Seriously
Headbutt.
Right out of the box, this is some serious stuff.
I am a video game proponent. I love them. I play them, my brother plays them, my friends play, my parents have tried them, and my kids will play them if they so desire.
Why do I like them? Time killer. In some cases, a great challenge. They can tell a story. Incite emotion. Plus they give us video game TV hosts that make me drool.
Should video games be rated? Absolutely. Just like movies, there's things in a video game that I have no problems processing as "just a video game" that I wouldn't want my 4 year old (when he/she gets here, mind you) to watch. Just like you wouldn't take a 4 year old to see "Natural Born Killers" or "Kill Bill Vol. 1". But hey, guess what? Video games are rated just like the movies.
Do video games rewire your brain? Depends on who you talk to. The scientific community, those bastions of "let's create a study to find out that oxygen is harmful", have never found a concrete connection between the violence you may find in video games causing a person to re-enact that crime. Do they make me slam stuff on the floor? God yes. Do they make me want to punch Turb in the face? Yes, but that's because he was an ass, not because of the violence. If you were a person with a weak conscience, could this lead to something more? Sure, in the same way a weak-conscienced person might smoke a cigarette, and then immediately go out and smoke crack.
Where am I going with all this? I am launching a national, public, personal crusade against this guy. He says if you play a violent video game, you automatically turn into a violent, malicious killing machine.
Let's take him at his word. Assume he's absolutely correct. Whatever you do in a video game, your brain is automatically rewired and you feel compulsed, urged, and a burning desire to replicate what you've seen. Ever played this game before? It's really good. You roll stuff up into a ball. You can roll up anything into a ball: buildings, people, snowmen, mermaids, clouds. How come I'm not out trying to roll my coworkers into a giant, sticky ball? How come I can't add a Thunder God to my collection, or find one of my cousins, roll him up, and then be able to challenge him in a multiplayer setting?
See, if make a broad, sweeping generalization, then you have to hold that generalization for everything. If a game rewires your head to turn you into a killer, then a game like Madden could rewire my head and turn me into the next Ray Lewis. Why hasn't Donkey Konga turned me into a beat poet? And last time I checked, Resident Evil 4 hasn't made me want to go murder Spanish townsfolk, although it has given me 3 heart attacks.
There is a problem with video games, but it starts well before you even put the disk into the console. Jimmy goes to the store with mommy (who we'll say is an attractive, single mother of 27). Jimmy wants a game. Jimmy grabs "Bloodstar 18: Massacre at Red Dawn Over Phoenix". Mommy goes to the register, pays for everything, and leaves. Mommy comes back in because she forgot Jimmy, gives me her number, and leaves again. Jimmy plays "Bloodstar 18: Massacre at Red Dawn Over Phoenix", then goes on a 15 state rampage, conveniently skipping over Phoenix because it was already wiped out.
The problem? It's not the kid. It's not the game. It's not the developers. It's not the console.
It's the mom.
Did she bother to read the title of the game? No. Did she see that the rating was "N" for "This Game Should Be Played By No One"? No. Did she even look at the package? Nope, because she was too busy giving her number out (editor's note to mother: I'll call you).
When I was a kid, my parents bought the video games. The most malicious thing I saw? Street Fighter 2 Turbo.
What's my point? Just because a video game is violent does not mean it turns you into a psycho killer. Hell, the news is talks about violence all the time, yet nobody wants to censor the news. (Actually, I take that back. There probably is some freak that wants to censor the news. People want to censor EVERYTHING). The problem is personal responsibility. Let's see a parent stand up and say, "Yes, I bought something for my kid that wasn't designed for him". Let's see someone actually take the blame instead of trying to pass it off. Let's see people quit being wusses and grow some skin.
Now, does anyone know where I can find a katamari? The King Of All Cosmos really needs a star that's 6 meters, and I've got some soy sauce containers to roll up.
K bye.
