Monday, March 09, 2009
Should Game Ratings Be Enforced?
Sigh. Another week, another rant about game age ratings, I guess. I'm normally a fan of John Walker, but his latest essay left me cold:
Should Gaming Age Ratings Be Enforced?
Frankly, the very suggestion that parents should be imprisoned for allowing their child to play a game of an "inappropriate age rating" is abso-freaking-lutely ludicrous and disgusting to me.
Granted - there are some shamefully negligent parents out there who I feel shouldn't have been allowed to spawn progeny in any society. And I reluctantly agree that the state and community needs some level of authority to rescue children from parents who are abusive, negligent, or otherwise clearly screwed up. My reluctance comes from the feeling that I don't feel I could trust the government to hold a carton of eggs for five minutes these days, let alone trust them with these kinds of decisions.
But somehow holding a gun to parents' head over something as stupid as what really amounts to extremely broad and general age guidelines? Disgusting. At least the film industry was smart about how it named its ratings here in the U.S. - "PG" for "Parental Guidance." The government tends to get target fixation on the name and ignore the underlying meaning.
As a parent, if I feel my 10-year-old is capable of handling a PG-13 Harry Potter movie, then that's my call. I really don't think the government knows my ten-year-old better than I do. And I'm really glad my mom figured I was capable of handling PG-rated Star Wars when I was only eight years old. If dorks like Bill Hastings were in charge of things in 1977, that awesome experience would have been punctuated by her being arrested and me being sent to a foster home or something.
Walker does suggest that his favor of game ratings comes from a desire for grown-ups to be able to play their games. And since adult gamers outnumber the children by a substantial margin, that is significant. Being able to say, "This is a kid's game" versus "this is a grown-up's game" helps keep things a little clear in walnut-sized brains of government officials, who have the retention capability of Dilbert's pointy-haired boss. I used to agree with this attitude. Until I saw that categorization being used to hurt us, rather than help us.
Sorry, New Zealanders. I offer you sympathy. You guys have bad law on the books, and an idiot pushing for its enforcement. I fear my own country isn't too far behind.
On the other hand, I can't think of any better way to make video games seem cool than to make them an outlawed pastime. Booyah!
Labels: Politics
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:17 AM (Permalink)
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In related news:
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/33458/ELSPA-calls-urgent-meeting-with-Government-over-Change4Life
They really try everything...
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/33458/ELSPA-calls-urgent-meeting-with-Government-over-Change4Life
They really try everything...
# posted by 
: March 09, 2009 11:10 AM
: March 09, 2009 11:10 AM
Yeah. I think somebody should photoshop that ad and replace the game controller with a book.
Oh, he's sitting on his butt READING! That kills kids! Fills them with IDEAS and makes them fat!
Oh, he's sitting on his butt READING! That kills kids! Fills them with IDEAS and makes them fat!
Oh, he's sitting on his butt READING! That kills kids! Fills them with IDEAS and makes them fat!
When it comes to the war on manufactured statistics, there's no such thing as hyperbole. A study, in all seriousness, presents that thinking can make you fat.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4043727/Too-much-thinking-can-make-you-fat.html
When it comes to the war on manufactured statistics, there's no such thing as hyperbole. A study, in all seriousness, presents that thinking can make you fat.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4043727/Too-much-thinking-can-make-you-fat.html
Wait, where did that NZ comment come from? Was that some sort of followup to what I said a couple of weeks ago?
We have a pretty easy-going system here, as I said before, which does exactly what you claim to want: it puts control into the hands of the parents. It's aimed at preventing kids from buying restricted movies/games/etc on their own (without parental approval), but does not limit what parents can view with / offer to their kids.
Maybe you're getting us confused with Australia... they have a horrible ratings system (at least when it comes to games) and a complete douche in power trying to keep it that way.
We have a pretty easy-going system here, as I said before, which does exactly what you claim to want: it puts control into the hands of the parents. It's aimed at preventing kids from buying restricted movies/games/etc on their own (without parental approval), but does not limit what parents can view with / offer to their kids.
Maybe you're getting us confused with Australia... they have a horrible ratings system (at least when it comes to games) and a complete douche in power trying to keep it that way.
Sigh. Ok, I really should read the link before replying... now I feel silly :)
Still, what I said tends to be what is enforced in practice, despite the specific letter of the law. And most movies/games are at most M rated (recommended for only over 16 years), which is (in law) only a guideline without penalties.
Still, what I said tends to be what is enforced in practice, despite the specific letter of the law. And most movies/games are at most M rated (recommended for only over 16 years), which is (in law) only a guideline without penalties.
Like the Utah bill, though - the one I've now written to my state senator about (not that I've gotten any kind of reply) - these things start out as small seams which hold very little significance. But by setting up a history of precedence, one day you wake up and find out the crazies have taken over the Asylum.
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