, have few problems meeting regulatory provisions or paying the licensing fees involved. For most shareware authors, the legal burdens and costs involved would force them out of business as many operate on a shoestring relying on the honesty of consumers to register their copies in order to continue in business. Opinions should be sought from the Software Producers' Association (SPA) on their opinion as regards further controls over their members' activities.
Beyond all the hype, there are solid moral objections to increased government interference in our lives. One of these is that there is no demonstrated need for intervention in the first instance. There have been no demands from any segment of the wider society as a whole for legislation, neither has there been an upsurge in antisocial behaviour attributable to videogames. Governments are operating in an information and moral vacuum seeking to legislate from ivory towers. It is important to note that governments exist solely to enforce the will of the community, not to pursue the moral vendettas of individual ministers or public servants. The state is morally obliged to gather and collate as much information as possible within a reasonable time frame, taking into account the opinions of the populace (especially the players themselves), experts in the relevant social and technical fields as well as the industry itself as a whole, before embarking on any course of action.
The emphasis being placed on turning currently law-abiding citizens into criminals via the passage of any legislation intended to ban or restrict computer games is also of great concern. That tax payers' funds should be used to outlaw games that the tax payers have demonstrated a legal desire for should be a warning siren to all for the future of the maladministration of police matters, both here and abroad.
Logically, there are a number of hurdles that must be mounted before any form of effective legislation could operate. The first and most obvious relates to the makeup of any advisory body instituted to oversee videogame classification. It is plainly obvious that the current advisory bodies are hopelessly incapable of overseeing any implementation or classification of videogames.
Those in charge of classification are familiar with books and movies only, they are not of a generation that is capable on the whole of making valid value judgements on what is and what is not acceptable in videogames. This fact is made startlingly evident by the actions of their ilk to place restrictions on videogames such as Mortal Kombat that are far tougher than what these games would get if they belonged to some other media.
The lifespan of a movie or book is usually several years, and in the case of the latter is not readily duplicated. In contrast the lifespan of a game is rarely more than 6-18 weeks. It may not matter to a movie's producers if they have to wait six months for distribution, however given the vast international piracy networks on computer systems and parallel importation across all platforms, this could very well mean financial ruin for the legitimate owners of the intellectual property while providing vast profits for unscrupulous criminal elements.
Further, there are legal questions that should be redressed, with specific emphasis on the Federal Copyright Act. It has been noted that the previous restrictions on trade inherent in the aforementioned document provide an unnatural barrier to free trade. This situation was apparently remedied several years ago at the behest of the Fels committee into software laws, which permitted a certain amount of parallel importation to occur, when a software title was otherwise licensed yet unavailable for sale in Australia. Without a complete rethink of this piece of legislation, it would be conceivably possible for companies or individuals to import quantities of videogames while the legal copyright owners wait on the advisory committee's decisions, hence depriving them of their lawful income.
There are further implications for resellers and distributors as it is a demonstrated fact that banning of a good makes it none the less available. Consumers will simply evade the law by purchasing their goods overseas, with the blessing of the aforementioned copyright act. This will result in the ridiculous situation whereby local merchants and distributors will have their income shipped overseas, yet the software in question will be just as available as it was before. Surely a boon for overseas mail order companies, but likely to result in ever increasing dole queues back home.
Organize; in a word that is what must be done, and it must be done promptly. The various elements of the electronic gaming community must organise into a cohesive and powerful special interest group and lobby governments at all levels hard and remorselessly. Governments, especially in W.A. under the current Court regime, have proven themselves insensitive to the hopes and aspirations of their taxpaying electorate. Only through a hard-nosed campaign to either bring them to the light or supplant them in power can the aims of the reasonable majority be achieved.
This campaign should include all the trappings of lobbying, including but not restricted to, meetings with relevant ministers such as the state and federal Attorneys General, local government electorate representatives, current censorship panels, letters to the editor columns in the daily print media, petitions, news media coverage and so on. In an extreme instance, should our cries go unheard, then standing candidates in marginal seats in an attempt to unseat sitting members (the WA AG herself is in one such seat) should also be considered.
Sitting members at both ends of the political spectrum should be sought out in a systematic manner and their opinions canvassed. Those who are sympathetic to the plight of the humble gamer should be supported and cited, those who are agin should be singled out for punitive action. However it is the members who are sitting on the fence to whom the greatest amount of lobbying effort should be focused. It is here that petitions, deputations and the like will bear most fruit.
There are many books written on the subject of peaceful and lawful struggle, an excellent resource being The Activists Handbook, and available through the library system or any good bookstore.
The fight to maintain our freedom of expression in the age of cyberspace has only just begun. Already the forces of control and political- correctness have allied themselves so as to halt the progression of freedom to the new frontier. Be very aware that the whole issue of depictions of violence in videogames is little more than a smokescreen to seek further, as yet not fully revealed, goals. Only through interfacing with other like-minded organisations and through strident lobbying of the government can we hope to set aside any notion that legislators may have had of controlling this increasingly important aspect of our lives.
Cyberspace is not an ephemeral notion, restricted to the avant garde or the science fiction fringe, it is the world of the not too distant future; it will be the world of our children. We owe today's young and as yet unborn millions better than a world patrolled by thought-police.
For the children.
This article is Copyright (C) 1994 by Nathan Cochrane for Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.