I'm watching on CSPAN right now this press conference involving this group designed to regulate video games. MediaWise, I believe the group is called, is currently sitting here with Joe Lieberman and some other representative from Minnesota saying that it's the job of the industry to regulate itself, and the job of the retailers to not sell the video games to children.
Now listen, I'm perfectly okay with trying to keep games like Doom 3 out of the hands of some 5 year old. I'm sure most of us here have played SOCOM online and got to listen to some 8 year old giggle as he shot Seals in the head repeatedly. Nobody really wants children to be given the idea that shooting people in the head is an acceptable social norm. However, not to be on a platform, but I think most gamers realize that it's the responsibilities of the parents and guardians to regulate which games their children play.
Some random facts given during the conference:
-In 1986, when NES was released, average gamer was under 10.
-In 1993, average age was 14 or 15.
-Today, average gamer is 22 or 23 for Xbox, PS2 is 24.
In terms of comparing statistics for the past year:
M rating games- 10%. R rated movies- 81%
They're now talking about maybe changing the rating system, saying that there's no reason that a game like Leisure Suit Larry should get the same rating as Halo 2. But the age group is so close, (17 and up versus 18 and up) that the ESRB doesn't generally want to hinder a games sales because of such a close line.
My main beef with all this isn't what Congress is doing, really. It's their job to babysit Americans (which will probably have a trickle down effect across the world, un/fortunately). Why isn't the industry itself doing anything for this? Why don't we see people from EA going in front of Congress trying to get the message across that it's not their job to babysit the audience? I think everyone can already see that most of these games do not advertise to gamers outside their demographic (MGS3 doesn't show Snake vs Monkey to get kids to buy it). The industry tries to regulate itself even though it doesn't have to. Why doesn't anyone stick up for them and tell the Congress that it's the Parents responsibility to watch the kids and the stores responsibilty not to sell them.
If a 13 year old is caught drinking, people don't blame the kid. they blame the parents and the people who sold the kid the booze. why doesn't this logic appear to stem to video games?
Now listen, I'm perfectly okay with trying to keep games like Doom 3 out of the hands of some 5 year old. I'm sure most of us here have played SOCOM online and got to listen to some 8 year old giggle as he shot Seals in the head repeatedly. Nobody really wants children to be given the idea that shooting people in the head is an acceptable social norm. However, not to be on a platform, but I think most gamers realize that it's the responsibilities of the parents and guardians to regulate which games their children play.
Some random facts given during the conference:
-In 1986, when NES was released, average gamer was under 10.
-In 1993, average age was 14 or 15.
-Today, average gamer is 22 or 23 for Xbox, PS2 is 24.
In terms of comparing statistics for the past year:
M rating games- 10%. R rated movies- 81%
They're now talking about maybe changing the rating system, saying that there's no reason that a game like Leisure Suit Larry should get the same rating as Halo 2. But the age group is so close, (17 and up versus 18 and up) that the ESRB doesn't generally want to hinder a games sales because of such a close line.
My main beef with all this isn't what Congress is doing, really. It's their job to babysit Americans (which will probably have a trickle down effect across the world, un/fortunately). Why isn't the industry itself doing anything for this? Why don't we see people from EA going in front of Congress trying to get the message across that it's not their job to babysit the audience? I think everyone can already see that most of these games do not advertise to gamers outside their demographic (MGS3 doesn't show Snake vs Monkey to get kids to buy it). The industry tries to regulate itself even though it doesn't have to. Why doesn't anyone stick up for them and tell the Congress that it's the Parents responsibility to watch the kids and the stores responsibilty not to sell them.
If a 13 year old is caught drinking, people don't blame the kid. they blame the parents and the people who sold the kid the booze. why doesn't this logic appear to stem to video games?