If your experiences in online gaming are anything like mine, you spend much of your days finding new and innovative ways to insult people you adore endlessly - most of which you have never met in person. Yup, I thought so! Each day there are moments that you chuckle, moments that annoy you, and moments that give you a good belly laugh. But, once every so often, there is a moment that you know in your heart of hearts is unlike any previous moment. It is an exchange that you promise yourself never to forget because it is so damned special. I would like to share one of these moments.
About a year ago, while playing the infamous World of Warcraft, our Ventrilo server was down. As a result, we were congregating on an out-of-guild's server under the heading, "Porsche's Friends" (Porsche is the character name of our good friend). A few hours into our newfound home server, one of the "natives" hops into our channel and asks, "Who are you guys?"
"Porsche's Friends, of course," said Slickstuff, the effervescent rogue.
"No, seriously, who are you?" the native asked again.
"Seriously, man, we're Porsche's friends," we all said separately.
"We're not fucking with you, bro. Honest." I said assuringly.
"But, who are you guys?" the native stubbornly asked.
We finally succumbed to his insipid line of questioning. Some shouted their online names, while others continually reassured him that we're friends of Porsche.
Finally, the seventeen year-old DT, one of the lesser-abled Holy Paladins in our guild, decided to whip out his Oh-so-witty Card and respond, "I'm Jesus."
To this, Slickstuff responded, "No, DT. Jesus can heal."
It was a feeling I still can't quite put into words. It was as though the hilarity of the moment was too great for the rate of laughter my body could produce.
Like every other self-respecting gamer, I shouted at my screen in complete and utter disgust at the misinformed, closed-minded, unfair, and otherwise shitty coverage seen in Fox News' "SE'XBOX" story. From panelists who have never played a video game in their lives to a host that says "I always laughs when I hear about [parental controls]..." (not realizing, of course, that the system can easily be configured to make games of any and/or all ratings unplayable). I think the saddest of all the injustices was watching Geoff Keighley respectfully and eloquently attempt to state his case only to be cut off mid-sentence and garner dismissive glances and more irresponsible statements and analysis (I use this term very loosely). I am no stranger to biased and near-criminal journalism. For instance, after reading about CNN's inside dealings with the Hussein-controlled Iraqi government ([url]http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/critiques/CNNs_Iraqi_Cover-Up.asp) a few years ago, I chose Fox News as my alternative. As a result, this "SE'XBOX" story angered me beyond the role of gamer, and Fox is not alone in this crusade. More importantly, the video game industry is not alone in its current struggle for respectability in the mainstream media. It shares this dubious honor with other unfairly vilified aspects of our culture from a wide-range of things, in particular those of professional wrestling and heavy metal music - both considered to be unproductive wastes of time full of "filth". Sadly, video games are now under the gun, as well, simply because of their unprecedented success. However, there is a light at the end of this tunnel we are facing, and, that is, if history is any indication of how these events will play themselves out, this surge will not last.
Having grown up in the 80s, I was able to witness first-hand the rise and fall of heavy metal and rap (I'm aware these are both still thriving genres but there's no denying they were of higher status and more popular at some point). I watched as Tipper Gore, wife of former senator and presidential hopeful, Al Gore, helped to form the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) who waged a war against dirty song lyrics that makes Fox News' report look like a bedtime story. I have fond memories of one of the founders of this organization holding up the cover to Def Leppard's Pyromania album ([url]http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/7480/defleppardpyromania1lc.jpg) and saying, "Burn the buildin' down. That's what it says. Burn, burn, burn..." (Footnote: This is now a near 20-yr old inside joke still popular between me and my brother) At the time, the heavy metal community cried foul on the equivalent mediums of the times. We felt it was unfair - that these idiots did not understand. We knew we were right, just as we now know that we are right about Mass Effect and to which audience the game truly caters.
In the late 90s, Vince McMahon's WWF soared to unprecedented heights in popularity, TV ratings, and - sadly - negative media attention. McMahon had given up the charade that wrestling was real and decided to go all out in entertainment in a sort of lowest-common-denominator way only Howard Stern may have done, and the plan worked brilliantly. In the summer of 2000, WWE (forced to change its name due to conflicts with the World Wildlife Fund) received Nielsen ratings upwards of 7.4 - an absolutely ridiculous number for a cable show (by comparison, Anderson Cooper's show on CNN maxes out around 5.9).
The WWE is as raunchy as ever, and heavy metal is still as satanic as the PMRC claimed it to be. But, when was the last time you saw a major news special devoted to demonizing heavy metal music? How about wrestling? It's been quite a while, hasn't it. So, what gives? Why are video games the new badguy in town when these other badguys are just as bad as they always were? The answer is all too simple. WWE ratings are now hovering around 3.8 - half of its peak. Heavy metal shows are mostly found in clubs now, not the arena stages they once rocked. In short, their popularity has dwindled and, as a result, they are not viewed as a threat. Video games, however, are now experiencing a rise in popularity and acceptance into mainstream media unlike any other time in their history and are forcing this same establishment to view them through the poorly-aged paradigm with which they have viewed everything else new and appealing to a different generation.
My heart wants to tell me that just maybe these people who oh-so-smugly dictate the wrongs and rights of culture figured some things out over all these years. Maybe they've realized that wrestling doesn't make people really want to hurt others. Maybe they've realized that heavy metal music doesn't really create devil-worshiping dolts who hate life. Maybe that's why they've laid off Megadeths and Hunter Hearst Helmsleys of the world. And, just maybe, they'll realize that video games don't really hurt anybody, either. But, I'm probably living in a fantasy world. Too many video games, I guess...
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
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