|
|
|
 |
Learn about The Online Mom Network
|
|
Join The Online Mom Network
|
|
How Do I Become An Online Mom?
|
|
The Online Mom provides internet technology advice and information to help parents protect their kids, encourage responsible behavior and safely harness the power of technology in the new digital world. Social networking, photo sharing, video games, IM & texting, internet security, cyberbullying, educational resources, the latest on tech hardware, gadgets and software for kids 3-8, tweens and teens, and more.
|
|
|
Kids and M-rated video games
8/30/2010 6:06:00 PM
I have
a friend who works at Best Buy. She is constantly amazed at how many
parents buy M-rated games for their young children. (An M-rating
indicates that a game is not suitable for children under the age of 17.)
Little Johnny arrives at the check-out happily clutching Red Dead
Redemption or Modern Warfare 2, while mom or dad passively hands over
the credit card, making good on the $50-a-month video gaming allowance.
Even
though my friend makes a habit of pointing out to parents that a game
is M-rated before she rings up the sale, reaction ranges from
disinterest to irritation that she would dare question their parental
decision-making.
The truth is, many parents regard video games as
just that – games. OK, there might be a lot of shooting in some games
but it’s mostly cartoonish violence, closer to Tom & Jerry than No
Country For Old Men.
If only that was the case. Check out this partial description of the top-selling Mafia II from the Entertainment Software Rating Board, the authority that assigns ratings to all video games:
Players
use pistols, Tommy guns, shotguns, and knives to kill enemies and
occasionally civilians. Blood often spurts out of injured characters,
stains the walls/ground, and occasionally sprays onto the screen. Some
cutscenes depict more intense instances of violence, including
close-range executions, stabbing, and throat slitting.
There are
also numerous scenes containing explicit sexual activity, drug use, and
obscene language. (You can see the full ESRB review of Mafia II here.)
The
video game industry has come a long way since it was vilified as a
corrupting influence by everyone from congressmen to church leaders. In
fact, the ESRB rating system
– and the developers’ and publishers’ cooperation with the ESRB’s
guidelines – has since been held up as a model that the movie and
recording industries would do well to copy.
Unfortunately when it
comes to shielding our kids from the worst excesses of video gaming,
parents now represent the weakest link in the chain. Don’t just accept
it when your child tells you that there’s nothing wrong with a video
game and besides “all my friends are playing it”. The M-rating is there
for a very good reason.
Comments:
Comment by Nathan Drake, posted 5/24/2012, 10:13 PM:
I am a 15 year old honor student, hard core gamer, and wanting a wickedly awesome game: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. My parents drove me to our local gamestop and were at the counter pre ordering the game I did 5 things mainly for them got a promise that I would get this game. The only problem about this is that We just about almost placed the order when my mom saw the rating, we are christians and are strongly believing in no violence. yet I have Assassins creed and red dead redemption
|
Comment by Monica, posted 9/2/2010, 12:19 AM:
What a wise comment, Selah! it's true that it is harder to say no to a child than yes and your example is valuable for all of us parents!
MONICA
The Online Mom
|
Comment by Selah Cambias, posted 9/1/2010, 9:36 AM:
"But Mom it's not that bad, and I'm the only one who doesn't have it." That's when I know I'm doing something right. To me it's like Pandora's Box, once it's opened, it's almost imposable to close. I tell the kids, "It's just a matter of time, you have to wait until you're older, but then, it's negative impact isn't so much. It's not "no", it's "no for now". There's plenty of other awesome things to do at your age."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
