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Silicon Follies
Silicon Follies
Chapter 36: Last chance -- squatters off Highway 17
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[07/17/99]

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21st Challenge No. 24
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Did "The Blair Witch Project" fake its online fan base?
Glowing reviews and fan sites raise suspicions that Hollywood is planting ready-made buzz on the Net.
By Patrizia DiLucchio
[07/16/99]

Books
Is the Internet the new heaven?
"The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace" examines the spiritual realm of non-physical space -- and finds that Giotto painted VR frescoes.
By Gavin McNett
[07/15/99]

Is Red Hat becoming Linux's Microsoft?
Hardly. But as the lovey-dovey Linux business matures, elbows are beginning to fly.
By Andrew Leonard
[07/14/99]

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"Check this out," Dave calls to his friend, still hunched over the PlayStation gear. "You form a gang of the retro-future, shoot people in their kneecaps and kill their bitches."

But Dave's not buying Kingpin, the gritty game released this month by Interplay, because he's too young to pass the new censors. "We have had to start carding for this game because of all the attention after Colorado," says the store's salesman, who asked not to be identified. "But it hasn't been a problem so far, everyone looks over 21, or comes in with their parents."

Software Etc. and at least four other retail chains are carding kids under 17 on Kingpin sales. But teens can buy hundreds of other Mature-rated titles at these same stores, so what makes Kingpin special? Kingpin is the first killsport game to be released since the shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and carding is part of a new industry strategy to avoid criticism and Congress.

Bills before Congress and in four states would restrict the availability of violent electronic games and punish retailers who sell violent material to minors. But -- just as Web publishers are voluntarily adopting privacy policies to avoid new consumer protection legislation -- game makers see the handwriting on the wall, and are attempting to preempt new laws by regulating themselves.

Not too long ago, computer games were a big ($5.5 billion) business with a low profile. But in the post-Littleton world every violent game is guaranteed some media scrutiny. No firm wants to be accused of fostering homicidal tendencies. But before the Littleton murders, game design firms Xatrix Entertainment and Interplay had together sunk millions of dollars into developing Kingpin. Stopping production was not an option. Instead, they are attempting to sidestep criticism by launching a spin campaign that argues that Kingpin was never intended for minors.

But the game obviously caught the fancy of Dave and his friend, and it is certainly adrenal enough to suit 14-year-old tastes, or adults with an inner teen. To play you must recruit gang members in a fantasy ghetto, where women loiter under streetlights and winos slump in the shadows begging for booze. You can tell the bums to "fuck off," but curse at the wrong "bitch" and she attacks with a pipe or pistol. Bludgeon her if you want to survive, then pat down her corpse for cash.

Violence against women, illegal guns, casual alcohol use, curses and gang warfare: This list would provoke the wrath of any moral crusader. It's no wonder Interplay loaded Kingpin down with more warning labels than any computer game in history.

Apart from the giant yellow sticker on the box, there's a message during the install asking minors to turn back. It also comes with a password-protected low-violence version that bleeps out profanity. Perhaps most telling is the missive from Xatrix president Drew Markham that appears during the load up. It reads, "In light of the recent acts of youth-related violence that have taken place across America we thought that you should know how 'Kingpin' was initially conceived. 'Kingpin' was never intended for children. This is a game with mature themes made for a mature audience. There was never any attempt to market or influence children to buy 'Kingpin.'"

Next page | Will game makers opt for self-censorship?