Manhunt 2

Manhunt 2 has put Rockstar in more hot water, this time from The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Mike Fitzpatrick, executive director of NAMI issued a statement regarding the portrayal of people with a mental illness in the game. In the statement Fitzpatrick asks Rockstar to modify or recall the game:

Even though some people may consider Manhunt 2 to be only a game, it unfortunately perpetuates and reinforces cruel, inaccurate perceptions that people who live with mental illnesses are violent. The U.S. Surgeon General has condemned such stigmatization, identifying fear of stigma as a major barrier to people getting help when they need it. The overall contribution of mental illnesses to violence in society is exceptionally small. In fact, people living with mental illness are far more likely to be victims of violence.

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California Senator Leland Yee wants the ESRB to be a little more transparent about what was cut from Manhunt 2 to warrant the drop from an Adults Only rating to Mature:

Parents can’t trust a rating system that doesn’t even disclose how they come to a particular rating. The ESRB and Rockstar should end this game of secrecy by immediately unveiling what content has been changed to grant the new rating and what correspondence occurred between the ESRB and Rockstar to come to this conclusion. Unfortunately, history shows that we must be quite skeptical of these two entities.

Clearly the ESRB has a conflict of interest in rating these games. It is time to bring transparency to this rating system and for the industry to be held accountable. I join the [Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood] in urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the process by which Manhunt 2’s rating was downgraded from AO to M.

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