Mass Media Effect

Media coverage of the video game industry is, needless to say, lacking. Even with game sales rivaling movie ticket sales, mass media, in large part, still just ignores the video game industry. The net result is that what coverage does come out, is usually not from reliable sources.

Recently a review of the popular game Mass Effect came out on Townhall.com, a conservative political website. With the current presidential election looming, this article got way more attention than it deserved. First off, I consider myself a conservative. I also live in one of the most conservative areas of one of the most conservative states in the country. With all that in mind, even I found this review full of flaws and falsehoods.

As someone who has played the game Mass Effect and played through the entire storyline at least 3 different times, I can tell that Mr. McCullough has never even picked up this game, let alone played it through to the end (one of the required prerequisites in my mind for writing a review).

Granted, there is a sex scene in the game, but the amount shown is on par with any scene from a daytime soap opera or a PG-13 movie (in fact, I've seen much worse in PG-13 movies than in this game). As for the Mr. McCullough's remarks that a player can customize any and all physical features of the characters--that's just plain not true. A player can customize the head and facial features of their character, nothing more. The only other visual element you can customize is what armor you're wearing throughout the game, but unlike other BioWare games, you have to have armor on at all times. There's no running around without any clothes on like what you were able to do in other previous BioWare titles.

I love this quote from Mr. McCullough...

"Mass Effect" sounds like a war game with a deadly virus that is spreading unless the GI-Joes are able to defeat the evil and deadly substance and it's covert war plan.

This quote in and of itself shows his total ignorance of the game. The game is aptly titled as it's the name of the new science fiction technology that allows interstellar space travel in the game. A technology that no one in the universe knows the origins of, only that some ancient civilization developed it. The game centers around a looming galactic threat that you as the player try to avert. This game is full of sci-fi violence and shooting. The game doesn't try to hide that. But for Mr. McCullough to suggest that the primary focus of this game is the sexual encounter that happens near the end of the game, after almost 30 hours of gameplay, and only lasts for ~40 seconds, is preposterous. With all the customization options available to the gamer, there's really only 4 possible sexual scenes available. If you have a male character, you're relationship can be with either a female crew member or a 'neutral gender' alien that has a female form. If you have a female character, your options are with a male crew member or the same neutral gender alien.

Mr. McCullough also suggests that a question needs to be addressed by current presidential candidates, "How much moral judgement should the President push into legislative issues that are likely to severely damage our children's innocence, function, and capability?"
The answer: none.

Herein lies the flaw of many conservative activists. The responsibility of teaching correct morals to children is the responsibility of the parents, not the government. The role of government is, if needed, to give parents the tools to do that job. Right now the ESRB does that fairly well. They review games and give them ratings. If a parent blindly purchases video games for their children without reading the rating, that's the parent's fault, not the government's nor the game studio's fault.

Sadly, I think the folks over at Penny Arcade got it right in guessing Mr. McCullough's true motivation in writing this game review...