Dirty Dozen- The Most Dangerous Toys of 2001

An anonymous reader pointed us to The Dirty Dozen which lists the most dangerous toys for children. #1 on the list is Metal Gear Solid 2 (which I finished this weekend and highly recommend) Also making the cut are Gundam and Dragonball Zaction figures (nothing scarier then Bulma on a bad hair day I guess), Super Street Fighter II and Doom. Of course the specific version of doom they classify as one of the most dangerous toys of 2001 is the Game Boy Advanced port, and I gotta agree with them on the GBA thing, those things are dangerous. Play for more then 30 minutes, and you go blind.

Comments

Re:Dangerous?

[Erasmus Darwin]

"Nobody's imposing anything on you."

They're arguable trying. Here's a link to their testimony to Congress. They're apparently trying to get Congressional support so that action figure tie-ins from M-rated video games don't get marketed to children.

They've gone from "inform" to "lobby", in my opinion.

Re:I agree.

[Shelled]

Somewhere I have a picture of (I believe) the police chief of Chicago back in the fifties watching as his mayor takes a sledge hammer to a pinball machine. For Slashdot readers too young to have seen one, a pinball machine was a mechanical device involving a steel ball, some solenoid actuated bumpers, a couple of electro-mechanical paddles and lots of gaudy paint. It was a photo op for the city's campaign to rid themselves of this corrupting and desensitizing influence. Since the city had just finished collecting and destroying ten large numbers of machines taken from independant operators, they most certainly felt just as strongly about pinball's influence as you do about violence/porn/horror.

Re:Hmm....

[plover]

I think this site is right on the money. Sure, it's good for a laugh for the more mature types who read slashdot (yes, that was a troll, sorry I couldn't resist!) but it's simply a group of like-minded parents who want to shield their kids from violent toys. If you're of a mind, join them. If not, LET THEM BE. It doesn't affect nor concern you.

And whether or not you think shielding kids from violence is right or wrong, it's NOT your decision. It's the parent's decision. This web site simply lets parents share their finds. If I was Jane Clueless I might not know that Shadow Cat wasn't just another K'nex toy, but I might want to know that it fires missiles.

Something else for you breeding types to consider is that kids do take notice of their parents approvals and disapprovals. If Mom & Dad consistently say "No" to violent games, Junior does pick up on that. He may rebel and go seek those violent games out on his own, but that's part of growing up too. Deep down, though, he does learn that mom considers violence wrong. What he chooses to do with that knowledge makes him his own individual.

All in all, it's just another "Move along, nothing to see here" kind of story, (other than a kind of cool shopping list.)

John

Re:You mean there are 12 things to blame?

[sketerpot]

For the record, I'm a Christian. That's right, let the flames begin.

I'm not, but I won't flame you. Please, no one else flame for so crazy a reason.

And yes, if I had kids I would not object to them doing the same, but at the same time I would teach them the differences between firing a virtual bullet, and firing a real one, and the major responsibilities inherent with any real-life firearm.

Exactly. If half the effort these people spent on web page design was put into teching kids about ethics and the consequences of their actions, the world would be a happier place.

Political correctness can often be incorrect in reality. I have played various first-person shooters, often deathmatches with my cousins, and it is just fun, not turning me into a psychopath. If anything it causes more friendship because we entertain each other with our funniest jokes. I wouldn't dream about taking a flame thrower to anyone in real life.

End parental neglect; teach people ethics!