Revision 71910391 of "List of controversial games" on enwiki

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Throughout history, [[games]] -- board, card, physical, and [[video games|video]] -- have been a source of [[controversy]], and many have been outlawed. The following is a list of games that have aroused some sort of social controversy; more information about each game's controversy is available in the article on that game.

==Controversial games==
===Physical games===
*[[Bloody Knuckles]] (and variants, a game involving striking the other player's hands even to the point of drawing blood)
*Push (similar to bloody knuckles except the players push each other by open hand palm thrust and try to see who can fall to the ground first or sometimes who moves first.)
*[[Dodgeball]] (the game permits, and in some variants encourages, dangerous activity that has resulted in injuries)
*[[Mumbletypeg]] (throwing a [[pocketknife]] into the ground by progressively more difficult tricks)
*[[Red Rover]] (like Dodgeball, the game permits, and in some variants encourages, dangerous activity that has resulted in injuries)
*[[Russian roulette]] placing a single round into a revolver, spinning the cylinder, and firing at the head.
*[[Smear the queer]] ([[Tag]] variant alleged to be a veiled reference to [[gay bashing]] and potentially as injurious as tackle football)
*[[Hockey]] (violence among ice hockey players is well documented and often glorified in popular thought and hockey video games, though frowned upon according to the rules)
*[[20 Animals]]  (a game involving players scratching their hand until they name 20 animals)

===Role-playing games===
*''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' (see [[steam tunnel incident]] and [[Patricia Pulling]])

===Card games and gambling===
*''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' (players must purchase new cards frequently to stay competitive; cards have had demonic themes)
*[[Trading card games]] (the general template for these games was patented by one company)
*[[Texas Hold 'em]] (immense popularity of the game has drawn many teens and [[preteen]]s to gambling){{fact}}
*[[Online gambling]] (Accessibility to minors, perpetuating [[compulsive gambling|gambling addiction]])
*[[Slot machine]]s (see [[Compulsive gambling]])
*[[Pinball]] (accused of inspiring gambling when players could earn money to "buy off" free games won, lead to "for amusement only" labels)
*[[Billiards]] (pool halls were targeted by community activists as inspiring gambling on the outcome of games and 'pool sharking')
*[[Marbles]] ("playing for keeps" in which players, usually children, could win the marbles of their opponents was often banned in American schools)
*[[Pogs]] (In a similar vein to marbles as above, some children would "play for keeps")

===Board games===
*''[[Ghettopoly]]'' (depiction of [[ghetto]] was judged racist and offensive)

===Video games===
====Violence====
*''[[25 to Life]]'' (player commits violence against law enforcement officers and uses human shields)
*''[[Blood (computer game)|Blood]]'' (extreme violence and gore in both gameplay as level design)
*''[[Burnout (video game)|Burnout series]]'' (involves players driving on public road and through traffic in a dangerous manner)
*''[[Carmageddon]]'' series (goal of game is running over pedestrians to earn extra time; graphic violence when doing so)
*''[[Commando Libya]]'' (bonus level features execution of "terrorists")
*''[[Death Race]]'' (arcade game with goal of killing pedestrians with cars)
*''[[Doom]]'' series (demons and violence, [[Columbine High School massacre]])
*''[[Duke Nukem (game)|Duke Nukem]] series'' (Violence, sexual content, profanity and steroids used as a power up)
* ''[[Full Auto]]'' (same as with Burnout series. Also the ability to commit suicide in cars)
*''[[Grand Theft Auto (series)|Grand Theft Auto]] series'' (drug use, language, violence, prostitution & [[Hot Coffee]] mod for 2004's ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'')
*''[[Hitman (computer game series)|Hitman]]'' series (killing lots of people, usually at close range)
*''[[Kingpin: Life of Crime]]'' (profanity and gang culture)
*''[[Killer 7]]'' (for graphic violence and sexuality)
*[[Light gun]] games (Allegations of gateways to gun violence, violence against police officers, examples: ''[[Time Crisis]]'', ''[[Chiller]]'', ''[[Area 51]]'', ''[[The House of the Dead (arcade game)|The House of the Dead]]'')
*''[[Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter]]'' (for extreme graphic violence) 
*''[[Manhunt (video game)|Manhunt]]'' (Extreme violence)
*''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' (graphic "fatality" killing moves; along with ''[[Night Trap]]'', led to the founding of the [[Entertainment Software Rating Board|ESRB]]; bloodless version created for the [[Sega Genesis]] version required a code to "unlock" the graphic content, the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]] version was controversially censored)
*''[[Nemesis the Warlock (computer game)|Nemesis the Warlock]]'' (violence; killing more than 50-60 enemies and then using their corpses to climb to next level)
*''[[Postal (computer game)|Postal]]'' and ''[[Postal²]]'' (violence against innocent victims, and use of the name 'Postal', which was accused of spreading [[stereotype]] of violent postmen)
*''[[Pyro 2]]'' (ascii based federal terrorism)
*''[[Quake]]'' (Demons and violence)
*''[[Resident Evil]]'' series (for graphic violence)
*''[[Rise of the Triad]]'' (Digitized actors with lots of violence)
*''[[Samurai Shodown]]'' (Controversy in the United States, as it was decided to censor the game for most platforms, by changing the blood from red to white and disabling all of the fatal attack animations)
*''[[Silent Hill]]'' series (for graphic violence and disturbing images)
*''[[Silent Scope]]'' (stand-up [[sniper]] arcade game; player holds a gun and looks through a scope while shooting his victims; accused of being a "murder simulator")
*''[[Soldier of Fortune (computer game)|Soldier of Fortune]]'' series (gratuitous violence)
*''[[The Suffering (game)|The Suffering]]'' (graphic violence; monsters based on violent crime; subliminal flashes of voilent images)
*''[[Under Ash]]'' (has strong real-world ties to the [[Israeli-Palestinian conflict]])

