Chapter 153 Must Be Educational

At the same time, Bill Gates felt a profound sense of frustration. Someone had swept through the software industry using virtually half a hand; if that person were to go all out, what path to survival would be left for anyone else?

Whenever any hot topic emerged, people would invariably step forward to voice their opinions.

Well, you really could say pretty much anything you liked in America. Today's self-appointed moral guardians were even more absurd than those of later generations. They firmly believed that while video games could exist, they had to possess a certain educational value.

Some even suggested that the Department of Education should be responsible for reviewing games, absolutely ensuring that unhealthy titles would never pollute school campuses.

William White was no fan of overly violent and bloody games either; the main reason he avoided developing first-person shooters was simply to dodge unnecessary trouble.

Gun proliferation in the United States had reached a truly terrifying degree. If someone grew tired of massacring virtual zombies, you honestly had no way of knowing what they might do next.

As for Street Fighter, those characters used only their fists, the visual styling was kept as cartoonish as possible, and matches did not end in actual death.

When it came to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, that belonged to the realm of historical fiction, so there was really no need for over-interpretation. Thunder Blade posed even fewer problems—it was merely about beating up alien monsters.

Unfortunately, the government of the American Empire wanted to regulate everything nowadays, and education departments across various states had issued similar statements.

In this regard, Americans differed from other nations: their industry associations were exceptionally strong and generally refused to submit to oversight from outside departments.

Films back in the day had nearly been ruined by censorship, and the so-called regulatory bodies of the present were actually third-party organizations.

The Comics Code Authority was somewhat different, having been established by a group of anti-comic crusaders who were naturally antagonistic toward comic publishers. Even though William White’s comics sold remarkably well, it was merely the result of a compromise.

If a review panel composed of educational experts were put in charge, William White would undoubtedly suffer a massive headache; unless he were developing Monopoly, he would be dead in the water.

"Educating children is the job of teachers and schools. Game companies do not collect tuition fees, and we bear no obligation to educate. If children could get into college simply by playing video games, what purpose would schools serve? Please figure out your own responsibilities; society has a division of labor. We are responsible for entertainment, and you are responsible for education. Stop making excuses for educational failure."

William White’s angry retort jabbed straight at their most sensitive spot. The subtext was clear: you would do well just to manage yourselves properly, and you had better refrain from stirring up trouble out of nothing.

Intellectuals loved to nag, but they had never encountered anyone so blunt. When it came to verbal sparring, the whole lot of them combined couldn't withstand a single blow.

"Listen up clearly: what this buddy produces is called a video game console, not a study aid. Current technology doesn't support that yet, so teachers need to keep working hard and stop meddling in topics unrelated to education."

Realizing they couldn't win the argument, the old codgers gave up on bickering and instead demanded strict government regulation.

Frankly, Atari was a truly bizarre entity. Regardless of what the future held, they were still an industry giant at present, yet with things having developed to this stage, they were actually maintaining total silence.

Well, if you refuse to act like a giant, that's just fantastic—this buddy will take the lead in setting up this regulatory body.

As the saying goes, one needs a righteous and proper title to act with authority. Being a newcomer to the gaming industry, William White naturally lacked widespread support.

Atari was practically planning to shutter its doors anyway, so they didn't care what kind of chaos others stirred up; as for them, they would neither support nor oppose it.

Of course, if you managed to drag William White down, they would undoubtedly pounce and tear him to shreds. As for embodying educational value? Heh, what a bunch of morons.

That wasn't actually what the critics had said verbatim—they had merely stated that games shouldn't have a negative impact on children, and that combining education with entertainment would be even better.

Yet, after being reinterpreted by that shameless scoundrel William White, the meaning was instantly distorted into the notion that education was useless and that video game consoles were needed to teach children.

Nobody was willing to shoulder that massive piece of blame. "We never said that; your interpretation is flawed."

Whether the interpretation was flawed or not remained unclear, but many parents certainly believed that was the case. Having educational value in video games sounded like a decent idea after all, and those old folks must have meant precisely that.

Yet why did those words sound so utterly awkward? How could video games and studying possibly be mentioned in the same breath? These people must simply have had too much time on their hands.

Following the moral panic over comic books, the era of the "harmful video game panic" had arrived. To these people, anything other than studying was inherently harmful.

Since you claim it's harmful, why not just institute a rating system? At the very least, you could ban minors under eighteen from playing.

The entire world was watching the American Empire make a fool of itself. You people certainly loved making a fuss over nothing; what was the big deal about this anyway? It merely boiled down to certain factions failing to satisfy their vested interests, turning this into a deliberate act of obstruction driven by massive stakes.

In this era, those knowledgeable moral guardians still cared somewhat about their reputations. This was no longer just a question of whether something was harmful; they had already become the vanguard for interest groups.

For individuals possessing such "lofty characters," this kind of slander was terrifyingly acute. Judging by William White's demeanor, he had practically come out and said, "Just name your price."

Well, forget talking—let's take it to court!

Heh, that lawsuit was virtually unwinnable. William White had essentially implied that meaning, but it was purely a matter of their own interpretation; he hadn't named names, so if they insisted on taking the cap and fitting it to themselves, they had better think it through carefully.

American lawyers were extremely professional. They didn't mind litigating, but they loathed fighting unwinnable lawsuits. If a client insisted, there was nothing they could do, but the chances of victory were slim to none.

What was the most popular trend in society today?

Counterculture.

Without William White even needing to speak, others naturally stepped up to blast these fossilized relics.

William White still maintained a certain status. Although he was shamelessly thick-skinned, he would never resort to vulgar abuse—that was the behavior of petty street thugs, and he wasn't foolish enough to do that.

Well, his opponents suddenly found themselves aiming at thin air. Seeing them bickering so fiercely, William White simply hid behind the scenes to watch the show, leaving the old-timers gnashing their teeth in hatred.

Sigh, who could have guessed what kind of monstrous mutant this prematurely born Software Review Association would turn out to be?

William White remembered clearly that such an organization hadn't emerged until the 1990s, and prior to that, the industry had developed wildly. Why had everything changed here?

He had overlooked one major factor: nobody else possessed his level of influence. How could those shut-in critics have paid attention to minor novelties otherwise? But he was different—his games were already sweeping the nation.

To claim that games didn't affect children's studies would also be nonsense, but what could be done about it? Children who loved studying would always love studying; even if you threw them into an arcade, they would still study.

And these weren't even online multiplayer games of the future. If people couldn't handle even arcade cabinets, their best career option would be professional game testers, because they truly weren't suited for any other work.

This storm in America quickly sparked heated discussions worldwide. The educational establishment naturally offered fierce opposition, though they didn't go so far as to completely condemn the medium out of hand.

Existence was rational—a very elementary truth. Video game consoles had been around for many years; what on earth had these critics been doing all this time?

Relatively speaking, American regulations proved to be the strictest of all.

William White was utterly speechless. American students were chaotic to put it mildly; expecting them to live like Puritans within such an environment was wildly laughable.

The people of Japan were far more calm. They didn't see any problem, nor could they spot anything unhealthy about the games; their only regret was wondering why they hadn't invented the things themselves.