Humanity: Sex and violence in games - A toxic influence? (PDF)

Sex and violence in games - A toxic influence?
by Hearts and Minds Media
Topic area - Sex and violence in games - A toxic influence?
Sex and violence in games – A toxic media?
The inclusion of sex and nudity in video games has been a controversial topic since the early days of the industry. While many video games have used scantily clad images or characters to sell or enhance games, some go further, using sex acts or nudity as a character motivation, in-game reward, or simply as a gameplay element. These games originate worldwide, on most platforms and can be of any video game genre. While releases in Europe and North America have been sporadic and often unlicensed, Japan has seen the emergence of a pornographic video game subgenre—eroge, first appearing on the NEC PC-88 computer platform in the 1980s. In the 1990s NEC (on the PC Engine series and PC-FX) and Sega (on Saturn) were the only companies who officially allowed sexual content on their consoles in Japan, but eroge was more prevalent on the NEC PC-98 and FM Towns computer platforms.
 
As with all forms of media, the medium and content is the message to inform and influence behaviour. To suggest otherwise is to ignore the moral influence on the viewer. The power for positive or negative outcomes, is there a limit?
 
Governance should be providing a guideline to provide a balance of content and restricting content that has no positive value. Unfortunately where profit is concerned, the rules bend a great deal..
You will get a PDF (5MB) file.