Video Games vs. Bad Parents

May. 7 10:08 AM by Raychul

A couple of weeks back we all heard about the Chicago Transit Authority removing GTA 4 ads, their argument was to protect the children, they didn't want to advertise for such an adult game. Then you have misguided assholes like Jack Thompson who sure is loving all of this controversy, GTA 4 gives him something to bitch about. But I do not understand, never once did Rockstar make an advertisement that was geared towards kids, in fact they have said all along that this was an adult game. The GTA series is geared towards and marketed towards adults, what's the harm them? Rockstar isn't the only ones who get shitted on by grumpy adults in power; in fact video games in general get it. How many times have you heard "Video games cause violence"? I call bullshit! These adult games are adult games, made for adults, just b/c it's a video game doesn't mean it is ok for your little 9 year old.

Let's take a step back and look at this, so GTA and other M rated games are adult games, these games are not meant to end up in children's hands, yet (I can speak from first hand experience being a former EB Games employee) the majority of the times these kinda games do end up in a child's hands is through their parents.


They should not point their fingers at the games and put the blame on them. It's not the developers who bring this stuff into their homes, it's the parents...they are the ones who are allowing their children to be exposed to things they don't agree with, because they are buying it for them! I agree, children should NOT be playing GTA, or Bulletproof, or Saints Row, or Playboy the Mansion...let them be kids, let them be innocent, they will have plenty of time later, when they are older, to get immersed in the real world of sex, violence and drugs. So many parents would come into the game store and buy their 5 or 6 year olds these games, when I would tell them about the content they would say, "Oh, he will learn in one day or another anyways." Ok, true...but 5 or 6 years old! Come on...where are your parenting skills?! Let the child be a child, most children are too naive and too immature to understand things of this nature, to understand that it's just a game, let them be children.

I am an adult, and I love adult games, the more controversial the better, so by no means do I think these kinda games should stop being made. Don't try to take away my fun just b/c the parents are ignorant. I just simply think parents need to stop expecting the government and others to raise their children and do it themselves. If you don't like the content in your children's video games then stop buying it for them, read about these games, listen to the store employees...be a good parent.


VIDEO GAMES DON'T MAKE BAD KIDS...BAD PARENTING DOES.


Comments

that was a rally well written article, good job and it is so true

 

I couldn't have said it better myself, Raychul. Being a parent myself, I think that the more information a parent has about what is out there (games, movies, entertainment, etc) is the best. I know that when my daughter gets old enough to play games, I will be right there with her, watching, playing as well with her to make sure its appropriate for her.

 

I hate the thought that in a few years I'll never play another adult game again or see a R rated horror film. I was in Gamestop yesterday and listened in on a employee trying with all of their might to talk a parent out of buying GTA4 for a kid. The employee went on for 5 minutes and the parent bought the game.

 

or if you saw the movie The Bad Seed you'll know that some children are just born evil, psychopathics killers.

 

So true, so true. Good Job!

 

Fully agree, kiddo. Now if we could just find a way to get parents to admit this.

 

But I do ask if parents can't use video games to keep their children occupied what will they use... they can't be asked to play with the child. but hey children are expose to R rated movies (with much stronger references) and the news (which they are encouraged to watch). what I say to those educated types "don't you have other civil liberties to oppose upon" if they can find a way to have to ban a video game I can find a way to make you eat...

 

honestly, i think politicians should stop worrying about wats in games and focos more on taking care of it in REAL LIFE (gun violence, drugs). if they put as much time and effort into stopping them in our daily lives as they do a 60$ game, there would be NO violence in society. worry about the genocides in Africa. violent games dont fuck kids lives up. sry but as a first hand example of this (i was playn Concurs Bad Fer Day on N64 wen i was 11, GTA3 on ps2 wen i was 11, and MK and Killer Instinct on my SNES), i just dony buy it. i have great parents and they were aware that the games i was playn were just THAT.....GAMES. not real, but GAMES. i was too aware they wernt real.

 

I remember a Chris Rock bit about this. "What happened to just 'crazy'? back in the day, a kid was just crazy! THat was it! now they blamin everything from Pac-Man to Batman beacuse lil crazy Whitey blew up a school!"

I love that bit.

