When is it no longer "just a game?"

[cheezMcNASTY]

i mean, they do give every game a rating, and list any and all questionable content, no matter how minute on the cover. there is no mysticism, and all retail employees are trained to tell all parents exactly what's listed prior to the games purchase.

at gamestop, i was required by law to do it. if i didn't, i could have gone to jail and been fined hundreds to thousands of dollars. every parent who buys their kid an "M" rated game is on camera consenting awareness of the ESRB rating system.

the sad thing is how many of them just filter it out and nod. hell, i wasn't even allowed to talk about M rated games to minors unless asked with a parent present. the parents are indisputably the problem here.

EVERY TIME a parent comes back and says "WHY'D YOU SELL MY KID THIS GARBAGE" to which i reply "WHY'D YOU BUY HIM THAT GARBAGE?! I TOLD YOU WHAT WAS IN IT WHEN YOU BOUGHT IT". all i can do really is show them AGAIN, assure them there's security footage, and redirect them to http://whattheyplay.com/ for future reference.

how some parents can be so stupid is completely beyond me.

 

[darkslayer13]

^ I've got a question. When you say "it's human nature" do you mean buying up stuff or enjoying violence?

both.

 

[wallE156]

Not trying to disrespect anyone on here cause no one is really "complaining" about it. But it REALLY irks me when people complain that games are too violent, sending subliminal messages, etc. In my opinion a game will always be what it is, a game. Same with movies and books. I mean, people like f%*@ing Jack Thompson come around and try to play judge, jury, and executioner on the industry because there are things they don't like about it. When does free will come into play? Instead of trying to censor or even ban a game cause you don't like it, why don't you just NOT PLAY IT?? No one is forcing you to...And I think the whole argument about violent games causing violence in the real world is a bunch of BS. I've been playing violent games like Mortal Kombat literally for as long as I can remember. And to this day I've never harmed another human being, hell even when I was jumped in the 8th grade I didn't feel an urge to fight back. Now if a child plays a game and wants to act it out in real life, maybe the parent should be monitoring what that child plays, or better yet teach them the difference between fiction and reality. Blaming child violence on games is basically an excuse by parents so they don't have to accept the blame themselves. To end my little rant I'd just like to state that no matter what a game will always be game, nothing more. Unless YOU take it as something more, and if you do...is that really the game's/developer's fault?? Again no disrespect to anyone on here ^_^

 

[Devil Hunter 95]

If people are complaining about someone playing a violent game, for example an 8 year old, they shouldn't have bought the game for them in the first place and is complaining about what they did, but don't want to prove it.

So for people like that I just gotta say: **** off and let me play what I wanna play.

 

[wallE156]

If people are complaining about someone playing a violent game, for example an 8 year old, they shouldn't have bought the game for them in the first place and is complaining about what they did, but don't want to prove it.

So for people like that I just gotta say: **** off and let me play what I wanna play.

Amen to that

 

[Richtofen]

i mean, they do give every game a rating, and list any and all questionable content, no matter how minute on the cover. there is no mysticism, and all retail employees are trained to tell all parents exactly what's listed prior to the games purchase.

at gamestop, i was required by law to do it. if i didn't, i could have gone to jail and been fined hundreds to thousands of dollars. every parent who buys their kid an "M" rated game is on camera consenting awareness of the ESRB rating system.

the sad thing is how many of them just filter it out and nod. hell, i wasn't even allowed to talk about M rated games to minors unless asked with a parent present. the parents are indisputably the problem here.

EVERY TIME a parent comes back and says "WHY'D YOU SELL MY KID THIS GARBAGE" to which i reply "WHY'D YOU BUY HIM THAT GARBAGE?! I TOLD YOU WHAT WAS IN IT WHEN YOU BOUGHT IT". all i can do really is show them AGAIN, assure them there's security footage, and redirect them to http://whattheyplay.com/ for future reference.

how some parents can be so stupid is completely beyond me.

Exactly, if you don't want your child to play a rated M game, don't get it. It's rated M for a reason, it even states Violence, gore, explict content somewhere on the case!

 

[Devil Hunter 95]

Parents are just getting more stupid about this topic every generation. I got nothing against parents it's just they need to wise up and pay attention to what they are doing or about to do.

 

[Meg]

We should start the "Parents to Play Games" campaign. We'll raise money to get parents PS3/360s and some games, so when they walk into Game Stop this holiday season to by their ten year old a game they will know what the heck they are doing.

Honesty, I went on whattheyplay.com just to see what's on it and its obvious the people that write that stuff have never played a game in their life. So now we have uninformed parents telling other uninformed parents what to get their kids. Anyone else see the problem here?

 

[Richtofen]

We should start the "Parents to Play Games" campaign. We'll raise money to get parents PS3/360s and some games, so when they walk into Game Stop this holiday season to by their ten year old a game they will know what the heck they are doing.

Honesty, I went on whattheyplay.com just to see what's on it and its obvious the people that write that stuff have never played a game in their life. So now we have uninformed parents telling other uninformed parents what to get their kids. Anyone else see the problem here?

When parents hear a good review about a game, they are like; "hey, it doesn't sound that bad. My kid might like it." So on and so forth, it goes for those parents who heard positive reviews and play the telephone game where you tell other parents with kids that their children might like it too. Then bam, they get a surprise of their life when they give their child a game with explict content.

Use common sense people! Look into the game before buying.

 

[Meg]

I guess it shouldn't be to surprising that people are this stupid considering how if someone attacks you any attempt at self defense will result in you getting in trouble to. Yaaaaay.

