Debate on Game Censorship Touches on Weighty Topics

Last night a debate hosted by the XFire gaming chat/social network service went into depth on the subject of game censorship. Participants included notables like Entertainment Consumers Association President Hal Halpin, Sacremento Assemblyman Leland Yee, Escapist Editor Russ Pitts, and GamePolitics blogger Dennis McCauley. Transcripts are available of the discussion both on and off the main floor, and both make for some very interesting reading. From the Escapist post on the event: "On the whole, it would seem that everyone, from the senator on down, is concerned about adult-themed content in games and how to preserve the gamemaker's rights to create such content while simultaneously keeping it out of the hands of minors. The devil, of course, is in the details. Exactly how to go about doing that - and defining the types of content to be restricted - is where we all seemed to disagree wildly."

Comments

Re:Think of the Children

[Puff of Logic]

Part of the problem, at last least as I see it, is that parents think that trying to completely eliminate something from the sphere of perception is more noble than actually educating their kids on what's out there, and why they think it should be avoided. That's where *real* values come from- not the fake "let's all bury our heads in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist" stuff that seems to be more common than not. I agree entirely. While I can certainly understand that parents may believe that their children are not ready to be exposed to some things yet, I think any rational parent has to come to the realisation that their child will be exposed to difficult (or indeed horrifying) ideas, speech, and actions at some point. It is far better, then, to inculcate kids with the mental tools and strength to deal with these things than to send them mentally ill-equipped into the world.

I'd much rather hear a father telling his son that something is "bad" for the moment but with the promise to discuss it at some point when the child is better able to understand, than to see a parent desperately trying to pretend that something doesn't exist at all. Children, contrary to popular belief, aren't stupid and they will know that there is both something out there they don't understand and that Mum/Dad is being evasive. Couple that with a child's innate curiosity and now the kid is going to find out about it anyway, but with either no guidance or the guidance of peers.

I wonder how many pregnancies or STD infections occur because teens "discovered" sex on their own because their parents steadfastly refused to believe that their little angel would have sex before marriage?