Hey, I feel like writting a new blog post because its been a while. Perhaps I'll get around to it within the next month, who knows. So yeah, thats about it, I'll start brainstorming soon enough.

As many of you probably know by now the soon to be released Manhunt 2 by Rockstar Games has received an AO rating from the ESRB effectively making it, well, never to be released. From the past few days of browsing through the Gamespot forums and blogs etc. I have seen that many people are outraged. That they believe that the ESRB has gone overboard, succumbed to the pressure of the parent and family groups to give this game the strictest rating that it can muster. And maybe these kids have a right to be angry, it's a game that they can never play, that very few will have access to. But perhaps this is a good thing.

Recently I read an editorial by a fellow Gamespot user that goes by the name of TheCritic9392. He suggested that we just nix the ESRB and revise the system to put more emphasis on parental involvement, hold the parents accountable for the games that they play. However, that is pretty much what we have right now, a self-regulating non-government ratings board. This system only suggests who can play certain games. There is no official policy on who can buy games. These restrictions are placed by the retailers, no one tells them to do so, and there is no federal law to prohibit the sale of these games to minors. TheCritic9392, and probably many others, would like to see the ESRB go the way for the Comics Code Authority, a ratings entity that, while it may still exist, is essentially defunct.

Fortunately, this will never happen, not in the near future at least. The most important thing for the video game industry is for it to have a good public image. This is something that it has been struggling with in recent years. It seems that the types of games that trigger these episodic outrages by the general non-gaming public tend to be those that are, in one sense or another, realistic. From GTA to Bully to the current Manhunt (all Rockstar Games) the parent groups and those of the likes of Jack Thompson raise all hell to give these games a bad public perception, even though Mr. Thompson et al. had never played any of these games.

It has widely been seen throughout history that it is not the majority that rules, it is the vocal minority, the ones that take up the stand and refuse to back down. While many, nay, most of the people do not agree with these views, they have no reason to speak out because things are good in their book. It is the vocal few that make the changes, which affect the policy.

However I'm trailing off on a tangent. Time and time again on the forums I see people cry out that video games aren't just for children, that these games are meant for the adult gamer. Normally I would agree, the average age of a gamer in 2006 was 29 (link). But then I look to that recently written record (sorry I can't pass up alliteration) by TheCritic and see that he, the one writing that the ESRB is unnecessary, is only 15. Fifteen, the age that, if I recall, I fruitlessly attempted to buy Perfect Dark for the N64. I was denied the sale, and as I look back on it, I believe that this was the correct course of action. Heck, my parents wouldn't even let me get Goldeneye, even though it was rated Teen. Like TheCritic, I thought my mother to be a "b!tch" sometimes as I was growing up, but now I understand why she looked over my shoulder. These games are, well, suggestive.

The one important thing that we need to keep in the forefront of our minds while taking about video games that they, obviously, are not movies. You are no longer a passive witness to the events unfolding on the screen. You have become an active participant. As much as I despise it when a mass shooting is blamed on video games, we need to remember that children are impressionable and you just never know when an unbalanced kid will get some crazy idea from a video game.

Perhaps in the future, after this generation, or maybe the next, we may be able to free ourselves of our reliance of the ESRB. As we have children and introduce them to video games we will undoubtedly have more oversight as to what games are played in our households. Our parents, or mine at least, were not into video games and they relied on me to make correct judgments, and if my judgment failed then they listened to the vocal minority (Re: Goldeneye). I hope that my kids will inherit my love for videogames and I can only hope that I know what is right for them, just as my parents did for me, and maybe, if it is still in existence, the ESRB will guide my hand.

The title pretty much explaines it all, only Clarissa could be more clear, but alas she's all hung up on not being clarissa anymore, who shall i go to with my troubles, who knows really.

Oh, that seems to be exactly how i speak, or think at least, is that the point of a blog? what am i reaaly supposed to do? am i a 21 year old stuck in a high schoolers world? i ask these questions for you, as much as myslef, to think about during the next few days, because, honestly, i have no idea why i am doing this. Is it to see if my ranking will go up (perhaps, actually the only reason)?

Maybe in my turn of doing this i will establish a repatoire with a few of you, and maybe oh heck, i dont know, ... no seroisly, i don't

But this is where i leave you, the huddle masses, the poor, the disadvantage and the homely, i leave you for another day, another time, and perhaps another world, a world free of the injustice and strife of this world ... a world free of ... playstation. ok, i know that wasnt fair, i mean, i have an old psx (only cuz my friend gave it to me after he got himself a ps2) and i also have a ps2 (only cuz my sister bought it), but seriously, sony isnt my favourite (opps, I've only been in NZ for 4 months and i'm already spelling wrong) company.

But with this is bid you adiu, and have a good day/night/slash/whatever

goodnigt and good luck

Zak (aka trunks by my peers, and no its not b/c dbz its a derivation of my last name) Trunkely