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Back in 1976, an arcade game called Death Race prompted the first public outcry over violence in electronic gaming. The primitive graphics of the game depicted a blocky car running down stick-figure gremlins that, if struck, turned into grave markers. Described as "sick and morbid" by the National Safety Council, Death Race inspired a 60 Minutes report on the potential psychological damage of playing video games. In the next thirty-five years, violent video games would prompt citizen groups and politicians to call for government regulation of electronic games' content.

In 1993, after the violence of Mortal Kombat and Night Trap attracted the attention of religious and educational organizations, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman conducted a hearing that proposed federal regulation of the gaming industry. Following a pattern established in the movie and music industries, the gaming industry implemented a self-regulation system enforced by an industry panel. The industry founded the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to institute a labeling system designed to inform parents of sexual and violent content that might not be suitable for younger players. Currently the ESRB sorts games into six categories: EC (Early Childhood), E (Everyone), E 10+, T (Teens), M 17+, and AO (Adults Only 18+).¹⁶