Games News

In a special issue of the journal Review of General Psychology, published in June by the American Psychological Association, researchers looked at several studies that examined the potential uses of video games as a way to improve visual/spatial skills, as a health aid to help manage diabetes or pain and as a tool to complement psychotherapy. One study examined the negative effects of violent video games on some people.

Much of the attention to video game research has been negative, focusing on potential harm related to addiction, aggression and lowered school performance, said Christopher J. Ferguson, PhD, of Texas A&M International University and guest editor of the issue. Recent research has shown that as video games have become more popular, children in the United States and Europe are having fewer behavior problems, are less violent and score better on standardized tests. Violent video games have not created the generation of problem youth so often feared.

In contrast, one study in the special issue shows that video game violence can increase aggression in some individuals, depending on their personalities.

In his research, Patrick Markey, PhD, determined that a certain combination of personality traits can help predict which young people will be more adversely affected by violent video games. Previous research has shown us that personality traits like psychoticism and aggressiveness intensify the negative effects of violent video games and we wanted to find out why, said Markey.

Markey used the most popular psychological model of personality traits, called the Five-Factor Model, to examine these effects. The model scientifically classifies five personality traits: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness.

Analysis of the model showed a perfect storm of traits for children who are most likely to become hostile after playing violent video games, according to Markey. Those traits are: high neuroticism (e.g., easily upset, angry, depressed, emotional, etc.), low agreeableness (e.g., little concern for others, indifferent to others feelings, cold, etc.) and low conscientiousness (e.g., break rules, don't keep promises, act without thinking, etc.).

Markey then created his own model, focusing on these three traits, and used it to help predict the effects of violent video games in a sample of 118 teenagers. Each participant played a violent or a non-violent video game and had his or her hostility levels assessed. The teenagers who were highly neurotic, less agreeable and less conscientious tended to be most adversely affected by violent video games, whereas participants who did not possess these personality characteristics were either unaffected or only slightly negatively affected by violent video games.

These results suggest that it is the simultaneous combination of these personality traits which yield a more powerful predictor of violent video games, said Markey. Those who are negatively affected have pre-existing dispositions, which make them susceptible to such violent media.

Violent video games are like peanut butter, said Ferguson. They are harmless for the vast majority of kids but are harmful to a small minority with pre-existing personality or mental health problems.

Keith Vaz who so notably blames all the worlds ills on computer games has retained his chairmanship of the Parliament Home Affairs Committee.

A fascinating achievement for an opposition MP who often gets linked with sleaze.

The Times has a knock with:

Keith Vaz, the MP for Leicester who was suspended from the Commons in 2002 after the Standards and Privileges Committee found that he had given them misleading information - has been made chairman of the Home Affairs committee.

The Daily Mail put together quite a piece on Vaz:

Truth about Keith Vaz and crooked lawyer: Sleaze scandal as Labour MP tries to take charge of crucial committee

Controversial Labour MP Keith Vaz was at the centre of a sleaze scandal last night after bombshell evidence emerged of his favour-for-a-favour relationship with a corrupt lawyer.

A Daily Mail investigation has found that Shahrokh Mireskandari treated the MP's wife Maria Fernandes and their young daughter to a weekend jolly in Rome - just weeks before Mr Vaz intervened in a potentially ruinous court case on behalf of the solicitor.

...See  article from  dailymail.co.uk

Dismayed by the negative way it is portrayed in computer games, Russia is planning to promote itself with a series of patriotic titles based on the heroic deeds of its soldiers in the Second World War.

The country's parliament is also discussing plans to ban anti-Russian computer games after MPs complained that games, mostly American, portrayed Russians as Cold War stereotypes, villains and alcoholics.

The Russian version of the best-selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game already has a scene cut where gamers shoot innocent passengers at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, but if the parliamentarians get their way it could be banned altogether.

