In chapter 6, an interesting topic Neilsen brought up was the public perceptions of gaming in present day western societies. He states that the market for video games increase in sales and popularity every year, creating gameplay for children to seniors. As this stream of media continues to grow, critics will continue to bash this idea of a gaming phenomenon. "...video games are consistently considered to be: unsophisticated in their form; problematic in their content; the cause of health problems--from obesity to addiction; and inculcated in amorphous cultural fears, and aggressive teenagers" (Neilsen, p.134). Are the critics right? Does video gameplay create these problems in the society? I found some of the most controversial games thoughout video game history and the reason why these particular games were looked at.
One game i found pretty far fetched was the japanese game called Rapelay, where the player takes on the role of a rapist who stalks and rapes girls in a number of explicit situations, with the ultimate goal of making them his sex slaves. Resident Evil 5 was another game that was brought up as controversial video game play. The game setting simulates a small town in Africa, which immediately created controversy when released. Mortal Kombat made the list as well for its creation of ultra-violent and graphic fighting scenes. This game stirred up a lot of controversy because of the excessive amount of blood and gore gore during the fight scenes.
Do you think these games are controversial or just means of digital entertainment? What are some other games that may be considered controversial?
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