 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

when gamers are the next parenting generation then hopeful this whole thing will end.

lol funny if gamers make bad parents who make bad children

 

Well said. I love the fact that one of the big players of the video game censorship movement is Arnold the-goddamn-Terminator Schwarzenegger!!! Thats right, rip-your-face-off, blow-your-head-up, if it bleeds we can kill it Arnie!!! His bill for the banning of certain types of games was rightly declared unconstitutional and overturned but it served as apt demonstration of the hypocrisy running rife in "nanny state" politics.

On this bill alone 10 US states forked out over $3 million each to support and drive it through...thats $30 million dollars! How many schools is that? How many parental schemes educating people on the validity and importance of ratings/warning on games? And thats only one bill!

I'm from England so I don't have to deal with what you guys do as things are a little more relaxed here. There are the same things going on just it never quite reaches such inflamatory levels. We get the occasional ban (Manhunt - also note it wasn't the killer in the "Manhunt Murder" that had played the game but the victim, regardless the game was mentioned and scapegoated) but nothing on such a ridiculous scale.

The fall of Jack Thompson is an awesome step forward, lets hope we're through the worst of it and parental paranoia and political scaremongering find themselves another target, maybe racism, crime, vagrancy, unemployment, poverty, y'know, real causes...maybe then parents will realize its their responsibility to guide and nurture their children, not adult orientated entertainers.

 

Very well said. I agree that it really comes down to the parents. It's amazing really, all the effort that these crusty old politicians put into banning things they quite honestly have no knowledge about (I have yet to play a single game in which you can rape someone. Body humping doesn't count). And then in the news, all these guys talking about how you can have sex with prostitutes and then kill them to get your money back in GTA4. First of all, woooooow. Has anyone told them that you were able to do that three games ago?

I guess my point is, why are all these nongamers making such a big deal about things they know nothing about? How does it affect them? To me at least it seems, like with Jack Thompson, they seem to be doing it just for the hell of it. If a kid is playing a violent video game rated M, that's not the gaming industry's fault. If a kid became corrupted for watching a movie like South Park or Saw or something, should those types of movies be banned? And ESRB is pretty harsh with games too; the content of games like Halo or other games like Just Cause (I mean seriously, Just Cause is rated M. It has absolutely nothing worse than any James Bond movie, and in many cases better as far as the "bad" content goes) they're no worse than just about any PG-13 action movie. The parents ultimately control what the kids play; even if they play games like GTA4 at a friends house or something, if the parents don't allow it at home, the kids will at least know that they shouldn't be playing this game. And like Raychul said, most of the time it's the parents who buy the game that they complain about so much. If you don't want your kids playing GTA4, don't buy it for them.

 

As a 14 year old, I feel the indomitable urge to mention something. I can't help but notice a recurring theme on this site; you seem to think that kids and teens are opportunistic little bastards who will spring upon any chance they receive to get an M-rated game. I have the ability to play M-rated games, but I don't play things like GTA4 out of sheer disdain. I guess what I'm trying to say is that some of us have more than an ounce of dignity in us. Yes, I know that you're just trying to make a point, trying to fight back against the "evidence" that Jack Thompson offers like a delighted little dog, but still, have a little respect for us. We're not all morons. Some of us are, but seriously, we're not zombies hungering for porn and blood. Have a nice day.

 

You're older, more experienced, I'll grant you that. But it's just horrifying to have my entire age group depicted as a bunch of drones that need to have their every movement dictated to them for fear that little Leon or tiny Shemequa will decide that they like what they see Link doing and run around spinning kitchen knives in wide arcs while screaming incoherently, losing all forms of speech and then transferring to grunts.

 

I completely agree with this. I mean, in Australia, most of our games are edited to make it under the MA 15+ rating, because we dont have an R18+ rating. Because parents will buy this for their children, excuse my french but WHAT THE F**K! And when the kids start acting out, instantly the Xbox 360 starts to get blamed, and then f**ktards(scientific term) like Jack Thompson get their hands on this evidence and says " This child was playing Manhunt 2, and then cut his fathers wee wee off with a rusty hatchet. " " We demand justice. "
My justice would be to take Jack Thompsons head, crack it open, and splatter his brains across the wall, that would be video game inspired violence, not hitting your family, or shooting someone, these are mental health issues, that noone in the family could spot because of poor parenting, and a clear lack of family bonds.

Parents, you're dead to me.

Sorry for the rant comment.

 

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