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Annual Video Game Report Card Is Positive, For Once
Every year, the National Institute on Media and the Family releases a report card which grades various aspects of the video game industry on how well they keep "inappropriate" games out of the hands of children. This year's report was largely positive, which is surprising given the history of strong criticism by the Institute. They acknowledged that gaming is becoming a much bigger part of family life than it was in the past, and they're making an effort to shift the focus onto the parents to keep their kids' gaming habits under control. The full report is available here (PDF), and Game Daily has an interview with Entertainment Software Alliance CEO Michael Gallagher which touches on some of the same issues.
They acknowledged that gaming is becoming a much bigger part of family life than it was in the past
Great news! Where can I pre-order Manhunt 3: Family Edition?
Trolling is a art,
For Once? I distinctly remember the gaming industry scoring well every single year that they've been graded. Who's hosting this year's report card?
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
Is it only me or "INCOMPLETE" means "FAILS MISERABLY" in this case?
Especially when they use the grade on parental involvement and they talk about how much parents got no clue on how the game console that their child use has options for them that they had no clue it existed!
The media should stop saying that the kids are becoming violent because they play violent videogames.... They should say that the kids are playing violent videogames because parents don't care about what their kids do when they play, not even when they "virtualy murder people".
They shouldn't receive an award for this. I'm sorry, but telling the video game industry they're doing a good job of "keeping inappropriate" content out of the hands of children is both a slap in the face to the parents that should be watching what their kids are buying, and a slap in the face to the kids who buy these games hoping for something interesting, only to find talking frogs, barbie, and games where everybody gets along and wins -- when they're 14! Why can they go see a few hundred zombies get set on fire, shot at, or otherwise die in the theatre (as long as they're all non-smoking zombies), but can't get the same thing in a video game? This entire idea of "for the sake of the children" has gone too far when children aren't encouraged to take risks and make their own decisions. These "appropriate" video games... I've seen them -- They suck so hard they're in danger of forming an event horizon.
My 12 year old kid sister has been fed a steady diet of these "positive self-esteem" books, videos, and games. Last year I tried to show her Happy Feet (it's a movie, look it up) and she couldn't get past the halfway point because that's where the penguin "got sad". I tried showing her some "real" video games, only to have mom come down on me like a ton of bricks... So it's back to watching bubbles with numbers in it and talking animals. And then mom (and other parents from Generation "Precious Snowflake") wonders why she has no inclination to read, write, do her homework, clean up after herself, or even brush her teeth...
Well, duh... it's because she's being fed sanitized crap that is the electronic equivalent of valium every day!
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
They changed the subjects every time in four consecutive years? With so little consistency the grades don't mean anything.
Parents shouldn't buy their kids games that they consider inappropriate (Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, etc). They should keep an eye on them to make sure they don't play these games.
Those using pirated Tinysoft signatures(TM) are a real threat to society and should all be thrown in jail.
From the summary and they're making an effort to shift the focus onto the parents to keep their kids' gaming habits under control. If that is not a sudden out a break of common sense, I don't know what else could be.
--- "When you gotta do something wrong. You gotta do it right. (Fighter)"
Seriously, now, why do we even give a short one for what the "National Institute on Media and the Family" think?
Did they even think before choosing that name ?
National Instutite on Media and the Family.
N.I.M.F. ... Nymph?!
I'm going to found the Coalition of Unsolicited Neutering of Fundamentalist Sectists.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
I haven't read the report from these people in previous years, but the last few pages are recommendations for parents on how to monitor their children's game use. That's good for parents who want to do a good job supervising but don't have the "technical" knowledge on how to do it.
I have to wonder about a couple of things though. The blurbs for games they recommend and games they avoid all look like they came from marketing departments. In a way, it's good that they're not editorializing too much about the games, but at the same time it makes it look like they didn't play the games themselves.
The other thing is this report is 31 pages long? I'm not shopping for children so I just skimmed to the end, but it seems overlong for most folks who don't already know they need the information.
When the axe came to the forest, the trees said, "Look out - the handle was once one of us."
Well, we did give Video Game a stern talking to after mid-terms to straighten up and fly right.
Their list of games to be concerned about looks like the best "Top 10 Games for Christmas" list I've seen yet.
'If Christ had tweeted the sermon on the mount, it might have lasted until nightfall.' - John Perry Barlow
Video games have been around for about 40 years. To put them in some kind of special category that needs unique oversight or attention is just ridiculous, alarmist behaviour. Kids have been entertaining themselves with one thing or another as long as humankind has been around. They play with fire, fight, pick on and make fun of each other, climb to dangerous heights in trees or towers, toy with combustibles and explosives... sometimes they get hurt, sometimes they die, but video games haven't altered childhood in any significant way.
Of course parents should be aware of the games they're playing, but no more so than they should be aware of everything their child is doing.
It's frustrating that the world is scrambling to deal with computers, cellphones, video games, movies, etc. They haven't really changed the nature of what it is to be human. We had Sweeney Todd, The Tell-Tale Heart, King Lear, and MacBeth long before we had video games. Kids have been getting warped ideas into their head as long as human imagination has existed. Sometimes kids even act out those fantasies to horrific ends which I don't believe is any more frequent either before or after the advent of video games.
As much as people want to attribute violence to video games, people are very quick to hush up once they realize the perpetrator of the latest school shooting, mall shooting, or spree killing wasn't even a gamer. For the first 48 hours, dozens of investigative reporters tried to draw a line between the Virginia Tech killer and Quake/GTA/Halo until they realized he didn't like video games or TV for that matter.
The whole video games : violence angle is a dead horse.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
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The video game is not a movie.
That is why the game based movie sucks rocks.
It is also why the action game based movie has an adolescent male demographic, which for the theater owner also sucks rocks.
The geek knows this - but balks at admitting that a movie is not a video game. That it is a different experience with a different set of rules.
The movie runs 90 minutes to two hours and you sit at a significant physical and psychological distance from the action.
You are not hunched over a keypad role-playing Hannibal Lector for the better part of two weeks --- or two months.
I tried showing her some "real" video games, only to have mom come down on me like a ton of bricks...
There was earlier story today about a geek who wanted to give his two year old son a laptop. Computer For a Child?
"Generation Snowflake" reads - but reads books which share her own interests and values, and it these books which are being successfully adapted into films. `Twilight' is the new breed of chick flick
There are more on the way, including James Patterson's Maximum Ride.
So lets see video games have been available and around for 30-40 years. And so how many "violent" acts have been caused by video games? Very few. How many injuries have been caused by video games? Very few. I think people better ask your parents how they spent time as a child/teenager and you will find that many of them shot themselves/others in BB gun fights, played with M-80s and other high-powered fireworks, played violent games of "cops and robbers", and most of them probably got hurt doing such things. On the other hand even if I kill every virtual living thing in Manhunt or GTA nothing really happens except the kid might become obese possibly. Today kids are much, much, safer playing even the most violent video games today then playing games 40-50 years ago.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Video games are no more responsible for violence than guns are responsible for killing.
"Who modded this informative? Whoever it is must've been smokin' some of that martian pot!"
It might be better in general but it's never been worse in Australia.
They've been idiotic for so many years that they can't possbily have any credibility left, which means that, like Jack Thompson, it is best to ignore them then to give them any credence by reporting on them.