While I know that this topic has been discussed on a global scale and my blogs are usually just negative shit with nothing to back it up, I feel it is my divine right to call upon a few things about what people have been labeling video games as for nearly a decade.



For me it started as a kid, coming home from school not to play outside or do homework, but to play Alex Kidd in Miracle World which was built into my Sega Master System II (I really wanted a megadrive, but my parents thought they had wasted enough cash and I was wasting enough time in front of a dated system already). Video games were even then the focus of blame for children not advancing further or even underachieving, funny that. I seem to recall it being me holding the controller and looking at the television and I also recall my parents forking out the cash to buy the thing. If they had such a big problem with it, why not just get rid of it? Well, I know the answer and its the same answer you will get anywhere for any situation based on what is killing the youth of today. Parents are fucking lazy. The responsibility of having children has become too great for parents to really focus on, instead get them a TV and a gaming console and life will be a whole lot simpler, you will just have to turn it on in order to keep them occupied. It is not acts of kindness or love that inspires parents buy these products for their children, sure it makes their children happy, but if they really wanted to, they would have the power to take it away or at least keep it to moderated use. The problem with most parents, and therefore us gamers is that they don't control the use of their children playing these systems that create such a great level of escapism for us older gamers. Yes, children may be more impressionable, yes, these games are violent or contain levels of sex or drug use or vulgar language...but fuck people, there is a rating on the front of the box, and if that is not enough to convince you to steer your kid the fuck away from these games then have a look at it for yourself before you selfishly throw the game into the console, plonk your kid in front of it so you can have your friends around for coffees and go a play bingo or whatever the fuck you parents are doing these days that twists your arm into throwing your kids into an adult world such as Max Payne and then once you find out what it is your kid has been playing for the last month (because that’s how long it takes you people to realize) you quickly pick up a home made sign and join the protesting against games campaign.



Let's go back a little bit to the most recognizable occurrences of blaming everything else (including video games) instead of what really is the problem, shall we. And feel free to add to my list if you feel it necessary.

1999 - The Columbine Massacre:



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DENVER- The families of several victims in the Columbine massacre have filed a lawsuit against companies that create violent video games and sex-oriented Web sites, claiming their products influenced the gunmen.

The suit seeks $5 billion in punitive damages from 25 entertainment companies. It was filed on behalf of the family of slain teacher Dave Sanders and other Columbine victims in federal court.

Companies named in the lawsuit include Nintendo of America, Sega of America, Sony Computer Entertainment and Time Warner Inc., which is now AOL Time Warner, and ID Software Inc. and GT Interactive Software Corp., creators and publishers of the game "Doom."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Listen, fact of the matter is, if these high school kids were able to acquire fire arms, make pipe bombs and plan this whole act of retardation out (which they obviously did), without being thought of as suspicious, then my friends, the only people we can blame is ourselves and especially the parents. This may sound like an easy way to deal with it, but the simple fact is that if parents had the parts they were meant to have in their children's lives, then a lot of the time shit like this would be prevented. What kind of parent doesn't know that their son and his best mate have been making pipe bombs for months on end and purchasing fire arms and ammunition? I find it hilarious that people are so blinded to obvious acts of suspicion like that but seem to be switch on when it comes to looking at a teenager playing a video game that sees the lead character holding a sawn-off shotgun.
Put briefly to all the parents whom blame video games, you are all lazy fuckheads who should take your kids on a few daytrips, moderate their video game use, and make sure the game you purchase isnt made for 15 to 18 year olds before you start slagging it. Its because of people like you that us Australians keep on having games denied access to our Xboxs, playstations and wiis because of a denied R rating for video games because the powers that be, decide that even the highest rated video game is accessible to children.

Anybody remember this lovely young man?


Well if thats the case, why not cut everything off at the source. Fuck it, lets ban the viewing of all R rated films that contain violence, sex and drug use. Because I tell you right now, watching a film is a hellova lot easier for a kid to do than play a game like Resident Evil 4 because all they have to do is just sit there and watch it. But because all you parents and politicians believe that video games are aimed at children and feature films are aimed more towards a more 'mature' culture, you feel the divine right to point the finger at video games. Well, I have news for you fuckheads, last time I checked its pretty hard for a kid to go and spend 80 to 100 Australian dollars (because they dont fucking have that much of a steady income last time I checked) on a video game that they are unable to purchase without proof that they are 15. So somebody else must be buying these games for their kids...lets see, somebody with a steady income and old enough to purchase these games...who could it be I wonder...you hypocritical fucks.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fast Forward a little to this year:

It was recently announced that an R18+ rating for video games was being considered, but a single political decision has scuttled its chance of it being passed. The overhaul of the ratings system would have added more flexibility to video game classification and brought the process into line with film classification.

