Stop Violence in games: Stop being a lazy parent and do parenting!

Ugh! Looks like the parenting groups are rising again against videogames... Yes, there have been some issues with the whole shooting on that school. Yes, that was awful and precautions must be taken to avoid that to happen. Obviously now people begin to play "the blame game"... Obviously the first things they are quickly blaming are movies and videogames.



Yes, the above are two examples of violent games. Should they be "banned". NO... I may not like Call of Duty, but it shouldn't be banned.

Here's the thing, you don't want your kids playing violent games, right?
Well, there's a lot of stuff you CAN Do! For starters:
BE A PARENT!! Do your homework.
The Entertainment Software Ratings Board: (ESRB) is the non-profit, self-regulatory body that assigns ratings for video games and apps so parents can make informed choices. The ESRB rating system encompasses guidance about age-appropriateness, content, and interactive elements.

In other words they're the MPAA of videogames. The same way movies have ratings so do videogames...

So OK, you have done the research and have determined that Crush, Kill, Destroy is not appropriate to Little Timmy, but Timmy wants it. You must once again BE A PARENT and say NO! You can go with a couple of options here. The Cause I said so (not the best approach) or you can go into detailed explanation on why you won't buy Timmy the game.

You know that Timmy is probably figuring out a way how to play the game behind your back, at school, at a friend's, or somewhere else. That is out of your control, right? Not exactly...
Sure, you can't go to Jimmy's house and stop Timmy from playing Crush Kill Destroy, but here's where the Parenting thing should kick in. If you did the parenting correctly and gave your child a strong moral compass, Timmy WILL NOT Play the game.


There is another path, one that is a bit more radical, that not necessarily MAY Work. That is buying the game and playing it with Timmy, while helping him understand the difference between Reality and Fiction.

The problem is that all of these options are too much work! Parents have too much work and so little time to be parents and expect the TV, the Gaming Console and the Internet to be nannies. THAT IS THE PROBLEM. It's not the game companies', the game store's, or the Government's responsibility to control what games people CAN Play... That decision is determined by the Responsible Adults in each household... (in most cases THE PARENTS) The same way I don't make decisions in YOUR HOUSEHOLD, you can't override MY Choices of games, because I AM AN ADULT. Banning the violent games is basically letting a group of people tell you WHAT YOU CANNOT Enjoy and taking it away from you because of some people trying to avoid doing their parental duties.

Again, the tools are there for the parents to do their part. THEY are the ones that need to ENFORCE THE RATINGS. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go stomp on some turtles and eat sewer Mushrooms in order to get laid!