While the MPs cannot stop offending games being made, some want to ban their import. The Duma is considering setting up a commission to decide which games should be illegal to import.

Games that might fall foul of the commission include the German Ulitsa Dimitrova, where gamers play a seven-year-old child in St Petersburg who has to steal, kill and lie in order to buy cigarettes.

The Video Standards Council, the new games censors in waiting, are expecting to take over the job from the BBFC around September this year.

Speaking to Eurogamer TV,  Laurie Hall, VSC director general said: The Secretary of State has to be satisfied that everything has been put in place before he presses the green button. There are various arrangements that have to be put in place: a statutory instrument for dealing with packaging regulations; the Secretary of State has to be happy that the arrangements that the VSC itself has put in place to carry out its statutory duties are in order before he designates us. When exactly will all this happen? We don't know. Our best guess is the early autumn, possibly September.

Speaking to Eurogamer TV earlier in the year, the BBFC's senior policy advisor, David Austin, said: We've been talking to them pretty much constantly since the decision as to how it's all going to happen. We'll be working in parallel forever, as long as there's a VSC and PEGI, because we will still retain responsibility for certain types of game and because game and film content are moving closer.

While the details are still being thrashed out, it is understood the BBFC will retain responsibility for rating the small number of pornographic games requiring an R18 rating.

Update: Elspa Expect

11th June 2010. See  article from  mcvuk.com

Trade body ELSPA expects long journey to conclude before busy Q4 season

ELSPA is hopeful that the PEGI system of age ratings for video games will be ratified in law this October – just in time for complete clarity through the busiest selling season.

A group of Interior Ministers have been asking for a total ban on the production and distribution of violent videogames in Germany. 

Thanks in large part to a petition, such a ban will not be enacted in the near future. German website Game Captain reports that the 73,000 signatures captured on a petition against banning such games allowed the matter to be taken up in front of the Committee on Petitions. The petitioner was allowed to speak, and apparently asked more education on media be provided in place of the ban.

Parliament State Secretary Dr. Herman Kues, of the Federal Ministry for Home Affairs must have been swayed, as he announced that no changes to the current criminal code would be enacted. Instead the government will push for more public education of the PEGI ratings system.

Four TV ads, featuring game footage, for the Heavy Rain video game.

a. The first ad showed a shop keeper being threatened by an armed man. A customer was shown watching the incident unfold.

b. The second ad showed the watching customer choosing to Intervene in the situation and was shown wrestling the armed robber and being shot by the armed robber.

c. The third ad showed the customer choosing to Attack the armed robber and was shown hitting him over the head with a glass bottle.

d. The fourth ad showed the customer choosing to Negotiate with the robber and was shown to calm the situation down and the robber left the shop.

1. Several viewers believed that all four ads were inappropriate for scheduling at times when they could be seen by children.
2. Several viewers objected that the depiction of violence in all four ads was offensive.
3. Several viewers objected that all four ads were harmful because they glamorised violence.
4. Some viewers objected that the ads were offensive, because they were broadcast at the time of the death of a shop keeper in Huddersfield in an armed robbery.

ASA Assessment: Not Upheld

1. Not upheld

The ASA noted that ads (a), (b) and (d) had been given post 19:30 restrictions and that ad (c) had been given a post 21:00 restriction. We considered that these were sufficient to prevent the ads from being broadcast around childrens programming or when a high number of younger children were likely to be watching. We also noted the characters in the ads were obviously digital animations and considered that children who did see the ads would not believe the characters were real. We therefore considered that the ads had been scheduled appropriately and that the restrictions were sufficient for the ads content.

2. & 3. Not upheld

We noted the ads featured alternate endings of a sequence where a bystander could chose how to intervene in a threatening situation. We understood that this was used to demonstrate the interactivity possible with the game, in contrast with games with more structured, linear, narratives. We also noted that the protagonist of the game was a bystander and was not shown actively seeking to perpetrate violent or threatening behaviour. We considered that the scenarios featured in the ads were likely to be viewed as associated with the fictional narrative of the game and the action within it, rather than as real violent situations.

