In the previous chapter I considered the view that STAs should be subject to moral scrutiny because of what they represent: their socially significant expression. The relationship between POTAs and STAs is said to be such that even the virtual enactment of an actual taboo carries potent symbolic meaning; it means something in so far as its enactment represents an object and/or event that is of social and/or moral significance outside the gaming realm. For this reason (if for no other), the STA's representative meaning – that is, what it stands for and the message it conveys within the context in which it occurs – warrants moral evaluation. The problem with using socially significant expression as the criterion for selective prohibition, however, is that it is unable to differentiate between those STAs that are presently permitted – as evidenced by the current state of play within video game content – and those that are not (at least within the UK).

In an effort to remedy this predicament, in this chapter I consider an a priori attempt to narrow the focus of the socially significant expression said to be present within certain gameplays. Through the use of fictional video games, I evaluate the move to selectively prohibit content with certain alleged intrinsic properties: namely, those that are said to convey incorrigible social meaning.