What does censorship mean to the people that make videogames?

By: Ru Weerasuriya | None
Aug 30, 2007

Editor’s Note: What do you do when you have one of the sharpest videogame developers in front of you at a media event, ready and willing to share his opinions openly about the state of the games industry? Well, you give him an article to write. That’s exactly what happened when I met Ru Weerasuriya, founder and vice president of creative development for Ready at Dawn. And the mind behind games both warm and fuzzy (Daxter) and violent and brutal (God of War: Chains of Olympus) has some strong opinions about censorship in the industry. And so we present to you the first in our series, Dev Dish, where developers from around the gaming industry share their thoughts on what’s going on. The gloves are off and enlightenment awaits. Let’s go. — Jason Allen

Recently, a game which most of you have heard about was banned for its content. Many hailed that decision as a step in the right direction. If you thought it was, you might also be one who would have thought the Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a great advance for society [see sidebar]. Well consider the following: The majority of authors banned by the Index for their work are revered today as some of the most brilliant minds of the past 450 years; however their work was considered at the time to be morally unsound, lascivious, or violent. Now, before someone quotes me as comparing today’s game makers to the artists of old, I am not…only time will tell. But the path that was taken then is not unlike the one being sought today. Freedom of expression is a right in this country, whether in literature, music, motion pictures, or interactive entertainment. And censorship has never been a solution and never will be.

Which brings me back to the story pitch before our hypothetical team. If the demands of the puritanical zealots out there were followed, such a story would surely be censored. How could it not be? According to their reasoning, it condones violence and lewd behavior. The dilemma here is that this story is inspired and unaltered from written materials, whether fictional or factual. Take the game I’m currently directing, for example: God of War is based on Greek mythology, a mythos often filled with violence and sordid tales. However, if one were to delve deeper, it’s clear that the violence depicted in the game is quite frequently tame compared to not just mythology but also the history of ancient Greece.

Often the argument brought forth is that certain depictions of violence are justifiable in the proper context, whether in literature or other forms of art. In keeping with the same logic, shouldn’t violence in games be justifiable were it to be presented with some acceptable reasoning? However, it’s usually not. Unsurprisingly, this double standard does not seem to faze anyone. Think of how many senseless acts have been blamed on writings, music and movies. With the advent of technology, the mainstream media might have changed, but so have our sensibilities. What has not changed are the isolationist teachings, morals, and views of the world that are nurtured by many.

Ultimately, what is really in question here is the vehicle through which violence is delivered. In a time when the interactive entertainment industry is in a financial boom, it seems awfully convenient to attack the medium that some feel threatens their comfort and way of life. Popularity always fosters the naysayer and if not for the exposure that it brings, many antigame advocates would not think to look twice at our industry.

As I was writing this piece, I read the following statement on a website attributing violence to games:

“Learning happens,” Harvard School of Public Health researcher Kimberly Thompson told the Boston Globe, speaking about the lessons children learn from violent video games. “I fear we are growing a society of alienated, aggressive, untrusting adults,” adds media researcher Joanne Cantor.

Yes, learning happens–who could disagree with that statement? Children learn from their direct surroundings, their parents, their friends and society at large. Many parents place their kids in front of a TV with a game in order to get some peace and quiet, but they won’t take the time to broaden their kids’ knowledge, teach them tolerance and the ways of the world. We are a civilization that has condoned violence in the name of religion, economy, and politics throughout our history. It has been part of mankind and is at the center of its evolution. As quick as we are to seek control or restrict access to videogames deemed sensitive, this same violence depicted through other means is now given less credence. Are we really to think that violence stems in large part from the games kids play? People’s hypocrisy never ceases to amaze me.

It doesn’t help when networks give a platform for people like Jack Thompson to ramble on about a subject he seems to have no understanding of. People look to a man who most likely has never played a game nor has any concept of the art of game development to warn them of its dangerous effects. This amounts to trusting a self-proclaimed expert to tell you what’s best for your health when he or she doesn’t know a thing about medicine. Then again, that seems to be an accepted practice nowadays. People have an easier time basing their judgments and opinions on those of people they see on TV, than making the effort to make up their own mind. The advantage of our time is that information is so readily available. Why not reach one’s own conclusions?

