Robert: Today's Ranting on AIM is brought to you by Gamespot.. The topic, stupid parents, the game industry and you.
Karl: The guy was rightfully convicted, if you ask me. He murdered police officers and GTA has nothing to do with it. I play Viewtiful Joe all the time. I don't wander into the world of movies and fight off cheesy 2D villains. The thing that people can't understand is that M-rated games are suited for Mature audiences. That "mature" means that only people who can tell right from wrong should play the game. If you can't tell the difference between right and wrong, you shoudn't be playing M-rated games.
Robert: Indeed. Justice was served but then the parents went and blamed the wrong people. But at times M rated games aren't even good for people at the appropriate age sometimes. People who have mental disabilities or have been mentally or physically abused should not be allowed near stuff that and easily influence them.
Karl: Once you become an adult, you're responsible for your actions, end of story. "Games made me do it" is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Agreed. If you have a pre-exisitng mental condition, violent games shouldn't be on your to-do list.
Robert: R rated movies, M rated games, music with extreme lyrics and messages should not be getting into the hands of some of these people. Remember Columbine. The so called influence for those kids was Doom, Marilyn Mason and Baseball Dreams.
Karl: I do. It was a tragedy, but to say that games made those kids kill people is propaganda fueled by conservative censors.
Robert: And the creators of all of those were sued by the parents of the kids who cause the harm to begin with.
Karl: They were already off-balance before they even considered getting their hands around a controller.
Robert: The blame should be pointed at the parents. They should be monitoring what is in a game. That is why the ESRB was created. If the parents knew what was in the game to begin with maybe some of these influences might've been avoided.
Karl: Parents have the natural duty to guard their children against things that may adversely affect them, so I have no problems with Joe Parent getting angry about his kid playing GTA. It's when he imposes his viewpoint on the public that we have a problem.
Robert: A study I heard years ago did prove that young children who played violent games do have a change in attitude and become a bit more aggressive.
Karl: That's odd. In the latest Game Informer, they have an article that states otherwise. That violent crimes, drug use, and other problems such as these have actually gone down in recent years, and that playing violent video games has little to no effect on your temper.
Robert: But when you regulated what your kids are playing, watching or listening to these kinds of things can be avoided. I did a class project my senior year of high school and I found a study that showed the influence of games on young children. It showed that children who played the more aggressive games eventually become more aggressive themselves. But children at young ages are easily suspectible to many inlfuences.
Karl: Ultimately, the role of parent must be performed by its rightful owner, not some piece of digital entertainment. If a few hours of violent gaming undoes the very fabric of your kid's reality, there was already something wrong with him or her.
Robert: The Entertaiment industry can only relugate so much. It all comes done to parenting. The parents have the control of what their children and interact with until a cetain age.
Karl: Exactly.
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