7.2 Ethical and Legal Constraints in the creative media sectors

7.2 Ethical and Legal Constraints in the creative media sectors:The Gaming industry has a number of constraints when it comes to making games and this can cause some games to be banned or altered in some form which could be the contents of the game, the name of the game or the age rating of the game. Some games depending on the genre come under scrutiny regarding the imagery in the game and the word language used in the games. Some games incorporate a large amount of violent scenery and that can make some viewers or buyers of the game uncomfortable as it can be seen as gory or inhumane to have those features in the games. Some games involve the use of weaponry can kill or images such as blood and dead bodied and this makes some buyers uncomfortable and complain about the games being made which can sometimes make the game have a bad reputation or possibly make the game be altered by the creating company or possibly even banned.Some people have openly blamed games for the actions of their children stating that the games have had a negative impact on the children and have caused and influenced the children to act out of character.

Left 4 Dead 2 Banned in Germany:  
The video game Left 4 Dead 2 was banned in Germany because of the violence against the zombie creatures and the more offensive depictions of cruelty.A game like Left 4 Dead 2 would come under a lot of criticism because of the high level of violence included the game and this makes the audience feel uncomfortable and it would make an audience who are parents shy away from buying a game of its type of nature because they believe that it could influence their kids to act out of character and possibly engage in violent acts.Also the images in the game which are highly violent and gory make people turn away from this type of game because the seen of violence followed by things such as blood and damaged organs or dead bodies may possibly be disturbing and very discomforting for some people. 
Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 Banned in Pakistan:

The game Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 was banned in Pakistan because of the bad image it gave of people from pakistan and that possibly meant that the game includes things that racially stereotyped pakistan and possibly made a country which mostly follows the religion of Islam look bad. The game possibly had suggested that people from pakistan were terrorists or a threat to people and therefore Pakistan did not allow the game to be sold in game stores in the country. Many people would have taken offence to this type of game and many people would of possibly felt that this game showed signs of racism to people who live and are from the middle east and who follow the religion of Islam. Because religion is a very sensitive subject, a game like this would receive a lot of complaints especially with the on going issues in the world involving middle eastern countries, people would not be happy being label as something they are not in a video game.

Mass Effect 2 and 3 Banned in the United Arab Emirates: 

Mass Effect 2 and 3 were both banned in the United Arab Emirates due to the homosexual content that was in both games.Because of this the games were not allowed to be sold in the stores of the UAE and this is because people have many mixed opinions on people who are homosexual and in a country like the UAE it is known that due to religion that things such as homosexual relationships are unacceptable and this would be a possible reason why both games were banned in the United Arab Emirates. Whilst some people have come to accept that people are either gay or lesbian,some people still do not like the idea of it and still do not accept it and can find any homosexual acts in video games as disturbing and not suitable for themselves and their children to see and therefore may report this type of game to authorities to get it banned or edited.

Ethical Issues (Race and representation of religion and people from a certain countries):Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was banned in the UAE for the violence against muslims and the portrayal of people from middle eastern countries. Because middle eastern countries including the UAE mainly consist of people who follow the religion of Islam, a game such as Call Of Duty 4 would of been very offensive to the local people of those countries who bought the game as it categorises people of those countries to be muslim terrorist and therefore a threat to the world and this is especially shown as in the game you are the USA and your aim is to kill the muslim terrorist opposition. This makes the representation of Muslims bad and makes people think the religion of Islam is one that talks about violence and acts of terrorism which is not the case. This would make people of that religion feel bad and make them feel like they have been targeted and made to feel as if they should not be around people because they are a threat to the rest of the world. Also it shows elements of racism as it implies that people from those middle eastern countries are all terrorists and should be the opposition for the rest of the world and this type of idea in a game makes people stereotype people from those countries to be muslims who are radical and all conduct terrorist acts,in which we know is not the case.

This type of issue has been consistent amongst the Call Of Duty franchise as many games involve middle eastern countries and they are more often put in a bad image along with the people of those countries. This also makes people from different countries develop stereotypical ideas and images of people from middle eastern countries that they are all Muslim terrorist who participate in acts of violence and this can cause racism amongst people in other countries because of what games such as Call Of Duty portray and make the audience think and believe.Also this Call Of Duty game consists of violence against Muslim people and this would be considered very offensive amongst Muslim people especially from the Middle eastern countries which are mainly Muslim populated and this is a big ethical issue because it portrays the poor treatment of Muslims and this gives the image that Muslims should be looked down upon and therefore gives the religion of Islam a bad name.Also the main protagonist of the game is shown to be a Muslim terrorist leader who you end up killing at the end of the game and this gives the idea that Muslims are the cause of wars and attacks on innocent people and that killing Muslims would end that.

The game makes people think that all Muslims are a danger to the rest of the world as it consists of killing innocent Muslims which indicate that they believe that all Muslims regardless of whether they are participating in violent activities are terrorists or a threat and therefore should be seen as opposition to the rest of the world.Also because you are a solider from the United States,when playing you are given the option of killing who you want and therefore the player is allowed to kill the innocent Muslim people who are in the game.