This House Would Ban Video Games that Objectify Women

Pro argues that explicit sexual content- such the strip clubs in Grand Theft Auto V- is harming society in general and adding to the immoral treatment of women while not enhancing the gaming experience enough to warrant its usage. Therefore, it needs to be regulated by an impartial government funded party. First of all I would like to introduce an impartial system that is in place already.The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) offers 6 different ratings for age appropriateness that are on virtually all games sold in the US and Canada (Other counties have different organizations, PEGI in the UK etc). As well as an overall rating they also provide content descriptors which point out the content that impacted a rating e.g. violence, sexual nature, alcohol use, drug references, crude humor etc. These ratings let the buyer know what to expect from the game they are buying and I would argue that they are the only regulation the games industry needs on explicit content- they provide the consumer with unbiased information about the product they are purchasing while not regulating the content itself. Pro argues that the sexually explicit scenes are often just there to titillate the male audience, the target group the GTA series are aimed at. Anyone familiar with the series would be aware of the general plot of the games as well as the world they are set in. GTA is not a "sunshine and roses" kind of game where the protagonist collects flowers- it doesn't claim to be that in its advertising campaign or at any other point. It is capturing a particular kind of environment with a particular kind of protagonist and uses explicit settings to enrich that world. Games like "Fallout New Vegas" and "Farcry 3" which fall in the same ratings category use similarly explicit content to paint a picture- strippers and gambling for the first, severe violence for the second. The games do not promote a male dominated society any more that movies such as "Quills" (an explicit piece about the life of Marquis De Sade) promote deviant behavior or Twilight promotes female dependence. They tell a particular story, they don't illustrate an ideal way of life. Limiting their storytelling remit would impede the right to free speech and set unwanted precedents. Pro's second point refers to the children that may be playing an adult themed game game and the harm seeing explicit scenes may cause. Again: games that use such content are rated as either an M or an A which means that they are unsuitable for children- it is the parental responsibility to ensure their kids don't play them. If we introduce further regulations than the ones already in place in order to make everything suitable for kids it means the end of anything above E, both in the video games industry and the wider media. Certain messages cannot be put across in the E rating nor is it the games industry's responsibility to babysit content- that's what parents are for, to make sure their children play age appropriate content and to educate them about how the world and human relationships work. In conclusion, I feel that the ESRB rating already used by the gaming industry provides sufficient information for people to decide whether they want to play a certain game or not. Explicit content has its place in games if it enriches the environment- of course it isn't always used as a tool for good but that is why the warning label is there, to help those who do not want to see it steer away. Not all video games are good video games. Not all video games that use explicit scenes are doing so to enrich the gamer's experience. However, a lot of them are and they do not need to be punished and further regulated because of a few bad eggs.