We acknowledged that some viewers might object to the theme of the game and the inclusion of violent imagery per se. However, we concluded that the ad itself was unlikely to be seen to be encouraging or glamorising violence in a harmful way, or to be likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

4. Not upheld

We understood the broadcast of the ads coincided with tragic events in Huddersfield, and we accepted that that may have been upsetting to those directly affected by the incident and similar events of robbery. However, we considered that the ad was likely to be viewed by most people within its context of an ad for a videogame, rather than as a reference to or comment on a current news event, and would therefore expect to see footage that was representative of the games genre. We therefore concluded that, although the timing of the broadcast was unfortunate, it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence on those grounds.

The strong response from Australia's gaming community to the R18+ issue may have backfired a bit, as the government is now delaying discussion of the issue in order to get feedback from more of the community.

GameSpot notes that Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O'Connor indicated that, …further work needs to be done before a decision can be made. When pressed, O'Connor told the publication that ministers had agreed that a broader consultation of the public's views was needed following the dominant response from 'interest groups.'

Perhaps the Australian government doesn't understand that gamers now permeate just about every corner of culture, a point made by Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (iGEA) President Ron Curry, who stated, I'm not sure how the [Home Affairs] minister pigeon-holes them as an 'interest group', because gamers cover all facets of society.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) have whinged over the use of Pit Bulls as a fully fledged combat item. in the Mafia Wars online social game.

Developer Zynga has responded and now removed the dog as a fighting tool.

PETA noted that Countless social gamers stopped plowing their FarmVille fields long enough to voice their objections to Zynga about the game's negative depiction of this most used-and-abused breed, and the company quickly responded in just the right way.

Mafia Wars is obviously only a game, but the suffering endured by thousands of pit bulls who are treated as if they were nothing more than burglar alarms or fighting machines is very real, stated PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman: By removing Mafia Wars ' virtual pit bull, Zynga is no longer perpetuating the mindset that it's acceptable to chain, neglect, and abuse real dogs.

The Australian government has published a status report regarding the public consultation on the possible introduction of R18+ classification within Australia.

Over the 2 month period 60,000 submissions flooded the Attorney-Generals Department with 98.2% of people supporting an R18+ for video games in Australia.

The majority of submissions received in a non-template hardcopy were from the games retailer EB Games (34,938 total: 4202 of these included individual comments while 30,736 provided no additional comments). This was followed by submissions that followed the template collated by the organisation Grow Up Australia (16,056), with many of these providing additional comments.

The remaining submissions were sent directly to the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department. The majority were received via email (7347), followed by post (745) and fax (592). Many of these also contained individual comments. The Department received 33 submissions from community, church and industry groups.

On 7th May Australia's Attorneys General met and discussed the R18+ situation. Federal Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor confirmed that no decisions were made over the issue. Censorship Ministers have requested further analysis of community and expert views. It is not just the weight of numbers that need to be considered. It is also the strength of the arguments on each side.

The next SCAG meeting will most likely be around September.

The Art of Criticism

Based on article from  attackofthefanboy.com

Games producer Electronic Arts boss Frank Gibeau wrote an editorial piece for Games Industry where he said that government policies that don't allow for the rating of mature content in videogames effectively censor entertainment choices for adults.

He goes on to say that the policies show a poor understanding of today's videogaming audience.

Existing legislation in Australia that limits age ratings of games to 16 demonstrates a distance between those policies and the reality of the videogame industry and the people that play interactive games in Australia today.

The spectrum of gamers is as wide as the viewership of television, movies, theatre, and the readers of books. Governments don't insist that all books be written for children, or that all television shows be cartoons. Adult gamers want their governments to treat them with the same respect they get as movie goers and book readers.

Adult Australians should be allowed to choose the games they play, including those with mature themes.