 

[Richtofen]

...That's why there are instructions on A LOT of products. :lol:

 

[moseslmpg]

In the case of violent or misbehaving kids, parents always want to pass the blame of their kid's bad behavior on everyone or everything else except for themselves. They blame Grand Theft Auto, blame God Of War, blame Manhunt, blame Assassin's Creed, or whatever and say its the cause of violence in youth...which is bull****.

Like the story of this kid killing his brother because of Call Of Duty or some **** and want to see if he would "respawn" or some ****. Thats not Infinity Ward's or Activision's fault cause the kid is a mentally challenged, sociopathic dip****.


BTW...this applies to the thread so...whatever.

Aren't you just passing the blame to the parents because you don't want to think your beloved hobby could be responsible for such atrocious acts? I think it is naive and dishonest of gamers to come to the defense of gaming whenever anyone accuses it of even remotely being connected with violent acts, and it just impeaches their opinion for being so blindly devoted, in my eyes.. Granted, I don't agree that games are the cause of violence, but they definitely don't help. If you actually take the time to study and analyze games and their culture, you would see how they send extremely violent messages while also desensitizing people to violence, and how they are not analogous to games or movies. And like I said, as games become more realistic, the "it's only a game" excuse is becoming less applicable.

If you have ever played a game that has elicited a visceral response from you, then it is no longer just a game. While our conscious minds may be able to tell the difference between what is on the screen and what is real (and even that is becoming increasingly difficult), the more primitive parts of our brain cannot. And that is why we can enjoy movies and games rather than seeing them as random dots of light o a screen.

That said, I don't believe that it is the producers' fault per se, although I feel that they will need to shoulder more responsibility as the industry matures and becomes more popular, but I believe it is just as gross a generalization to assume that the kids were just "bad seeds" and they would have done these things either way. The media that people consume do determine how they think and how they act, and how gamers think and act isn't exactly exemplary as it is, so taking such a high-and-mighty position, as if they are vanguards of free artistic expression and philosophical inquiry is just unbecoming and pathetic IMO.

And BTW, parents are not their children, they cannot control what their children think and do at all times. Even children raised by good parents can become murderers or psychopaths, and children raised by abusive parents can grow up well adjusted and virtuous. Blaming the parents constantly seems to me to simply reveal the underlying childishness of the current defense of videogames as totally innocuous. Many of you sound like you have some huge beef that you never dealt with concerning your parents,and it is just stupid.

Parents don't have time to be playing every game their child wants or "wising up" to rapidly changing technological advancements. They tend to be busy doing something called "work" to provide for their families and keep their snot-nosed, unappreciative rugrats satisfied and happy.

This goes for all of you using the same cop-outs.

Meg: Over here, you can even kill someone in self defense if you have to, and be exonerated. I don't know where you live, but if it is illegal to defend yourself, you should probably move.

 

[wallE156]

@moseslmpg First of all I commend you on being the devil's advocate, I do have some disagreements with your argument however. While I do agree that violent video games can be a problem for those not mature enough to handle them, the blame shouldn't fall upon the industry when a child plays a game way beyond their maturity level. That should be left up to the parents to decide whether or not their child is mature enough. I also agree with you that parents are not their kids, and to add on that, all kids are different. But if a parent doesn't know what their child can handle then maybe they need to be spending less time buying "M" rated games for their kid and more time with their kid in general getting to know them better. For example, my parents felt that at around age 9 or so, I was mature enough to play games like Mortal Kombat and Doom. So I did, and I've managed to avoid killing anyone thus far. I don't know if you read my previous post but I went into more detail on that.

And if parents don't have time to learn about the games their children are playing then maybe they shouldn't be buying their kids video games. I agree that MOST kids are unappreciative but if a parent thinks of their child as nothing but a "snot-nosed, unappreciative rugrat," then maybe that person should have matured a little themselves before deciding to have children.

While it is childish to ALWAYS cast the blame on parents, the same can be said of those on the other side of the fence, the people who always cast the blame on video games.

All in all I stand by what I say that no matter how realistic a game gets it will still be just a game. I agree that some people don't realize this, but they need to. This is all IMO btw. I'm not trying to offend you or anything moseslmpg, I'm just trying to make a good argument ^_^

@Meg is self defense really illegal where you live? Or are you referring to a different setting such as school? Cause if so I see what you mean.

 

[Meg]

Ah, moses, I can always count on you to come in with strongly worded arguments. Basically what wallE said. Yes the parents don't have time to know everything about what their kids play. That's why I suggested the joke campaign of buying parents games for them to play. =]

Oh and with the self defense thing, I was referring to American schools.

On a somewhat related note, I'm sick to death of people saying gamers are desensitized to violence. I'm sure as hell not. :dry:

 

[wallE156]

^^^ I'm not desensitized to it either. I know first hand that seeing it happen in a movie or game and seeing it/feeling it in real life are completely different. And I kinda figured you were referring to schools, I know how that goes. :dry:

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

I'm most assuredly not desensitized to violence. I got in trouble breaking up a fight in my school, but did it feel good doing it? Yeah. I did something good. I don't care what others think so long as I know I did the right thing by preventing them both from getting injured at the cost of my own health.

 

[Richtofen]

You got in trouble for breaking up a fight? That's lame. They should be more appreciative that you stopped something before it could escalate any further.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

I'm just glad that I DID stop it. I got a bloody nose, but it was worth it for delivering justice.

 

[aka958]

I'm just glad that I DID stop it. I got a bloody nose, but it was worth it for delivering justice.

Meddling in other's affairs?

How did the fight turn out then? Was it a one sided smash party while the other side just covered or was it a fight?

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Meddling in other's affairs?

How did the fight turn out then? Was it a one sided smash party while the other side just covered or was it a fight?

I knew both people in the matchup, if that helps. One was a total asshat jock and the other was a fairly innocent normal kid. It was the most one-sided fight I've ever seen.