• by Shankar Gupta , January 18, 2008

It's been a busy week for video game alarmism. Unless this is the only gaming article you've read this week, you've doubtlessly heard about a pack of lies authored by conservative columnist and radio talk show host Kevin McCullough on TownHall.com, the resulting outrage, the subsequent response, the further resulting outrage, and finally a weak and weaseling apology.

You can get the full story at the aforelinked stories, but spending any more time talking about this guy is more or less exactly what he wants. There's no need to rehash all his lies and distortions about "Mass Effect"'s content - which (for those who didn't click through) he objects to on the basis of the brief, PG-13 love scene towards the end of the game. The money quote from his "apology": "'Mass Effect' fans have demonstrated that the three minute cuts on YouTube are only arrived at after hours of play. So in their argument the 'percentage' of objectionable content is heavily outweighed by the overwhelming amount of content leading up to it. Point well made... It is for me however the presence of the content at all that I reacted strongly too." So, for McCullough, the presence of sexual content at all is a no-no for games.

The Parent's Television Council has also recently adopted a zero-tolerance policy with respect to video game. In response to the Entertainment Software Association's formation of a political action committee, the group noted: "Any public servant who cashes a check from the video game industry will be exposed by the PTC as taking a stand against families, and his or her actions will be communicated to constituents in his or her congressional district." And so, for the PTC, any support for the video game industry constitutes an anti-family stance.

Simply put, this black-and-white view of the video game medium is out-of-touch, and needs to go. Even if one believes -- as many people seem to -- that video games are some sort of dangerous threat to society, pretending that video games are still only for kids or that creating entertainment intended for and marketed to adults is someone inherently anti-family, only serves to marginalize that cause.