EA: The Company of Hypocrites

For decades, video games have been under fire for being too violent. Arguably, as early as Mario, that shroom eating, fireball tossing, turtle-bird stomping Italian stereotype, to the rampant mindless (and optional) violence of Grand Theft Auto, and Red Dead Redemption. Last year saw the rebirth of the franchise that gave way to a rating system (Splatterhouse and the announced reboot of Mortal Kombat), but with no real reaction (save for MK) about the violence other than what critics had said in reviews.

Yet, two years ago, Dante's Inferno was under fire for several issues: 1: Starting a fake protest under the guise of a Catholic Church Fundamentalist Group. 2: the "Bad Nanny" Achievement. 3: The "Go To Hell" ad on the Super Bowl. 4: the Go To Hell ads in general. Giving EA credit where it' due, though, these ads, and the game, where not aimed towards children. They made it flagrantly obvious that this was an adult game, and stuck to their guns (or... scythes, as it were). As a graphic designer, I have to take their side on that.

At least I did, until Dead Space 2's new ad campaign came out: "Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2." I am fully aware of full grown nerds who live with their parents (in their bat/troll/man/nerd-cave), but let's examine this. Most of those parents don't give a damn what their nerd-spawn is playing. They're either spoiling him/her, enabling him/her, or too busy with there own lives (and, quite possibly, helping their child get their life in order) to worry about what game is being played. So, tell me, who does that leave?

I know one of the things I'm going to hear is, "these are older women." That really doesn't matter. At least one of them appeared in her 40's (at worst), which is still young enough to have a child under 18. In this day and age, it's not unheard of to hear about women having children after 50. Also take into account this: with a slogan like "Your Mom Hates..." who is it going to really attract? As a kid, and, admittedly, as an adult now, I did things that my parents hated all of the time, just for that reason. The only difference between then and now is that I'm living on my own, and the reasons my parents don't like some of the things I do is out of personal preference instead of bringing me up right. Would my Mom hate Dead Space 2? Probably, but not because I'm a kid who shouldn't be exposed to that sort of violence.

Oh, and for the record, I have to say that I have one of the most awesome Moms in history, too. Any mother who knows their child so well that they know what limits to put on certain things for that child (i.e. violent games/movies), knows what they're doing. I grew up watching violent action movies, sneaking horror movies into the mix since I was five or six, playing Ripper and Gabriel Knight and watching the Evil Dead movies in Middle School, and not once have I gone on a killing spree. It's not because of censoring; it's because of good parenting. Heaven forbid we have that now a days. But, that's a different rant.

Dead Space 2's ad campaign seems not only targeted to spoiled children, but insulting to the parents who actually do a good job of parenting. On top of that, it seems like something I kid would say to convince other kids into buying this game (well, buying at best) behind their parents' backs. It's not clever, it's childish, which makes it seem even more targeted to children. EA/Visceral created the taboo, and they will turn around and claim that it was never targeted to children when the controversy hits the fan. I just hope with have people paying attention this time.