Parents Blaming Video Games
I actually get infuriated over parents blaming their failures on video games. There is NO logic in this whatsoever. Even if you could prove (which you can’t) that video games cause people to become psychopaths, YOU THE PARENT are still to blame for letting your child play it. You probably even bought it AND the console for them. How are you not any bit responsible?
One situation that has stuck with me and pisses me off to no end happened a few years ago. Some little girl was playing a NintendoDS game about playing with dogs, and *shocker* the game has barking sounds. The kid was playing it at a family friend’s house and when the game started barking, the family’s dog (a Bullmastiff) got excited/upset and attacked the girl and ripped off her lip. The dog was KILLED (put down to make it sound nicer) and NINTENDO was blamed. WHAT?!
The girl’s grandmother said that the game should come with some kind of warning and that people should be told not to play it when dogs are in the room.
Double what?!
What the hell happened to common sense? I see the most ridiculous warnings on products like not to use a hair dryer while you shower or put a curling iron in your eyeball… and THESE PEOPLE are the reason for them! If you’re really that stupid maybe you should have to deal with the consequences, or at least be sterilized. You sure as hell should not be caring for children.
And then the parents that blame the violence in video games for violent children… If your child is sincerely that impressionable, maybe don’t buy them a game that focuses on collecting weapons and murdering people. Maybe they don’t need that X-Box. Maybe they should be in therapy because there is something wrong with their brain.
If their inability to be a functional person was not something they were born with, it’s because of the environment they were raised in… because any healthy individual can understand the difference between real life and video games. Millions of people play these games and live normal lives. If the video games were causing this crap to happen, everyone that played them would be a violent criminal… but since they’re not, there is evidently something else causing it. Not the video game.
Yes, there are some very violent video games out there. Yes, there are very inappropriate games out there. But you know what? THAT’S WHAT THE GODDAMN RATING SYSTEM IS FOR! You wouldn’t buy your 10 year old an X rated movie, so why would you buy them Grand Theft Auto where they can fuck hookers and then kill them?
Take 5 minutes and look up ESRB ratings… THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS THE CAREGIVER OF A CHILD. These ratings will give you a basic idea of the age group it’s for, and will even include descriptions of things you may possibly find wrong with it like nudity, violence, drugs, blood, whatever!
You don’t know what your kid is playing? That’s your own damn fault. Find out. Be the parent. Anything else you say is an excuse. Chances are, the fact that they’re holed up in their rooms 24/7 playing the video games and hiding them from you is a sign there is something wrong, and has nothing to do with the actual games.