In no way am I condoning giving children access to violent games. The ESRB is here to rate the work we do. As an industry, we should support them and make sure that their work remains unbiased and reliable. Videogame retailers also have their part to play in stopping young children from getting access to T- or M-rated games, but parents have to start taking a large part of the responsibility. It is unrealistic to think that violent or even sexually explicit materials can be completely kept away from children. Education will always be the only tool to teach them right from wrong, providing them with the means to judge and evaluate what is presented to them. They can then be trusted to experience games for what they are: a form of entertainment.

Is there violence in games? Yes. But do games engender violence? No. Ignorance does. And from the look of things being said and written lately, ignorance is abundant. To the people who blame videogames as the cause of violence, pour your energy into a worthwhile cause. Fight ignorance–first and foremost within yourself.

And by the way, did I mention that one of the books that inspired most of the events in the first story pitch is the Bible?

Thanks to Jason Allen for the kind words… : )

That’s the number of times I’ve been asked today about violence in games. It really feels like this whole Manhunt thing a few weeks ago is on everyone’s minds, right in the middle of E3. Coincidence? I think not. The pity is that whether this game is good or not, it’ll probably sell just because of the hoopla surrounding it now. Best PR money can’t buy…

Seriously, what’s with this fixation some of the media and mainly politicians have with violence when it comes to the game industry? I honestly would have no problem addressing this in a constructive discussion, except for all the hypocrisy surrounding this issue. I’m working on a game based on Greek Mythology. How can you stay true to that without incorporating the violence that was inherent to the time period (and to all time periods for that fact)? It’s all about context but that seems to go out the door when it comes to this subject. You want to have a discussion about violence in games? Let’s have one about violence in all forms of art.

I had an interesting conversation today with Jason Allen, an editor at Gametap, about this and many other subjects. He mentioned that they were adding a new section to their site and asked whether I could write an editorial for him. So I took him up on it. Now I just have to figure out how I’m going to do that while working on the game…

Unfortunately, we learnt about the firmware upgrade at the same time as everyone else did (kind of weird since we’re PSP developers) but nonetheless, we are going to try and make the best of it. The second thing was the 1080p PSP rumor. This is actually is true. Our engine has the capacity to render out a 1080 image out of the PSP debug system, which allows us to make high-res screenshots as well as movies of gameplay. As time goes on, I’m sure we’ll get a chance to release some of the screens and footage we’ve captured.

I’m not usually one to feel the need to justify or defend our work. At Blizzard, the word was mum. We never use to reply to the things written in the press, either to confirm or deny them. What we got out of it was that no one would believe anything out there unless it came directly from Blizzard. It’s definitely a huge plus to be in that situation, but now as a small independent studio, we sometimes need to set the record straight, if only to stand up for everyone here on the team.

We’ll try to be clearer in the future, if not on our website, on my blog or the Playstation Blog. For now, it’s back to the grind… E3 is fast approaching.

Almost everyone wanted to get there hands on the game but I had to ask them to be patient. Although the game was all ready to play, we just didn’t have enough time to let everyone have a go. And you know how it goes, if one person gets to play, then everyone wants to play. Most of the combat system is all in and running smoothly. Our lead animator, Jerome, is toying around with adding or switching some of the combos. We had one of them implemented on the demo and everyone was asking about it. Not sure if they had talked to each other but they were all calling it the ‘windmill’. Catchy…

So after the last year of work, we finally got to show God of War: Chains of Olympus to the press and the response was amazing. After today, I’ve come to realize that everyone has huge and different expectations from the game. At this point, all I can say is that what we have in store is gonna be pretty cool…

Got there in time and man did the place look cool. The San Diego Mocap studios were all revamped for the event. Sat through Peter Dille’s rehearsal and got to see him struggle with my last name; I really can’t give him shit… almost everyone messes it up the first few times. He did get it right on the second or third try though… Much better than most.