Right out of the box, this is some serious stuff.
I am a video game proponent. I love them. I play them, my brother plays them, my friends play, my parents have tried them, and my kids will play them if they so desire.
Why do I like them? Time killer. In some cases, a great challenge. They can tell a story. Incite emotion. Plus they give us video game TV hosts that make me drool.
Should video games be rated? Absolutely. Just like movies, there's things in a video game that I have no problems processing as "just a video game" that I wouldn't want my 4 year old (when he/she gets here, mind you) to watch. Just like you wouldn't take a 4 year old to see "Natural Born Killers" or "Kill Bill Vol. 1". But hey, guess what? Video games are rated just like the movies.
Do video games rewire your brain? Depends on who you talk to. The scientific community, those bastions of "let's create a study to find out that oxygen is harmful", have never found a concrete connection between the violence you may find in video games causing a person to re-enact that crime. Do they make me slam stuff on the floor? God yes. Do they make me want to punch Turb in the face? Yes, but that's because he was an ass, not because of the violence. If you were a person with a weak conscience, could this lead to something more? Sure, in the same way a weak-conscienced person might smoke a cigarette, and then immediately go out and smoke crack.
Where am I going with all this? I am launching a national, public, personal crusade against this guy. He says if you play a violent video game, you automatically turn into a violent, malicious killing machine.
Let's take him at his word. Assume he's absolutely correct. Whatever you do in a video game, your brain is automatically rewired and you feel compulsed, urged, and a burning desire to replicate what you've seen. Ever played this game before? It's really good. You roll stuff up into a ball. You can roll up anything into a ball: buildings, people, snowmen, mermaids, clouds. How come I'm not out trying to roll my coworkers into a giant, sticky ball? How come I can't add a Thunder God to my collection, or find one of my cousins, roll him up, and then be able to challenge him in a multiplayer setting?
See, if make a broad, sweeping generalization, then you have to hold that generalization for everything. If a game rewires your head to turn you into a killer, then a game like Madden could rewire my head and turn me into the next Ray Lewis. Why hasn't Donkey Konga turned me into a beat poet? And last time I checked, Resident Evil 4 hasn't made me want to go murder Spanish townsfolk, although it has given me 3 heart attacks.
There is a problem with video games, but it starts well before you even put the disk into the console. Jimmy goes to the store with mommy (who we'll say is an attractive, single mother of 27). Jimmy wants a game. Jimmy grabs "Bloodstar 18: Massacre at Red Dawn Over Phoenix". Mommy goes to the register, pays for everything, and leaves. Mommy comes back in because she forgot Jimmy, gives me her number, and leaves again. Jimmy plays "Bloodstar 18: Massacre at Red Dawn Over Phoenix", then goes on a 15 state rampage, conveniently skipping over Phoenix because it was already wiped out.
The problem? It's not the kid. It's not the game. It's not the developers. It's not the console.
It's the mom.
Did she bother to read the title of the game? No. Did she see that the rating was "N" for "This Game Should Be Played By No One"? No. Did she even look at the package? Nope, because she was too busy giving her number out (editor's note to mother: I'll call you).
When I was a kid, my parents bought the video games. The most malicious thing I saw? Street Fighter 2 Turbo.
What's my point? Just because a video game is violent does not mean it turns you into a psycho killer. Hell, the news is talks about violence all the time, yet nobody wants to censor the news. (Actually, I take that back. There probably is some freak that wants to censor the news. People want to censor EVERYTHING). The problem is personal responsibility. Let's see a parent stand up and say, "Yes, I bought something for my kid that wasn't designed for him". Let's see someone actually take the blame instead of trying to pass it off. Let's see people quit being wusses and grow some skin.
Now, does anyone know where I can find a katamari? The King Of All Cosmos really needs a star that's 6 meters, and I've got some soy sauce containers to roll up.
K bye.
posted by Rich @ 9:03 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home