Alex AyalaProfessor Erin McLaughlinWR-13300-SS-1410 November 2015

Part 1: Research Proposal

YOUR NAME: Alejandro Ayala

TOPIC: I am studying the cultural implications of censorship in the video game industry.

RESEARCH QUESTION: What does video game censorship say about the differences in

modern American and Japanese culture?

AUDIENCE & SIGNIFICANCE: I will use this project in order to help video gamers

understand why the games they play get censored. I will also use it to get parents to understand

why some of the games that their children play originally contained themes that would be less

appropriate for the younger demographic in the United States.

CONTEXT: There have been many video games since their inception that have been censored

or banned throughout the world for various reasons depending on the country that censors them.

For example, this year, a 13 year old character in Xenoblade Chronicles X will have an altered

appearance in from the Japanese release to the American release due to her racy outfit in the

Japanese release.

EXHIBIT: I plan to specifically focus on the American and Japanese attitudes on sexuality and

violence as those themes are relatively common for games censored in the United States from

their Japanese releases.

SOURCES SO FAR:

MLA citation Type of source What does the source offer your project?

Nofuente, Kyle. “Nintendo Is Censoring 13-Year-Old 'Xenoblade Chronicles X' Character Over Racy Costume.” Tech Times. Tech Times LLC, 3 Nov. 2015. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.

Website Example of sexual censorship

Calvert, Clay and Robert D. Richards. “Precedent be Damned- It’s All about Good Politics & Sensational Soundbites: The Video Game Censorship Saga of 2005.” Texas Review of Entertainment & Sports Law 6.1(1 May 2005): 79-155. EBSCOhost. Web. 10 Nov. 2015

Peer reviewed journal article gives some background to the laws during the video game censorship saga of 2005

Dill, Karen. “Video Game Violence: A Review of the Empirical Literature.” Aggression and Violent Behavior 3.4 (1998): 407-428. ScienceDirect. Web. 10 Nov. 2015

Peer reviewed journal article provides statistics on popularity of video games as well as some theories about the effects of violent video games

Part 2: Exploratory Draft

I plan to analyze censorship in the video game industry in order to examine its

implications about the cultural attitudes towards sexuality and violence in the United States and

Japan. I, personally, am primarily interested in this topic because I am a fan of Japanese video

games, so I want to know why it is that I do not always receive the same product (besides the

translation) as a Japanese customer. There have been many games that have been censored or

banned in various areas for a number of reasons for as long as video games have been around.

For example, recently a topic of conversation amongst some video gamers now has been the

censorship of the outfit of a 13-year old character in the US version of the game Xenoblade

Chronicles X. I hope that through my project, I will be able to provide people with a greater

understanding as to why sexual censorship like that occurs, as well as censorship of violence, in

the United States but remains present in the Japanese versions.

The intended audience of this project is primarily fellow video gamers as well as parents

of children who play video gamers. Video gamers would be interested because they are the ones

who play these censored games after all, and many would appreciate learning about the cultural

significance of video game censorship. Parents, especially of blossoming gamers, should be

interested because their children are the ones who will be playing these games, and it would be

beneficial to them to understand why some of the games that their kids play had more graphic

versions in Japan.

At this point, I think that I would lay the paper out in such a way that I would first

provide some examples of violence being censored in video games between the Japan and United

States versions. I would then go on to talk about Japan’s attitudes towards media portrayal of

violence. Then, I would discuss some of the theories that people have, especially in the United

States, about the psychological effects of violent games as well as the laws created in the US in

an attempt to tame the content of video games. Following this, I would provide some examples

of censorship of sexuality in video games between the two versions. Once, again, I would then

go on to discuss Japan’s attitudes towards media portrayal of sexuality, perhaps by talking about

sexuality in anime. After this, I would discuss the cultural attitudes that Americans have towards

sexuality (and maybe nudity), especially as it relates to the younger generation.

So far, I have found a source discussing the laws in the US that were created to combat

some of the more mature themes in video games. I also have a source that talks about some of

the theories that people have about the effects of violent video games. One of my sources

provides me with an example of sexuality being censored in America. I still need to find sources

about Japan’s attitudes towards media portrayal of violence and sexuality, about American

attitudes towards sexuality, and more examples of censored video games. My audience will

probably be expecting examples of video games (and anime for the Japanese attitudes towards

sexuality in media) and statistics when it comes to the psychological effects of violent gaming. I

will accommodate those expectations by making sure that I find multiples examples and statistics

and analyzing them. People who would probably disagree with me in some areas are advocates

of the violent game genre. They would probably point to the psychological effects of violent

gaming and propose their own findings that contradict those effects.

I think my biggest concern about this project is the possibility of not being able to find

the sources I am looking for. I already encountered one such situation using the online database

for the library. The database referred to a source that sounded like it would be helpful with

studying sexuality in video games, but there was no online source available. It also did not look

like it was physically in the library either.