This has nothing to do with any classwork but I figured that because it has to do with the media it could fit in. Many of you may have heard about Rockstars new videogame "Grand Theft Auto IV". Now, as you can tell by the name this is a very adult game. it features amongst other things, prostitution, drugs, extreme violence and enough foul language to make a Scottish truckie blush. I don't feel however that we should ban this game (Rockstar still holds the record for the fastest ban in Australian history... "manhunt" anyone.)
The problem with the videogame industry is the lack of a proper rating system. A parent watches her six year old boy playing a game like Grand Theft Auto and is appalled at what they see. Then the parents call for a ban and the government bans. Those morons at the Office of Fil and Literature Classification (OFLC) need to incorporate a new rating for videogames. R.
The fact of the matter is this: 80% of people who play videogames are aged between 18 and 35. The notion that videogames is for children is complete tosh. Adults play games too. The main market is adults, so it seems normal to me for companies like rockstar to make adult games. What we don't want to see is children playing these games. An adult shoots a policeman with a shotgun and knows it is just a game. A six year old may not yet have the mental faculties to differentiate between games and reality. Don't stop making games like Grand theft Auto because they are brilliant. They are fun, engaging and entertaining, but so's the Saw movies, and you wouldn't let you six year old watch them would you?
* Half the fault lies with the parents for letting the child play the game
* The other half lies with the government and the OFLC for not having a proper R rating for games that were clearly not made for children
* None of the fault lies with videogame companies. They are just catering for the market.
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2 comments:
yes i agree ben but as we both know parents often don't watch there kids play video games.I recently heard a women telling a 15 year old kid off for quoting from a grand theft auto game. Obviously the lady wasn't aware of the games high level of curse words.And after eavesdropping for a while longer i learnt that the lady had actually bought the child the game. So i ask what is that women thinking
That woman was thinking something along the lines of:
"God, I wish the TV stations would actually show something decent so I can use the TV set as a subsitute for actually communicating with my kids. Maybe if I buy him that game I saw on TV he will leave me alone so I can drown the last twenty years of married drearyness in a bottle of cheap wine and a few Vicodin."
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