Salon.com > Mark Boal

One step ahead of the law

Mon, 19 Jul 1999 16:00:00 +0000

It's a hot summer evening in New York City and Dave and his friend head to the Software Etc. store on Broadway and Eighth Street for their digital fix. Once inside, Dave, who is 14 and has spiked hair, makes a beeline for the box with the large yellow sticker "WARNING, Violent Subject Matter."

"Check this out," Dave calls to his friend, still hunched over the PlayStation gear. "You form a gang of the retro-future, shoot people in their kneecaps and kill their bitches."

But Dave's not buying Kingpin, the gritty game released this month by Interplay, because he's too young to pass the new censors. "We have had to start carding for this game because of all the attention after Colorado," says the store's salesman, who asked not to be identified. "But it hasn't been a problem so far, everyone looks over 21, or comes in with their parents."

Software Etc. and at least four other retail chains are carding kids under 17 on Kingpin sales. But teens can buy hundreds of other Mature-rated titles at these same stores, so what makes Kingpin special? Kingpin is the first killsport game to be released since the shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and carding is part of a new industry strategy to avoid criticism and Congress.

The peace dividend

Mon, 21 Jun 1999 08:50:00 +0000

The world became a little more peaceful over the weekend. The Kosovo Liberation Army agreed to
disarm, the last Serbian troops withdrew from Kosovo and the European Union
promised $500 million to aid the Kosovar refugees. No doubt the embattled
Kosovars will welcome the relief, but they are not alone. Many corporations see
the aid package as a bonanza, and Kosovo as little more than an enticing new
business opportunity.

For the past few weeks, companies across Europe have been circling the region like sharks,
preparing to bid on the EU reconstruction contracts. There's plenty of work
repairing bombed out infrastructure at market prices. The competition is so
fierce that even while mines lay active, British executives last week were
planing a checkbook tour of Kosovo. They enlisted a minister of trade in
the rubble search, and he is plotting an alliance with Japan. The two countries
need to team up in order to be on par with bids from France, Austria and Germany.

The shooters and the shrinks

Thu, 06 May 1999 16:00:00 +0000

As the Littleton tragedy unfolded, David Grossman, a retired Army psychologist, emerged as the media's most quotable expert on virtual mayhem. As he hawked his book, the good soldier explained to the world that video games were "murder simulators," just like the ones used in Vietnam to mold recruits into trigger-happy killers.

His spiel, despite its flimsiness, was picked up by at least 19 media outlets. And the New York Times lent him its credibility in a piece headlined "All those who deny any linkage between violence in entertainment and violence in real life, think again."

The path clear, President Clinton ordered a summit with Hollywood on the culture of teen violence (oblivious to the irony as U.S. bombs pummeled Yugoslavia), while Senate Republicans announced a conference of their own. Even the digerati got a touch hysterical, with some game designers posting notices about ending digital gore for the sake of the public weal.

OK, rewind.