Wondering Why The Govt. Wants To Regulate Games?

[GeekyGuy]

This is why:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4iYRuCY6Pk

Now, this kid could very well be a midget or a little person, if you prefer, but I have a sneaky suspicion he ain't. I have a 10-year-old son, and the kid in this video looks pretty much his age. Now, don't read into my post that I'm a proponent for censorship -- I'm not -- but this video should give you an indication as to why some folks are concerned. This is not an isolated incident of a kid playing an M-rated game, either. I think we all must admit that it's common enough. Personally, I keep RE4, GoW and other such games put away in my dresser drawer. My kids know I play those games, but they also know that they're not for them and they don't play them or see them being played. I also wouldn't tell anyone else how they need to parent their own children. That said, I am educated enough to know that the frontal lobes of a child's brain aren't fully developed at 10-years old, and some consideration should be given to kids playing this sort of thing. As for why people are perhaps inclined to allow the U.S. govt. to regulate video-game content, well people probably don't want to see an increase in real violent behavior.

Again, I'm not making a judgment about it. I remain neutral on the matter, and I don't find solution in politics, really, when it comes to anything. But this should offer insight into why it's an issue, and dismissing it willy-nilly probably isn't going to make the issue go away.

 

[nintendofreak]

I think that video game ratings do a good job recommending who should be playing what. What pisses me off personally is when parents blame video game companies for "making" their 10 year old kids violent when they are the ones letting them play GTA!

I agree, you *shouldnt* let kids play games that are not rated for their age range. But many parents dont listen, and games get a bad rep for it. There is a reason they have M ratings. Now if GTA had a E rating, then I could see why you would complain. I played M games when i was ~14 years old (turok sees of evil

) wasnt too violent IMO but still rightfully rated. My parents didnt know about the ratings, they saw a fun looking game and went for it. But yet again, ignorance shouldnt be a valid excuse.

 

[Nero]

Well.. I wouldn't really care.
Just as long as it doesn't go over the line.

I let my 8-year old cousin play San Andreas.

~Nero

 

[skyfire1]

I've been playing violent video games since I was 6 and I never did anything outrageous. My parents always beat my ass when I was a kid.

 

[Resident0]

I've played violent videogames since the ZX Spectrum at 5, with Robocop and other games, I used to like the shoot em up games, I didn't think "Damn i really need to get a gun and go blast some perps" after i'd finished a game in Robocop on ZX Spectrum.

Every kid around my age was playing Robocop, they even had reviews in the magazines raving about it, that and Smash TV and Pitfighter for ZX Spectrum got 90%, 'Pitfighter' a game involving digitized people in gimp suits and bondage ladies punching and kicking each other to death and 'Smash TV' a game about an ultra violent gameshow where you had to kill and maim thousands of oncoming people and tanks and rescue scantily clad ladies in their underwear, there was even women with their breasts on almost full view during cutscenes and ingame loadscreens, and parents still bought these 'games' with a smile on their face for their kids as they were seen as something 'fun' rather than the creation of all evil as they are seen today!

 

[NoSoulX]

It's nice to see irpacynot, that you keep the Mature and violent games off from your kids. As for violent people...

Well, usually the violence is learned from parents. If children isn't given any rules, punished when needed, he/she will
start to behave like all is ok to do, without any consequences. Of course physical punishment is out of the question, but still
it was used effectively in 20th century. Now-a-days law states that any physical punishment given to children is immediately
recognized as child abuse. But you can still put the child in a corner and state what he/she did wrong and ask for an apology.

Video games don't bring harm. They can inspire those who are already behaving like there's no limit.

 

[Mewgia]

I'm been playing violent games since I was about 9 or so, and I've only killed one person.








Nah not really, I'm not one for fighting. I do enjoy a fistfight/wrestling now and then though, but I am against using guns.

 

[nintendofreak]

Now-a-days law states that any physical punishment given to children is immediately
recognized as child abuse. But you can still put the child in a corner and state what he/she did wrong and ask for an apology.

Actually its not considered child abuse unless it leaves a mark or bruise (afaik...)

 

[GeekyGuy]

...There is a reason they have M ratings. Now if GTA had a E rating, then I could see why [people] would complain....

Agreed, though I'm not complaining.

However, in many cases the advertising for games is often similar to problematic advertising with cigarettes. If publishers are aiming advertising where a younger audience is the intended target -- and we all know they mostly are -- parents oftentimes get left out of the loop. I don't know about you, but there's a ton of shit I did as a kid that my parents didn't know about. I suspect the same will go for my own kids, and therefore I try to keep the leash loose so that through having more freedom to choose they will hopefully not feel like they're missing out on something. That doesn't mean I'll be turning a blind eye. I don't drink or smoke or "go out with the boys," and my focus in life is pretty much on them and my family...and, well, video games

. But not all parents grew up on games the way I did, or they just don't have a similar interest in them the way I do. Perhaps those folks aren't able to be quite as discerning. Many parents also probably don't know that their kids are playing said games.

If you say a game has an M-rating for a reason, and I believe most do, what's the harm in govt. merely enforcing the restriction of sales of those games to minors? I'm not sure I see the fine print in the argument that's currently taking place in the industry.