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Parents Need To Be Informed
GamerDad writes "Dave Long looks at the recent gaming controversy and lays the blame squarely on the parents. 'If you didn't talk to them about this game before buying it for your child, then you chose to be uninformed and there's nothing myself, the game maker, the retailer or the government can do to help you. The information is out there. In fact, it's right here on GamerDad. Be smarter next time and take a couple minutes to check it out.'"
If you bought this game for your son or daughter under the age of seventeen, then you should have known this.
Yes, but the original rating was M for Mature, meaning anyone under 17 had to have a parent or guardian's permission to have the game. This means it was legal for Rockstar Games to sell the game to minors with permission. However, for explicit sexual content you must be 18 or older. By the description (I haven't seen it myself) it would probably be classified as pornography, making it illegal to sell to minors (it would no longer be up to a permissive guardian). Originally selling the game with an M rating when in fact it could be classified as pornography could actually be a rather serious issue for Rockstar Games.
The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
Game developers should be free to make whatever game they want. Regulating creation of games is stupid and probably unconstitutional.
Re: Manhunt. Yeah, Rockstar needed to make a game who's basis is to sneak up and kill people. People bought it, played, and enjoyed it. It was a game, people had fun.
Fines: sure, fine people for selling video games to people underage for the rating. Just be sure to do the same damn thing with movies, cds, books and magazines. I can't wait to get carded every time I buy a new game.
Stores getting involved. I hate when store employees try to either convince me to buy more stuff or try to convince me to buy different stuff than what I have. If I didn't want the game, I wouldn't have picked it. If it's store policy to question every purchase of an M game, I'll stop doing business there. I'm a perfectly sane adult who can deal with violence and sex in my entertainment. I do not need some do-gooder store clerk try to convince me not to buy a M game or even question my decision about a purchase.
The Kids themselves: WTF would a parent just take their kids words for granted when they say a M rated game is ok for people not over 17? Kids constantly lie to their parents, either bald-face lies, lies of ommission, or exaggerating. Parents have to be skeptics when it comes to the things their kids tell them, its part of being a parent.
I'll raise my hand and say yes, I've convinced my parents to buy what would have been an M game long before I was 17. But you know what? I was mature enough to handle the games and my parents knew it. That's the way the system is supposed to work. Same way the movie ratings work. Parents are supposed to be allowed to bring their child to an R movie if they deem it OK.
People do make it easier, ESRB ratings work just perfectly fine. Otherwise, a quick internet search on a game title to find reviews and screenshots would quickly tell you the content of any game out there.
Please don't try to dumb down gaming and make games 'kid safe' and ruin my entertainment choices. I'm an adult, I can handle it. And quite frankly, the target market of many video games is not children anymore, its adults.
Parents ARE informed, there was a uk study to that ponit a few weeks ago. They know the ratings and what they mean, but they largely do not care.
The back of the box has a giant "M" on it. It also says:
STRONG VIOLENCE,GORE
STRONG LANGUAGE
STRONG SEXUAL CONTENT
(it might also say DRUG USE)
(not verbatum, but thats the gist)
What more should parents need? What part of STRONG SEXTUAL CONTENT dosnt someone understand?
It IS the parents fault. Period.