Video Game Industry Hits Back Over Colo. Shooting
By Therese Poletti
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The video game industry came out swinging
Thursday at critics who say violent video games were among the causes
of the Columbine High School shooting rampage in Littleton, Colorado.
Leaders of the $6.3 billion industry said at the start of its biggest
trade show that games should not be blamed for last month's shooting
spree by two teen-agers who killed 12 students and a teacher before
turning their guns on themselves.
''Since Littleton, this industry has been scrutinized like never
before ... resulting in a portrayal that has not been accurate at all
times,'' Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Interactive Digital
Software Association, told reporters at the Electronic Entertainment
Expo, or E3, trade show.
In last year's list of the 10 most popular games, only two were
considered violent and rated ''extreme for mature audiences'' under
the industry's voluntary rating system, Lowenstein said.
''The concern among politicians is greater than before,'' said
Lowenstein, who attended this week's White House meeting on violence.
''This frankly has set us back.''
After Monday's closed-door session in Washington, President Clinton
urged the entertainment industry to think twice before making violent
movies and video games.
''We have to ask the people who produce things to consider the
consequences of them, whether it's a violent movie, a CD, a video
game,'' he told reporters. ''If they are made, they at least should
not be marketed to children.''
Littleton gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were part of a clique
whose members wore black trenchcoats and played violent video games
such as Quake and Doom.
Don Tapscott, chairman of a think-tank called Alliance for Converging
Technologies, said he believed the two gravitated to the images of
violent video games like those ''to express their psychosis.''
''The best the government can do is back off from any draconian
legislation that would ban any content,'' he said.
Tapscott said no connection had been shown between video games and
tragic incidents such as Littleton, and suggested parents should talk
more to their children.
''Gee, your kid is walking out the door with a swastika, it's time to
have a conversation,'' he said.
He said many studies had linked youth violence to factors such as
poverty, lack of parental involvement, family violence, untreated
mental illness, the proliferation of guns, substance abuse and wars
over illegal drugs.
Some executives interviewed at E3 said they believed the industry
needed to get retailers and the game makers more involved in the game
rating system, but ultimately, video games were not responsible for
violent actions like the Columbine shooting.
''Everyone feels bad about what happened. I don't believe Doom or
video games had anything to do with what happened,'' said Todd
Hollenshead, chief executive of id Software, the privately held
company that developed Doom.
id Software was demonstrating the upcoming version of Quake, called
Quake III Arena, for multiple players to compete over the Internet in
''death match battles.''
The new version of the game is more graphically violent than the
previous version, spilling more blood and guts, showing detailed body
parts and even bones.
On the show floor, martial arts fighting matches were more pervasive
than the bloodier, gorier shoot-em-up games.
However, ''Postal,'' one of the most violent video games in which
players are encouraged to shoot innocent bystanders, was not featured
at the booth of its publisher, Ripcord Games. That company was
showcasing strategy-oriented medieval and futuristic battle games.
The show, however, had a more family-oriented side. Executives at
Disney Interactive highlighted its good-natured family fare and said
other video game developers should tone down their graphic content.
''We think it's time for the video game industry to take
responsibility and deliver world-class entertainment in a nonviolent
environment,'' said Timothy Zuckert, vice president of marketing for
Disney Interactive.
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