Video Game Violence

I came across this article:

Is Bulletstorm the Worst Video Game Ever

I had heard of this game recently, before the above article, and thought really nothing of it — it’s just another shoot-’em-up game. I like first person shooters; FPS is my preferred game style. But because I don’t have much free time lately, I’m not looking for a new game. And even if I was in the market for a new shoot-’em-up game, this doesn’t sound like something made for me:

There’s an excess of profanity, of course, including frequent use of F-words. And Bulletstorm is particularly gruesome, with body parts that explode all over the screen.

I don’t mind games taking realistic language and violence a little over the top, but when it is gratuitous and/or fantastic, it looses my interest. So I’ll not be getting this particular game. But. . .

And with kids as young as 9 playing such games, the experts FoxNews.com spoke with were nearly universally worried that video game violence may be reaching a fever pitch.

First off: “kids as young as 9 playing such games….” What the hell? These kinds of games are designed for and meant to be played by adults.

Some “experts” have been crying this video-games-are-too-violent warning for years. DOOM was the first target for this expert attention back in ’93. Video game violence has not caused a break down of our society in all these years despite the many tenuous attempts to attribute heinous crimes to these games. Violent video games are not a societal problem.

“If a younger kid experiences Bulletstorm’s explicit language and violence, the damage could be significant,” Dr. Jerry Weichman, a clinical psychologist at the Hoag Neurosciences Institute

Well how about parents pay attention to their kids and don’t let them experience anything with explicit language and violence? Huh? Is it too much to expect parents to be friggin’ parents and attend their children?

“Violent video games like Bulletstorm have the potential to send the message that violence and insults with sexual innuendos are the way to handle disputes and problems,” Weichman said.

So don’t let the kids get exposure to this stuff! Holy crap! How is this not completely obvious?

Hey, an axe has the potential to hack off fingers, toes, limbs, and heads! Oh noes! This is why caring and attentive parents don’t let 9 year old kids play with axes.

“The increase in rapes can be attributed in large part to the playing out of [sexual] scenes in video games,”

According to the Department of Justice, “Rape rates have been stable in recent years,” and have actually decreased dramatically in the years video games have existed. Holy moly, look what actual facts show!

“Games without sufficient quality of gameplay — games that include highly objectionable violent or sexual content — often pump up the level of this kind of content to gain media attention….” said Billy Pidgeon, a video game analyst with M2 Research.

And when the over-the-top violent game gets media attention, the Chicken Littles jump into the fray to get their own media attention. It’s a virtual daisy chain of media whoring.

Video game advocates say the existing warning system [ESRB] works fine: Parents are responsible for deciding whether their kids can play games, not the government.

Hell yeah! But it’s a shame that anyone who says parents are responsible for their kids gets labeled an “advocate” for the things kids shouldn’t be exposed to. I’m not an advocate for things like torture-horror movies, (I don’t like them), but I still recognize and say that parents are responsible for keeping kids away from such stuff.

Show me a 9 year old kid who plays some game like Bulletstorm, and I’ll show you a pathetically irresponsible parent.

Bullgrit