| dragon_lord |
10-22-2003 07:57 AM |
Personally I would be more worried about what kids are seeing in the real world every day - September 11 (an other horrific acts of violence and hatred), school shootings, wars {pretty much everything on the news}, and school bullying. Yes there is merit to the argument that video games desensitise children to violence but without everything else (movies etc) I don’t believe it could make children more violent on its own. Often children who commit violet acts already have psychological damage from bullying, abuse etc.
The government here still thinks games are for kids and thus contain 'kiddie content', as evident by its refusal for an R +18 category for games because then (heaven for bid) they might actually have to spend money on enforcing its ratings. Currently MA +15 games are supposed to be restricted to, you guessed it, over 15. However I can say that in all the times that I have bought such games when I was under 15 not one store refused to sell them to me - something that doesn’t happen when going to the movies (usually). Although all the blame can not placed on stores - parents are also responsible (a word that seems to go missing on some people) for what their kids do. And heres where the government comes in again; most parents are simply clueless when it comes to games and the internet so they let their kids play/do things that they really are too young for. So as the government loves to spend tax payers money on useless ads (be alert not alarmed!) why not spend the money on something worthwhile like ratings education/enforcement and then we might have to find something else to scapegoat (a sad reflectionon on society) for violence.
[ 10-22-2003, 08:00 AM: Message edited by: dragon_lord ]
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