No Gore’s a Bore, Say Video Wizards

For pint-sized zombie hunters like Tony Ly, a decision to bar minors from violent video games at his favorite arcade Friday was about as uncool as revoking James Bond’s license to kill.

“It’s like, why do we not [get] to play the violent games,” griped the 13-year-old Garden Grove resident, as he stood amid the whirl of strobe lights at GameWorks in Orange. “We’re not going to do these things in real life. It’s just a game. It’s just graphics.”

That was not the view of the Steven Spielberg-conceived arcade-cum-restaurant chain, which began a new policy Friday of restricting children under 16 from playing certain video games without a guardian’s consent. The policy covers such time-tested gore games as “House of the Dead,” “Time Crisis II,” and “Silent Scope”--games that feature withering gunfire, anatomically correct wounds and heavy blood splatter.

The point of control is the plastic pass card that customers buy. Until Friday, Ly and any other kid with an itchy trigger finger could swipe their game pass through a computer sensor and start blasting away on any game. Suddenly, Ly and his cohorts found themselves restricted to tamer fare.

“We’re not trying to control these kids. We’re just trying to ensure that parents have some say,” said Michael Lyons, marketing manager for GameWorks. “It’s a very positive thing.”

GameWorks operates two venues in Orange County, one at the Block in Orange and one at the Irvine Spectrum. The quirky establishments cater to a broad spectrum of customers, from twentysomething lounge lizards to corporate lunchers and pre-pubescent video wizards. The gore games are actually a minority of the arcade offerings.

Despite the chagrin of gamers like Ly, most parents and guardians interviewed at the Orange GameWorks said they approved of the age-limit policy. Still, most agreed to let their kids play whatever games they wanted--including the more violent games. Yellow bracelets on kids demonstrated their parent’s blessing in the matter and their cards worked on all the games.

“It’s probably a good thing in the long run,” said Craig Moore, 48, of San Jose. “I think most kids have a good perception of what’s right and what’s wrong and aren’t influenced by games like this. But there’s always that one kid who pulls the wings off flies. This will help the kid who’s off his nut.”

As Moore spoke, his 10-year-old son Kevin unholstered a pink, plastic .45 and began plugging computerized guerrillas.

“I think it’s a good policy to have for little kids,” said Kevin. “Five or six is too little to play a game like this.”

Kevin said that although he enjoyed hard-shooting games like “Time Crisis” he had no desire to play games like “House of the Dead,” in which players battle an army of decomposing zombies. “I don’t like them,” Kevin said. “They’re weird.”

Meanwhile, as word of the new age-restricted policy began to filter through the ranks of 16-and-under gamers Friday, some said they were already plotting how they would circumvent the system.

“I just think it’s stupid,” said Kayleigh Fay, 16, of Garden Grove. “People will figure out a way to play these games anyway, even if they’re not old enough. It’s going to be like getting into an R-rated movie.”