The debate about video-game violence is almost as old as the games industry itself. Death Race, an arcade game released in 1976 and inspired by the film Death Race 2000 the previous year, was one of the first games to provoke protest about violent content. The object of the game was to run over fleeing stick figures (notionally called ‘gremlins’). On contact the figures would turn into gravestones that the player then had to avoid.
Looking back at the primitive, black-and-white graphics, it is difficult to see what all the fuss was about. But it began a debate. As processor power increased, visuals became more life-like and, as gamers grew up demanding games that explored more adult-oriented themes, the issue has periodically resurfaced throughout the past 30 years.
