Protect The Kids!

The dust has settled. After months of debate it seems the 'kids and videogames' issue is finally beaten to death. A good moment to properly express my own thoughts on the matter, without my voice getting lost in the echoes of those who scream the loudest.

For some people it is hard to accept the simple fact that kids should not be playing games that are not intended for them. Let me first say that I'm an avid supporter of all the proposed bills so far. Kids should keep their hands from games that are not made specifically for their age group and those selling it to them need to be punished. Go Hillary. Of course we're still needing a scapegoat for the mess that is the retail industry. Some blame the videogames industry for their aggressive marketing, some blame the retailers, some blame the kids themselves. Nobody blamed ourselves, though.

I'm not one of those semi new-age kids who's claiming that there is no future and society's a heap of bull's excrement. But the way were are acting, or more importantly even, reacting, shows that there's clearly something wrong. It's not lack of education, lack of proper upbringing or lack of respect that makes the whole issue seem to have gone so out of hand. It's a lack of trust.

We collectively mistrust the government. We're dead sure that we're being hit by terrorists again so we don't trust that guy in the metro with the beard. To capitalize on this mistrust we've got guns in our homes, becasue we don't trust the people walking in front of our houses in the middle of the night. Protecting property from all that is outside. Cars rigged with alarms capable of airtightening Fort Knox are nothing new....

A couple of days back I was browising a few news magazines at the international bookstore at the station where I saw the followong headline: "Is my son a KILLER? 10 Questions about videogames that need to be answered!" I wish I could remember the name of the magazine, maybe some of you guys know it. In any case, it featured moms who were absolutely positive that a videogame could warp their children's minds in such a way that they'd become cold blooded killers who will ruthlessly massacre their classmates. Just like the good old radio play 'War of the Worlds' in days long gone by they expect media to have such a big impact that it will cause mass hysteria in the heads of their kids.

Kids becoming killers? I think that article is a real killer, the only warped thing in me after a life-long exposure to videogames is my sense of humor and I found that article hilarious....And sad at the same time. These moms do not trust their kids. On top of that they find out the hard way that they barely know their own kids, but they're not even aware of the fact while the whole world is watching. How many of you would've realized this? How well do you know your children, should you have them?

These American moms, after 10 years of upbringing, do not know their kids. They brought their kids to kindergarten, soccer practice, knitting clubs and whatever else you can think of, they've celebrated birthdays with their children and they have loved them, but they cannot trust them. They honestly believe that games like Resident Evil and Grand Theft Auto will turn them into killers.

The cause of this? I'm stepping into the blame game and I'm blaming materialism.

Materialism? Yep. It may sound far-fetched, but these moms (and there are a lot of those, just try to think up how many people think Jack Thompson has a bunch of valid points) might not love their kids in the way kids need to be loved. Oh, the kids are getting enough love, but they are getting love in the way a lot of people love their '67 Mustang. They treat their kids like an object.

If I want my '67 Mustang to be blue I'm painting it blue. It's my property and nobody is touching it. I want to have it blue, not red. I read in a magazine that red paint causes the bodywork to rust. Rust will eventually make my baby fall apart.

Videogames are rust. That's what America and parts of the rest of the world today believe. They will make your kids fall apart, or, in other wordings, they will make your children into humans you did not want them to be. Not cold blooded killers, contrary to popular belief, but into people who like videogames and want to spend time with them. But we are treating the kids like '67 Mustangs and want them to be blue. Red paint will cause the bodywork to rust, remember? So we have them play soccer, we have them do knitting, but we won't let them play videogames. They are not making my kids into what I want them to be, and on top of that they are dangerous. FOX said so. And FOX knows my children better than I do.