Robot Monkey Posted August 11, 2003 Report Share Posted August 11, 2003 Check out the Penny Arcade reponse to this cartoon: Great stuff. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamsappel Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 I'd been thinking of linking to today's PA. Great cartoon, great rant from Tycho, and an even better one from Gabe. So many parents are clueless about videogames. I think it's almost a willful ignorance. Watching television is generally a family experience, a child is not seeing something that the parent isn't right there watching as well. But few parents seem willing to put the effort into learning what the videogames their kids are playing (and have been purchased sight unseen by the parents) are like. I'd throw some of the onus on retailers as well, though. I see it all the time in game stores, where parents are buying Xboxes and Halo for their ten-year-olds, since that's what Junior asked for, and the clerk merely says, "You'll want another controller, the multiplayer is awesome!". This weekend at EB Games I saw a father asking about consoles he and his family could play together. He even mentioned how much his daughter loved Donkey Kong. The cashiers stared at him blankly and said he (the father) wouldn't like any of the games on the GameCube. Of course, we're preaching to the choir here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 All this video games turn kids violent its a lame excuse for parents not keeping tabs on there kids.l Hell i have played video games all my life and im far from violent. You dont see people blaming the coyote for dropping anvils on peoples heads do ya? capt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark E Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 I think you'll find that the people rarely stand still enough to get a proper anvil drop on 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chatakinns Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 The problem mostly seems to be that no one wants to place the responsibility where it squarely belongs. On the parents. It is not the governments responsibilty to regulate what our children play, it is not the education systems responsiblity, it is not even the gaming companies responsibility. The ultimate and final word on what our children play as far as video games go rests on the people in charge of the children. And the bullshit about " Oh I may as well let him/her play it, he/she will just go play it over at little Timmy's house if I don't " is getting lame. You may as well buy the kid cocaine, crack, guns, and pipe bomb materials because I am sure they can get their hands on that at little Timmy's house too. Kids are a lot smarter than a lot of people give them credit for. Hell, I know more adults that live in a fantasy world of their own creation that I do kids. Folks today seem more interested in getting the kids outta their way than they are keeping up with what they are doing, playing, where they are going and who they are going with. If more parents take the time to look at what their kids are involved in, rather than using the excuses of work, stress and what not, then I don't think this Hoo-haa would be going on. It only takes a few minutes of time spent with a child to find out what is going on. While dad reads the evening paper, and Jr plays his latest game, ask questions about what it's about. Then decide if it's something you want Jr to play. We have a friend who has a PS2 and he has 2 sets of cases for his families games. One for him and his wife, and one that is for the whole family. As the kids get older, some games from the adult set are made more available to them. It is a matter of getting involved. Our daughter is 4. I don't particulary want her even watching some of the games me and her daddy play right now. She runs Mario around his little island, or Sonic up and down the streets and that makes her happy she is playing daddy's game. And that interest makes daddy happy. As she gets older, she and daddy can play Spyro and then eventually when she is 30 she can play GTA: Vice City. :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 no no no. at 18 she plays wolfenstein :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chatakinns Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 no no no. at 18 she plays wolfenstein :-) I bet she will kick ass at RTCW when she is 10. We can just say she is using the kiddie voice mask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 LOL everyone together "He.. is 12 years old" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark E Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 You may as well buy the kid cocaine, crack, guns, and pipe bomb materials because I am sure they can get their hands on that at little Timmy's house too. Damn, does Timmy live in a DMZ or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chatakinns Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 You may as well buy the kid cocaine, crack, guns, and pipe bomb materials because I am sure they can get their hands on that at little Timmy's house too. Damn, does Timmy live in a DMZ or something? It's not that ... it is more that I see people saying " Oh that does not happen in my neighborhood. " And they are like ostriches (sp?) with their heads in the sand. I want to shake them sometimes and tell them to wake the "F'up "... that it can happen one block from them, one house from them, even in their own house. It is not video games that make kids violent, it is the loss of control we have over what our children are doing. And the laws today don't help out a lot. When I was a kid and I did something really wrong, I got spanked with a yard stick. I was in no way abused by my folks doing that. But you can bet I thought a lot harder before I went and screwed up again. Smack a kid today and you get hauled into court for child abuse, your kids removed from the home, and sent to counseling lessons on how to deal with your anger. My anger comes from stupid clueless people who refuse to take notice of what their kids are up to because it is easier to deal with when the kids are quiet and out of the way. When our 4 yr old and her cousin are quiet .... we start wondering what they are into/up to and go find out. It usually means they are into something they are not supposed to be in. :shock: I am going to shut up now. I do believe I am ranting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted August 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 Good thing cartoonists don't get to decide Supreme Court cases. This is what Justice Stevens, writing the majority opinion in Reno v ACLU, had to say about related matters: As we have explained, the Government may not "reduc[e] the adult population . . . to . . . only what is fit for children." Denver, 518 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 29) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Sable, 492 U. S., at 128).(40) "[R]egardless of the strength of the government's interest" in protecting children, "[t]he level of discourse reaching a mailbox simply cannot be limited to that which would be suitable for a sandbox." Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp., 463 U. S. 60, 74?75 (1983). And here's Justice Kennedy writing the majority opinion in Ashcroft v ACLU: The mere tendency of speech to encourage unlawful acts is not a sufficient reason for banning it. The government "cannot constitutionally premise legislation on the desirability of controlling a person's private thoughts." Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U. S. 557, 566 (1969). First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvin Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 That is a great penny-arcade cartoon. Parents should take responibility for raising their children. Speaking of which... I bet she will kick ass at RTCW when she is 10 I'll make sure she is an awesome gamer. She has to carry on the family tradition Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woo Jae Park Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 Now I am scared.... :shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam P Posted August 18, 2003 Report Share Posted August 18, 2003 I'd been thinking of linking to today's PA. Great cartoon, great rant from Tycho, and an even better one from Gabe. So many parents are clueless about videogames. I think it's almost a willful ignorance. Watching television is generally a family experience, a child is not seeing something that the parent isn't right there watching as well. But few parents seem willing to put the effort into learning what the videogames their kids are playing (and have been purchased sight unseen by the parents) are like. I'd throw some of the onus on retailers as well, though. I see it all the time in game stores, where parents are buying Xboxes and Halo for their ten-year-olds, since that's what Junior asked for, and the clerk merely says, "You'll want another controller, the multiplayer is awesome!". This weekend at EB Games I saw a father asking about consoles he and his family could play together. He even mentioned how much his daughter loved Donkey Kong. The cashiers stared at him blankly and said he (the father) wouldn't like any of the games on the GameCube. Of course, we're preaching to the choir here. I think it depends on the store. At the EB Games I work at, we always mention objectionable titles to unsuspecting parents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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