I was in GameStation, minding my own business, buying Crysis 2 at a ludicrously knocked-down price, when I notice what the kid in front of me in the queue is buying.
Now, I am no great expert on children - I try to minimise all contact with anyone under the age of 20. So it's a shot in the dark, but I'm going to say this kid was about 8. Maybe 10, at the very, very most. And he was buying a copy of Bulletstorm for the XBox 360.
Bulletstorm, in case you couldn't figure it out from the name or Wikipedia, is a really, really violent game. You literally get more points the more brutally you slaughter your enemies. There are combos where you make people explode, and celebrate that fact. It's an 18 certificate, and says so right on the box - it should only be sold to people over the age of 18.
To emphasise this point, here's a picture of Bulletstorm. In this picture, the player is getting 50 points for shooting a guy in the throat, which earns him an achievement called "gag reflex".
Now, to set the record straight from the start here, I'm not one of these people who thinks that violent video games create serial killers and rapists. I like video games, and I've played some very violent ones and enjoyed it. In fact, I have personally played Bulletstorm and found it quite funny, in an over-the-top kind of way - it's essentially a spoof of games like Manhunt, which glorify murder rather than have a bit of a laugh about it. And it hasn't twisted my psyche to any great extent - although I suppose I would say that.The guy at the desk obviously hadn't played the game, and he couldn't count to 18. I mean, he is just a guy in a video game shop, I know, but you'd think he'd be able to count to 18. He obviously couldn't, because he sold the game to the 10-year-old-max kid.
Why is that any different to selling him a bottle of gin? It says right there on the box that it's illegal to sell it to an under-18. He might as well have thrown in a carton of Regal king size and some porn.
Fair enough, the kid's mum was there in the shop and didn't disapprove, but it was the child himself who conducted the transaction. Again, this wouldn't happen with a bottle of gin. As I say, I don't believe it's necessarily going to turn the kid into a serial killer, but I still don't think someone that young should be playing that game. To start with there's almost definitely swearing in it. What it if was a copy of the newest Duke Nukem game, which is awash with swearing, innuendo and breasts, as well as wanton ultraviolence? Would the kid's mum still be OK with that, and would the guy behind the counter still hand it over?
For me it sums up a fundamental irresponsibility which still exists in the video game industry. While there are a lot of good, thoughtful, well-realised video games getting made, and celebrated - Portal 2 winning the big prize at the golden joysticks last night underlines that - there's also a lot of total crap going about. Stuff like and inspired by the Manhunt games, games which are just there to be violent and bloody. They're literally just murder simulators. They're not even good or entertaining games - they just titillate with violence, without trying to tell a story or convey a message.
The great, really great video games, never had to rely on violence like that. Shadow of the Colossus? Yeah, you killed fucking great monoliths, but you actually started feeling bad about it after a while. Okami? You fight with a paintbrush for god's sake. Metal Gear Solid was about the story and the stealth, not the occasional throat-slitting. Christ, even things like Call of Duty have you fighting for a good cause - at least kids are learning that the Nazis were bad and war probably isn't that much fun when you're actually in it.
As I said earlier, I don't even have that big of a problem with Bulletstorm, as I think they're trying to satirise that whole depraved end of the industry, and there's still a bit of creativity in there. I just can't fathom why the guy in that shop felt it was OK to sell it to someone who was so blatantly a minor. With the rise of the DS and the Wii, video gaming actually has become a bit more family-friendly - but there's obviously a way to go yet.
Anyway, that's enough moaning. I'm off to slaughter some aliens in the ruins of a futuristic New York City.
