It's hard to think of games like Stardew Valley, a farming simulator RPG akin to the Harvest
Moon franchise, as being that harmful to children, but that's what Russia has done for not just
this game but many others as well.
This all revolves around the simple fact that the player can choose to have relationships
with characters off the same gender, which is a gameplay mechanic in Stardew Valley that
can also lead to same gender marriage.
However, people of the same gender getting married isn't the issue here at all and the
game, of course, doesn't try to say that that's how you should play the game.
It's just there as an option, like the countless other options that the simulation title has
to offer.
The issue, in fact, is just that homosexuality is being presented as an ok thing to do and
isn't criticised.
Yes, in Russia that's a big deal and has been banned from any public setting where children
may be exposed ever since 2013.
The law in question goes by the long name of:
"For the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional
Family Values" ...otherwise known as simply the "gay propaganda
law".
Now, as mentioned earlier, we're actually not talking about proper "propaganda" here.
The law bans just mentioning things like homosexuality in a non-negative way.
Homosexuality itself isn't illegal in Russia and you're free to say whatever you like amongst
adults, but, when it comes to anywhere that children could possibly be present the law
will come into effect.
This means that games like Stardew Valley have had to be slapped with an adults only
rating over in Russia or face being banned.
On the other hand, over in Europe it's rated 7 years and up.
The purpose of the law, according to the Russian government, is due to the belief that homosexuality
goes against traditional family values and that this is harmful to a child's development.
Additionally, the Russian president has mentioned being concerned about Russia's birth rate
and how same gender relationships don't produce children.
The law is naturally very controversial in the West and there have been many attempts
from influential figures at seeing it removed, as well as large protests.
The first person to be arrested for it came only a month later in July 2013.
This was a 24 year old gay rights activist, who held a one-man protest in his town center,
holding a sign which reads "Being gay and loving gays is normal.
Beating gays and killing gays is a crime."
Even Apple was investigated under suspicion of breaking this law due to their same gender
emoji.
Luckily for Apple though, they were found not guilty due to, and I quote, "whether they
have a positive or negative connotation depends on their actual context and usage".
In other words, they were allowed due to the possibility of them being used with a negative
connotation.
Games however, haven't been so lucky.
You may recall how earlier in the year Overwatch was hit by controversy, when Russian players
found that an issue of the official web comic wasn't available in their language, unlike
all of the other comics.
The issue in question starred Tracer and revealed that she was in a relationship with another
women and even showed them kissing.
When setting the comic to Russian however, an error message would be displayed saying:
"In accordance with Russian law we cannot share this comic with our players in the Russian
Federation territory."
One of first games to come into contact with this law was The Sims 4 in 2014.
The Sims has included same gender relationships since the very first game 17 years ago and
started to include same gender marriage starting from The Sims 3.
All of the previous games though came before the Russian law was created and so a big change
had to be made for the 4th entry, this being that it was given an 18+ rating, unlike places
like the UK where it is only 12 years and older.
None of the game's content was altered in Russia though, which appears to be something
that EA stands very much against.
In a statement from 2014, an EA spokesperson explained that they have no plans to change
The Sims 4, despite the potential impact on sales.
To quote: “One of the key tenets of The Sims is that
it is up to the player to decide how to play the game.
We provide the simulation sandbox and player choice and creativity does the rest.”
Even following a title's release though, the trouble doesn't end there and especially nowadays
where things like updates and DLC are so common.
Whilst various games have been given an 18+ rating in Russia, which are otherwise seemingly
family friendly, the first case of Russian politicians stepping in and accusing a publisher
of breaking this law actually happened quite recently.
The title in question is FIFA 17, which was released in Russia with an all ages rating
due to its perceived lack of any possibly offensive content.
At the time of its rating being assigned, this proved to be true in Russia as well.
However, the issues came later with a piece of content that was added to the game via
an update.
To celebrate Rainbow Laces, an organisation aiming to fight discrimination within the
sport, EA handed out free rainbow themed kits to players for a limited time.
The message that pops up when you receive the kit reads:
"Show your support for the premier league and Stonewall's Rainbow Laces campaign with
the Rainbow Kit.
Wear it with pride and help raise awareness."
This message, as well as the kit's iconic colours which resemble the LGBT movement's
rainbow flag, were all that game contained in terms of this, but even that was enough
to cause political trouble in the Russian nation.
Multiple Russia politicians picked up on the situation and have requested for the game
to be investigated by a special branch of the government.
If it is then formally decided to break the law, the game will either be slapped with
an 18+ rating or banned.
It's also worth pointing out that, with the exception of this, gaming in Russia is generally
pretty relaxed.
No game has ever been banned for example and cases of censoring content are extremely rare,
with one of the few examples being 2009's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and, even then,
this was likely a case of self censorship that the developers decided on themselves.
You see, in the Russian version of Modern Warfare 2, you can no longer kill any of the
civilians during the mission "No Russian", which sees you take the role of Russian terrorists.
This controversial mission has you play the bad guys as they murder 100s of innocent people
at a Russian airport.
In the Russian, Japanese and German versions of the game however, attempting to kill any
civilians yourself will result in you failing the mission.
This law is clearly something that the Russian government are taking very seriously and,
with how it's still a relatively new law, it is likely something that we will hear more
about in the future and it affecting more games.
With titles like The Sims we have seen family friendly games being hit with adults only
ratings.
Overwatch, on the other hand, has even had content not released in Russia and FIFA was
thought to be fine at release, but now has had the government officially investigating
the title due to a piece of content that came later.
As always, at Censored Gaming, censorship is censorship, no matter how big or small
and no matter what it's about.
Censored Gaming is committed to creating the definitive resource for censorship and so
will continue to watch how this controversial Russian law develops very closely.
Until next time, thank you for watching.