GamePro Magazine on Video Game Violence

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Mediating video game violence: a case study of GamePro Magazine, 1991-1999

Mortal Kombat. Night Trap. Lethal Enforcers. Doom. The game titles themselves

foreshadow the controversy they would create. The video game medium arrived suddenly

and progressed quickly. While moviegoers had several decades between Charlie Chaplin

and “Platoon,” video games grew to mainstream popularity in the 1980s and the first

debates about their violent content took place in the early-1990s.

Little scholarship has been devoted to examining how the news media has

examined video game violence. Most scholarship on video games at this point is devoted

to either effects research or narrative examinations of the content. The mainstream news

media has provided sustained reporting on the debate over video game violence from the

first splatter of blood in Mortal Kombat to the recent up close-and-personal shootings in

Call of Duty.1 But no journalistic community has more at stake in these debates and

discussions than video game journalists. In the 1990s, they were often considered the

lesser brothers of mainstream journalistic counterparts, but video game journalists were

heavily invested in the subject matter of video games—not just because magazine

advertising generally depended on it, but also the writers and editors generally loved

video games. How did video game magazines address this violence? The fan-oriented

video game magazines GamePro Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly and Nintendo

Power account for an unheard voice in this debate. This study gives voice to GamePro

Magazine and tells the magazine’s story of video game violence.

The 1990s may not be ancient history, but video game technology, culture and

depictions of violence have all progressed light years since then. The time period 1991-

1999 was selected to provide a picture of a key time period in gaming. It is during this era

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that video games became a part of the first debates about violence, a fixture in the

childhood of most children and developed a true culture—largely through magazines like

GamePro. While GamePro is a magazine in the traditional sense, it catered to consumers

who lived, played and shared their experiences in the midst of a rapidly changing

industry. GamePro was a forum for communal discussion about gaming before the

advent of the online gaming community online.

Telling GamePro’s story simultaneously tells the story of the birth of a video

gaming culture, how growth in technology accompanied growing depictions of violence

and how accusations of violence from outside the gaming community were discussed and

dismissed.

An examination of what happened in magazines like GamePro is rare. Few

scholars have questioned how magazines dedicated to the gaming population may have

mediated video game violence differently than writers in the mainstream press. Using

GamePro magazine as the main source, this study will explore the coverage of violent

video games released in the 1990s. How did GamePro magazine mediate the

conversation about violence in video games? How was GamePro’s response emblematic

of the gaming, technological and cultural context of 1990s?

Why gaming, why now?

To understand video game journalism in 1990s and how gaming violence was

mediated, it is important to first understand video games during that time period.

Moreover, it is important to understand gaming culture of that era. At the close of the

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1990s, Mazzi Binasisa described the video game as reflective of society’s wants and as a

footnote of youth.2

In America, one would think that video games arose as a result of the

marketplace—great disposable income and more free time. On the contrary, video games

grew to mass popularity in the midst of a recession in the early 1990s. A stock collapse in

1987 began a period of financial recession that continued until 1992.3

Video games existed for hobbyists since as far back as the 1950s.4 Arcade

machines popularize video games in the 1970s, but it was still largely considered a niche

hobby. The Atari 2600 brought arcade games into the home in September 1977. At the

time, observers considered it an immense success—a low cost way of playing the arcade

games at home. But the Atari suffered from poor regulatory measures and inept money

management.5 Atari trusted that third-party game creators would be able to deliver the

product they promised on the box.6 Game creators spent thousands on marketing and

colorful boxes but an inadequate on games.7 American consumers reacted with frustration

that led to the video game crash of 1983.8

As a result, in 1985, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in America faced an

uphill battle and considerable suspicion on the part of both toy store distributors and

consumers. Toy stores resisted stocking another video game system in their stores after

the abysmal crash of the Atari. This led to the Nintendo being described as an

“Entertainment System” as opposed to a “Video Game System.” But children were drawn

to the game packaged with the NES—Super Mario Bros. By 1990, a third of all

American households had an NES. It was an instant success and continued to be the

dominant video game system until the mid-1990s.9

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Nintendo demonstrated that games were not just for a minority of arcade nostalgic

adults, but also an appealing entertainment alternative for kids. The NES touted many

new bells and whistles: a zapper for Duck Hunt that could presumably help with hand-eye

coordination, a mat for Track Meet that allowed children to run on specific buttons in

order to race characters forward, and challenging, extended-attention span games like

Zelda, and Final Fantasy.10 In order to make their games appealing to consumers,

Nintendo instituted a strict licensing and censorship policy. All NES games had to be

licensed by Nintendo and it censored blood and gore, references to sex, references to

religion and references to alcohol and drugs.11 These censorship guidelines eroded during

the 1990s, but for a while it gave parents some sense of security.12

Improving technology

Yet while many saw video games as something for children, the video game

industry proved by 1990 to be very grownup. By 1992, the industry made more money

than Hollywood and was on pace to dwarf the music industry. By music industry

standards, Super Mario Bros. 3 went platinum 11 times when it was released in 1990.

The only artist who could claim such an accolade in the 1990s was Michael Jackson.13

While Nintendo was the dominant video game company for the early 1990s, its

sway eroded by 1999. In late-1989, Sega introduced a competing console, the Sega

Genesis. Like Nintendo, Sega insured that only consumer-friendly (and largely kid-

friendly) games went to market. Unlike Nintendo, the Sega officials did not enforce the

same level of censorship and their system was 16-bit, which meant it had twice the

graphics and audio resolution of the 8-bit Nintendo.1415 In the early 1990s consumers

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largely faced the fading glory but enormous library of the NES and improved graphics

and sleek design of the Sega Genesis even though numerous other competitors attempted

to compete.16 Eager to maintain their hold on the American market, Nintendo created a

the 16-bit console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, in 1991. The Super

Nintendo competed in graphics and sound with the Genesis and Nintendo also had a

death grip on licensees from the previous Nintendo system. Until 1995, the Super

Nintendo and Sega Genesis dominated the video game console scene.17 The two systems

were fairly evenly matched. In 1992, the Sega Genesis controlled 55 percent of the

American 16-bit market, although later Nintendo would surpass them.18

Video gaming had spread beyond consoles and arcade machines however. In early

computers, games operated from floppy disk drives and used the DOS operating system.

