Killing and hunting have always been a part of video games— be it hunting ducks and squashing goombas in seemingly innocent Duck Hunt and Mario Brothers to shooting enemies in Contra and blowing up enemy ships in Galaga. So, when did video games start blurring the lines between fun and sadism, between sporting to affirming machismo? It seems like innocence was lost around the time when killing in video games started becoming means of boasting and comparing how much further into the game you had gotten.
I recall, as someone from the 90's generation, friends and cousins— girls and boys alike would like to compare how many ducks they had killed, how many levels they had completed in Contra or the number of 007 villains they had managed to capture. I myself was guilty of finding pleasure in the act of squashing goombas or shooting opponents in Contra. These achievements seemed to be great ego boosters and one can be sure that if social media was around that time, timelines would be flooded with the numerous gaming achievements like— Great day today, managed to blow up three enemy ships or Score! Shot 20 ducks in a row!
Today, when numerous parents, teenagers and teachers are reeling under the effect of the deadly Blue Whale challenge, its perpetrators or curators as they like to call themselves, are rejoicing that they have helped cull the world of weak-minded youngsters as the founder Philip Budeikin intended to. As far as video games or games in general are concerned, this has been the vilest of them all and perhaps the only one that encourages players to inflict self harm. But how about those that encourage violence and abuse? In our search on the web, we stumbled upon several such games that include violently killing others, carrying out mass massacres and even perpetuating sexual offences.
A scene from the game RapeLay | via Commons
For instance, RapeLay, a game released in 2006, allows the player to stalk and rape a family of three women. And through the game, while the 'rapist' or the 'player' does the deed, all the women are helpless, unable to stop the act. The game raised a storm of controversy in 2009 in the UK. The distributors were prevented from making the game available in Japan. It has also been banned in Malaysia, Argentina and Thailand.
Manhunt 2 is another controversial game released in 2007 in America. The game is known to be one of the most violent ones around and has got an adults-only rating. In the game, a mental patient Daniel is guided by Leo Rasper a sociopath, who helps uncover his identity. Each level has the player conducting executions. And with each level, the level of gore and violence is increased. Following controversy in the US, the makers added filters to obscure gory details. Despite this, the game was banned in Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.
Muslim Massacre, released in 2008 is another game that came under the scanner. As the name suggests, it involved mass execution of members from the Muslim community. The Muslim Council of Britain and Keyser Trad of the Islamic Friendship Association in Australia, were the ones who spoke out about the game saying that it encouraged the existing feeling of hatred towards the Muslim community. Grand Theft Auto is a series of video games that released initially in 1997. The game involved various activities like reckless driving, shooting people and role play elements. Grand Theft Auto V saw the main player torture another character in various ways including water boarding, pulling out teeth and applying electric shock to nipples.
A scene from the game Grand Theft Auto | via Commons
There are many more gory, violent games out there that promote violence, torture and punishment on various levels including initiating sexual offences. Custers Revenge (1982), Wolfenstein 3D (1992), Barbarian The Ultimate Warrior (1987), Hatred (2015) and Leisure Suit Larry Series (1987) are some of the various games that have caused stir because of offensive content. Do games of this nature make the player violent or inspire them to take part in violent acts? It has been difficult to establish a direct connection. But, there have been instances of video-game inspired incidents. In 2004, a teenager in UK got life sentence for battering a friend to death with a knife and a claw hammer. The murder was said to be inspired by the game Manhunt. In February 2017, four youngsters from Delhi turned car jackers, just like in Grand Theft Auto, severely injuring the owner of the SUV they tried to steal.
The Union government is now attempting to ban the fatal Blue Whale challenge which has already claimed lives of more than seven youngsters in India. However, will a ban be effective or can a game that operates with help of social media be banned, it is difficult to say. But, as long as images of crime continue to be appealing, games like these will continue to be made.