The Vietnam government's Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has drafted legislation that could significantly restrict online gaming.

The proposals include limiting users to three hours of playtime for particular games, imposing licensing restrictions on the purveyors of online games and labelling that in-game assets are not convertible to real-world money.

The three-hour restriction on playtime would also be increased to four to five hours per day for games that are cultural or education-based.

For protectionism reasons the draft also would require foreign game makers to register titles earmarked for Vietnam one year before their debut.

The draft will be published in the next few months and there will be a supposed public consultation.

A pro R18+ petition sponsored by retailer GAME has gathered the signatures of over 72,000 Australians.

The company plans to present some of it findings to a Standing Committee of Attorneys-General meeting on May 7 reports GameSpot, though it's unclear if the issue of R18+ will even be on the agenda of that gathering. GAME also plans to present the petition to Federal Home Affairs Minister Brendon O'Connor.

The petition, also sponsored by Everyone Plays, achieved the large number of supporters in only six weeks, and is on track to become the largest petition in Australian history, surpassing a 2005 petition for Work Choices that received 85,189 signatures.

A similar petition sponsored by EB Games and Grow Up Australia totaled over 46,000 signatures.

An ad, for the console game Left 4 Dead 2 , appeared as a video on two large screens in a London train station.

It included animated action sequences that showed zombies and humans as well as explosions. Some of the characters pointed guns, another was shown starting a chainsaw and another held an axe; an image of a thumbless hand was also shown. Text on screen stated YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS … vs 10 MILLION ZOMBIES … THEY'RE GONNA NEED MORE ZOMBIES .

A complainant challenged whether the ad:

1. was likely to cause distress and offence, and
2. was inappropriate for display where it could be seen by children.

ASA Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA noted the ad was animated and appeared without sound. Although it included weapons and some violence, we noted the action was clearly not realistic and considered an adult audience was likely to understand it reflected the content of a fictional action game. We acknowledged that some consumers might object to the content of the ad but concluded that it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence or distress.

2. Upheld

We noted the ad included images of explosions and that some of the characters pointed guns, or held chainsaws or an axe; it also included images of zombies and of a thumbless hand. We noted it was also animated and stated YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ... , which we considered meant it was also likely to engage the attention of children. For those reasons, and because it showed some violence and scenes involving weapons or shooting, we considered it was unsuitable for children and irresponsible to place the ad in an untargeted medium where it could be seen by children. We concluded that the ad was unsuitable for display where it could be seen by children.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Responsible advertising) and must not appear again in its current form.

The South Korean government is introducing policies aimed at curbing the amount of time children spend playing online games.

The first involves barring online gaming access to young people of school age between midnight and 8am.

The other policy suggests slowing down people's internet connections after they have been logged on to certain games for a certain period of time.

The Culture Ministry is calling on games providers to implement the plans. It is asking the companies to monitor the national identity numbers of their players, which includes the age of the individual. Parents can also choose to be notified if their identity number is used online.

The Korea Herald reports that Barameui Nara , Maple Story and Mabinogi , three popular virtual worlds, will introduce the blackout later this year. Meanwhile role playing games Dungeon and Fighter and Dragon Nest will pilot the connection slowing scheme.

After John Rau took over the job in South Australia following Atkinson's resignation earlier this year, political party Gamers4Croydon was popping champagne corks, claiming Rau supported the adults-only classification.

The Australian Christian Lobby hit back in a report in The Advertiser, claiming SA Labor had given it a written promise to oppose the changes.

However, Rau said through a spokeswoman that the response to the Christian lobby was given before the election and before Rau took over. He had yet to come to a final decision on the matter.

The response to the Australian Christian Lobby was a clarification of the Government's position, he said: I have no preconceptions about this issue and intend to listen to the arguments. I can neither support nor wisely argue against a position if I am not aware of all the facts.