But in 1992, Microsoft Windows 3.1x came packaged with the games Hearts, Solitaire,

and Minesweeper. It represented a symbolic shot across the bow to assure users that

personal computers could compete in games against consoles. The popular Windows 95

operating system followed a few years later. Both operating systems included games in

the install package and made it easy for users to install other games.19

In 1995, Sony released the 32-bit Playstation to widespread acclaim and Sega

released the Saturn, which floundered because of a high price-point and a small library of

games. Nintendo responded with the Nintendo 64, which competed with the Playstation,

but didn’t hold the dominant position it had during the Nintendo or Super Nintendo years.

The Sony Playstation, Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 systems introduced the first

consistent three-dimensional, polygonal game graphics.20

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Violent Games

During the NES years, many derided the system as child’s play even as that was

Nintendo’s very secret to success. In 1993, 70 percent of video game consumers were

under the age of 18.21

In October 1992, the game developer Midway released Mortal Kombat released

for the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis after a successful run as an arcade game.

The violence depicted in the fighting game went beyond just the depiction in blood. The

game portrayed impaling, beheadings and the like. Mortal Kombat instigated the

introduction of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which began placing

mandatory ratings on all video games in 1994. As such, Mortal Kombat was the first

game to receive a “mature” rating.22 Players derided the Super Nintendo version of this

game because Nintendo’s censorship guidelines removed the gore from the game

content.23

Also in 1992, Hasbro Interactive announced Night Trap, one of the first survival

horror games for a Sega CD and Sega 32X—supplementary systems for the Sega

Genesis. Night Trap featured full-motion video and generally worked as an interactive

movie. In the game, a series of “unattached, beautiful females between the ages of 16 and

19” are captured by zombie-like creatures and will presumably be killed if the player

doesn’t rescue them.24 The story and video footage resembles that of a low-budget horror

movie, but the game caused such a controversy because of its depictions of women that it

was taken from store shelves and revised.25

The following year, in December 1993, the creators of Wolfenstein 3D followed

up their commercial success with Doom. A first-person shooter set in a Mars space base,

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Doom applied the same violent gameplay mechanics of Wolfenstein to demonic aliens.26

Doom was one of the games argued to be an inciting factor behind the Columbine

shootings in Littleton, CO.27

These three games paved the way for a range of depicted violence in video games

that ranges from the redemptive in Bioshock, to the contemplative in God of War, to the

realistic battle imagery in Modern Warfare and Call of Duty.28

Video game journalism

These controversies didn’t happen in a vacuum. Since its early days, the role of

the press in America has been to mediate conversation.29 Yet the press also gives voice to

the voiceless. Video games in 1980s and 1990s suffered the same fate as television and

movies in their early years—they were either dismissed or ignored by serious journalists.

Although moving pictures began to be displayed in the early 1900s, it was not until the

1940s that mainstream journalistic film criticism became a consistent feature of print

news.30 The reason for delay? Criticism was for art. Most agreed that theater and music

was art, but movies?31 With video games, the population of players grew rapidly and with

intensity. It is not surpising then that gamers founded their own magazines in order to

share video game news, review games and discuss industry trends.

Video game journalism itself, at its best, could be considered equivalent to

television or movie criticism—largely editorial in content. At its worst, as in the early

years of Nintendo Power, it was simply a marketing arm of video game developers eager

to push specific games into the homes of their consumers.32 Nintendo Power was the first,

mass audience video game magazine and thus many journalists characterize video game

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journalism as simple advertising by game developers or the vehement ramblings of

hardcore fans.33 But Nintendo Power was not the only video game magazine on the

market in the 1990s.

GamePro Magazine debuted in 1989 and covered video games on all platforms,

computers and even arcade cabinets. This is in stark contrast to its competitor Nintendo

Power, which only covered Nintendo products. It gained a reputation for being willing to

be critical of poor games in previews and reviews and for the “buyer’s beware” section in

which readers could send complaints about issues with defective games.34 In January

1995, GamePro proudly shared that with more than half a million subscribers, GamePro

was the most popular video game magazine in the United States.35 And while there has

always been some diversity among video game players, this was not the case with

GamePro. GamePro cultivated a niche and highly desirable audience: 97 percent of

readers were male and 64 percent of readers were between the ages of 12 and 17.36 All

GamePro writers used synonyms that generally reflected their reviewing niche (ie.

“Scary Larry,” “Hack n’ Slash”). Many of the pseudonyms apply to the same person.

GamePro’s editorial policy was to never reveal the identity of their writers.37

When the magazine debuted in 1989, the editorial staff included one full-time

editor and a handful of freelance writers. The outfit started with staff members working

out of their homes. In 1990, the staff leased a small office in Redwood City, CA. By

1992, the staff outgrew that office and they moved into their long-time office building in

San Mateo, CA. Most months, the magazine ranged from 150 to 200 pages, depending on

the number of strategy guide inserts. But during 1994, GamePro routinely climbed

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toward 300 pages. By January 1997, the staff had grown to 12 full-time editors for their

print and online product.

