EDITORIAL – This is your video game on drugs

It’s the old tune of a familiar song: Our society’s “entertainment” should reflect our values…. It’s the old tune of a familiar song: Our society’s “entertainment” should reflect our values. If we don’t condone violence, then video games ought not be violent. And according to Michael Patcher, a Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst, our society does not believe drugs are an “appropriate thing,” so they should not be included in video games, either.

The makers of the game “Narc” do not agree.

When the game is released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox next week, the players of “Narc” will be able to take drugs — as part of the game play, of course, in which players control one of two narcotics agents. Taking a digital puff of marijuana will temporarily slow the action of the game. The use of crack momentarily makes the player a marksman. And using the drugs leads to addiction, which will cost the player inventory, lead to demotions or result in expulsion from the police force, halting progress in the game.

Drug use is relatively unexplored territory for an industry known for portraying violence. While the Entertainment Software Rating Board has cited 3,000 games for violence since 1994, only 40 have received citations for drug references or use.

The Electronics Software Association, a trade group, reported that more than half of the regular players of home consoles such as the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox are adults. Game publishers are appealing to older players with provocative content. So drugs may not be the final frontier for exploring real life situations via video games. They could very well be just the beginning. There seems to be a market filled with enough adult home-console owners who want to spend their time pretending to be drug users.

Patricia Vance, president of the ratings board, notes that the trend with video games is not so much the use of drugs as it is a move toward greater realism, including character development, deeper stories and a broader range of topics. Some gaming professionals argue that if movies, music and literature can deal with such topics, then games should also.

So, what will be next?

After the games in which players get to run drug operations or act as undercover narcotics agents, will there be games designed so players can be active participants in the sex industry and underworld?

The next wave of video games should deal with less overt, yet just as real instances, in which substances may be used or abused — like college, for instance. There does not have to be a mix of drugs and violence to make the game believable or justify the use of drugs.

Even if a difficult topic like drug use is going to be tackled in a video game, it is still a game, and it has to be fun for people — mature people who are 17 years of age or older, of course.