videoludica. game culture 

For your convenience, I have summarized the key points made by politicians on November 16, 2006, when the representatives of the Italian Chamber gathered to discuss how to stop the sale of violent videogames in Italy Full transcripts).

Key points

All the politicians that participated in the debate did not seem to like Rule of Rose very much (e.g. "I am outraged by the level of heinousness and vileness that videogames display," Clemente Mastella; "A game that is filled with many terrifying images and sexual allusions. I have some troubles calling such product "a game" and this is certainly not the only one to present such features, even though this is probably one of the worst," Silvana Mura).

There is a general consensus among Italian politicians of all parties (with one significant exception, see below) that violent videogames must be banned as soon as possible "(We must act) to establish a preemptive control on such videogames, before they reach the market, so that we could easily identify and neutralize those that carry an intolerable amount of violence," Clemente Mastella; "I am asking you to act to prohibit in any possible way the production, distribution, and sale of these videogames in our country," Maria Ida Germontani).

The games, argue the politicians, must also be regulated in terms of content. Many politicians - including the Italian Minister of Justice Mastella -invoke both repressive and preemptive action; Most politicians are encouraging a form of direct censorship of videogame content ("We can study ways to make it harder - if not impossible - for children and teenagers to get access to these games that most certainly play a major role during their formative years, on their psyche," Luigi Vitali; "We must act now by punishing those dishonest sellers that have no conscience when it comes to make a cheap buck [..] We need to monitor the content of these games and dictate precise rules regarding the sale of videogames to minors" Maria Ida Germontani; "We need to make sure that the youngsters will not have an easy access - even economically - to these kinds of games that promote violence, a violence that is not limited to the screen, but is unfortunately emulated in real life," Luca Volonte'; "One should not mistake political censorship with the necessity of monitoring the content that could affect the moral, social, and psychological health of minors [...], the least we can do is monitor the content of these games. To allows the free circulation of games that require the players to commit virtual homicides and sadistic acts is not simply immoral, but also is damaging the cultural and psychological education of our children." Silvana Mura; "We must stop these games from reaching the market. But it is not enough to stop the distribution of such games, because they can be easily downloaded from the net, and anybody can obtain them," Sandra Cioffi).

Most politicians wish to establish a national committee that would decide the standard of games; said committee should act both nationally and internationally. The vast majority of politicians are unaware that there is a pan-European classification system in place (the PEGI). Those who do, consider it ineffective. ("(I suggest we create) a committee in charge of establishing the standards of games, both in terms of content and in terms of their legality, that is, establishing the rules pertaining to the sale of such games to minors," Clemente Mastella; "This is why we are officially requesting a law that will make necessary for game makers to declare the contents of the games that glorify violence, abuses and overbearing. Such messages, similar to those already in use by other media such as film, could be defined by a committee of psychologists," Silvana Mura; "We also need to establish code of conducts, starting in Europe," Sandra Cioffi).

Most politicians argue that the vast majority of games on the market are inherently violent ("It must be added that the vast majority of games available on the market are intrinsically marked by sheer violence," Clemente Mastella).

Most politicians agree that such games as Rule of Role or Bully should not be distributed in Italy ("(We need) to ban the sale of horror games in this country, horror games based on sadism, and violence, games that are directed to vulnerable players such as kids, games that promote violence and hatred", Ida Germontani; "We need to stop these violent videogames from reaching the market because of their emulative effects on children," Carolina Lussana).

Most politicians are also outraged by the violence depicted in Il Grand Ladrone (possibly, Grand Theft Auto) ("I would like to remind you all about a game introduced last year, in which the player is required to rape and kill prostitutes in order to gain a bonus," Maria Ida Germontani; Sandra Cioffi).

Most politicians agree that watching violent acts is damaging for the kids, even when these acts are fictional ("For a child, to witness an act of violence is damaging. To witness an act of violence is considered to be a one of the most damaging factors in the process of growing up of a child. Therefore, in addition to the videogames that need to be censored and to be kept out of reach of children, we need to take into consideration other elements as well. I am referring, for instance, to wrestling," Luigi Cancrini; "As the scientists on Pediatrics journal have concluded, playing games excessively can be damaging to our children," Sandra Cioffi)).

