How Mortal Kombat (and moral panic) changed the gaming world

On its release in 1993, Midway’s gore-filled fighting game ushered in a new era of hyperviolent gaming that continues to influence the industry to this dayOn 9 December 1993, Democratic senator Joe Lieberman sat before a congressional hearing on video game violence and told attendees that the video game industry had crossed a line. The focus of his ire was Mortal Kombat, Midway’s bloody fighting game, recently released on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System after a successful run in the arcades. “Blood splatters from the contestants’ heads,” he told the room. “The game narrator instructs the player to finish his opponent. That player may choose a method of murder ranging from ripping a heart out or pulling off the head of the opponent, with spinal cord attached.”Lieberman’s aim with the congressional hearing had been to force the US games industry into creating a formal ratings system, preventing minors from buying violent titles. He succeeded in that – the Entertainment Software Rating Board was established as a result of the hearing – but he also boosted a moral panic that had quietly begun with the launch of the Mortal Kombat arcade game in 1992. This then took on more urgency following the high-profile home console release on 13 September 1993 – a global simultaneous launch Midway named Mortal Monday. US news networks were sending reporters to arcades, interrogating teens as they enthusiastically dismembered each other’s fighters. Newspapers were interviewing alarmed child psychologists. The BBC responded by featuring the game on its late-night news magazine programme The Late Show, calling in author Will Self to play live in the studio. Continue reading...

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