====Adult content====
:''See also:[[Adult video games]]''
These games have been the subject of controversy mainly due to sexual themes, graphic nudity, obscene language, or drug use.
*''[[Beat Em and Eat Em]]'' (Bold sexual nature)
*''[[BMX XXX]]'' (nudity; the [[PlayStation 2|PS2]] American version was toned down at [[Sony]]'s demand.)
*''[[Conker's Bad Fur Day]]'' (profanity, scatological humour)
*''[[Custer's Revenge]]'' (1980s video game with "rape" goal)
*''[[Duke Nukem 3D]]'' (player can pay strippers to dance and reveal breasts)
*''[[Fahrenheit (video game)|Fahrenheit]]'' (because of some strong sexual content the game was cut in the United States and released as [[Indigo Prophecy]])
*''[[Gals Panic]]'' (a ''[[Qix]]''-like game where you uncover images of scantily clad or semi-nude models)
*''[[Gotcha (arcade game)|Gotcha]]'' (controls look similar to breasts)
*[[eroge|H-games]] (H-items are animated pornographic items)
*''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'' (a mini-game of simulated intercourse was left in the game's programming but disabled: See [[Hot Coffee mod]])
*''[[Kingpin: Life of Crime]] (profanity)
*''[[Leisure Suit Larry]]'' series (goal of game is to "score"; constant sexual humor and dialogue)
*''[[NARC (video game)|NARC]]'' (Presence of "adult book shops" and prostitute non-combatants as background scenery in one stage, drugs are present throughout that are confiscated by police as evidence)
*''[[Night Trap]]'' (vampire-themed brutality and non-graphic voyeurism)
*''[[Panty Raider]]'' (players fire green goo at female characters, dissolving their outer clothing and photographing them for aliens)
*''[[Phantasmagoria (game)|Phantasmagoria]]'' series (graphic rape scene)
*''[[Playboy: The Mansion]]'' (sexual)
*''[[Thrill Kill]]'' (graphic, brutal nature and sexual themes)

====Social issues====
These include controversy due to recent or historical events and precedents that make a game potentially inappropriate.
*''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]'' (promotion of [[bully|school bullying]], though only based on initial screenshots)
*''[[Cannon Fodder]]'' (original packaging artwork featured a Poppy plant, a reference to the UK dead during [[World War I]])
*''[[DJ Boy]]'' (reputedly [[racism|racist]] imagery based on [[caricature]]s)
*''[[Ethnic Cleansing (computer game)|Ethnic Cleansing]]'' (promotes killing non-whites as part of a "race war")
*''[[KZ manager]]'' (Lets the player "manage" a [[Nazism|Nazi]]-era concentration camp)
*''[[I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (computer game)|I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream]]'' (depiction of [[the Holocaust]])
*''[[JFK: Reloaded]]'' (re-enacts the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]])
*''[[Wolfenstein 3D|Wolfenstein]]'' series (banned in Germany for depictions of Swastika; possession of a [[Swastika]] is [[law|illegal]] in [[Germany]])
*''[[Lineage (computer game)|Lineage]]'' (Supposedly causing addiction, murder over virtual theft)
*''[[Super Columbine Massacre RPG]]'' (Lets the player re-enact the Columbine school shootings.)