Currently, no computer systems or organizations archive videogame magazines—

this includes the publishers themselves. The “archives” on most videogame magazine

websites only present a few years of issues. The magazine GamePro closed in 2011 and

finding back issues continues to be difficult. The only location these magazines could be

found was on the website RetroMags, which digitally archives video game magazines in

comic book reader format (.cbr). RetroMags makes the digital files available freely on the

condition that they not be used for profit. RetroMags relies on crowdsourcing to gather

the magazines. Fans work as a community to present the most complete collection of

video game magazines. Many magazine archives are still incomplete but, GamePro,

perhaps due to its popularity, has a complete archive from 1991 to 1999. As a result of

the completeness of archive, the popularity of the magazine, and the features of video

game criticism noted above, this researcher selected GamePro as a case study in

examining how video game journalism discusses violence in its games. Every GamePro

from 1991 through 2000—a total of 96 issues—was examined and explored for the way

writers and editors discussed violence in video games.

Anxiety regarding video game violence

Early on, readers expressed some concern about the potential role of the video

game medium. In May 1991, Jonathan Cocco wrote to GamePro expressing concern

regarding video game narratives.

Too many companies are manufacturing games that are simply variations on a theme. When will someone come onto the scene and breathe life back into the

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games?...I hope someday the giants of the industry will realize that people are looking for real story lines, not just an excuse to vicariously kill somebody.38

Cocco was right. At the time, the video game industry needed something to “breathe life”

into it and that arrived with Mortal Kombat and Doom in the mid-90s. However,

vicarious killing would be a central part of this new life.

From 1991 to 1993, GamePro presents a fairly sanitized picture of the world in

the art, ads and discussion of video games. In a February 1991 review of The Magician,

the author describes characters in the game as “peaceful warriors.”39 The phrase

“peaceful warriors” is emblematic of those early games. One could argue that video

games are innately violent. As one letter to the editor notes, in Super Mario Bros., the

Mario kicks turtles and stomps gombas—which is violence too.40 In Sonic the Hedgehog,

the player attacks robots in order to free entrapped animals. GamePro Magazine indicates

that the story is complete once peace has arrived; the warriors lose their reason to war.

The cover of the May 1992 issue of GamePro presented a first in the history of

the magazine—a character with a weapon on the front cover (see Image 1). GamePro

featured Splatterhouse 2 on the cover, yet the image is hardly what one would expect.

The cartoonish drawing of the killer protagonist makes the hockey mask wearing

protagonist look like he jumped out of an episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as

opposed to an action video game. He holds what one must assume is a knife, with the

blade subtly cropped out. Green blood drips down the knife. The use of green blood is

interesting because the game actually shows red pixels of blood. There are not any

enemies that shed green blood when stabbed. The reviewer even describes the game as

“gory.”41 Changing the color of the blood dampens the violence that was actually present

in the game.

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GamePro featured other violent video games of course, but most others were

linked to major motion pictures. And even then, their video game iterations were usually

not featured on the front cover—with the exception of The Rocketeer, which was also

made cartoonish and featured no weapons (see Image 2).42 The cover for The Rocketeer’s

issue paralleled the 1982 comic book (see Image 3), but for GamePro Magazine, the

illustrator removed the weapon.

The depictions of violence in these early issues reflect the sanitized imagery of

violence in American culture at this time. News media images of the Gulf War in Iraq

presented little of the horrors that war typically reeks.43 Fewer R-rated movies were

released during the early 1990s than in the years that followed —in 1991, 133 rated-R

movies were released and by 1994, that number shrunk to 112 before climbing to a new

high of 144 in 1995.44 Along with the renewed climb of R-rated movies came intense

debate about violence in music. During this time period, hardcore hip-hop and rap grew

to mainstream popularity as a result of artists Run-D.M.C, Ice-T and Wu Tang Clan.

During this time period, this music overlapped with gangsta rap themes and focused on

themes of “street life,” crime, drugs and police brutality.45 Like violent video games,

hardcore rap was the subject of public discussion and concern in the mid-1990s.46

And when R-rated movies and violent music increased in popularity again, so did

the rise in video game violence. In PC games, this change in tone took place around the

games Wolfenstein 3-D and Doom—which was later released to a number of game

consoles. GamePro focused little on these games until Midway released Doom released

for the Sega 32X and Sega CD—add-on systems for the Sega Genesis. An ad for Doom

in January 1995 proudly proclaimed “Now there’s a place more violent than earth.”47

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The primary discussion grounds for violence in video games surrounded two

powerful genre fads during the 1990s. Early on it the fighting game dominated the video

game scene but as the decade progressed survival horror games and first-person shooters

simultaneously grew in popularity and public attention.

Dominance of the Fighting Game

A change occurs in the introduction of fighting game genre, which reached a

dominant position with the release of Street Fighter II. It is impossible to downplay the

degree to which GamePro Magazine promoted and crusaded on the part of the fighting

game genre. In the editor’s note from January 1994, the editor noted that five of the past

six covers were on fighting games.48 The reviews, special pullout strategy guides, ads and

editor’s notes all indicate an unrestrained enthusiasm for the rise of the fighting game

genre.

This enthusiasm rose from the fact that video game consoles were now powerful

enough to rival arcade games—where fighting games first appeared—and because it was

clear that the video game software, like the children who played it, had grown up. The

sanitized early GamePro magazines that touted Sonic the Hedgehog drew child readers.

The letters to the editor indicate that as those children grew up, they didn’t give up their

video game console but rather expected it to grow with them. In part this is indicated by

the GamePro ratings system. The early ratings system had pictures of a young boy to

illustrate their five-point scale for graphics, sound, control, challenge and fun factor. In

June 1996, the boyish rating faces gave way to a more developed manly face (see Image

4). The editor discussed the new ratings images saying “Our ratings guy has a more

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angular face now—hey, he’s no longer the baby faced kid he was, so why shouldn’t he

look older?”49 The gamers grew up and so did their games.

