Game Maker Can’t Eat Its Words

With the computer and video game industry facing criticism about marketing violent content to children, software makers are quietly trying to tone down their advertising campaigns.

But some firms can’t escape their controversial past. Interplay Entertainment Corp., an Irvine game publisher, has found itself under siege for a gruesome line--”as easy as killing babies with axes”--tied to the 1997 version of its game “Carmageddon.”

Interplay officials are scrambling to distances themselves from the line, which appeared in the earlier version of the game but was excised from the final release and never appeared in its advertising.

“Someone sees something outrageous on the Web about one of your games, and you’re guilty by association,” said Cal Morrell, Interplay’s marketing vice president. “We’re trying to pull back. We’re trying to be responsible corporate citizens. But we’re still being criticized for things we didn’t do.”

The controversy, which reached the floor of the Senate in May, couldn’t come at a worse time for Interplay. The financially troubled company, which badly needs a hit, shipped its newest game--”Kingpin: Life of Crime”--to stores Monday. The game’s object is to infiltrate organized crime rings and do whatever it takes, including killing people, to take over a city. Kingpin carries an “M” rating, meaning the game is aimed at players ages 17 and older.

Game advertisements, which often highlight the goriest aspects of game titles, have long been a contentious issue between outraged parents and fans seeking provocative material. Violence historically sells in this competitive market, where analysts say less than 10% of all products make a profit.

Responding to legislative concerns about controversial ads, Interplay contacted several trade magazines last month and unsuccessfully tried to alter the images used to promote the gangster title. Publishers said there was no way to pull the ads because the magazines were already at the printers.

Interplay has long embraced over-the-top gimmicks when marketing violent titles such as “Carmageddon,” which encouraged players to careen off the track and score extra points by hitting pedestrians and farm animals.

To promote “Carmageddon,” the company sent slabs of raw meat to editors of trade publications and a note that read “from our grille to yours.” Unfortunately, some editors were on vacation when the promotional packaged arrived, and the meat rotted by the time the journalists returned.

Interplay came under fire for “Carmageddon” last December when a media watchdog group, the Minneapolis-based National Institute on Media and the Family, released its annual Video and Computer Game Report Card. In it, the report highlighted several examples of what it deemed inappropriate marketing and listed “a sample of quotes from actual ads.” The list included “Carmageddon” and the advertising tag line “as easy as killing babies with axes.”

Several federal legislators, including Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), cited the ad as outrageous and publicly denounced Interplay and the game. In May, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) noted the “babies” line in his statement before the Senate Commerce Committee. The speech was part of a federal push for an 18-month, $1-million study by two federal agencies to examine whether movie studios, record companies and video game manufacturers violate their voluntary rating systems by labeling some products unsuitable for children and then marketing those products to them.

News organizations--including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times--picked up the “babies” line.

In the emergence of the 24-hour news cycle, nuances can get lost in the shuffle, much to the chagrin of the companies or people in the spotlight. Hot stories, such as Jerry Falwell outing the so-called “gay” Teletubby TV character, bounce over the airwaves and cyberspace in a flash. In fact, Falwell didn’t say it; an editor at one of his publications did, although Falwell supported the statement after the fact.

Interplay, by contrast, tried to ignore the “babies” tale. “The country has been in such an emotional state, there was nothing we could say that would have helped,” said Brian Fargo, Interplay chief executive.

The “babies” line originated from material included in an earlier version of the game and posted on a Web site run by game fans.

British firm SCI, which wrote the software code for the game, distributed early versions of “Carmageddon” to the trade press in April 1997. The “babies” line is buried deep inside this digital demonstration, in a section where players chose how difficult to make the game.

A month later, Interplay spotted the demos and changed the word “babies” to “bunnies.” All subsequent versions of the game--including review demonstrations posted on Interplay’s site and copies sold in stores--include the “bunny” phrase, according to Fargo.

“We thought we got them all,” Fargo said. “Obviously, we didn’t.” SCI officials could not be reached for comment Monday.

Student researchers, culling data for the family institute’s report, downloaded the early demo from a site called SoftwareZone.com and played it, according to staffers at the nonprofit.

“That was a screen shot,” said Gregory Boller, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Memphis. Boller and his staff gathered the marketing data used in the institute’s 1998 report.

“I was surprised when I saw that [line] in the report, because I’ve never seen an ad that says that,” Boller said.

Advertising experts insist that everyone--from Interplay to the nonprofit group to the politicians and the news media--must accept some of the blame in this case. The company should have better control over its product, said Diane Cook-Tench, director of the Adcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University. The report should have been clearer. Journalists and politicians should have double-checked their facts.

“What a soap opera,” Cook-Tench said. “It’s not an ad, but it is a bit like a movie teaser. It’s a tough call.”

Institute President David Walsh said parents cannot distinguish between official Web sites run by game makers and those created by young game fans. If Interplay really wanted to scale back the game, it should have removed the line altogether, Walsh said.

“Nowhere in the report did we mention Interplay specifically,” he said. “It’s not our fault they, at one point, used egregious language in their product.”

Walsh also suggested that the video game industry is responsible for controlling and managing the content posted on such fan-based sites.

“If I come across a Web site that talks about games, and there are hundreds of these Web sites, how am I to know who’s behind that message?” Walsh asked. “If someone’s promoting your product in an outrageous way, you should stop them.”

But industry representatives insist that game makers can’t be charged with patrolling the Internet.

“It’s absurd that any company in any industry is going to be responsible for all content about them and their products on the Net,” said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Interactive Digital Software Assn.

As Interplay launches “Kingpin,” the company is bracing for another public furor. The print ads Interplay wanted to change were sent to media outlets this spring--just after the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado--and display a bloody shootout with the slogan “You’re Gonna Die.”

The ads will appear in the July and August issues of four trade publications: PC Gamer, PC Accelerator, Computer Gaming World and Next Generation, all of which target male readers over 25.

Executives at media giant Ziff-Davis and Imagine Media, a Brisbane, Australia-based publishing house that owns several game magazines, said they have been fielding similar calls from scores of concerned software firms since the Colorado killings.

“Everyone wants to tone things down,” said Matt Firme, vice president and editorial director for Imagine Media, which controls PC Accelerator and Next Generation. “There’s nothing we can do today, except talk about possible changes in the October issue.”

For Interplay, that may be too late. Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) sent a letter to the company and asked it to recall “Kingpin.”

Said McInnis: “They are irresponsible. I’m sure they put [my] letter into a shredder. . . . That’s why I’ve mentioned them specifically on the House floor.”

When told about the “Carmageddon” mix-up, McInnis responded: “My target isn’t Interplay. I’m not trying to attack them.”

The Interactive Digital Software Assn. is developing a new industrywide program for game makers’ marketing campaigns. The system would outline ways software firms can prevent kids from being exposed to advertising for games aimed at an older market.

Despite Interplay’s public remorse, a note on its Web site for “Carmageddon II” is less than contrite. It says “Carmageddon I” is “the kind of stuff that made politicians and respectable people the world over choke on their high-fiber breakfasts and denounce it as morally bankrupt soul-poison. We frankly found this reaction rather half-hearted and hope that this time we’re giving them all something to really get upset about.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Interplay at a Glance

Headquarters: Irvine

Founded: 1983

Operation: Makes and publishes computer games

Ownership: Public, traded on the Nasdaq; Titus Interactive of France controls majority of shares

Leadership: Brian Fargo, chief executive; Titus Chairman Herve Caen, president

Employees: 410 worldwide

1998 sales: $126.9 million

1998 loss: $28.2 million

Monday stock price: $2.50, unchanged

Source: Bloomberg News