Opinion: AO ban exemplifies disconnect between opponents and audience

For those gamers who’ve followed the tragically comic progression of Manhunt 2 through the various dens of censorship, the announced death of the game’s launch date just goes to show that ignorance and arrogance are alive and well in the minds of the opponents of the video game industry.

These are the people who told you that the Columbine shooters wouldn’t have snapped if they hadn’t played Doom.

These are the people who told you that rap music and the Sopranos are to blame for violence on the streets of urban America.

These are the people who made a living pointing fingers and shifting blame.

These are the people who peddled a crackpot theory of an inherent inability in the minds of young people everywhere to distinguish between fantasy and reality, between the pixel and the real world.

Bull.

There are millions of people around the world who’ve witnessed and grown up with the birth of an incredibly exciting new art form. The ability of the human mind to design and create whole new worlds for players to explore out of the inescapably meager symbols of ones and zeros is an event that should be celebrated and exalted, not squashed under the oppressive boot of conservatism and ethnocentrism.

Uberviolent games like Manhunt 2 aren’t social evils — quite the contrary. Games like these provide an important stomping grounds for intelligent individuals everywhere, a place where the macabre meets the rational and nobody gets hurt. The importance of play has largely been lost on baby-boomer agency thugs who feel the need to shut down creativity and evolution wherever and whenever they see it bloom.

Alas, we will not be able to join the Manhunt anytime soon. But fear not, fellow gamers. In the end, the multibillion dollar video game industry will shrug off these attacks like so much water off the back of a duck. We’ll have our cake and be able to play it too.

Mayer has it right — we really are just waiting on the world to change.

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