I have encountered this on a number of threads on the New Game Ideas forum:
Somebody says "hell no" to somebody including drugs in their game.
Some questions then:
1) is the point of making games to provide entertainment, to provide a good moral framework for children or to make money?
"why can't it be all 3?" why not indeed? but does it need to be?
2) how are drugs or other perhaps slightly morally ambiguous elements* featured in the game? Are they promoted, depicted as a clever way to get ahead? are they shown as something which could give you a bonus or the edge over other players or are they shown as something unpleasant, an obstacle or just a fact of life in general?
3) will a 5 year old who plays this game really grow up to be a meth addict serial killer who burns down churches? really?
4) I will give examples of some subjects here which are generally best avoided in conversation: child abuse, rape, prejudice related violence, etc. these are things which victims will probably be upset by, especially if they are portrayed in a humorous or sensationalist/glorified manner and so it is in my opinion quite acceptable to say "hey! tone it down there!" - following this there are several themes which are very dark and distasteful but either so bizzare that they are distinctly uncommon or they involve the 'victim' already being dead. Take necrophilia, not exactly a pleasant dinnertime conversation topic but you wouldn't tell people to stop talking about it for the sake of the victims, now would you?
So I finally get round to asking the question...
Who's defence do people jump to when they get offended by drugs being featured in games_
And finally 5) what is more likely to case drug dependency and related criminal activity> someone seeing it in a game, on tv, in a movie or in a computer game and thinking "hey, drugs are cool!" or a system of alleged "health" which defines "disease" as "feeling bad" and prescribes drugs to people, not to heal them, not to treat the underlying cause, but to cover the symptoms and make them feel good?
* I previously gave the example of somebody making a child porn themed board game with creepily illustrated cards as something I think most people would find highly distasteful regardless of how it was presented! Would having the option to use or trade in illegal drugs as one aspect of the game really constitute such an upsetting scenario as this? I argue that a few would find this upsetting, some would think it cute or clever and the vast majority just wouldn't care.
As for the issue of media and marketing, brand names, evil brainwashing Syndicate (sorry, you mentioned older games and that got me into a way-retro mood) multinationals who are actually run by satanic cults spreading EVIL I TELL YOU EEEEVIIIILLL!!!!
Well, if the amount someone was exposed to somewhat distasteful stuff in the media, games, computer games, etc determined the level of violence and perversity in society, then following this argument, countries which often have fairly open ideas about what is suitable for public consumption, such as (correct me if I'm wrong here) Japan and several scandanavian countries would be hell on earth, where as countries like Rawanda, DRC and Sudan where people are exposed to relatively little of the ills of society in the media (because a television set is regarded as a luxury item) would be safe happy places.
Yes?
1/2 naked people on the game box!: I agree strongly and disagree at the same time.
I have no problem with nudity at all. Babies are born naked and breastfeed from their mothers every day. I saw a woman breastfeeding a baby on the main road on the way here, nobody was filming it and uploading it to some dodgy website, I saw absolutely nobody giving her some questionable attention, etc...
But using people's bodies to sell stuff, imposing your morals on others and deciding that all depictions of the human body are by definition sexualised, that is something I do have a problem with.
So if your game was about stone age people and featured a group of people doing activities featured in the game including a bare-breasted woman skinning an animal or some such... good for the game. But needlessly tacking sexualised trash onto something in the hope that it will sell is a) disgusting and b) a waste of time. Just like drug addicts would rather get high than play a game about getting high, so people who are that way inclined ("perverts") would rather just surf the internet for porn (it's not hard to find or expensive!) than buy a game, learn the rules, get some friends together and play it on a tuesday night just because it had a naked woman on the box.