The Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games

[bootcamper]

Ya thats what sux about violent games. They make all the other games look little kiddy. There is only 1 little kiddy game for gamecube.

[numbuheightbitstar]

I was in this discussion on another forum, and I thought I would share my insights here about why people are so in love with censorship.

Censors are control freaks. It isn't about actual content, but about thoughts and ideas. They want to control what goes on in people's minds. This is the historically-proven driving force behind censorship, backed by such examples as Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler. I seem to remember reading about one of our early presidents having also censored the media so that the media could not criticize the government (which got a lot of people angry, considering that it went against the Constitution and all).

When Stalin ruled Russia, all people were allowed to see, read, and hear was about how great his leadership was and how everything he does is awesome, or if he ever did anything wrong it wasn't really his fault. Many people still buy into this and see Stalin as a hero to this day (they even erected a statue of him... which is just sad). Hitler was much the same way, but more importantly, after the Nazi regime fell, Germany began to censor anything that had to do with Hitler or the Nazis (the game Wolfenstein 3D had to be censored for its German release for this very reason). While I'm not sure specifically why this is done, my best guess is its because they think that Nazi symbols or literature would spread Nazi ideas and result in the birth of a new Hitler-like figure.

It's all about Thoughtcrime, basically. The government wants to control your thoughts because they're control freaks, the media wants to control your thought because it gets them money. Granted, some video games are very dictatorial as well (Final Fantasy X, for example) but by nature, gaming is about being able to make choices within a given set of circumstances. In short, your thinking for yourself. It's not "do whatever the game tells you" (save for in some of the worse modern titles). For this reason, games are a threat to all the other groups, the same way Punk Music was a threat because it inspired free thought and individuality and discussed topics adults didn't approve of. The same is true of Comics and Role-Playing games. All of these things have been part of a media controversy at one point, and all of them have the same thing in common--they show kids that they can be individual, that they can make a difference, and most importantly that they can think for themselves and don't have to listen to supposed "authority" figures, who don't necessarily always know best.

[hoagiegal1970]

I'm going to throw in my 2 cents here, since I am a parent of young kids.

Education, not censorship, is the answer.

My son is only 5, but he's played a couple of "M' rated games, and I let him watch South Park a couple of times.

I also let my stepson, who's now 14, watch South Park when it first came out. I usually screened them before he watched them, and I TALKED TO HIM about any questionable content.

Same thing with my son. He knows the difference between VG killing and real killing. Parents can't sit in a vacuum whrn it comes to this stuff. You have to talk to your kids, no matter how controversial or embarassing the subject is.

Many parents aren't involved enough, or simply don't care enough, about their kids to have heart-to-heart discussions. Instead, they try to clamp down on the kids. Nothing gets accomplished. Hell, there's a prime example of this in my husband's family. The mother does't talk to the kids, she screams at them, and sends very inconsistent messages to them (e. g. I want you to stay home so you can be with me, but then I leave you home and run off to the mall because "you'd get bored"). These poor kids have a lot of problems, and she blames them on everything and everyone else. Too bad she can't see beyond her own nose to fix this mess.

IMHO, society and employers cause a lot of problems for parents, by rewarding those who don't have a family, or those who sacrifice it. Career is everything. Material goods are everything.

This "me me me" and "success at any price" attitude in this society really needs an overhaul. How is censorship of any kind going to fix THIS?

[numbuheightbitstar]

Heh, I just got done speaking on this subject elsewhere. The big problem, really, is that people have very hypocritical values.

On another forum, a guy argued that school was good for kids because it teaches them how to "deal with real life." Yet then he turned around and said that television should be censored because kids shouldn't see things like sex, rape, and murder on television.

I responded by saying it's funny that he believes school is good because it "teaches kids about real life," but then he wants to blind kids to threats they might actually face in real life.

Anyway, if I had to suggest a solution, its that the younger generation needs to break from the older generation. Kids should adapt the beliefs of tradition that make sense to them, then totally disregard anything else. I am not my father, so my son should not be me, should not have my life and should not try to be like me unless that's what he really wants.

In a way, this is already happening. Children are throwing off and disregarding the beliefs of their parents. Look at how many sneak into R-rated movies or play violent video games. It warms my heart to see such a display of free will.

[iguana]

numbuheightbitstar said:

Look at how many sneak into R-rated movies or play violent video games. It warms my heart to see such a display of free will.

Eightbitstar wins the thread.
Anyhoo about the Nintendo censorship thing, that was just Nintendo of AMERICA. Nintendo of Japan allowed blood and other things in their games, Ninty of America on the other hand is responsible for the whole "Games are for kids" stereotype. Just look at their ads. (old and new) Hell, they replaced Contra's characters with ROBOTS in the american release.

[numbuheightbitstar]

iguana said:

numbuheightbitstar said:

Look at how many sneak into R-rated movies or play violent video games. It warms my heart to see such a display of free will.

Eightbitstar wins the thread.
Anyhoo about the Nintendo censorship thing, that was just Nintendo of AMERICA. Nintendo of Japan allowed blood and other things in their games, Ninty of America on the other hand is responsible for the whole "Games are for kids" stereotype. Just look at their ads. (old and new) Hell, they replaced Contra's characters with ROBOTS in the american release.

About the Contra thing: They did? Wow. I didn't realize that.

But it's true about the Japan thing. That's one of the eight billion reasons I've taken up learning Japanese... it seems that the American gaming industry is slowly spiralling towards Hades (I'm not going to prophecize a second industry crash... that would just be wishful thinking). Censorship is one reason, and the ignorance of American distributors is another (for example, Sony banning developers from making 2D games).

[bootcamper]

Im glad they dont broadcast adult games on TV. Everybody would be hiring lawyers then.