Game ratings follow the film rating system from G through to PG, M up to MA15+. However, games don't have the R18+ or X18+ ratings that, in the movie biz, denote Quentin Tarantino films or that the content is Canberra's primary industry.

Currently, publishers submit their game to the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) along with a description of the gameplay and videos depicting both typical gameplay and contentious material that might attract a rating of M or above. Some paperwork and a classification fee later, the OFLC board comes to a decision about the content of the game and issues a rating nearly identical to the film rating system.

The OFLC's game classifications are based on the charter handed down to them by the Attorney General's office. To amend the charter, the Attorneys General from each state have to meet and come to a unanimous decision.

And one of them is holding up the otherwise unanimous decision to introduce an R18+ rating to games. Wouldn't you know it, it's the same man who's in favor of internet censorship (which is also a horrendously bad idea). He's the South Australian Attorney General, Michael Atkinson.

If you see this man, follow him home and shit in his shoe.


Atkinson was quoted recently in a news.com.au piece, on implementing the missing R18+ legislation for game classification, as saying that he "doubts whether any safeguards could be put in place to deter young people, who after all (are) the most computer literate and savvy in our society, from being able to access material."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rightio mate, while an R18+ rating would make it impossible for children to purchase this game for themselves the only other option is that they have their parents or guardians purchase it for them, but don't go on to state the obvious and say "Too many parents and guardians are irresponsible and stupid" because you might just loose your credibility amongst the adult community, blame the kids and games themselves. It so much easier to do that and get the image of a man who cares about the people instead of doing what is necessary to actually BE a man who cares about the people.

I recently went to see 'The Dark Knight' (which for the record was so fucken unreal I nearly came). And behind me in the cinemas was a kid who kept on getting scared. At the end of the film his parents started mocking the film saying that they didn't make accessible for children. Duh, you fucking twatts. Hence the M rating. Last time I checked M stands for Mature Audiences and hell, I'm 24 and I'm still far off from being mature.

What they should play before any film:


I hate going to see a film and soon after the lights fade out I hear a child starting to scream and cry and piss and moan. And yet all the parents seem to do is try and stuff their face with candy or point and say "look at the big screen...wow". I'm sure your spawn can see the screen, I'm sure they have tasted candy and the fact of the matter is that maybe this kid of yours just doesn't want to be in a dark room full of strangers watching a movie that has a man who cut a permanent smile into his face and continues to cut smiles into other peoples faces. You parents want to watch it? Get a baby sitter. But until your kid has the capability to understand that what he/she is watching is the act of fiction, keep it away or shut the fuck up if you don't.

You may ask, "how are we to know?"
Fact is you don't, but if you prefer to be safe, keep a watchful eye, be in your childrens lives as more than just a person with the power to give and take away. Make yourselves the ideal thing in your childs life, and not a controller attached to a video game console.
Does it not bother you that your kid would rather do that than go kick a soccer ball with you? Because it sure as hell bothers us gamers when the only reason we can't play the games we wish to is because people like you can't control your children or be in their lives like you are suppose to be.



You want to blame video games? Ok fine. But why stop there? Why not get Television companies involved, because without Televisions we can't really play many games, so start filing the lawsuits. Fuck it, let's file a lawsuit against the electrical power providers which give your children the power to play the video games. While we are here, lets file a lawsuit against the people who built your house because without that, your kid wouldnt have a place to play these games. Don't forget to sue the furniture companies for giving your child such a comfy spot to sit while learning how to piss on people and light them on fire. This could go on forever, so here is a list of people you could sue for how your children turn out:

* Car Manufacturers - Games like Carmaggedon wouldn't exist if their were no cars

* Schools - If your child didn't learn how to read, write and understand the English language then you wouldnt have to worry about vulgar language

* Mother Nature - Curse her and all the trees she has made, your children could easily hurt themselves thinking they were Link fighting inside the Deku Tree.

* Steel Manufacturers - Without steel, there would be no guns, knives, swords and bullets...my, what a world that would be.

* Dinosaurs - Lara Croft used guns on them, kids might mistake them as adults because adults are big in comparison, better watch out.

* The Earth - Fuck it, seeing as though you would already be living in a world without Televisions, Electricity, Houses, Furniture, Cars, Schools, Trees, Grass, Plants, and Steel you may as well just fucken sue everything. Its easier on your mind to do that than to blame yourself for how your children turn out, blame everything else around them.

Corny but Correct:


I think I have made my point, but not that anybody will sift through this to find the reason behind the hostility. So I guess this last 20 minutes have been a waste of my time. I could have been shooting people in that time, quick, pass me a gun and some bullets...what? You can't find them? Why cant your find them? Oh, because I don't fucking have any? Well that makes sense now doesn't it?

Much love & respect (obviously),
Moses