Facing The Backlash
In 1993, the video game industry faced a new enemy in its quest to be viewed as a true form of entertainment. This new foe wasn’t another case of in-fighting, nor was it resistance against breaking into new countries or new households. The thing standing in the way of the industry was something so powerful that it had the ability to shut down the entire industry with a whim if it so chose. This enemy was the United States Government.
The issue becoming the possible downfall of the video game industry was one centered around content. More importantly, the issue was the nature of that content and the lack of any controls in place to regulate and monitor exactly who was seeing it. Games like Night Trap and Mortal Kombat were taking the full brunt of the focus from a body that had become increasingly aware and concerned about what the children of America were choosing to play. A concerned portion of the public had started an outcry against the kind of material that had started to show up in the games that had become a major trend in the country.
These games were not like the games of the past. The games in question were home to a level of violence and risque content that hadn’t been seen in popular titles of the past. Without a way of rating the content inside the games, there was no way for a parent to be able to tell what their children may end up seeing. Instead of Mario, Link, Sonic, Donkey Kong, or other friendlier titles, these new games were promoting a new level of realistic violence that hadn’t been seen until this time.
From the hearings with the United States Government, the major publishers of the video game industry found that they needed to start regulating themselves before someone else stepped in to do that task for them. The industry knew what it needed to do to continue to be in control of itself. More importantly, the industry knew that it absolutely didn’t want to be regulated and controlled by those outside of the industry. From their revelation about the severity of the situation at hand, the Entertainment Software Rating Board was born.
