Category: Video games

It turns out that any violent video games sold to underage kids in the UK has not been technically illegal due a loophole in the 1984 Video Recordings Act.

So for just over twenty-five years a lot of the negativity that gaming has courted in this country since the “video nasty” era of the 1980s has been upstaged by an even bigger blunder over legislation.

Won’t someone think of the children?!?

The revelation that the UK’s 1984 Video Recordings Act is fundamentally flawed raises considerable concerns for the future of video game classification.

Technically speaking right now any child could walk into a games shop and buy any 18 rated game or DVD they desire – with no current formal repercussions for the retailer. I don’t expect a flurry of underage gamers mostly because most decent game shops wouldn’t allow it, but I do hope this will help to ignite debate about the way games are sold in this country again.

Put it this way every single game that the BBFC has ever reviewed for a mature release into this country is affected – that’s a massive back-catalogue.

It puts the furore made over every single violent game released in doubt – and makes any changes made to any violent game on “accessibility to children” grounds ever so slightly absurd, comedic infact. I cannot help but laugh.

Imagine if this had happened in the States, specifically at the time when Hot Coffee in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas reared its ugly head. How differently could things have been if a legal blunder as big as this meant that the mature rating giving to that game in retrospect was not only technically redundant then, but had been for the last twenty-five years.

A little context to the 1984 Recordings Act

Retailers, consumers and parents have been saying for years that our current games rating system is inherently flawed, difficult to enforce and hard to understand.

We currently operate on a two tier system – violent videogames intended for the over 18s are rated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which also handles other legally enforceable ratings such as 12 and 15.

Everything else is classified using the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) system which works on a code of conduct model and serves as an advisory scheme to help parents make decisions on what games are suitable for their child using iconography.

Ironically it is the planned movement from the BBFC system to a new legally enforceable PEGI system that uncovered this serious loophole, and it will continue to exist for the next three months until emergency legislation can be passed to plug it up.

How did this happen? Basically when compiling the Act the Conservative government of 1983 failed to inform the correct European Authority of the intention to make it law, so parts of the Act never became law, subsequently it wasn’t checked by numerous Labour governments.

This raises some huge questions

By my reckoning the BBFC have been responsible for classifying games since 1985 – why was this not noticed just one year after the newly passed act came into power? And even worse not noticed again by the government in 1993 and 1994 when the law was reviewed?

It has taken until 2009 – when a potential new ratings system is being pencilled in to protect children from violent media that they could undoubtedly access anyway. How does replacing one unenforceable system with another make our games system any more tenable?

I’m convinced no one really cares, and that’s a crying shame – because before this loophole even existed the games rating system was already broken, and it’s a problem you’ll find absolutely everywhere regardless. It’s because games are deemed something suitable for children and not a emerging and varied medium – like film – capable of displaying the very best and very very worst of what we are.

Parents buy unsuitable games for their children regardless of the ratings, they cannot be told at point of sale and they certainly won’t pay attention to governments especially with bureaucracy like this fresh in their minds.

It’s a hilarious day to be a gamer, sing the blunder from the rooftops – when the next Rockstar game comes around the UK government won’t have a leg to stand on.

We already know games can trigger real reactions and emotions, such as fear, excitement or awe, and one of the many ways developers are able to do this is through scale and enormity.

Size invokes different sets of feelings – ensuring you remember your first and last steps out into the game world, usually using three key and equally important design elements.

Locations

Size helps to convey the idea that the world is not a flat notion on paper, but an immersive and expansive playground rewarding you for wanting to explore it. A little gift from the mind of the developer from them to you.

Scale is a massively important theme in gaming because it can be deeply emotive, and a confirmation of what is to come. Some of the best locations in a game world have been those which has tapped into this idea of a wide expansive space setting the mood for the game. This emotive link to an area is often why some gamers can feel a particular affinity for the early areas in the game, the sort of nursery locations which encourage them to explore as they get used to the game.

Half Life has numerous examples of “impact areas” moments in the game – locations that break up the tone of the action, aid the narrative, or are there simply to entertain. Such as the long, cable car ride to the heart of Black Mesa, or the enormous fans that need to be avoided and dodged. And finally, after hours of crawling through vents and destroying labs; this magnificent open sky and dam awaits – a moment to pause and enjoy before continuing.

Other notable game locations:

• Hyrule Field – Ocarina of Time – The temptation is to remain in this area indefinitely; enjoying the dawn, finding secrets, and catching Big Poes on horseback. A landmark gaming landscape.
• Lost Valley – Tomb Raider – It starts with a spectacular swan drive following a waterfall’s descent, then out into a the verdant forest dappled with ancient ruins. Fantastic enough, even without the enormous Tyrannosaurus Rex looming out of the darkness…
• Halo – This enormous ring provides the setting for the second level of Halo: Combat Evolved. You will later learn that that world you have crashed landed on is a giant intergalactic weapon, once you tear yourself away from staring at it’s curve above you in the sky.

Set pieces

In a similar theme to impact areas – games frequently use large objects as part of the level design, an enormous centrepiece to the level that helps the player to navigate an idea by providing a focal point, or an object that must be navigated in some way to complete the level.

The sphinx in Tomb Raider for example, is the gateway to the remainder of the early Egyptian levels, a large, eye catching object which continues the level theme while providing the player with a physical embodiment of the character’s goal – the high point they need to aim for.

All of these principles work in 2D also. In Blood Omen, the player must walk between the legs of an enormous statue of William the Just, a representation of the enemy you are on your way to face, which stands tall over the landscape.

Other notable game set pieces:

• Nupraptor’s keep – Soul Reaver – This giant skull has fallen over on a hillside and was once used as an ancient keep. The eye socket is easily large enough for the player to climb inside, allowing you to reach higher parts of the level which were previously inaccessible.
• Imperial City – Oblivion Although it is technically a location in itself, the City lies at the heart of Cyrodiil, providing a focal backdrop to nearly every quest and undertaking.
• The Moon – It’s normal for a video game that is nocturnal to feature this natural element of the night sky, but Majora’s Mask uses a living, tortured moon as the tool for Termina’s destruction. The red-eyed globe looms over your every action, reminding you of the three day deadline for your task.

Bosses & enemies

It is well-known that game bosses provide the climatic challenges within the duration of a game. But would the conclusive bosses at the end of numerous Final Fantasties and Zelda games be quite the same without that climatic assent (or descent) into the unknown?

What is becoming more and more common in modern video games is to create, larger bosses which physically represent the challenge the player is about to undertake. Examples in normal games of this sort of large, imposing enemy is common, and is becoming more so – particularly in massively multiplayer games, where respawning enemies often have to fill the requirements of the area they reside in.

This screenshot from Final Fantasy XI shows this different in scale between enemy and character well, the tiny shapes of the people working together to defeat the large, jelly-fish like Yovra are barely visible.

Other notable game bosses:

• Dark Falz – Phantasy Star Online – At a time when real-time RPG bosses were quite scarce, this Dreamcast based boss was a significant challenge to those used to using a turn based system. Dark Falz rides upon a three-headed neon mount, dwarfing the player with his weaponry and size.
• Mothership – This ship leads the invasion of Earth in Earth Defence Force 2017, and it could quite possibly be the largest destroyable object in video game history. Seemingly invincible, you eventually learn it’s weaknesses through the course of the game.
• Intestinal Fortitude – It often smacks a little of Jabu Jabu’s belly, but this worm from Gears of War 2 makes him seem tiny. As you progress through the belly of a worm large enough to sink cities, its hard not to humbled by the its enormous digestive teeth, or large-scale circulatory system – that is of course until you take the creature down from the inside.