Within the past few years, mature content within videogames has been a firestorm of controversy, with mainstream media coverage of high-profile cases such as the “Hot Coffee” scandal from GTA: San Andreas more often than not overshadowing actual coverage of the industry itself by a substantial margin. It has become a real hotbed of discussion from those within the industry as well as those from the outside, leading to more discussion as to what position the industry has in terms of responsible content within their games. Last week, GZ writer Michael Lafferty posted an editorial that questioned whether or not game developers have an ethical obligation to show the consequences of illicit activity, and be generally more responsible for the content that they show within their titles.

I do agree with a lot of what the article says and I do think that if the video game industry is to be taken seriously as an artistic medium like the film and literature industries, they'll have to grow up a bit and realize that while mature content has a place in gaming, shock value and sophomoric attempts at gross-out humor and gore (I'm looking at you Postal) only serve to fuel the fires of the special interests that want to scapegoat and demonize gaming.

Check out the full article here: http://www.gamezone.com/news/04_09_09_06_00AM.htm