BLAME CANADA !!!
Jan 30 '00 (Updated Nov 01 '02)
The Bottom Line The public should look at games in the same light as movies and use the ratings to determine appropriateness. Parents, check out www.esrb.com and understand their meanings.
We might as well... this game of place the blame has gotten so out of hand that nobody remembers where it began any more. Parents blame movies, movies blame the news media, the news media blames video games. So why not blame Canada? It's no more ludicrous than blaming video games for human behavior.
The gaming public has grown up. People who grew up on Pac-Man and Q-Bert (myself included) are adults now, and many of them still play video games. A couple of years ago, a market research study showed that the average Playstation owner was about 20 years old. Therefore, this mentality that video games should only contain content that is fit for children must be laid to rest.
I agree in part when critics argue that violent video games are not good for kids. I have a feeling that violence does desensitize children a little bit, and certainly do not propose that a five-year-old be permitted to play Quake Arena. In fact, my personal opinion would be that parents should not permit their children to play violent games.
However, the argument that video games are "murder simulators" (EGM #127 p 31) and that children who play violent video games will become more violent themselves is simply unfounded, based only on the gut-instinct of a few people who only pretend to know what they are talking about. If this were the case, then everyone (or at least an existent minority) of gamers would be homocidal maniacs right now. Instead we have nothing but baseless speculation about the effects of video games based on a couple of instances instigated by obviously deranged individuals who only happened to be gamers.
My problem with the whole "Violence in Video Games" argument is that it isn't at all about protecting children from harmful material. Instead, it has been about parents complaining about the fact that they must now filter out harmful material and protect their children from it. Parents used to be able to let their kids play anything, and now they actually have to pay attention and get involved (Oh, the horror!) with what their children are doing. However, parental convenience does not give anyone the right to infringe on the freedom of expression of another.
Video games have reached the point in their popularity where they need to be looked at under the same scrutiny as any other form of media. Just like movies, video games are played by a wide audience of all age groups, and therefore should be treated as such. Video Games have a rating system which is actually analogous to movie ratings and should be treated as such. Those games marked "For Mature Players Only" are rated "R", teen games are "PG-13", and the games marked "E" are "G" or "PG" rated. The ratings are there, and have been there for quite a while now.
What I find humorous, although somewhat depressing, is that while anti-violence-in-video-games activists fought for quite some time to get a ratings system in place for games, most parents, including some of those who complain about video game violence, have never taken the time to learn what the ratings actually mean.
Parents, read the ratings and monitor what your children play. The ratings aren't there for decoration; understand them, use them, and exercise your right and responsibility as a parent to control what your child is exposed to. And please, don't interfere with my right or the right of any other adult to play the games that I enjoy.
Information on the rating system for video games can be found at http://www.esrb.com
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Epinions.com ID:
dave_huber
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Member: David Huber
Location: Los Angeles, California
Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 40 members
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