Did you know this existed?
http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp
What about this?
http://www.mpaa.org/ratings/what-each-rating-means
Why does the 2nd look more familiar? Maybe because you go to movies and recognize them?
If you recognize the first, then you play video games. And if you play video games... odds are you are in your 30s. Did you know the average age of a video game purchaser is 35? The average gamer is 30 years old and has been playing for 12 years?
I'll sprinkle some more facts in a bit, but the point is simple and premise is simpler: Video games are not just for kids and video games don't cause violence.
There have been no credible studies to support the notion than video games cause violence. That myth is perpetuated by people who don't know what video games actually are, who plays them or who they are made for. Video games (and violent ones at that) are linked to these atrocities because it's always easier to indict than to understand. Don't just take my word for it... look it up. There are NO causal links. To say the two are connected would fly in the face of highly educated doctors, lawyers, and Supreme Court findings.
I got my first computer when I was about eight years old. Santa brought me a Commodore VIC 20 and a 13" TV/monitor. I played Zork on the thing (for all you old school geeks.) I then played on a Commodore 64. I had friends who had Apple II's.
I then played the original NES. (Was the first person I knew to beat Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and the 2nd person I knew to beat Legend of Zelda.)
Then the Sega Genesis. My eventual wife would always kick my butt at Mortal Kombat.
Then the original Playstation.
Then the Playstation 2.
Then the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii.
I'm 38 years old. Been playing AT LEAST 30 years.
I've probably shot and killed nearly a million enemies. Some human. Some cyborgs. I've killed Ares, Zeus and every other Greek god. I've saved the world more times than it deserves and have also let alien civilizations die because stood in my way. Recently, I just killed a human trafficking leader in the South Pacific while slipping into a violence-induced haze and eventually came back from a descent into madness. Oh... and I took a flamethrower to a group of pigs. Bacon anyone?!
I've also cut my own finger off to rescue my son from a serial killer targeting children. I've beaten Tiger Woods in golf (who hasn't lately?) I've won 5 consecutive Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys. (Call me up Jerry!) And I've killed countless zombies with pea shooting plants, venus fly traps and corn cob shooters.
I've shot nuns in the Wild West. Even set them on fire. Even put one on a train track and watched as the train turned her into a blood puddle just so I could add a new trophy to my PS3 profile. I shot my horse in the head as I was riding it, resulting in my being thrown about 50 yards forward... just to see if I could.
And you know what? I laughed. The game actually let me do that.
And I'm normal... ish. Well, at least I haven't committed mass murder in real life. Phew! Society sure dodged a bullet (pardon the pun) with me, huh?
I find it curious that every time one of these events occur, video games are on the short list of contributing factors.
Let's see... most of these murders involve men squarely in the video game demographic. That only makes sense because that is the wheelhouse demographic for who plays them. That's just like saying most shark attacks happen in the ocean. Well, yeah.... That makes sense.
I won't argue the fact that some people may be prone to greater influence. It's possible that while the games don't cause them to do anything, it might help set a mindset and desensitization to what they see. Which leads me to my next point...
Hey, did you know:
* 47% of all gamers are women?
* Women over the age of 18 comprise 30% of all gamers? Boys under 17 represent 18%
* 68% of all gamers are age 18 or older
Still think it's just a kid thing? If the core demographic for video games are that age... then many developers will gear their material TO that group. Common business sense.
But, let's keep going... if 68% are over 18... that means 32% are under 18. (See what I did there?)
Of that 32%... how many parents are educated enough to guide their kids' purchases? Of that group, how many even know the ESRB exists? Of THAT... how many actually research to find out what their kids want to play?
Folks... it's about parenting. I was in a Gamestop one time and a kid probably nine years old grabbed a Call of Duty game (rated M for violence, language and intensity) and gave it to his mom to buy. She looked at it like he handed her army soldiers from the grocery store and that was that.
The clerk didn't say anything to her about the content. (Should he have?)
She didn't even look at what the game contained.
