1993–94 United States Senate hearings on video games
From Sega Retro
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| 1993–94 United States Senate hearings on video games |
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| Date: 1993-12-09 – 1994-03-04 |
| Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building, 50 Constitution Avenue Northeast, Washington, D.C. 20002, United States |
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The 1993–94 United States Senate hearings on video games was a congressional hearing concerning the sale of violent video games to children. Spearheaded by senators Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl, two hearings were held in December 1993 and March 1994 respectively, and directly resulted in the formation of the ESRB.
Contents
History
Background
While violence in video games has been a public concern practically from the medium's invention, the 1990s saw the widespread introduction of more realistic video games, and with it the potential for more visceral content. In particular, CD-ROM technology allowed games to display live-action video, and developers were beginning to include filmed video footage in their Sega CD releases. Sega of America was also pushing for more adult-inclusive CD games with brands like Virtual VCR, and advertising the system as a method to play "interactive movies."
One of these interactive movies, a campy horror B-movie named Night Trap, was heavily advertised as one of the premiere titles for the Sega CD. Despite its horror trappings, the game features virtually no graphic violence whatsoever, and was even produced specifically to mitigate any controversy: where a normal horror B-movie might have copious amounts of on-screen blood and gore, Night Trap instead features antagonists which slay their victims with a comically-large and abstractly-designed "screw machine".
Despite Digital Pictures purposefully neutering the game's controversial elements before release, widespread ignorance over the seemingly-taboo nature of Night Trap fueled an increasing American moral panic over violence in games played by children. As a result, it became one of the primary scapegoats for the moral panic's outrage - alongside the Genesis port of Mortal Kombat. As a result, the United States Congress (chiefly senators Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl) scheduled a series of congressional hearings beginning in late 1993.
Well-aware of the possibility that the federal government would step in and regulate future video games releases, representatives from Nintendo, Sega, and other American game companies met to discuss creating their own self-regulatory body. These discussions lasted a considerable amount of time, only concluding a mere three hours before the hearing date. Thankfully, an agreement was settled upon to form the ESRB, allowing the video game industry to privately regulate their own works.
First hearing
The first congressional hearing took place on December 9, 1993 in Washington, D.C., held by the United States Senate Committees on Governmental Affairs and the Judiciary. In attendance were various representatives from the video game industry, chief among them Nintendo of America (represented by company chairman and lawyer Howard Lincoln) and Sega of America (represented by the company's vice president of marketing Bill White.)
The hearing committees singled out two purportedly-violent games in particular: the Sega CD game Night Trap and the Genesis port of Mortal Kombat. While complaints over the latter title were largely restricted to its inclusion of cartoonish blood, concerns over more visceral content in Night Trap were far more pressing. While in reality, the game features almost no graphic violence, hearing officials instead claimed it featured a shockingly-taboo amount of obscene video - illustrating a staggering disconnect between what Congress believed the game contained, and what it actually contained. They went on to claim the game allowed children to kill and murder in-game characters in graphic detail. Further, in an apparent attempt to use the hearings as a means to fear-monger the game industry in general, officials also claimed Night Trap was full of sexual content: a single scene in which a character happens to be wearing a nightgown was cited as proof of the game's sexual debauchery. In reality, Night Trap contains no sexual content, with Congress confidently describing the game with the same language and derision one would describe a snuff film.
While the hearings have been seen from a modern perspective as largely baseless (with the notable majority of attending congresspeople being significantly misinformed or willfully ignorant of the the game itself), there was one objective point on which both congresspeople and game industry representatives largely agreed: Night Trap was originally sold without an age rating, something congress would use to threaten the games industry with federal regulation.
In response, both Nintendo and Sega representatives proudly touted their agreement to form the ESRB, and continued to reiterate the point throughout the hearings. However, the two companies were largely uncooperative during the hearing. In particular, Nintendo's Howard Lincoln (an experienced lawyer) took the opportunity to charismatically drag Sega's name through the mud, all while propping up Nintendo as a company with stronger moral values. Oppositely, Sega's Bill White appeared far less confident on the stand, struggling with his words and even misidentifying a Nintendo Super Scope as a Sega product.
Second hearing
Result
The video game industry's quick establishment of the ESRB, alongside Howard Lincoln's arguments, eventually resulted in Congress backing off the industry and leaving them to self-regulate.
Legacy
In humorous contrast to the firestorm of moral controversy generated in the United States, England's British Board of Film Classification simply described it as "more like an old episode of Doctor Who"[1] and rated it a standard 15.[2]
Magazine articles
External links
- Coalition To Develop Rating System for Video Games article by Mark Walsh at Education Week