Sony had organized a small reception for press and developers, definitely the best part of the day. Spent most of the time drinking and talking with other devs and press about ‘the old days’, what got us started in the industry, fighting games and such. A few challenges were even thrown down by some… gonna have to see if it’s all talk : )… Good to see that a few of us have the same roots when it comes to gaming.

Today was easy, no presentation or press. Just got to walk around and play… Heavenly Sword had a cool opening gameplay sequence to their demo, God of War style… well executed although I would have loved to see more interactivity in the gameplay. The combat had a good base but I’ll reserve judgment until I see more. Definitely looking forward to it though. Ratchet Future was a blast. Really enjoyed Uncharted too, finally a realistic-styled game that’s not a WW2 or Sci-Fi shooter. Little Big Planet, LAIR, home… too many good things to talk about.

The PS3 line-up for the coming year looks very solid. Let’s see how the press reacts to GoW tomorrow…

That being said, everyone’s entitled to their opinion. There have been plenty of great games that have received poor reviews; some of those reviews were warranted, some were just due to frustrated, wannabe, having-nothing-better-to-do haters and this industry has its share of those types.

Ultimately, review or not, isn’t it about whether people are having fun playing your game? I wonder what would happen if some of the games we loved playing growing up came out under the scrutiny of today’s industry. Wonder if they would still be revered as they were then…

That being said, I started this blog hoping to give a little insight into what we do at RAD everyday, during the course of our current development with God of War and the stuff we are planning to do in the future. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to ask some of the guys at work to contribute. It’s a pretty talented team we have, and it’ll be cool to get them to share their lessons.

With that in mind, I gonna concede to a few (you know who you are) who told me that blogs were not all that bad. That’s as far as I’ll go for an apology, I’ll reserve final judgment until I see where this goes… : )

Well, the little blurb on God of War on PSP came out last Tuesday and it took us all of 3 days to make it to the top spot of Gamestats’ PSP rankings from literally nowhere. Mind you, we’ve dropped to no.2 as I’m writing this. Tried to read the ‘About’ page on Gamestats to find out how they go about making the rankings, and I’m not quite sure how accurate it all is. Who cares right. It’s a popularity contest! It’s rewarding to see the attention and anticipation for the game building up.

As I find myself unable to say much about the game (gotta wait for the green light), I’ve been thinking back on how we got to this point as a company; starting 3.5 years ago, building the place up from the 3 guys working from home to nearly 40 people today, Daxter, the engine licensing to now, God of War… It’s just been one big blur.

The coolest part nowadays is to look at the people at work and get the feeling that we did something right. It reminds me in so many ways of the old days at Blizzard, way before they decided to take over the world : ) All joking aside, I learnt a lot from that place and the guys there, and brought a lot of that to RAD. I still get to see some of them on a regular basis, to catch up and share stories. Definitely helps that we’re only a few minutes away from each other. Best of all, they’ve been nothing but supportive and one of our biggest fans. The same goes for us. Always good to have the respect of your old friends…

Well, there go my few minutes of peace. It’s back to work now…

Since last night was the unofficial announce of the game our team has been working on (most everyone I met last week at GDC already knew about it), I thought the time was as good as any to start writing this blog.

Wasn’t sure where to start so I’ll introduce myself… I’m the Art & Creative Director at Ready At Dawn Studios, a game development studio 2 friends and I founded in 2003. I’m also for lack of a better word the Game Director, as Sony would call  it, on the title at hand. The game I’m talking about is God of War on PSP (no, that’s not the title… that’ll come later) and hopefully some of you caught up with the stuff that was said yesterday during the God of War II launch at the Metreon in San Francisco.

Cool thing is that since the rumors started a couple of months ago on a Spanish website (or Finnish maybe…?), a lot of speculation has gone on about what type of game we were making. I’ve heard everything from a straight port of God of War 1, a 2D side-scroller to an RPG. Man I wish we could satisfy everyone, even the ones who clamored for an MMORPG : ).

I’m sure there’ll be plenty of chances to talk more about what’s ahead with the game and our team. But that’s for a later day. Patience is a virtue…