A spokeswoman from the Federal Attorney-General's Department confirmed the matter of an R18+ classification for computer games was on the agenda for discussion at the next Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG) meeting on May 7.

But the spokeswoman noted that the censorship ministers may decide not to vote on the changes at the May meeting, instead electing to defer the decision to a later meeting to allow them to properly analyse all public submissions to the recent consultation.

There's a nice short YouTube video putting a whinging MP dead to rights. (of course promoting the new console game Dead to Rights: Retribution.

There must be a few MPs that deserve a similar comeuppance.

In a debate lead by Labour MP Diane Abbott on London gang crime at Westminster, MPs linked the problem of increased knife crime to the prevalence of violent video games and movies.

Speaking of a Home Affairs Committee report on knife crime, Liberal Democrat MP and former party leader candidate Simon Hughes stated: The report then makes a controversial point, but I believe that it is true – evidence supported our view that violent DVDs and video games exert a negative influence on those who watch and play them.

Fortunately subsequent talk of possible action on the subject focused more on the fight against knife possession as opposed to a possible crackdown on gaming.

According to the politician behind a proposed Swiss law to ban violent video games, the ban would not blindly outlaw all violent games.

Swiss Social Democrat Evi Allemann indicated that the ban would apply only to individual games. She estimated that, like in Germany, only 12 or so games would wind up being banned, including titles such as Mortal Kombat and Manhunt (which are banned in Germany), but not the likes of Counter-Strike .

It appears Allemann would specifically focus on games which display cruel acts of violence that a player contributes to.

Allemann also said that the PEGI rating system is not enough and intimating that Switzerland and/or Europe needs an independent federal agency to rate games, one that is free of any ties to the gaming industry.

In an internet defamation case that lawyers say could set an extraordinary precedent , an American registered games company is suing a British blogger in the Australian courts.

Evony, an online games company registered in the US state of Delaware, is suing Coventry-based blogger Bruce Everiss for libel over a series of allegations made on his website, Bruce on Games. In a bizarre twist, however, Evony has decided not to pursue its case in Britain or America, but 10,000 miles away.

A hearing in Sydney on Monday will determine whether or not the supreme court of New South Wales has jurisdiction – with the potential to set a precedent for the way defamation laws are applied to the online world.

Evony's owners, who boast that the game has more than 11 million players worldwide, have accused Everiss – a 30-year veteran of the computer games industry – of damaging their reputation with a series of claims made on his blog. Among the allegations that Evony is objecting to are claims that the game is exploitative and has links to another company that is already being sued for fraud by Microsoft.

Evony – which has also threatened legal action against the Guardian for similar claims made in an article published in July – says that the assertions made by Everiss are completely untrue and damaging to its business, and that neither the company nor its owners are associated with fraud or implicated or involved with the Microsoft case.

Before the case against Everiss reaches court, however, Evony must first argue why a company registered in the US should use the Australian courts to take action against a British citizen.

Update: Libel Dropped

1st April 2010. Based on article from  gamepolitics.com

A libel suit filed by Evony, LLC against a UK-based blogger has been dropped.

Bruce Everiss has been taking the company to task on his blog for quite some time now, detailing some of the sketchy practices used by the game's creator.

Evony filed its lawsuit in Australia, a move that Everiss called libel tourism, and dropped the case just two days into hearings, reports the Guardian.

A Vice Development Director for Evony said in a statement that the case was dropped in deference to criticism from players of the game themselves. A lot of our players expressed opinions about the lawsuit, and we reacted to that, said Benjamin Gifford.

Evony is now saddled with a bill of $114,000 AU (approximately $104,550 U.S.) for Everiss' legal costs. The company also must pay a security fee of $80,000 AU (approximately $73,350 U.S.).

The Guardian wrote that Evony's case began unraveling once Gifford began to fold under cross-examination by Everiss' lawyers.

If the lawsuit was intended to quiet Everiss, it didn't work; his website is chock full of fascinating stories about Evony.