In "Lessons from Littleton: What Congress Doesn't Want to Hear About Youth and Media" (Harper's, August 1999), Henry Jenkins profiles the moral panic surrounding the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Jenkins compares Congress's attack on video games and goth culture to anthropologist Mary Douglas' description of witch hunts in traditional societies. Jenkins writes, "A moral panic starts with an unspeakable tragedy which sparks an attempt to ascribe blame and responsibility. Initially, accusations flow freely but focus on those targets who are already the subject of anxiety." Jenkins goes on to show how computer games represented many Americans' discomfort with popular culture and technological change. Parents may not be able to ban black clothes, industrial music, teen sexuality, or the Internet, but they could attack Marilyn Manson and Quake.

And in video games - particularly computer games - there is no shortage of fuel to fan the flames of cultural panic. As Jenkins suggests in "Complete Freedom of Movement: Video Games as Gendered Play Spaces," Video games bring children's play indoors, and with it, parents are exposed to competitive, hierarchical, aggressive, and scatological elements of boy culture. Further, many computer game genres, particularly first person shooters have historically been the play space of adolescent males - a playspace where they can engage with masculine imagery, explore sexuality, and test the limits of culturally accepted behavior. In Life On Screen, Sherry Turkle people explore with various aspects of their identity in virtual worlds and virtual societies. Finally, Warren Spector argues that games can provide a liminal space P cultural spaces where we experiment with the boundaries of culturally acceptable behavior. If nothing else, video and computer games are impressive for the ways they incorporate the latest computer technologies into highly fantastic immersive worlds.

It is no wonder that video games are one of the most beloved and feared mass media. Gaming is a $17 billion industry, and game sales receipts match or surpass Hollywood box office receipts. (Although this doesn't count other Hollywood profit-making avenues, like videotape sales and rentals.) Many critics are concerned about the images that games spread and the values that they contain, while many gamers, educators and academics see games as an emerging art form, and are exploring games as a positive impact on social institutions like schooling, society, art, and culture. As the debate around games grows, one thing is for certain: computer and video games are becoming an increasingly important part of the social fabric of the United States, and indeed, the globe. It is no surprise, then, that games are becoming a part of international discussion of the events on 11 September 2001.

Game Communities React

Naturally, these tragic events shook the gaming community. The steady stream of gaming news that feeds dozens of gaming sites slowed to a crawl. Instead, many websites, posted stories about the tragedy. Many others posted calls to friends and game developers around the net, looking to see if they were safe. Members of the Everquest community looked Gregory Vost, a cousin of one of the game's designers. Finally, Flight Simulator sites like Combat Sim refrained from publishing articles in wake of the events. While gaming servers did not stop, they certainly slowed as people around the world tried to make sense of what was happening around them.

Flight Trainer in a Box

Speaking of Flight Simulators, there has been some fear, particularly from U.K. news services, that the hijackers may have used Flight Simulator software to practicing flying jet planes. This isn't the first time set of fears about gaming technologies being used by terrorists; last fall, many governments were concerned that the graphic power of the PlayStation2 might be used by terrorist organizations to guide cruise missiles. However, as reported by Eurogamer, this time, British television news agency Skynews was pointing the finger at Flight Simulators -- computer games that allow you to virtually fly simulated airplanes through realistic landscapes. For $40, you can purchase Flight Simulator 2000, a "PC-based flight training and proficiency aid." (from the Microsoft web site).

Ironically, a Microsoft news affiliate -- MSNBC broke the story in the US. Immediately, gamers around the web started to debunk the theory. It does seem, however, that something like this did happen in Japan a few years back, when a flight sim fan comandeered a commercial aircraft and took it for a joyride in Tokyo.

Although few sane people would ever get behind the controls of a commercial jet after a few hours of playing Flight Simulator, these games do offer a very high degree of realism, and are based on the same technology and information used in commercial or military flight simulators. In fact, EA brands its military flight simulators as Jane's Simulators; Jane's Information Group sells information to both the Pentagon and the Kremlin. So, while gamers may not get the chance to fly a military jet (or professional flight simulator), they can play a game licensed from a military-contractor franchise. While Jane's doesn't develop the games themselves, friends of mine who are in the services say that the similarities between the military simulators and out-of-the-box commercial flight games are remarkable.

Although investigations suggest that the hijackers used commercial flight schools and paper-based training manuals, many stores have pulled Microsoft Flight Simulator from their shelves. One can imagine how different the rhetoric might be if a passenger had been able to land one of the hi-jacked planes safely, thanks to hours spent playing Flight Simulator. So far, Microsoft has decided not to recall copies of Flight Simulator. Microsoft has announced that the World Trade Center towers will be omitted from future editions of the game, consistent with the company's desire to make the games as realistic as possible.

Early Signs of Cultural Backlash

If the concerns over Flight Simulator seemed tinged anti-gaming rhetoric, then they might only be hints of what is to come. The Guardian reported that sales of "WTC Defender" had been suspended. According to the story, WTC Players "had to shoot down planes which were heading for the twin towers. If an aircraft managed to get through, the buildings blew up." However, I'm not entirely certain that the game actually exists. The story did not name a developer or publisher for the game, and I could not find any reference of the game in print or online. Most likely, the article was referring to Beam Breakers, which according to The Adrenaline Vault is a game "in which gang members race through a futuristic NYC, performing daredevil stunts between well-known landmarks" (i.e. The World Trade Center). Thankfully, the Similis team who is developing Beam Breakers explains in its press release that it has "removed all references to the World Trade Center already used in the gameI we extend our thoughts and sympathies to the yet unnumbered victims and their families." For what it's worth, the Similis team is from Germany.

Preparing for Moral Panic: Reconstructing Game Content

Other game developers are reconsidering their game content in reaction to the week's events. On Tuesday, people playing Majestic received an email saying that the game was suspended because "fictional elements in the game may not be appropriate at this time." Majestic is an online computer game that uses email, cell phones, faxes, and the web to put the player in an interactive story of international conspiracy. Majestic has since resumed.

Several other game developers will have even more difficult decisions to make in the upcoming months. Both Duke Nukem Forever and Metal Gear Solid X were set to have battle scenes set in New York City, and are evaluating their games for content that may be offensive in the wake of these tragedies. Reports are that Hollywood is doing the same. Game companies like RockStar games, creators of State of Emergency, a game where players participate in riots, will have also have some thinking to do; when moral panic strikes - an industry whose image (rightly or wrongly) is that they peddle violent experiences and images of gore and destruction - will have to respond.

If the videogame industry learned anything from the events at Columbine High School, it's that the video games are an important part of American (and global) culture, and that the industry needs to carefully consider the images in its games. The games industry no longer operates outside of the cultural radar, and game developers can no longer hide behind the First Amendment. Part of maturing as an industry is understanding its role in society and the complex relationships between culture, politics, art, and expression. The quick responses within the game industry to recent events suggests that perhaps game designers are coming to realize the importance of critically examining the images they create, and the political implications of their decisions.

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