Street Fighter II and its numerous iteration on consoles (Street Fighter II Turbo,

Street Fighter II: Championship Edition, and Super Street Fighter II) all occupied the

cover of GamePro magazine upon their release. Furthermore, each of the games received

the royal treatment of having special section devoted to teaching players the special

moves for each character. Yet an important distinction must be made between Street

Fighter II and its primary competitor, Mortal Kombat: in Street Fighter II, the battle

concludes when the opponent is knocked out. In Mortal Kombat, the battle usually

doesn’t end until someone is dead.

There were other fighting games on the scene besides Street Fighter II and Mortal

Kombat. GamePro offered extensive coverage to Primal Rage, Killer Instinct, Clay

Fighters, King of the Monsters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters.

In most cases, the arcade game preceded the console game.

GamePro first introduced Mortal Kombat in November 1992 in their feature “Hot

at the Arcades.” The author “Hack ‘n Slash” describes the violence in detail:

The fluidly animated characters are extremely responsive to player controls as they execute a variety of bone-crushing, blood-squirting attacks. Please note: If you’re squeamish or have a faint heart, this game features some of the goriest violence ever to flicker across an arcade screen. High damage blows yield copious amounts of your opponent’s blood. One player’s secret move rips an opponent’s head right off of its body – spinal column and all!50

Mortal Kombat included a feature new to fighting games—the “fatality.” Once a player

defeated their opponent, the winner had the opportunity to execute a special move that

would cause the opponent to die in a gory way. Players loved “fatalities” and many wrote

to GamePro to defend the over-the-top gore. In an interview with GamePro Magazine,

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the lead graphic artist for Mortal Kombat, John Tobias, argued that the fatalities drew

people to Mortal Kombat, but great gameplay is what kept them there. He said: “I don’t

think anyone is attracted to just something red on the screen.”51 However, Mortal Kombat

II introduced humorous, non-violent alternatives to “fatalities”: “babalities,” which

turned an opponent into a baby, and “Friendships,” in which the character spares his

opponent. The allure of Mortal Kombat was evident to GamePro writer “Hack ‘n Slash”:

Mortal Kombat is taking arcades by storm, commanding lines even larger than those for Street Fighter II. With its beautiful graphics and gut-wrenching game play, Mortal Kombat is clearly making a bid to be THE fight game champ.52

Like Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat was followed by a host of sequels that appeared

typically first in arcades, but also across console platforms.

The level of violence and gore in Mortal Kombat remained largely a feature of the

Mortal Kombat brand as fighting games peaked in the mid-90s. Other fighting games

allowed Mortal Kombat to take the corner of the market on violence and gore and instead

find unique approaches of their own. Virtual Fighter boasted the first 3-D polygon

graphics in video games and the ability to have your fighters move around in 3-

dimensional space. Darkstalkers drew characters from horror and monster stories to

create its cast. Soul Blade allowed combatants to change their weapons and developed a

“story mode.” The only other fighting game that caused significant public controversy

was Primal Rage, a dinosaur fighting game. The key concern regarded a “golden shower”

finishing move in which a gorilla character urinated on their opponent—a finishing move

that appeared in the arcade and Sega Genesis versions of the game but was censored from

the Super Nintendo version. The controversy this time though didn’t develop through the

legal process but rather through a grassroots movement started by Ellie Rovella in

Gilbert, AZ. In the June 1996 issue of GamePro, the writer reports that Rovella bought

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her 11-year-old son the Genesis’s Primal Rage for Christmas and then her son used a

GamePro strategy guide in order to execute the “golden shower” (see Image 5). She

returned the game to store and then took her argument nationwide.53

In the June 1996 issue of GamePro magazine, it is clear that her work has brought

about results: Target removed Primal Rage from 22 stores, and Best Buy pulled it from

251 stores. The writers source Time Warner Interactive, the maker of the game, who

comes across as indignant—in that they’ve never been given a chance to plead their case.

First [Time Warner Interactive] maintains that Rovella never contacted TWI directly and instead immediately took her fight to the media…Second, the game has been played by millions at home and in arcades sine 1994, and this is the first major complaint TWI has heard; if Primal Rage is so offensive, why hasn’t anyone protested before? Third, the game was rated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) as being appropriate for teens, a fact prominently displayed on the packaging (along with a graphic description of the game’s violent action. By the ESRB’s standard, her son was too young to be playing the game.

The ESRB ratings system is integral to how GamePro editors defend violence in games.

The flair-up, however, was one of the last regarding fighting games. Letters to the editor,

GamePro reviews and features all indicate a cooling of the fighting game genre by 1996.

Future concerns would arise based around the survival horror and first-person shooter

genres. But in general, GamePro promoted the sense that ESRB ratings had addressed all

concerns regarding violent content.

Censoring and regulating games

Despite the censorship put in place by Nintendo to protect players from offensive

content, players and parents still expressed concern about the potential power of the video

game medium. Over the course of the 1990s, the editorial policy of GamePro Magazine

shifted. Initially, GamePro remained silent on the issue of ratings, but then gradually

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opposed the ratings as being restrictive to freedom of expression. In time, Sega would

create a rating system to address parental and policy maker concerns about Genesis

content. Then the industry itself would later impose a rating system that included all

consoles. As the ratings system took hold, GamePro used it as a defense as it crusaded

against political calls for greater regulation in the industry.