She rubber stamp-purchased that game for little Johnny to shut him up.
As a parent, would you take your nine year old to see Full Metal Jacket? That's a 2 hour film (give or take) set during the Vietnam era. So, their exposure is fairly limited.
Call of Duty? By industry standards, it's a pretty short campaign at about 7 hours. And that's before any multiplayer exposure. Nearly 4 times the exposure in a video game meant for adults.
Call of Duty is not meant for kids.
Dead Space isn't meant for kids.
God of War isn't.
Battlefield isn't.
Mario Brothers is.
So... is the problem the video game or lack of parenting?
I'd argue lack of parenting results in more shootings than anything else combined.
Will Little Johnny turn out to be a mass murderer? Probably not. But who could argue he shouldn't be head-shotting bad guys and cussing up a storm while playing online?
Did you also know these same games are sold overseas? All over Europe, Japan, Africa... name it. And did you know violent crimes are significantly lower in those markets than they are in America? The link is in the background, mindset and upbringing. Not the video game.
The NRA wants to point to video games as a cause. Heck, the video game industry wants to point to gun ownership as a cause. Neither is right. Guns don't kill people and neither do video games.
Amazing how few people want to point to bad parenting as a cause.
Did you know 90% of the time a game is purchased by someone under 18 that a parent is there?
If your kids play games... research what they are playing and asking for. Get off Pinterest for a second. Turn off the football game. Educate yourselves on what they want and grow a backbone if you don't think it's appropriate for your kid.
http://www.theesa.com/facts/index.asp
So you’re telling me that a culture that has passed from fringe to mainstream and glorified, inherently filled with no talent douchebags making money and gaining notoriety for not really DOING anything, talking about how to handle weapons all the while supporting a party that wants to ban them, looking the part they play (poor) and standing on the backs of the people who they dupe every day (hmm, sounds a lot like society as a whole) has nothing to do with the way kids resolve violence and act when they are filled with emotions that they don’t know how to handle. Their icon says to just go kill the mf that wronged him. Ya, that doesn’t sound at all like what happened today, you’re right. …
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, back in reality, society will continue to say “Oh its not the music” or “Oh its not the violence” or “No, they aren’t desensitized to violence through images they see in their fully digitalized world.” Just keep on passing the buck to something else. Where does it end? Who finally steps up and takes responsibility? Who finally sees that it affects different ones in different ways? Just because we are adults and well adjusted doesn’t mean that across the board, all are well adjusted and can discern between how to handle problems in fantasy land and how to handle them in the real world.
What ever happened to fighting to resolve something? Meet me at the flagpole and four oclock and Im gonna beat the crap outta you? Nope, now lets just grap a piece and click off a few rounds, damn the collateral damage that we may cause. Im not saying that this is the culprit, hip hop culture, so put your Milt Ahlerich feelings back in their bags. But when asked how to describe what they do on a cd, some have said: “Gangsta rappers often defend themselves by saying that they are describing the reality(Sic, ya right) of inner-city life, and that they are only ADOPTING A CHARACTER, like an actor playing a role, which behaves in ways that they may not necessarily endorse.”
But do these suburban dbags who can’t fight so they shoot differentiate between the two? I beg to say not. Where are the parents? Where are the guidelines as to when you can make your own decision on what you will and will not listen to? See? Digest? Be exposed to? Mine were always there, and though I thought them a buzzkill then, I appreciate them now. Maybe that is the real root. My dad told me once, “If you’re getting bullied or picked on, you go and crack that bastard in the nose, and don’t worry, because if that was really what made you do it, I won’t be mad.” Now, we are so disjoined from our kids that the dad wasn’t “aware that my kid had a piece.” You weren’t aware because you chose not to be aware. Pull your head out of your rear and get the net.
No Sammy, I don’t just say something to rile someone up. Im tired of society playing every card in the deck besides the responsibility card. Race card, culture card, poverty card, abuse card, money card, environment card, get a grip and play your man card. Be a man and take responsibility. Stop being a baby back pussbag. Not you, men in general.