"Issues in Gaming" is a new series of articles that I wanted to write. Unlike "Notes from a Vista User," "Issues in Gaming" is going to be a longer running series of articles. My topics will change from week to week, but will ultimately be focused on contemporary issues in the gaming community. There are a number of issues, political and ethical, that exist in the community. There are also practical and philosophical issues that Jaxel, over at the Elitist Gamer’s Journal, writes about. For me, however, this week, I intend to focus on one of the issues that the media is having a field day with: Take-Two’s Manhunt 2. I do not intend to focus strictly on Manhunt 2 however; I will also focus on Take-Two’s other titles, relate them to this current issue, and show how their present situation could herald dangerous times for the company. I also plan to relate Take-Two’s circumstances to the situation that has been growing in the gaming community as of late.
Our issue at hand revolves around Take-Two Interactive. Will they be able to survive the onslaught brought upon them by the most recent of issues to crop up in the gaming community? As I’m sure many of you know, Take-Two’s Manhunt 2 has been banned from sale in both the United Kingdom and Ireland, with a likelihood of Italy and Australia to follow. It’s also been effectively banned in the United States as well, due to its Adults Only (AO) rating. Major retail chains such as Wal-Mart and Target will not, as a policy, sell games with an explicit AO rating. I’m sure other major chains also have that same policy; however, this particular policy is not entirely the most dangerous portion of the game’s AO rating. While granted, in order for Take-Two to turn a profit, they need to sell games, and as such, they need the major retailers to sell the games, there’s a secondary aspect that must be taken into account.
Sony and Nintendo have made it clear in the past that they will refuse the publishing of third party software with an AO rating. This signals a problem as console gaming is becoming the primary avenue of our gaming attention. Sure, PC is still a viable platform for gaming, but it’s been slowing down as many PC games are getting console ports. Effectively, this limits Manhunt 2 to, at most, two platforms, assuming Microsoft will allow an AO rated game on its console. Given the attitude made evident by Nintendo and Sony, this may not seem likely. With this controversy, we’ve seen Take-Two suspend the release of the game, but what brought us here and where is it going?
I blame the growing lack of focus in the creation of game premises. There exists in current game development companies a propensity towards the degeneration of game ideas. Some companies have been around so long that they no longer care about creating quality games based upon a quality premise. The companies see the expansion of an already established franchise as a quick means to more money. Unfortunately, they are right, despite the continually degrading quality of games. This plays back to the company’s idea pool when it comes time to create something new. They’ve gotten so used to the poor quality games that they’ve been putting out that their new ideas are of an equivalent quality. How does this factor into our Manhunt 2 situation regarding Take-Two?
I can’t say I haven’t played the game. My information is based off of plot synopses and the like. Given that, the premise behind Manhunt seemed interesting enough. Manhunt 2 takes that original premise, and pushes it further. Unfortunately, they crossed the line in doing so. One of the many things to keep in mind in game development is that there exists a line that effectively says what can and cannot be done in a game. Take-Two has a history of pushing up against this line. However, it can be said that Manhunt 2 goes past it. This is a move that has slowly been gaining steam from Take-Two’s earlier games, namely the Grand Theft Auto series.
Grand Theft Auto really pushed the line with its initial release. As a game that focused on various elements of organized crime, as well as typical crime, it had many elements that some would find appalling. What game should allow the player to freely kill walking pedestrians? What game should allow the player to kill cops? Fortunately, it has been shown that people do realize that Grand Theft Auto is a game, despite the acts that can be carried out.
Knowing what Grand Theft Auto did, could Manhunt 2 have done the same? The reason for its ban of sale, and its AO rating, has been cited as extremely violent "visceral killing." Not only are you killing various people in game, they provide you with a wide variety of torturous weapons, and gratuitous amounts of blood and gore. What’s wrong with this? Switching to a different media platform, it isn’t as though it hasn’t been done in the movies. One needs only take a look at a movie like Hostel, or Saw. Even look at the DVD case for Saw, it had fake blood in it. Why then, is Manhunt 2 such a different entity?
Movies like Hostel and Saw cater to a niche market. There are people out there intentionally trying to give themselves a scare. There are people that realize what they’re watching is a movie, and that they can do nothing to change it as they’re watching it. Games are of a different nature as one is actually controlling characters in game. It could then be seen that the player has had latent desires to kill people in extremely violent ways. The game could then bring out those desires into the real world. Wait a moment, what was that? I’m sorry; I don’t think there’s any concrete, solid evidence to back this up. Before anybody tries to mention the various school massacres, evidence based solely on circumstance is not practical evidence at all.
The problem with Manhunt 2 isn’t the ideas behind it. It’s the fact that Take-Two isn’t trying to sell it to a niche market. They’re marketing it to a wider audience, the gaming audience in general. They don’t explicitly market it towards the older, more mature audience, though that’s their unintended target. We must remember their goal, which is to make money.
Going back to the point, is Manhunt 2’s suspension of release signaling difficult times ahead for Take-Two? What scrutiny are they going to be put under with the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV? Is Manhunt 2 showing a breakdown in the idea generation for games? Everybody likes an occasional game like Resident Evil, or various other first person shooters as a stress reliever, but has Manhunt 2 gone too far? Where will we draw the line and say what’s acceptable and what’s not? This issue is not up for the government to decide. It’s not up for the various international ratings boards to decide. The ones who will decide this is us, the gamers. The emerging generation that will, in coming years, be moving into positions of power in the world. Are we sure we’re making the right decisions?
