10 Times Video Games Caused MORAL PANIC

“Death Race” (1976)

The fear of video games supposedly inciting violence goes farther back than most people remember, before the years of “DOOM”. “Death Race” was perhaps the very first video game that stirred up a bit of hysteria during the late 70’s. Players were tasked to drive around an area and run over “gremlins” for points. One reporter from the Associated Press was not too pleased about the existence of “Death Race” and wound up writing an article making vague implications about the game encouraging real-world road rage. Other members of the press followed suit with their own pieces while local authorities and parental organizations publicly scrutinized the game. Despite Atari’s attempts to dissolve the outcry, “Death Race” spent its entire first year in controversy before the mobs finally went quiet in 1977.

“Stellar Blade” (2024)

Funny how you can get as grimy and gory as you want with “Mortal Kombat”, but the second a posterior shows up on screen, all hell breaks loose. “Stellar Blade” had one of the weirdest releases as pundits and incels fought over Eve’s right to be sexy. While pundits stuck their noses in the air and said “this game isn’t for a modern audience”, incels had their own panties in a knot over mild wardrobe changes, crying out “censorship”. Regardless of how either side of the culture war felt, level-headed minds still found a game that was solid in its combat mechanics and so-so in the story department. And to think all that outrage came from a sexy robot lady made out of polygons.

“Bully” (2006)

Even when they aren’t shooting for an M-rating for their game, Rockstar always seems to have a target on their backs when it comes to parents, teachers, and lawyers. When the T-rated “Bully” was first announced, parents and anti-bullying organizations rallied against Rockstar, claiming that the company was glorifying bullying just by making the game. Just to reiterate, the game wasn’t even out yet when all this kerfuffle was being made. To no one’s surprise, the infamous lawyer known as Jack Thompson jumped at the chance to once again put Rockstar on blast, calling “Bully” “a Columbine simulator” and attempting to bring Rockstar to a Florida courtroom on grounds of the game possibly being “a public nuisance”. Days before the game’s release, Rockstar allowed Thompson and Judge Ronald Friedman to view the game themselves. Judge Friedman promptly dismissed the case and allowed the game to ship. Thompson, on the other hand, was disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida in 2008 for constantly filing frivolous lawsuits against various video game companies without justifiable reasons, behavior some might deem as “a public nuisance”.

“Fortnite” (2017)

As with most popular things that make money, it’s almost expected for people to start making said things a scapegoat, something to blame for the world’s problems. Ever since “Fortnite” took the world by storm (literally), the online game has become weaponized by kids to bully each other in schools. Why? Because of skins. Parents and educators have spent years now blaming “Fortnite” for “being designed to be as addictive as possible”. While there is such a thing as playing too many video games in an unhealthy manner, there is also a concept kids can learn today called “moderation”, to help them understand how to practice willpower and prioritize other things in life. Instead, we’ve seen a litany of news articles about parents and educators blaming an online game their own children are playing.

“Mass Effect” (2007)

Yes, “Mass Effect”, a game rated “M for Mature” for Blood, Language, Violence, Partial Nudity, and Sexual Themes, was told to think about the children by outraged parents and news outlets, specifically Fox News’s Martha MacCallum. She and alleged psychology specialist Cooper Lawrence scrutinized the game for its “graphic sex” and claimed the game was being marketed to kids. Geoff Keighley, who was also on the program to defend the game and would quickly dismantle Lawrence’s argument, simply asked Lawrence if she had even played the game. Lawrence replied, “No.” MacCallum also fully admitted that she had only seen trailers. Lawrence would eventually retract her accusations about “Mass Effect” after watching a couple hours of gameplay. According to her, someone compared the game to an adult film to her.

“Hatred” (2016)

The second “Hatred” made its presence known, almost everyone was against it. Here was this game that seemed to encourage violence with no other reason than your character just being sick of the world. And it wasn’t just gaming media outlets dismissing the game as shock value either. Much of the public echoed the same sentiment of “Hatred” being an exploitative game depending entirely on its edgy execution moves to try and make bank. Some fell into the obvious trap, bringing up the concern of video games causing violence. Of course, the skeptics were proven correct when the game came out. “Hatred” amounted to nothing with its tedious gameplay and mundane angst, and it was quickly forgotten.

“Pictochat” (2004)

Hard to believe that something as simple as a chat software for the DS would cause such a commotion. Anyone who has owned a DS knows what “Pictochat” was: it was a built-in program for the handheld that allowed you to join chat lobbies with nearby DS systems that were also in “Pictochat”. Sure, you could text each other dumb messages, or you make drawings. However, not every adult understood the extent of the software’s connectivity. ABC Action News Philadelphia reported on a story regarding a young girl who had encountered a predator through PictoChat. Not only did they incorrectly describe the DS as "a mini-computer", they also falsely reported about how players could "connect from across the room or across the world" despite clarifying earlier that both DS's need to be within 65 feet of each other in order to send messages. And this goes without mentioning the PictoChat’s restriction in chatting with friends, which you could only see by adding each other’s Friend Codes. Yeah, a lot of info went missing in this news report, but it didn’t stop some parents from panicking for a few minutes.

“Grand Theft Auto” (1998)

Much like “Hatred”, “Doom”, and grandaddy “Death Race”, “Grand Theft Auto” would invoke mass hysteria just from its premise. You mean this is a video game where people can wander around and do whatever they want? They can commit crimes and run over people and get rewarded for doing so? This is going to cause a massive spike in crime! Our kids will become hooligans and vandalize the streets and bring an end to our civil society! Except all that panic was fabricated by DMA Design/Rockstar North themselves. Thanks to a publicist named Max Clifford, Rockstar was able to expose specific politicians and journalists to their game, knowing the stir it would cause. What followed was decades of notoriety among authoritative figures and parents.

“Animal Crossing: City Folk” (2008)

We know what you’re thinking: “how the heck did something as cute and innocent as ‘Animal Crossing’ end up on the wrong end of the pitchfork?” Well, the theme of the day seems to be “easily frightened parents”. ABC News strikes again! In 2009, ABC News Missouri reported that a mother caught their child messaging a stranger on “Animal Crossing: City Folk” and was asked to provide personal information and a picture. This set off enough alarms to get the cops involved…until the internet stepped in and started to make fun of the whole thing. Turns out the mom mistook Tortimer as an avatar other players could use. And once again, Nintendo’s Friend Codes were brought up as a critical hurdle to communicating with other players. Online safety is important, especially for children, but remember - Nintendo never made it easy for anyone to talk in-game back then.

“Mortal Kombat” (1992)

If there was any game that got a ton of flak for its violence, it was the first “Mortal Kombat”. With graphics so real and visceral, parents and politicians everywhere threw themselves into a frenzy. This game could turn our kids into bloodthirsty warriors! What are we to do if they’re throwing fireballs to ambush people? Well, the panic was taken seriously as the United States government got involved and began discussions about regulating the video game industry. If the industry could not regulate itself and find a way to mitigate kids from playing inappropriate games, the US government would take over and set the rules themselves. And so, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board was formed to keep feds at bay and the kids innocent and wholesome.

Was there a moral panic over a game you felt was overblown? Let us know down in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!