Oohhboy, wrote:
"The rating systems are already in place to help parents filter out for their own kids what is suitible or not. It is just that most parents these days don't give a flying F*** what happens to their kids and when something does go wrong, they are too busy absolving themselfs of personal responsiblity to fix the problem. No console V-chip is going to solve the underlying social problem. House said it best "Parents are stupid, incompetant and liars"."
A tall statement, if you ask me. Since when has all parents suddenly become stupid, incompetent liars? Perhaps you would be so kind and tell me where they live? I have only seen parents who care for their kids, and who would not be found dead with their kids sitting around them playing ultra-violent games - even if you tried to force them to make them do so. And I will tell you right away, that if parents they don´t give a damn what their kids are playing, they will disturb their moral values right from the start. Kids don´t know anything when they are born, they have to learn it all from scratch. So what do you think it will teach them, if they sit and play an ultra violent game where they get POINTS for consciously performing the most violent kills? It will teach them that it is OK to DO so! There is simply no discussion about it, it has been proved that violence of that level seen in MH2 directly affects people who play it in the way of moving their acceptance to violence up (IGN article, but I have seen it elsewhere too). Kids are even more easily influenced, and so they will be double affected. What they will do, become if not properly reared and influenced only time can tell.
The way I understand it from the many replies to my original argument against MH2 is that these days money starts to matter more than moral values. I always though of Nintendo as a videogame company which was first and foremost interested in making games for fun and entertainment. Not money alone. Sure money matters, without them you can´t get far. But there is a clear difference between focusing on making games for the sake of entertainment, and making games for the sake of money! I hope that Nintendo and Reggie wont lose their heads in the quest to once again become the market leader! If they do, NIntendo will to me nolobger be the family friendly company that they have become so famous for being. Right now I still believe in them.
While I as stated in my previous reply now understand grown up people´s motivation for playing such games, I maintain that kids should NOT play that kind of games at all. And it will be the problem of society worldwide to deal with whatever comes out of not restricting their access to them. It looks an awefull lot like an emerging break down of society, if parents begin to give a hoot what their kids are exposed to and influenced by! Kids are the adults of tomorrow! We should all be carefull what we shape them to become. I can tell you that I will never drop my insistance that you gotta be so carefull about what you teach kids. They will become what you make them, with your input. Because they know nothing from the start, like an empty computer whom someone programs!
Why do you think there are so many adults who got damaged in childhood by this or that experience which was imprinted in their minds, and who now have to be brought back on the right track through theraphy? Yes I know they didn´t have games then, the way we do now. But they had other things which could affect them. I have always read about- and watched programmes on tv about such cases. No kidding, this is real. It happened to people before, and it will happen to people again. Sooner or later it will manifest itself in peoples behaviour one way or the other. Kids can certainly be adversely affected, if not seriously disturbed by ultra violent content in games. Some kids are certainly more easily affected than others. The game companies should keep that in mind when they make games for the worlds people to play. I therefore still maintain that a parental lock out system is the only solution to keeping kids from playing adult gaming content on consoles! And the age restriction system is no barrier at all. Kids are incredibly capable of circumventing rules if they want to (say, to get liquor they aren´t allowed to buy), and here they don´t even have to. The games are freely available to take down from the shelves over at EB Games, and they can get somebody older to buy them Ăf not allowed themselves by the store clerk or -manager.