• 2Sep 07

  Game Ratings, Parents, and Politicians

  Okay, so this is my first blog post ever on any website so bear with me when I ramble off into a tangent and occasionally forget my spelling and grammar.
  Is anyone else getting sick of the amazing idiocy of the argument over game ratings, the politicians, and the parents that, quite frankly, don't know how to parent?  Well, I for one, am.  I am getting so sick of logging into gamespot every third day and seeing that another politician wants to ban certain genres of games or sue another company because some parent is upset that her little Timmy was playing Bioshock, Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, the list just goes on.  For all of the parents out there listen up because im a 24 year old law student, and I have figured out the secret long before half of you have.  And, if you have figured out the secret feel free to stop reading here and save a few minutes of your life.  The secret is, research the crap you buy your kids.  My god, I'm a genius aren't I?  Really, I swear it really is that simple.  Most gamers are either adults, that is 18+, or relatively young, usually under 16.  The 18+ crowd isn't the issue because they are of age to buy anything, even the rare AO rated game.  The issue lies in the 12-16 group.
  In most areas of the country it is hard if not impossible to be employed until one is 16.  This means that most kids getting their hands on the M and AO games are getting them from, come on I know you can all guess where they get the games from, just give it a little guess.  That's right folks, their parents!!  See, I told you it would be simple.  Parents buy the games for the kids, then parents blame the ESRB and the politicians because little Timmy was shooting the alien colony to pieces, or stealing all those cars in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.  I have one message to these parents, stop blaming everyone else and look in a damn mirror.  Really, please do, I am begging you.  It isn't hard, actually you are pretty much negligent as a parent if you don't know what they are putting in their console.  If your kid doesn't have a job and isn't going to buy these games his or herself then you are likely the source of income, unless they are engaged in some illegal activity.  But, if that is the case you have a whole load of other problems that I won't even begin to get into, and good luck if that is the case.
  We don't have this kind of trouble with the MPAA ratings, that would be the Motion Picture Association of America for anyone that didn't know, or the RIAA, that would be the Recording Industry Association or America for the same group of folks.  These were issues in the mid-eighties and early-nineties but then parents wised up and thought to themselves, "Hmmm, maybe I should actually read what that Terminator movie is about, and I wonder what is on that Tupac album?" Why is it so hard to do that with games?  Really, if anyone can give me a legitimately good reason I will pack up this blog and write a big old retraction and apology in this very spot.  But, I don't think anyone can.  It is far too easy to read the back of the jacket that comes on the game.  that would be the jacket that on Bioshock at Best Buy reads "THIS GAME WILL NOT BE SOLD TO ANYONE UNDER 18 WE WILL CHECK YOUR ID AT THE REGISTER!!!!!" Sure enough I get to the register, and it was like a freaking hostage negotiation.  "Sir, I need to see your ID." So I show my drivers license and school ID.  The cashier looks at my girlfriend and says "Hers too." I felt like asking if I was going to be strip searched too, but last time I mouthed off to someone asking for my ID I would up in a world of hurt so I thought better.  But I digress.
  As a parent when that lovely tag that warns you about an ID check pops up, or on the GTA case, that warning that is plastered all over it, maybe bells should be ringing in your head that this isn't appropriate for your 14 or 15 year old kid.  Or maybe, I am just an idealist that wishes, maybe, just maybe some personal responsibility can be resurected in this "let someone else do it" world in which we inhabit.
  
  • Posted Sep 2, 2007 8:37 pm PT
  • Category: Opinion
  • 1 Comment
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