Censorship - Video Games

I heard a few days ago (well, it may have been yesterday, come to think of it) that a new video game had been banned in both the UK and Ireland and was waiting to hear more about it before I posted on it because I knew the concept of censorship would come up in relation to the whole thing.

Rockstar Games' new Manhunt 2 has been banned and will not likely be released elsewhere. Further, several major gaming console companies have refused to carry the title. Rockstar is the same company that released such controversial titles as Grand Theft Auto.

Rockstar insists the game is a "fine piece of art," and I'm not sure that I would disagree. The game is rated Adults Only in America, but again, it is not going to be released on Nintendo or Sony platforms. The question is whether or not this constitutes censorship or is simply a matter of community standards and I have to admit, this one is a bit nebulous.

You have to remember that censorship usually only comes into play when the art or artist has something to say - especially if that is something that someone or faction would rather not have others hear. For instance, if Blogger wrote me an e-mail, asking me to take down the post on Dan Rather, that would be censorship; were they to ask me to remove the kitty picture because people are complaining that it seems to promote cruelty to animals, that's really more of a community standards issue (it's an obvious stretch, but you get the point).

That they deemed it Adults Only is a step in the right direction and makes me wonder why the UK and Ireland are so reticent to allow its release under this restriction, but they have every right to say that the majority of video gamers are young kids and minors, so they'd rather not sell Adults Only titles. Really, since none of this is politically-motivated, censorship really isn't the issue here.

I get the feeling that this has more to do with distribution; if major chain stores are allowed to sell this, why wouldn't they also be allowed to carry pornographic movies, for instance. And regardless of what some may say, there really is a difference between art and pornography: pornography is made for a single purpose and has no higher value, real or imagined.