Parents and the Media VS Video Games - Page 2

November 10, 2007, 11:31 PM

I'll have to agree with Phantarch on this. It's really a matter of choice. I know there are some people out there who play violent video games to release that violent energy they have accumulated and stored in their own being. Does that make them violent? Well, that depends whether they choose to do something stupid and think they can get away with it by blaming the video games that they play everyday. Same goes to the parents. It's their responsibility to know what their children play and decide whether the levels are appropriate for their age. (Nudity, sex, gore, etc.)

Otherwise, they have themselves to blame for if their kid choose to imitate something he saw in videogames. The games have no faults. They are created and labeled to its appropriate audience - hence, the rating system. I, for one, am okay with the rating system so far. It's there for a reason...I know it, everyone knows it. Those who sells the video games pretty much do their part already by asking for ID's.

Now it's the parents job to not give in to little brats like little Johnny who constantly demands "Please please please, I want this so much, it looks so cool...I need to have it now!" ...And what do you know, the parent gives in anyway because their child is just too cute, despite the "M" rating plastered on the front cover.

So it's really all about choices and responsibilities - both for the gamers and parents part. Gamers have a choice not to imitate the violence they see (and really, it's so damn easy not to imitate...this coming from me and many others, I'm sure) and be responsible for their own actions. Parents have the choice to buy what games are more appropriate for their kids, and be responsible to be just that - as a parent... and for whatever outcomes may happen...just as long as they don't correlate the negativity in their life to video games just because their little Johnny gets caught up in various messy situations at an early age.

November 11, 2007, 2:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerridwen

How do you feel about parents and the media going against video games? If your a parent, or if you ever become a parent would you let your child play rated Teen or Mature games? Do your parents give you a hard time on what video games you play?

I'll post my opinion later about this topic.

I feel that placing the blame on video games requires a serious lack of parenting skills. I mean how hard is it to tell your kids that what they play on video games doen't happen in real life. And if they fail to understand that then the paerent haven't really tried to discuss this topic with their kids. When I was young, hell even now my dad always bugz me about the money I spend on game systems. Since I was a kid he always made sure I got out and did something and didn't sit in front of the screen all day, plus his fishing shows came on around that time. What I'm sayin is it's not that hard, if your kid can't tell the difference between reality and a game you've fail as a parent/guardian. Harsh I know, but no one is to blame but yourself.

November 11, 2007, 4:56 PM

The whole 'Blame the parents, not the game' mentality is kinda the wrong way to go about it. You could argue that parents buying games that they themselves know isn't right is wrong (which it is), and a large part of that is because of complete ignorance of what games today consist of.

But I feel that if a kid goes out to kill someone or is incredibly violent then that someone must have to some sort of extent mental problems. Blaming the games entirely for this behaviour is a poor excuse but at the same time just saying it's the parents fault is wrong as well or at least not completely right. Some kids can be complete bastards no matter what the parents do.

November 11, 2007, 5:05 PM

Ok..
It's 50/50 with the Responsibity Bottom line is parents should be involved and well aware of what games their children are playing the rating of the game is important I guess, my parents neve cared about it and I came out alright, they never knew games were rated like movies.. But soley placing the blame on Video games is so wrong because games don't raise children or their not suposed to, anyway...

November 11, 2007, 5:17 PM

My issue is that everyone who defends games by just attacking the parents is just as single minded as the parents/politicians/arsewipes like Jack Thompson who blame it for every negative aspect of humanity. It doesn't solve anything since neither group is 100% correct in every case.

Media of any sort can influence how some acts of violence can be acted out (there was a Matrix inspired incident from years back for example) but there has to be a problem with the individual for them to actually commit such acts in the first place.

But gaming is a cheap target in this argument and so gets more of the flak compared to movies and music and will continue to be like that for the foreseeable future since people like to have a good easy way to put the blame on something else rather than address the real issue.

November 11, 2007, 6:08 PM

I see your point, Scrutator. But what I'm saying is that for those parents who constantly blame the video games because their children are heading in the wrong direction is just not fair. That's why I stated that it's also their responsibility as a parent to know what kind of games their children are playing. If it's rated "E" or "T", no problem. And if the kid still choose to do something stupid, that's the kid's problem - not the parent.

However, if it's cases like parents buying their kids games that evidently have adult materials in it, and they blame the games later down the road due to their kids not growing up right...then that's pretty shallow, don't you think? That's just them putting the blame on something else, like you've stated. Now that's why I'm reiterating it again...be responsible for your own actions. I'm not saying blame the parents. In fact, don't blame anyone or anything at all. I probably worded it wrong earlier...but my point is, just be accountable for whatever it is you do. Both gamers and parents. Because if not, then that's where problem arises.

November 11, 2007, 8:56 PM

It's funny how the Media pick out the extreme parts of the game and just totally forget about the rest. Not to mention they target games rather than movies. There are movies that are 10x sicker than any video game - Hostel 1+2, Saw 1,2,3,4 , Hannibal movies/Silence of the Lambs just to name a few.
They have Adult themes on it too, yet they get released no problem.

November 13, 2007, 12:50 PM

The thing is really that parents don't have 100% control from the age of >6. Maybe Albert Bandura's social learning theory can be applied up till then but not after. It is not the parent's fault (most of the time), neither is it the game's fault (lacking all of the characteristics of a sentient being). The media makes an ass of itself more times than Britney Spears has released crap songs which have ended up singles (which is a fair amount).

The media does also have a go at films but sometimes games surpass the bloodiness of even Kill Bill. E.g. the Mortal Kombat games. you can't just set everything into one category as there are various issues to be taken into account and then there's that everyone is unique and so the whole picture is greater than the sum of however many parts you wish to break it into.

November 13, 2007, 7:39 PM

The reason why gaming gets a lot more stick than other media is because it's an interactive form of media, references to GTA as a 'murder sim' in the past is the best example of this view. Some people think that acting out events on a computer game is more likely to influence you rather than watching a movie etc.

It's basically because of this view exists and that gaming is an easy target over films and the like since gaming is a medium that's only recently been considered truly mainstream that this utter BS continues.