Calls for a rating system began long before the appearance of Mortal Kombat and

Doom. In March 1991, GamePro Magazine responded to a letter from a parent requesting

ratings on video games. GamePro editors responded with a neutral tone and referred the

parent to a group called “Parents Against Video Violence.” The editor’s wrote: “The

issue of ratings is a growing concern for parents and gamers alike…We’re always

interested in hearing what our readers think about this issue.”54

Later, however, GamePro clearly challenges the idea of the ratings system as

being a step toward censorship.

A currently popular proposal suggests that a ratings system is the way to go. In theory, labeling boxes would give consumers and parents an indication of the violence they can expect in a game. Though violence is a valid concern, we believe that a ratings system will not work. A triple-X rating is more likely to raise interest in a game than to squash it. What’s more, even innocuous games, such as Marioland, Sonic the Hedgehog and Tiny Toon Adventures, would inevitably be subjected to rating, and that smacks of unnecessary censorship.55

The solution, according to GamePro, is for parents to take an active role in monitoring

their child’s video games, and take more time to learn about the video games.56 Once

Mortal Kombat reached home consoles, the proposal for video game ratings only

escalated. Super Nintendo censored their version of the game, turning blood into gray

sweat, and editing many of the “fatalities.” But this created a discrepancy between the

mature-rated Sega Genesis version, which included blood, and the unrated Super

Nintendo version, which did not but included many other violent acts.57

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Nintendo of America denigrated Sega of America’s initial rating system.

GamePro Magazine quotes a May 25, 1993 press release from Nintendo of America that

said Sega’s rating system was a means for Sega to “justify the marketing of increasingly

violent video games.”58 Nintendo stated that their responsibility was to only publish

“appropriate” software.

By mid-93, GamePro Magazine editors saw the writing on the wall—regulation

was going to spread industry-wide and thus supported the initial rating system from Sega.

When the smoke from all the rhetoric clears, the issues are fairly obvious, even to opponents of a ratings system. There’s no doubt that new technologies, such as CD-ROM, 3DO, and virtual reality, will facilitate the creation of games with far more realistic violence and sex, whether Nintendo and Sega chooses to make them or not…Some sort of rating system for games, especially as game realism and graphic quality increase, is inevitable in the long run. If the industry doesn’t voluntarily adopt standards or ratings, it’s likely that they’ll be imposed on us as they have been in other media, like film and television. 59

In letters to the editor, gamers expressed indignation over Sega’s choice to impose

a ratings system on their games through the Videogame Rating Council. Gamers argued

that “I see more violence on the six o’clock new” than in their games,60 that “there are

eight-year old kids out there with guns, not because of games, but because of their

environment,”61 and that “if those groups want to cut violence in the games, they should

first cut the violence in the society.”62 In March 1994, responding to the rhetoric, the

editor argues that gameplay, not violence is what makes games popular. Yet citing

parental concerns about violence and sexism in games Mortal Kombat and Night Trap,

GamePro started a parental newsletter called PlayRight—which served to inform parents

about the electronic entertainment products available to their kids.63

In 1994, the Entertainment Software Association formed the Entertainment

Software Ratings Board to regulate the videogame industry and impose ratings based on

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depictions of violence, sexuality and obscenities. Sega’s Videogame Rating Council was

dissolved and Sega voluntarily took on the industry standard ratings. GamePro continued

to campaign against efforts to denigrate violent video games using the argument that an

industry-wide ratings system provides information regarding games, parents have the

right and responsibility to keep themselves informed and if consumers don’t think game

content is appropriate they shouldn’t buy the game.

In light of the ESRB, Nintendo relaxed their censorship standards in late-1994

and released Killer Instinct—a Mortal Kombat look-alike. When Mortal Kombat II was

released, Super Nintendo didn’t edit out the blood or the fatalities—in fact GamePro

reviewers argue that the Super Nintendo version is the best version of the game.64

Violence up close-and-personal

Night Trap, the survival horror game released for the Sega CD, was a game before

its time. In many ways, the fact that it was used in congressional testimony regarding

potential video game censorship is a testament to its impact. The 1992 game displayed

graphical clarity that would not become industry standard until 1996.

After the fighting game fad began to die down, two new fads arose—the survival

horror genre, exemplified by Resident Evil, and the first-person shooter, exemplified by

Time Crisis. Doom brought the two fads together and that may explain its success. In

1995, Doom began to appear in home consoles. Although Doom was released only a short

time after the original Mortal Kombat, it did not saturate the market until much later since

personal computer gamers remained a small percentage of the overall gamer population.

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The Sega 32X, the Nintendo 64 and the Sony Playstation all boasted the graphical power

to play Doom and at a more accessible price.

Doom quickly spawned an array of similar first-person shooters including Quake,

Turok and Half-Life. Furthermore, this first-person perspective began to enter other

genres. Role-playing games, long known for providing a top-down “God’s-Eye

Perspective,”65 suddenly presented first-person perspective as well in Deception, Persona

and King’s Field. The horror genre proliferated with Blood and Resident Evil. The new

systems and new genre fads combined to bring the action closer to the player. The

limited-field perspective in both the survival horror genre and the first-person shooter

both prevent the player from seeing everything—especially the zombie creeping up

behind their avatar. In a review of Resident Evil 2, “Major Mike” notes, “RE2’s graphics

are more refined that the first game’s and the rendered cinemas paint a visual (if ghastly)

feast.”66 In short, the game’s graphics increased the horror.

