You know why I'm posting this article. Selling violent video games to minors being a criminal offence, several games banned is several countries, frustrated parents who are afraid about their children, grandparents complaining that the parks are empty etc etc.
All of the above make it clear that many people are full of fear, ignorance and hate for video games.
Although video games have become a mainstream entertainment for young people, the majority of adult people look at video games as something made for kids only.
People think that books, movies, comics and music, are good enough to spread a message or simply to tell an entertaining story, but for some reason video games are perceived as the cute gift for five year old nephew.
And that exactly is why frustrated, worried mothers are freaking out when they see violence and sex in video games. But I got exciting news for you, worried mother:
VIOLENCE IN VIDEO GAMES IS NOT REAL!!!
If you think that your kid is unable to distinguish virtual violence from real violence then you underestimate and insult it's intelligence.
And if you think that virtual violence leads to real violence then go to ban plastic swords and water pistols for kids. Also, don't forget to forbid any contact with violent images like illustrations of Medieval torturing methods in the history books of your kid:
And this here as well:
It pisses me even more off when worried mothers talk about sex in video games.
Probably the most notable example is in MASS EFFECT. A succesful game with a mature story and all hell broke lose in the Western World, especially in America because the game includes a super explicit, hot, space, sex scene.
ATTENTION PLEASE! ALL MINORS ARE REQUESTED TO SCROLL DOWN AND SKIP THE FOLLOWING VIDEO!
Some of you are laughing now, but back in 2008 it was more than enough to tarnish the game and label it as "AO" (Adults Only). At the same time we have TV shows and movies like Game of Thrones and Fifty Shades of Grey with graphic violence and nudity allowed for teenagers as young as 16.
Yes, I know, most of the "nude" content in video games looks a bit immature and cute, which makes you think that the content is aimed at teenagers. But usually this content is nothing more than sexy Elves with huge boobs, sexy schoolgirls with huge boobs or sexy soldiers with huge boobs.
If you think that this is dangerous for young people, then you should recognise the same danger in other things, like in ice cream advertisements for example.
That's right. The above images are real, ice cream advertisements.
This is obviously unfair. The rest of the media are allowed to use sex and violence with different levels of maturity.
Get this through your heads, worried mothers! Just as there are comics, books, movies, cartoons for adult people, there are video games for adult people as well.
Some people talk about art and culture when it comes to abominations like Lars von Trier movies, but when they see a fatality in Mortal Kombat they are shocked and disgusted. Give me a break!
This is all happening because video games are the newest form of entertainment. During the first half of the 20th century, we had censorship in films as the cinema was the newest form of entertainment.
And of course the censorship was much more strict than it was in books or theatrical plays.
I remember two years ago when I met a German WW2 veteran who fought in the battle of Berlin in 1945. He was 17 years old at that year. Just weeks before the battle and being a soldier for more than 2 years already, he had the chance to visit the cinema of a nearby town. The film playing included a rape scene. Now don't imagine an actual rape scene. It was merely a man pulling a woman off-screen and then cut. That's all. Yet they forbid him enter and watch it until an older officer came to intervene. So he was old enough to serve, fight, kill and be killed, but not old enough to watch a movie. WTF?!
And what was the excuse for all of this? That the moving picture is more interactive and closer to human emotions, which means that the law must address it in a careful way.
We heard the same bullshit from old people when the first First Person Shooters were released back in the 90's. You commit the murders in First Person so this is making the game different than the rest of them and of course it encourages kids to use violence.
The games Wolfenstein and DOOM were relased in the early 90's. It's been 20 years since then. WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL THE MURDERERS? Let me guess: In America, as usual.
Wrong! All statistics show that since the 90's, school violence in America has decreased.
https://curry.virginia.edu/research/projects/violence-in-schools/school-violence-myths
As if prisons have been built for gamers. When my grandpa was slaughtering communists with the bayonet in Russia, he first had to play a round of Call of Duty and choose Axis to get into the right mood.
And to all those who say that video games make you anti-social, you probably never made friends through video games. There are many people, including myself, who met new people not only in the school yard but also in front of a PS console.
More and more students replace movies with video games when they all sit together in a living room.
Why not? Games slowly become better in storytelling. In some genres they have already become the best. Ask a gamer, when was he more afraid. When he watched The Excorcist or when he played Silent Hill and Resident Evil?
Video games also contribute to education. I began learning about the Roman Empire and Napoleon Bonaparte by playing Rome and Napoleon Total War.
Film productions draw the attention with movies like 300, Downfall, The Last Samurai and convince young people to search on Wikipedia the true stories about those events. Same thing is happening with games like the Total War series, Assasins Creed or God of War.
It appears that the justification of video games will come once the older generations have died out.
The same thing happened with comics and movies. Today both are recognised as an excellent form of entertainmen for all ages. People, especially children, do not play video games because they got brainwashed or deceived. They play video games becaue it is MUCH MORE FUN TO PLAY DAMN VIDEO GAMES!
Most Helpful Girl