Parents not video games put kids at risk

12 Jul, 2007 Video Games

With the releases of the Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii consoles, anti-video game activists are probably preparing for battle.

Some parent groups, politicians and religious groups have been trying to censor games for years. They claim that violent video games — such as “Street Fighter,” “Mortal Kombat,” “Postal” and the infamous “Grand Theft Auto” series — are corrupting the minds of the nation’s children and turning them into criminals bent on conjuring anarchy and chaos throughout America.

Personally I think that’s wrong.

Even though children are exposed to violent media of all kinds, this exposure isn’t turning them into little hell-raising scourges. Violent crime and property crime rates among teenagers are half what it was 10 years ago.

The violent games that special interest groups are ranting and raving about were not made for children to begin with. On the cover of each video game case, there is a letter indicating the rating. Content not suitable for minors gets an “M” for mature — people age 17 and older.

Unfortunately, ratings are often ignored, and here’s a perfect example… I was in a video game store recently, standing in line to purchase a game, and overheard a boy no older than 9 or 10 tops, begging his mother to buy him a copy of “Grand Theft Auto.” Unsure, the mother asked the sales clerk. The clerk, clearly miffed, began to read the text box containing the game’s rating: “Intense Violence, Use of Drugs, Strong language, Blood and Gore, Strong Sexual Content.” “So it wouldn’t be OK for him then?” she asked. “Definitely not,” the clerk replied flatly.

Yet after more begging, the woman bought the game, shocking the clerk beyond belief. The problem isn’t violent games; it’s irresponsible parents. If parents would just take a moment to look at the television shows their children watch, the music they listen to or the video games they play, they could protect them from material they find inappropriate.