12
Mar/087
Mar/087
Video Games and Kids
This post is sort of a spiritual sequel to my oldschool post “It’s the Parents not the Video Game“. I was perusing Game Politics reading typical posts about people in the public harping on about 8-year-olds playing games like Grand Theft Auto and acting like it’s somehow the game’s fault entirely for just existing, as if it’s just some malevolent force that materializes in the Playstations of every child in the world. But that’s not the part that got me thinking.
I happened across a comment by a parent saying that they get to decide what games are right for their kids, and if they want to give an 8-year-old an M-rated game that’s their decision and no one else’s. That’s true (even though it causes an endless source of annoyance for gamers and the image of the video game industry as a whole), and if a parent is going to make decisions like that it’s up to them. But aside from the violence, prostitution, strip clubs, criminal activities and all else in the GTA series my thoughts began to turn to an entirely different reason kids shouldn’t play these games.
Well for one, they can’t. Oh sure, an 8-year-old could probably get as far as to drive a car around and punch people in the head, maybe even smack them with a baseball bat but I can’t imagine an 8-year-old managing to get 100% completion in the game. In fact I can’t imagine an 8 year old or many parents for that matter realizing there’s actually more to GTA than just driving around and shooting guns at random NPCs.
So not only can most kids under 12 or 13 not even manage the core gameplay, but I have to think the narratives and the satire would be completely lost on them. Rockstar is well-known for their witty and satiric sense of humor, but this is always ignored as certain aspects of their games always cause controversy. If their rather under-appreciated title Bully had been a film instead of a game critics would be lining up to give it awards, but since it’s a game that contains fist fights and firecracker violence in a boarding school setting so-called concerned citizens focus on only that one aspect and cry for censorship.
As for narratives, consider the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 4. Grand Theft Auto games since Vice City, or even 3, have had plots and casts of characters but never before have those characters seemed so polished and alive. Close your eyes or imagine real people acting out the same scenes in this trailer and suddenly you have a film. From the color to the plot to the characterization this game is heavily cinematic, and it promises to boast a hefty dose of Rockstar’s usual satire and dark humor. Niko, the main character we get to play in this game, is already extremely likable just from the trailers and he has more personality than any past GTA protagonist. Rockstar has also blitzed the internet with more short trailers entirely focused on the crazy cast of characters and the locales surrounding Niko’s story.
All said, the game would be wasted on an 8-year-old. This is gaming fine wine, give the kids a sip of champagne and send them off to bed.
I love Katamari
But just because the kids who started off playing Pong or Kid Icarus or in my case Super Mario Bros. grew up without growing out of the entertainment (and the industry kept us interested by continually creating titles aimed at a mature demographic) doesn’t mean they don’t make games for kids anymore. Sure the kiddies may hear about the popular grown-up games and want to play them, but parents can say no, and can get them interested in something else.
Why not give a kid a game with a story and characters they can actually understand and appreciate? Give them Kingdom Hearts, give them Katamari (my 10 and 14-year-old cousins loved playing Beautiful Katamari on my 360), give them Patapon, give them Mario, hell even give them Sonic. Even some T-rated games are alright so give them Dragon Ball, give them Dynasty Warriors, give them Okami, give them Ratchet & Clank, give them Super Smash Bros. trust me, they’ll love it. Don’t sabotage your child’s imagination by only giving them the shooters or thinking that’s all there is available, and when they’re old enough to understand the satire and concepts in the grown-up games then they can both play and appreciate them.
Related Posts
- It’s the Parents Not the Video Game
- Video Game Addiction?
- Girls and Games
- Saints Row 2 vs Grand Theft Auto 4
- Dear Politicians: No One Gives a Damn About Manhunt 2
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12:06 am on March 13th, 2008
I agree one hundred percent, Lady Sai. Your logic is rather sound. I know when all my younger cousins come over to my place that they expect to play Deadrising, Halo, or Gears of War…mostly because they always hear me talking to my friends about how cool those games are and have seen me play them. I put them away when they are around and leave out Katamari, Burnout, Guitar Hero, and the like. Those are the kinds of games they can truly appreciate.
Though I will admit that my youngest cousin loved me letting him play Assassin’s Creed cause they were studying that time period in school.
4:18 pm on March 13th, 2008
Well I don’t think Assassin’s is so bad as far as M-rated games go, and since the cities are fairly historically accurate it’s good for that.
10:17 pm on March 13th, 2008
True, it is far from most M-Rated games, but I’ve still seen people complain about it since it is about assassinating people.
5:31 pm on March 14th, 2008
This reminded me of an incident when I was a kid- my mother went ballistic because I was watching my brother play, and was playing, an FPS, I think it was called Spawn or something? And she said that if I played it again we’d get in trouble, and I remember not giving a damn because I couldn’t play it anyway. Kids only like these games because they think it makes them adult- they don’t /enjoy/ them. I mean, GTA is hella hard sometimes, like you said a kid won’t get it and won’t enjoy it so what’s the point?
…Hell, that transfers to some ‘kid’ games, too. Parts of Sonic 2 come to mind. Oh god, the pain, that game is so hard it would be torture to give it to a kid no matter if it was aimed at them or not D:
6:11 pm on March 14th, 2008
It’s more about the ramifications of religious beliefs from a historical standpoint, but it does get a bit melodramatic toward the end **SPOILER** (oh em gee teh templars and teh assassins are still battling out to this day!!1)
6:44 pm on March 16th, 2008
Heh…god…that ending…^_^;;
I really did love Assassin’s Cread but to find that the ending…**SPOILER**…was just a giant precursor to the later installments?! God, that was the first time I so desired to get my money back on a game.
8:51 pm on April 14th, 2008
I must say that I agree with you. And the ‘concerned citizens’ aren;t even all in the same party! They’d disagree on many other things, but video games have many things that both sides hate. And since it’s a combination of the crazies of BOTH groups, that makes things a little harder. However, the closest they have EVER come to banning a game completely was, as far as I know, the aftermath of the Columbine shootings when they blamed it all on Doom. But really, in the words of Seanbaby (http://www.seanbaby.com/news/col-lawsuit.htm)
Crazy Child 1: “Look! A classroom! In a school! What’s happened? Where… where are we!!!???”
Crazy Child 2: “There’s only one explanation. We’ve been transported directly to hell. Machine guns ready.”
Crazy Child 1: “They wouldn’t let me bring my machine gun to school anymore, so I only have this bazooka and several grenades. Oh, and this dead cat I was trying to have sex with.”
Indeed, Crazy Child 1, indeed. Classrooms are really the most cruel and effective torture chambers in Hell, don’t you know.
Age has nothing to do with it. It’s the craziness residing in your brain. If you’re crazy, any excuse to go and shoot up a school is a good one. Why blame the games? For money, really. People get greedy and reach for anything that will fill their damn pockets. Bah, that’s all I have to say for now.