While there was cultural concern about the blood and gore in survival horror and

first-person shooter games, as indicated by the regulatory efforts of Senators Joe

Lieberman and Herb Kohl, GamePro no longer emphasized the gore in the games in

reviews. The gore became normalized. GamePro editors indicated this when they wrote

in the April 1997 editorial, “a gory game can be more fun to play than one that’s

sanitized.”67

The popularity of Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64 also evidenced the changes

in the video game industry. Not only did the characters in the game resemble the

characters from the movie, but one could play multiplayer against up to four people at a

20

time. In this way, Goldeneye 007 can be seen as an early precursor of the Halo

phenomena in first-person shooting that would take place in the 2000s.

What changed?

Clearly, the images of violence in GamePro increased with the player’s age, with

growing technology and with the popularity of violent games. But what was it that

happened in the early 1990s that brought about such widespread discussion? According

to the GamePro editors, the violent depictions in media aren’t what changed in this time

period, but the response to it. In an August 1996 issue, GamePro editors argue that the

reason for all of the debate about violence in video games was not a result of increased

violence in the cultural market but rather a “rising tide of conservatism” that took place

after the election of Democratic President Bill Clinton.68 They imply that conservative

Republicans used violent video games as an example of the problems in society;

problems they hoped to cash in on during following elections.

Throughout the 1990s a rising tide of conservatism has washed over the country. It began in 1992 when Pat Buchanan became a bona fide presidential candidate and “family values” became the main political topic. Soon Congress began debating the violence in video games; Night Trap, a hilariously mundane full-motion-video game, disappeared from shelves, and video games sported a new age-group rating, courtesy of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board…Maybe its not enough just to play video games. Maybe gamers everywhere need to become advocates, writing to politicians, retailers and software companies to express their needs and their rights…What gamers need is a spokesperson who defends games as effectively as those who attack them. Perhaps that person will be you. A single voice can make a difference (the Arizona mom proved that).69

While the editors point the figure at conservatives for the initial wave against video

games in 1993-1994, the later wave of disapproval against video games that occurred in

1996-1997 cut across party lines. This time led by Democratic Senators Joe Lieberman

and Herb Kohl, this push argued for greater restraint and some Congressional regulatory

21

measures. In Editor’s Notes, the editorial staff discussed the two by name and frequently.

In April 1997, the editorial’s author argued that while the senators have good intentions,

they were misguided in their beliefs regarding media effects. “Most gamers aren’t

influenced by violence, whether its in an arcade, in a theater or on TV.”70

Conclusion

During the course of the 1990s, the editorials in GamePro became more

outspoken, more confident and more political as the editors and writers engaged their

aging audience in the societal issues that could affect their gaming hobby. The story of

GamePro reveals a series of fads, which grow more and less popular during the course of

the decade. Seen as a whole, video games over time became more personal and portrayed

more graphically accurate imagery of violence. From 1991 to 1994, fighting games grew

to mass popularity as reflected in the pages of GamePro. But by 1994, letters to the editor

began decrying a loss of originality in fighting games. Real enthusiasm returns to pages

of the magazine with the increased popularity of the survival horror genre and the first-

person shooter genre.

The fact that debates about violence in video games took place in the 1990s—

even among gamers in a fan-oriented gaming magazine—is fascinating considering the

progression of technology and depictions of violence that have happened between then

and now. While the 1990s may not seem like the distant past, technology has progressed

substantially.

In the first letters to the editor regarding violence in video games, GamePro

editors distanced the magazine from the violence debate and allowed gamers to carry on

22

the discussion without weighing in. But by 1992, three years into the publication’s

existence, the editors came out firmly against any sort of rating system. As the imposition

of a rating system grew more inevitable, the GamePro supported an industry-imposed

system as opposed to one from the government. Then, as further attacks on violence in

games progressed, GamePro used the ratings system as the defense against restrictions on

the sale of games.

GamePro created a supportive community for gamers. While the mainstream

media, pundits and politicians decried the ills of video gaming, GamePro provided an

alternative narrative—one that argued that violent video games were not only harmless,

but fun. It provided a forum for gamers to debate and discuss their thoughts on the

violence in video games, and while GamePro editors certainly disagreed with some

letters to the editor, they always disagreed in a respectful manner. The GamePro

editorials and reviews of violent games express a defensiveness about violence in games.

The reactionary approach created a format for gamers to model when confronted about

the games they play.

GamePro was niche magazine in the service of video game fans and players. It

represented their voice and their concerns. The fact that GamePro Magazine discussed

video game violence demonstrated that gamers themselves expressed some concern about

the perceived violence in their games. GamePro Magazine allowed them a communal

forum to present their concerns, fears and reservations. The magazine challenged gamers,

but also provided them a space where their views could be affirmed and supported.

What can be made of the fact that discussions about violent content in video

games decrease while violent imagery increases in the 1990s? It was not necessarily that

23

violence became less of a societal topic. Rather, in the gaming community, the level of

violence seen in early games was normalized. After Mortal Kombat, gamers experienced

Mortal Kombat II, Primal Rage, Killer Instinct and the like. The violence seen in those

games became normal and the violent content in games doesn’t become newsworthy

again until the violence gets closer. As the technology in games increases, so does the

level of violence presented.

GamePro Magazine reached its half million subscribers in the time before the

world wide web would drive much of the gaming fan community online. It also reached

mass popularity before the gaming population diversified across genders and age groups

as a result of the introduction of mobile gaming, social networking gaming and music-

oriented gaming. The magazine’s staff provided a voice for a previously unheard

community and acted as a cheerleader for the increasingly violent games all to the chorus

of eager young male players. One can applaud GamePro Magazine for its willingness to

address serious national and political concerns—specifically regarding violence and

sexism—in its editorial content but question that it dismissed these concerns so quickly.

The magazine provided an alternative voice to that of parents and politicians who judged

the young male’s gaming habit as a waste of time or potentially dangerous. It affirmed

their interests but rarely questioned whether those interests were appropriate.