====Other====
*''[[Firebug (game)|Firebug]]'' (goal is to burn down a building)
*''[[Pokémon]]'' (banned in [[Saudi Arabia]] for allegedly possessing children and promoting [[Zionism]]; controversial at times for allegedly promoting [[evolution]] or [[satanism]]; and for one card using a [[swastika]]-esque symbol called a [[manji]] in the card game.)
*''[[Left Behind: Eternal Forces]]'': Depicts [[Christian]]s using violence, allows player to play as [[Antichrist]].
*''[[Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'' (Islamic protesters protested againest the original game's inclusion of the Islamic symbol (The crescent moon and star) to be associated with thieves (Gerudos) and murderers (Ganondorf))
*''[[The Warriors (video game)|The Warriors]]'' (Violence and drug use to refill the player's health.)

===Video games bans by country===
====Australia====
Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification's highest rating is a MA15+, leading to many games with would be considered "for adults" being banned or censored for sale. Banned games include ''[[NARC]]'', ''[[Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude]]'', ''[[Grand Theft Auto III]]'', ''[[The Punisher]]'', and ''[[Resevoir Dogs]]''. Censored versions of the mentioned GTA games were eventually released.

====China====
[[China]] has banned games such as [[Battlefield Vietnam]] for portraying the country in an unfavorable political light<ref>{{cite web|title="China forbids 50 electronic games"|publisher=[[Wikinews]]|date=2005-02-03|accessdate=2006-08-24|url=http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/China_forbids_50_electronic_games}}</ref>. [[Command & Conquer: Generals|C&C Generals]] has been banned in China, likely for displaying a nuclear destruction of [[Tiananmen]] by the terrorist faction, even though China is a positive protagonist in the game. China has also banned games such as [[Hearts of Iron]] and [[Hearts of Iron II]] for portraying [[Tibet]] and [[Xinjiang]] as independent countries with their own flags (See [[Flag of Tibet]] and [[Flags of non-sovereign nations]])<ref>{{cite web|title="Swedish video game banned for harming China's sovereignty"|publisher=[[Xinhua]]|date=2004-05-29|accessdate=2006-08-24|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-05/29/content_334845.htm}}</ref>. .

====Germany====
[[Germany]] routinely bans and censors video games for retail sale if they include violence against humans. To get around this proscription, [[video game developer]]s often create a special version of the game in which blood is colored green, so the developer can claim that the player is shooting [[zombie]]s or [[Extraterrestrial life|space aliens]]. This censoring is not mentioned in all games. In fact, the German version of the first ''[[Turok]]'' (on the [[Nintendo 64]]) is extremely censored, but this censorship is not mentioned on the game's case box.

Germany routinely bans video games that include any reference to [[Nazism|Nazis]], such as ''[[Wolfenstein 3D]]'', in which the player fights hundreds of Nazi soldiers, and which features [[swastika]] artwork on the walls due to the legal status of that symbol in Germany. Furthermore, the original version of [[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]] was banned. Instead, a heavily modified version of the same game which replaced the Nazi scenario with a fictional one was released. Also players that live in a country close to Germany (Switzerland for example) are very likely to find German (and, thus, profoundly censored) versions of games.

It should also be noted that there are many German Web sites that allow gamers to download many game mods, patches and skins, allowing them to restore games to their original state. Some of those modifications even allow gamers to render their games even more violent or adult-oriented than the originals. However, in some cases even censored games are banned if their modifications can be easily removed. 

====South Korea====
[[South Korea]] has banned ''[[Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory]]'' for having a scenario that has [[Seoul]], the capital city of South Korea, destroyed in a sea of fire. The delicate situation between North and South Korea means that the government is under severe pressure to ban media that depicts war between the two nations, for fear that it could push the diplomatic situation over the edge and spark an actual conflict. ''[[Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction]]'' and ''[[Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2]]'' were banned for similar reasons.

==See also==
*[[List of banned computer and video games]]
*[[Censorship]]
*[[Video game controversy]]


==External links==
*[http://www.gamespot.com/features/6090892/index.html When Two Tribes Go to War: a History of Video Game Controversy]

==Notes==
<references/>

[[Category:Controversial computer and video games| Controversial games]]
[[Category:Lists of games|Controversial games]]
[[Category:Moral panics|Controversial games]]
[[Category:Psychology lists|Controversial games]]
[[Category:Computer and video game lists]]