Most politicians seem to believe that there is a strong correlation between playing violent videogames and real life violence ("I believe that this violence is directly connected to the indiscriminate use of videogames [...] There is the risk that [violent videogames] will produce precocious adults, by developing only the aggressive traits of their psyche and disrupting the normal processes of their physiological development, Dorina Bianchi; "This frantic life is presenting us with abominable episodes, episodes that are likely to be rooted in the ludic, recreational, playful activities of our children and teenagers," Luigi Vitali; " We should not be surprised, then, if this virtual hatred has led our children to forget the real values. In fact, we are witnessing these days in the proliferation of episodes of youth-related violence," Maria Ida Germontani; "There is undoubtedly a relationship between the violence depicted in these games and the real life violence. [...] There is violence depicted by games and there is violence induced by games, if we can call videogames these products that are literally teaching our kids to become criminals. These games teach kids how to become violent, Luca Volonte'; "I perfectly understand your indignation for Rule of the Rose and for the other videogames that instigate violence, because your indignation is also mine, your indignation is also the indignation of all the parents that are well aware of the dangers that these games pose for the psychological health of their children," Carolina Lussana).

Other politicians say that there is not significant scientific evidence of said causal link ("However, the government does not have at this point scientific evidence on the effects of such violent images on the children's psyche. And this is an aspect that we should investigate," Dorina Bianchi, whom, nonetheless, wants Rule of Rose banned).

Some argues that scientific evidence of said link is irrelevant, since it is common sense that games instigate violence ("I do not believe that specific studies are necessary - these studies are certainly important for their for their own good and could be of use of the legislators. However, common sense and everyday life experience tell us that these games are damaging our children," Luigi Vitali).

Others suggest that games are mirroring society's violence, not viceversa ("It is exactly the collective social violence that we should be investigating because the virtual is somehow reproducing the real, and these two levels are somehow overlapping, until one cannot distinguish them any longer," Titti De Simone).

According to some politicians, videogames inevitably lead to addiction ("This is a new form of addiction, one of the most insidious examples of addiction, one that is caused by the prolonged use of videogames," Dorina Bianchi).

According to some politicians, videogames inevitably lead to alienation ("A state of strong emotional participation that leads to a complete alienation from the external world. The kid is completely mesmerized by the images that appear in front of his eyes," Dorina Bianchi; "Many scientific studies have already demonstrated how the most advanced videogames can cause forms of addictions and, in some cases, alienation," Silvana Mura).

According to politicians, children who play games tend to emulate the actions and gesture seen in the games ("His gestures and comments at the end of the session closely resemble those of the game itself," Dorina Bianchi).

Most politicians do not seem to understand the difference between online videos (such as the videos uploaded on YouTube and GoogleVideo) and videogames (eg Mastella).

A small minority of politicians argue that blaming videogames is too simple and that other social and cultural elements should be taking into account ("There are collective social responsibilities here, serious responsibilities... The social, collective violence is repeated in these cultural products," Titti de Simone; "I believe that the issue of videogames that feature violent content need to be approached on a cultural level, e.g. with proper information," Sergio D'Elia).

Some politicians (e.g. Dorina Bianchi, Sandra Cioffi) say that games might have a positive effect on children (e.g., for learning) but that the negative aspects are predominant ("There are also French and American scientists who have come to the conclusion that, when used in a rational way, games can be beneficial in terms of creativity and learning," Sandra Cioffi).

Other politicians argue that, in addition to banning games, the parents should be informed about the content of games as well (e.g.Luca Volonte').

Some politicians believe that, unlike videogames, fairy tales play a positive role for kids ("Those fairy tales and fables communicated strong values, respect for the elderly, they taught us that sacrifices were necessary to achieve results, unlike today, where violence equals success, this is the sort of messages that we are communicating. And this is unacceptable!" Carolina Lussana; "Bruno Bettelheim, a great psychoanalyst, has stressed the importance of this aspect in fairy tales, underlying their positive function on the growing up processes of the kids. That is, these stories allow the child to identify with an innocent small kid that eventually makes it in the end. I am afraid that many of these games, like those on bullying that Volonte' mentioned before, those that we discussed today, and wrestling, excite the fantasy of the kid and encourage him to identify with the aggressor and not with the victim," Luigi Cancrini). Said politicians do not seem to be aware of the studies written by Maria Tatar on fairy-tales

Some politicians confess that they are not familiar with games and that they do not play them, including Rule of Rose (e.g. Carolina Lussana, Luana Zanella).

