OPINION
Mortal Kombat mortifyingly violent — Not for kids
Mark s Mkland
ho other dav I walked into
a 7-Klevon store to buv n
macaroon cake. I've
noticed there's a lot of noise
from the video games in this
store, and I asked the cashier if
she didn’t get disturbed by all
the electronic hongs, booms,
thuds, clnrif’s and zaps that
drown every other sound in the
store.
''Well, I can get used to those
sounds." she said, handing me
the macaroon cake with her bare
hands. "It's the screams I can't
stand."
I took the macaroon cake,
hoping that her hands were
clean. "The screams?" I asked.
"Who's screaming?"
"The games, of course. Espe
cially the new ones. They
scream so awfully that some
times 1 think I'm working in a
torture chamber," she said.
And then I heard it: A dread
ful scream pierced the air, as if
someone was suffering horrify
ing pains. It brought hack the
memories of an ugly traffic acci
dent I had witnessed a few years
ago
I walked over to the video
games set tion, where a couple
of \oting boys were playing n
game They were about eight
years old and wore extra-large
sweatshirts, baggy pants and
baseball < aps turned backwards
One of the hoys was banging
his list in the control board in a
violent fit "I hate Sub-Zero!" he
shouted. "He's impossible!"
I looked over his shoulder and
caught sight of one of the most
repulsive images I've ever seen.
There, on the video screen, was
a man dressed in an Asian mar
tial arts uniform, holding a head
with the spinal cord dangling
from the neck.
It was mv first encounter with
Mortal Kombat.
I watched the boys play the
gume and witnessed the fighters
on the screen give each other
blood-spattering punches, rip
out each other’s still-beating
hearts, tear off each other's
heads and gore each other on
long spears.
If the video game had looked
like a cartoon, some of the vio
lence might have been condon
able, but this was no Tom fr ]vr
rv: The designers had scanned
video images of real people into
the game in order to give it an
authentic look, and the violent
mutilations looked realistic,
down to the anatomical outline
of the spinal cord and the color
of the blood.
And I thought video games
consisted of Pa( -Mans y;<iiix
up colorful dot* and Space
Invaders Irving to conquer
Earth.
But video games have
i hanged a lot They 've become
ter hnicallv more sophistii nted
and realistic-looking They've
begun to approach movies in
pi< lure quality and plot intrica
cy They've become a major
entertainment industry, grossing
more than Sr> billion per year in
the United States But most
importantly, they've become
extremely violent
I happen to believe that vio
lent movies can he harmful to
children Hut in a wav. 1 think
these video games an* even more
dangerous. Here's why .
• While the viewers of a vio
lent movie assume a passive
role, video games require chil
dren to become active partici
pants in the violence. They are
encouraged to use violent means
to solve problems
• Violent video games are
more accessible than violent
movies Although f-aiga has start
ed a labeling system for their
games, it's up to each individual
retail outlet whether it will
enforce this system. Moreover,
everyone can play these games at
the local convenience stem1
• Parents have less control
over the games their children
play. They an* often unaware of
the violent content of the games
they buy for their children. While
most adults know that movies
The fighters on the screen give each
other blood-spattering punches, rip out
each other’s still-beating hearts, tear off
each others heads and gore each other
on long spears.
may be violent. many parents
don't knoyv that the newest \ ideo
games are just as violent
Mow do we prevent children
from being exposed to these
games ' Of course, them's no wav
to twin these games entirely (im
sorship never works, and adults
should lie allowed to play these
games if they want to
Hut these games are not appro
priate for children Sega's label
ing system is a nice idea, hut it's
primarily a play to the gallery
If Sega really wanted to protect
children, how come it never
introduced a system of enfort e
ment? Furthermore, if children
aren't supposed to play the game,
why is there no age limit for the
coin machines' And what’s the
[mint of an "access code" to hies k
violence, when everyone can
look up the code in a video game
magazine?
Or |>erhaps Sega and Nintendo
don't want to protect children
after all. Perhaps they want to
cash in on a tendency they've
heen observing the movie indus
try and a correlation between vio
lence and profit And perhaps
that's why these i nmpanins have
spent $10 million to promote thn
release of Mortal kornhat
The campaign swims to have
worked very well so far Ai i ord
ing to l ime magu/.ine. thn game
is ii\ jiei toil to tiring in more than
$150 million by Christmas
The bovs in thn 7-Eleven store
certainly snnnind to tin nnjoving
thn gamn. They wore shouting
and jumping up and down as thn
blood and goro splattnrnd on thn
screen.
Onn of thn charai tnrs on thn
si .men jumped up and ku ked the
other character's head The blood
began to gush from the injured
character's throat, and the vii tor
torn off thn opponent's head and
threw it into a svnll, in which it
was pierced on a long spear
"Yeah! I got him!" onn of thn
Ikivs shouted, lifting his arm vic
toriously in thn air I finally got
Sub-Zero'''
I didn't eat mv mat anion cake
that day. I had lost my appetite
Monos Melaiul is o colum
nisi fur thn Emerald.
Not even your local
diet center oners reductions
life this.
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