Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2009 > March > 15 > Entry
Core Conversation: Sex, Violence and Video Games: Where’s It All Going
Date/Time: 5 p.m. Saturday
Panelists: John Davison (Co-Founder, What They Like)
The gist: Say your son is at a friend’s house. What worries you most? That he’ll a) drink beer, b) get high, c) look at pornography d) play “Grand Theft Auto IV.” That was a question posed to parents in a poll following the release last year of “GTA’s IV”, the video game many feel is the poster boy of out-of-control sex and violence in games—and also perhaps an unfair whipping boy. The winner? Beer. But “GTA” was high on the list. So high the fodder sparked one of the best conversations at SXSW so far.
Other issues: Games with false representations of and subtle violence against women (how many feature lwomen with perfect figures and smooth skin? Then again, they’re in movies too); motion-sensitive controllers that re-create your violent movements on screen; and a disproportionate amount of criticism directed at a game’s sexual content rather than its gratuitous violence.
The good news is that “games-of-consequence” are already on the market, and more are coming. This is where characters kill targeted bad guys and random, overly aggressive play hurts your character (shoot civilians in “GTA” and the cops show up). Others, like the popular action role-playing game “Fallout 3,” have graphics so life-like that natural morality creeps in). Games can teach too: One person shared the story of an autistic child who taught himself how to read and write by playing “World of Warcraft.”
Quotes: “Naming 10 movies you wouldn’t want your kids to see is easier than naming ten video games” - John Davison
Takeaways: The discussion continues, but the hope is that as technology and the taste of consumers evolves, so too will games—relying less on visceral charges, and more on emotional connections.
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