The 1990s was a time of concern about violent content and that concern pored

onto the pages of GamePro. The Gulf War presented one of the most sanitized wars in

terms of visual content.71 Parents and politicians presented lofty rhetoric about the

dangers posed by violent video games, R-rated movies and hip-hop and rap.72 So the fact

24

that GamePro responded to such rhetoric is emblematic of the degree to which they were

defending and representing the interests of their readers.

Most studies of video games have left press negotiations unexamined, and the

video game press in particular. Giving voice to GamePro Magazine reveals an untold

story—the story of young video gamers. GamePro gave them a forum and a voice during

a time when they were young enough to be impressionable, young enough to have no say

in the decisions made in their household and in Washington, yet old enough to realize

that these discussions were important. And while GamePro Magazine is just one out of

several video game magazines at this time, its position as the most popular magazine

during the 1990s speaks to the importance of understanding the views and perspectives

written into its pages.

25

                                                                                                               1  Williams, Dmitri. "The Video Game Lightning Rod." Information Communication & Society 6, no. 4 (2003): 523-50. 2 Binasisa, Mazzi. “All Clicked Out.” Game On: The History and Culture of Videogames, edited by Lucien King. London, U.K.: Laurence King Publishing Ltd., 2002. 3 Browning, E.S. "Exorcising the Ghosts of Octobers Past." The Wall Street Journal, 15 October 2007. 4 Kent, Steve L. The Ultimate History of Video Games. New York City, NY: Three Rivers Press, 2001. p. 17  5 Ibid. p. 234 6 Ibid., p. 54-55. 7 Ibid., p. 41. The Atari 2600 game “E.T.” is considered legendary in this regard. Players would enter the first room in the first level and fall down an endless, and unavoidable hole. The only way to stop the fall would be to reset the system and start over. 8 Sheff, David. Game Over: Press Start to Continue. Wilton, CT: GamePress, 1999. p. 140. 9 Sheff, Game Over: Press Start to Continue. p. 6. 10 Ibid., p. 183. 11 McCollough, J.J. "Nintendo Censorship." Filibuster Cartoons. 12 Sheff, Game Over: Press Start to Continue. p. 459 13 Sheff, David. Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children. New York City, NY: Random House, 1993. p. 5-6. 14  “Bits” refer to the level of a computing power.  15 Ryan, Jeff. Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America. New York City, NY: Penguin, 2011. p. 114. 16  Other systems in circulation during that time included the 3DO from Panasonic, the NeoGeo from SNK, the TurboGrafx-16 from NEC and the Jaguar from Atari.  17 Sheff, Game Over: Press Start to Continue. p. 350. 18  GamePro Magazine, no. 46, 1992.  19 Wolf, Mark J.P. "The Future of Video Games." In The Video Game Explosion: A History from Pong to Playstation and Beyond, edited by Mark J.P. Wolf. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. p. 303-304. 20 Goldberg. All Your Base Are Belong to Us. p. 451. 21  “Rated X.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 59, 1993. p. 8.  22 Kutner, Lawrence, and Cheryl Olsen. Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do. New York City, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2008. 23 Arsenault, Dominic. "System Profile: The Nintendo Entertainment System (Nes)." In The Video Game Explosion: A History from Pong to Playstation and Beyond, edited by Mark J.P. Wolf. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. p. 111. 24  “Night Trap: ProReview.” GamePro Magazine, no. 51, 1992. p. 62 25  Burgess, John. “Sega to Withdraw, Revise ‘Night Trap.’”  The Washington Post, 11 January 1994.  26 Kushner, Masters of Doom: How Two Guy Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture. 27 Irvine, Reed, and Cliff Kincaid. "Video Games Can Kill." Accuracy in Media. 28 Rehak, Bob. "Genre Profile: First-Person Shooting Games." In The Video Game Explosion: A History from Pong to Playstation and Beyond, edited by Mark J.P. Wolf. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. p. 192-193. 29 Dewey, John. The Public and Its Problems. New York City, NY: H. Holt and Company, 1927.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         30 Haberski, Raymond. 1t’s Only a Movie!: Films and Critics in American Culture. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 2001. p. 11 31 Ibid. p. 12 32 Sheff, David. Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children. New York City, NY: Random House, 1993. p. 178. 33 Ibid. p. 179. 34 Reilly, Jim. "Game Pro Magazine Closes." Game Informer, 2011. 35  “Good Quality and Sequels: Good Buy or Goodbye?” GamePro Magazine, no. 76, 1995. p. 12  36  “Wanted: Wired Women.” GamePro Magazine, no. 110, 1997. p. 24.  37  The Feature Creature. “100 Issues…Over 200 Writers” GamePro Magazine, no. 100, 1997. p. 38  38  Cocco, Jonathan. “Is the Industry on the Skids?” GamePro Magazine, no. 32, 1991. p. 12  39 Russ Ceccola. GamePro Magazine, no. 29, 1991. p. 52. 40  Reiser, Wesley. “Violence in Games—The Readers Speak Out.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 60, 1993. p. 12  41  Abby Normal. GamePro Magazine, no. 44, 1992. p. 38-39.  42  GamePro Magazine, no. 34, 1991.  43  Halliday, Fred, T Allen, and J Seaton. "Manipulation and Limits: Media Coverage of the Gulf War, 1990-91." The Media of conflict: War reporting and representations of Ethnic Violence, London and New York, Zed Books,1999.  44  1994 Yearly Box Office by MPAA Rating. Retrieved 11 April, 2013 45  "About Hardcore Rap." Rovi Corp. 46  Jones, Kenneth. "Are Rap Videos More Violent? Style Differences and the Prevalence of Sex and Violence in the Age of Mtv." Howard Journal of Communications 8, no. 4 (1997): 343-56. 47  GamePro Magazine, no. 76, 1995. p. 41.  48  “Editor's Note.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 64, 1994. p. 10.  49  “Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 93, 1996. p. 12.  50  Hack n’ Slash. “Hot at the Arcades: Mortal Kombat.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 32, 1992. p. 18.  51  Slasher Quan. “The Minds Behind Mortal Kombat II.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 68, 1994. p. 27.  52  Hack n’ Slash. “Hot at the Arcades: Mortal Kombat.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 32, 1992. p. 18.  53  “Mom’s Rage Pulls Primal Rage from Shelves.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 93, 1996. p. 16.  54  “To Rate or Not to Rate—Still the Hot Topic.” GamePro Magazine, no. 30, 1991. p. 12.  55  “Do we play till it hurts?” GamePro Magazine, no. 56, 1993. p. 8  56  Ibid.  57  “A bloodless Mortal Kombat.” GamePro Magazine, no. 58, 1993. p. 12  58  “Rated X.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 59, 1993. p. 8.  59  Ibid  60  “Violence in Video Games.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 60, 1993. p. 12.  61  “Video Violence—The Readers Speak Out.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 61, 1993. p. 12.  62  “Video Violence—The Debate Continues.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 65, 1994. p. 12.  63    Ibid.  64  “Special Feature: Mortal Rocks the House.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 73, 1994. p. 36.  65  Rehak, Bob. "Playing at Being: Psychoanalysis and the Avatar." In The Video Game Theory Reader, edited by Mark J.P. Wolf and Bernard Perron. New York City, NY: Routledge, 2003.  66  Major Mike. “Resident Evil 2: ProReview.”  GamePro Magazine, no. 114, 1998. p. 92.  

