Violent videogames in our culture and those who oppose them

After reading the Gamespot article on the recent court case attempting to ban the sale of violent videogames to minors I had to seriously consider whether this was right or not.

On the one hand, I don't want my 4 year old playing grandtheftauto or call of duty... doing so would personally be a poor reflection on my parenting.

On the other hand, is it really the responsibility of the rest of the world to shelter my child from anything I deem "unpleasant"?

If someone swears around my son, am I going to have a fit and take him to court trying to ban swearing? of course not. I would simply let my son know that swearing is not right, and if my son started to swear because of that I would deal with that accordingly.

I feel it is up to parents to expose or shelter their children, not everyone elses. If you don't want them to play violent game, don't let them!

Whether you like it or not there are parents out there who think differently and have NO problem with their child playing violent games. Does my right to shelter my children somehow overrule their right to expose them? No. Therefore I have no right to try and stop them

your thoughts?

Personally, I don't have a problem with businesses enforcing the ratings; it's the same with enforcing movie ratings.muthsera666

[QUOTE="muthsera666"]Personally, I don't have a problem with businesses enforcing the ratings; it's the same with enforcing movie ratings.bark00000

I agree, but if we are honest, we all used to watch 18 rated videos when we were teens.. part of the fun was getting hold of em. if kids want to watch something, they will always come up with a plan.. As far as wrapping kids in cotton wool goes, kids need to learn the effects of violence at a earlie age, they should all learn some sort of self defence whilst very young, or at least be made to fight for their pocket money or their meals ! lol

I dont think it is the job of government to censor what we do. If parents don't want their children to watch / play something then its their responsibility to stop them.

This system as it is doesn't work anyway. Its suprising how many parents will buy their 12 yr old son GTA.. etc

I agree completely. It all boils down to good/bad parenting. Whether or not games are violent goes back to the old dungeons and dragons arguments. My friend lets his 5 year old play gta, cod nazi zombies, etc., and then he wonders why his kid has such a violent streak towards his sister. My kids know I have games like cod, mk vs. dc, etc; but they have never seen the games being played and they won't until they are much much older. Personally I think that kids should still have the innocence that childhood allows. Let them be kids and wait until they grow up to discover the world as it really is. There are more than enough games that are fun for a child without the need to blow something up or make something bleed.DEADMART

Hmph, if only more parents would be more responsible over what they get their children, the government wouldn't be interfering.

But the responsibilty should be the parent's on whether they get their child a violent game or not. If they do get the violent game for their child, and the child does some stupid, violent crap, then the parents should be getting blamed, not the game.

Hmph, if only more parents would be more responsible over what they get their children, the government wouldn't be interfering.

DJ-Lafleur

Videogames are just a safe platform that politicians can use to pander to certain constituencies without fear of damage to their campaign - for example, you don't go after gun laws, because the NRA will wage a multi-million dollar ad campaign against you. Currently there's a lot of videogame illiteracy and politicians can pretty much say whatever they want to get the reaction they want from the soccer moms and nascar dads, with no one the wiser...except us. But then, we don't head to polls as gamers (nor should we, in my view), so they're not concerned about the few million people that know they're full of it.

I agree with what everyone in this thread has said.

It's up to the PARENTS and not anyone else.

Whatever happend to responsibilty?

So here is a thought...

Who is to decide what is kid frendly? Who decided that limbs being blown off or decappitation is not kid frendly? while those things are indeed unpleasant, I know plenty of kids who could see them and not even bat an eye.

Sesame Street is no longer kid friendly today for a number of reasons that 20 years ago would have gone unnoticed (notice how it switched to sesame park? thats because they didn't want to encourage playing in the streets). And what about the gay ernie and bert thing? that was a simple joke that some crazy parents decided to take seriously...

Now look at telitubbies. It is a technicolor dream world where nobody wears clothes. Not only that, but they all speak very poor english and mispronounce words! what kind of parent would let their kids watch a show that actually DUMBS THEM DOWN?

So who is making the decisions about what is kid friendly and why should their opinion matter more than mine?

Now look at telitubbies. It is a technicolor dream world where nobody wears clothes. Not only that, but they all speak very poor english and mispronounce words! what kind of parent would let their kids watch a show that actually DUMBS THEM DOWN?bark00000

I thought the Teletubbies were canceled a long time ago... As far as who should decide? I don't know. But there are standards of decency that should be maintained for many people. I don't really care who you are, a young child should not be playing Painkiller and watching bodies disintegrate as you run around with a saw blade spinning in front of you. I'm not a parent, but I would take the ratings into consideration. I wouldn't show The Boondock Saints to my three-year-old, but my fifteen-year-old, maybe.

But I don't think children should have free reign to choose to watch whatever they want. I don't want someone to sell GTAIV to a twelve-year-old. I want them to be carded. I want games that are mature to only be sold to mature individuals. If I decide that my child is mature enough to handle the content and subject matter, that is my decision as the parent; that is the reason my child is a child.

[QUOTE="bark00000"]Now look at telitubbies. It is a technicolor dream world where nobody wears clothes. Not only that, but they all speak very poor english and mispronounce words! what kind of parent would let their kids watch a show that actually DUMBS THEM DOWN?muthsera666

I thought the Teletubbies were canceled a long time ago... As far as who should decide? I don't know. But there are standards of decency that should be maintained for many people. I don't really care who you are, a young child should not be playing Painkiller and watching bodies disintegrate as you run around with a saw blade spinning in front of you. I'm not a parent, but I would take the ratings into consideration. I wouldn't show The Boondock Saints to my three-year-old, but my fifteen-year-old, maybe.

But I don't think children should have free reign to choose to watch whatever they want. I don't want someone to sell GTAIV to a twelve-year-old. I want them to be carded. I want games that are mature to only be sold to mature individuals. If I decide that my child is mature enough to handle the content and subject matter, that is my decision as the parent; that is the reason my child is a child.

Yeah mature individuals...some can handle games with restrictions, others are just too easily influenced.

But it shouldn't be able to affect everyone else, what with banning games and discontinuing them.

I'm not saying ban the games, I'm saying make it illegal for a store to sell GTA to someone under the age limit in same way cinema's are not allowed to show Tiny Tim the Full Monty or BloodRayne. MagicHat1

I thought the Teletubbies were canceled a long time ago..

muthsera666

oop, you are right there. sorry neither of my kids have watched that show so I don't know.

my point still remains valid tho