Limit sales of violent video games
All too simplistic?
I started gaming back in the 80s on the Commodore 64. Before that I toyed with Atari. I'm now in my early thirties and still love gaming as much as I did then. I have no criminal record. I got my first speeding fine last year (15 km/h above). I've been in one fight all my life - and both of us got some. I've pretty much played everything PC related out there and still participate in LAN events. As an experienced gamer I have started taking exception with titles such as Doom 3 and Quake 4. I wiped both half-way through. Why? Because they are an insult to anyone with 2 brain-cells. They contain no story-line and their only selling-point is the graphics. Gameplay is utterly predictable. Yet, there are recent titles like the Knights of the Old Republic series (or earlier Deus Ex) - brilliant. A believable uninverse. Are they any less violent that Doom or Quake - no. The point here is that for some the gaming industry has stood still. Games are becoming increasingly like interactive movies, and movies have plots. The good gaming houses have realized this.
This brings me to my point - at which age should a kid be exposed to violence? None during the childhood years and then straight to George Bush's army? I am of the oppinion that children should be exposed to violence in a constructive way. Have them kick the daylight out of each other in a martial arts class. Once you've gotten kicked in the ribs you know it hurts like hell and will think twice about doing to someone else just on the off chance that he/she may do it back to you. Simply put, sanitize your childrens' world from violence and you raise adults with no experience of it, no respect for its extremes, totally self-centred because they believe what they dish out never comes back, or totally pathetic ending up being bullied anyhow. Violence is part of human nature. Deny that at your own risk. Prohibition has never worked and it never will. Rather, take an interest in what your kids are doing. Play the games with them. Then at least you'll know what they are being exposed to. And there may be the off chance that it keeps you young and thinking.