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         67  “Fight for your right to party!”  GamePro Magazine, no. 95, 1996. p. 14  68  Ibid.  69  Ibid.  70  Ibid. 71  Halliday, Fred, T Allen, and J Seaton. "Manipulation and Limits: Media Coverage of the Gulf War, 1990-91." The Media of conflict: War reporting and representations of Ethnic Violence, London and New York, Zed Books,1999.  72  Jones, Kenneth. "Are Rap Videos More Violent? Style Differences and the Prevalence of Sex and Violence in the Age of Mtv." Howard Journal of Communications 8, no. 4 (1997): 343-56.                                                                      

28

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         APPENDIX A—Images

Image 1

The May 1992 cover, featuring Splatterhouse 2. Notice his weapon is covered in green blood, and that the bladed edge of his knife is hidden.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Image 2

The July 1991 cover on “The Rocketeer.” Compare with the 1982 comic (Image 3).

30

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Image 3

The Rocketeer—from a 1982 comic book

31

Image 4

(Top)-the GamePro Ratings system, 1991

(Bottom)-the GamePro Ratings system, 1996

32

Image 5

The image of the Primal Rage finishing move

and cutline from the June 1996 GamePro Magazine.

33

Appendix B-Gamer Technology/Terminology

Atari 2600- marketed as the Atari Video Computer System (VCS), this video game console was later referred to by its model number—2600. This was one of the first home consoles. Atari used this console to begin the lucrative business. Significant games included Pitfall and Space Invaders. Bit- Refers to the level of computing power in a video game console. A 16-bit console has twice the computing power of a 8-bit console. Sega Genesis-Sega was the main corporate competitor to Nintendo in the United States from 1990-1995. The Genesis was the 16-bit console, which split the video game market with the Super Nintendo almost 50/50. Unlike the Nintendo, Sega didn’t censor its games. Thus this was the first popular home console display realistic blood. Significant games include Sonic the Hedgehog, Splatterhouse and Mortal Kombat. Sega Genesis add-ons—these were two gaming systems, which both supplemented and attached to the Sega Genesis video game console. They include the Sega CD and the Sega 32X. Significant games on these systems include Night Trap and Doom 32X. Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)- after the video game crash of 1983, Nintendo rebuilt the video game market almost two years later with this home console. It was the first home console that was truly mainstream, with titles that appealed not just to adults but also to children. Significant games on this system include Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt. Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)- The next-generation Nintendo hardware following the NES. It was graphically superior and also boasted better performance and memory. Facing the threat of the Sega Genesis, Nintendo created this console to maintain their hold on the video game market. Significant games on this system include Super Mario World and Mortal Kombat. Sony Playstation- while not the first CD-home video game console, this console was designed to be developer-friendly. The surprise entry into the 1995 video game wars beat out the Sega Saturn to be the primary competitor with the Nintendo 64. While graphically inferior to the Nintendo 64, it boasted a better memory and an exhaustive library of games. Significant games include Resident Evil and Time Crisis. Fighting game genre- this genre reached mass popularity at the arcades before home consoles. It pits a player against either the computer or another player. The player must move their avatar and attack their opponent in order to win. Most games feature combos—button combinations that cause more damage than regular attacks. This was one of the two genres suspect in the first video game regulatory debates, which led to the

34

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         creation of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. Significant games include Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. First-person shooter (FPS) genre—in this genre the player takes the avatar’s point of view and operates from their perspective. These games tend to be war-oriented and, as the title of the genre indicates, the focus of these games is on the use of gun weaponry to complete objectives. Significant games include Doom, Turok and Call of Duty. Survival horror genre—in some cases this genre has overlapped with the first-person shooter genre (most notably with Doom), but the focus of this game is in placing players in the midst of a horror movie. The antagonists of these games tend to be standard horror genre villains: zombies and vampires. Many times these games look over the shoulder of the protagonist. The player’s perspective is limited in order to increase suspense. Significant games include Resident Evil, Night Trap and D.