Many politicians argue that, in addition to videogames, televised shows are also exerting a negative influence on kids ("(There are) shows that encourage transgression an glorify characters that have a negative influence, characters that promote vulgarity, aggression, and also profanities," Maria Ida Germontani; "Do we realize how bad our television is? Do we realize that we are broadcasting trash 24 hours per day? Do we realize what kind of messages a reality tv show is promoting? What kind of submissive, degraded behaviors and relationships are we enforcing through our screens?," Titti De Simone; "I believe that we must also take into consideration the influence of TV shows on our kids as well," Luca Volonte'; "One only needs to tale a look on the kinds of shows that both public and private television are broadcasting to realize how hypocritical we are,' Sergio D'Elia).

One politician is outraged by the fact that the political enquiry on videogame was called for by a single magazine article ("Who is setting the agenda, here? The newsroom? The magazines? How can the parliament work when someone else is deciding what has to be discussed?," Sergio D'Elia).


As I have mentioned before, there is one remarkable exception to the chorus of j'accuse. The exception is Luana Zanella, a representative from the Green Party. She invokes a healthy dose of skepticism and encourages a critical approach to videogames. During her talk, that was constantly disrupted by rude politicians that kept talking aloud behind her back, Zanella suggested that a less hypocritical, demagogical approach would be useful. She is also the only one who expressed comments on Rule of Rose that do not appear in Panorama's article.

Please, remember this next time you are called to vote.

Here's Luana Zanella's talk.


Luana Zanella (Verdi, Green Party)
Thank you Mrs. President. Frankly, I do not know if the formation of yet another committee for monitoring the content of videogames would be a valid solution for the problem we are now facing. I also do not believe that it is sufficient or even effective to demonize even this particular videogame, Rule of the Rose, that is at the center of the scandal. To be honest, how many movies, television shows, and games should then be censored? It is very simplistic and reductive to find the roots of bullying in a simple game... There is a whole terrain of violence that nurtures and encourages such behaviors. The reasons behind bullying go much deeper than that and are located in a violent imaginary. We should go back to Rene Girard's seminal book Violence and the Sacred to understand the real sources of violence in our society. In that book - and I apologize for over simplifying - Girard argues that each civilization is born out of an act of violence. Collective mimetic violence sacrifices the innocent victim, the scapegoat, granting thus the community an identity. I believe it is useless to look for shortcuts, alibis, and over-simplified solutions. Having said that, I recognize that - for all I understand because I have not seen it, I do not know about my colleagues - the game (Rule of the Rose) that launched this controversy does appear to be discomforting. It is equally discomforting that, today, young girls are easily identifying with dangerous characters, sociopaths. It is shocking for us to understand that teenagers would relate more to the evil sisters than to Cinderella. What really upsets the adults is that evil characters are children, especially female children. I seem to remember, however, that horror videogames much more terrifying and violent than this have been circulating for a long time on the market, so the experts say. Moreover, it appears from what I have read on the internet that this game (Rule of Rose) has not been particularly successful on the market, both critically and commercially. It seems that this game is graphically inferior to other productions. It also seems that it has a very complex plot and that the sound is mediocre. Moreover, the horror genre, which comprises many titles, has much better to offer, dear colleagues. I wonder if this scandal is simply going to give a wider visibility to a product that would have otherwise been ignored by most people. I believe that it would be better for us to develop a more comprehensive understanding of this world, thus, I accept the invitation of Luigi Cancrini, let's take this matter seriously! Let's listen to the kids that are playing games! Let's listen to the experts! And (let's listen) to those who are selling these games! They have already established self-regulations, they have their monitoring groups already! Let's not underestimate this! We will interrogate ourselves about the behaviors of teenagers! Of those teenagers that, in the apparent safe haven of domesticity, they drug themselves with television and videogames! Violent bullying is not the only reason to be worried. It is just a mirror of the world of adults, a world that is not reassuring anymore. We should worry about what philosopher Luisa Muraro calls the male tendency to prevail by abusing the Other, something that we now find even in girls' behavior. We must act also by giving teenagers positive models and better perspectives for the future of all. Thank you, Mr. President.

Link: Read the full transcripts