Limitations, Part Three

There’s no question that humans love stories, but they don’t love all stories equally. Sometimes, they object to them out of personal preference, but other times, they do so because they feel the story’s content is harmful to society. When enough people find a story’s content objectionable, they may pass laws to restrict others from distributing similar content in the future. Such regulations on speech and creative expression are commonly referred to as censorship. Every country has unique censorship laws, and the different branches of their entertainment industries may also have their own rules. Some branches choose to set their own rules through self-governing regulatory bodies, while others may defer to local or national regulations instead. Regardless of where the regulations come from, creators in every industry should be aware of censorship laws within their region and their field, as those laws will dictate what kinds of content they can have if they want to distribute their work to the public. 

For better or worse, censorship has played a role in game design for several decades. In the United States, video game violence became a point of contention after the releases of Night Trap (Digital Pictures, 1992) and Mortal Kombat (Midway, 1992).⁠¹ Although the games had very little in common—the former being an interactive movie and the latter a fighting game—both titles depicted violence in a way that concerned parents of the era. One of those parents, Bill Andresen, was so appalled by Mortal Kombat that he showed the game to his boss: then-Senator Joseph Lieberman.^⁠2 Lieberman, having already heard about Night Trap’s questionable depictions of sexual violence, brought his concerns to the rest of the United States Senate, and the hearings that followed resulted in the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (commonly referred to as the ESRB). 

The ESRB’s voluntary rating system is self-regulated and uses a tiered rating scale that emulates the Motion Picture Association’s ratings for films.⁠³ Some of its international counterparts include Pan-European Gaming Information (PEGI), the Australian Classification Board (ACS), and Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK). In the countries where ratings are self-regulated, game developers do not have to submit their games for ratings, but many major retailers will refuse to sell unrated games. Games with highly restrictive ratings, such as the ESRB’s ‘Adults Only’ (AO) rating, can face similar distribution troubles, as some retailers are unwilling to stock them. As a result, game developers who want to distribute their games widely must keep content restrictions and regulations in mind, or they may find their finished games can never make it to store shelves. 

Like the MPA’s infamous ‘X’ rating, the ESRB’s ‘AO’ rating isn’t handed out often, nor are its international equivalents. Since the ‘AO’ rating places such severe limitations on distribution, developers will usually tone down the objectionable content in their games to get a lower rating. Some developers can be caught off-guard by an unexpectedly high rating, however, forcing them to either abandon the game or change its contents at the last minute. This was the case with Manhunt 2 (Rockstar, 2007), a Playstation 2-era stealth game that put players in the role of a mental patient being manipulated by a ruthless assassin. Weeks before Manhunt 2 was scheduled to launch, the British Board of Film Classification (then in charge of rating games in the UK) informed Rockstar that they would not be issuing a rating for the game. In extended comments, the BBFC claimed: “…To issue a certificate would involve a range of unjustifiable risks, to both adults and minors.” ⁴

The ESRB’s subsequent ‘AO’ rating did little to improve the situation. At the time, neither Sony nor Nintendo allowed ‘AO’ games on their consoles, which meant Manhunt 2 would be strictly limited to personal computers. Rockstar balked at the rating, replying as follows: “We believe all products should be rated to allow the public to make informed choices about the media and art they wish to consume. The stories in modern videogames are as diverse as the stories in books, film and television. The adult consumers who would play this game fully understand that it is fictional interactive entertainment and nothing more.“^⁠4 Nevertheless, the ESRB’s rating stood, and Rockstar was forced to remove the objectionable content before the game could appear on consoles and shelves.