Public post for a change...
...Because I want this rant to get heard by people.
Okay, this killographic thing... People are saying that video games are violent, and that that's bad. They've invented a new "word" to describe how violent: "killographic". It's like pornographic, but instead of sex it's killing people. I've got a couple problems with this:
1. They could have come up with a better "word".
These idiots get paid for things like this. They could show a bit more imagination... "Murderiffic", say, or "goretastic", or maybe even some real words like "violent" or "bloody". "Killographic" sounds like, well, the name of a bad video game. Someone's gonna name a game that within a year, mark my words, and it'll make everyone involved look even stupider than they already do.
2. The problem is lazy parents, and lack of respect for the medium.
This is my bigger gripe, and it's not one I've heard anyone else saying. The reason that small children are given games written for adults is that nobody expects games to be written for adults. Video games, just like comics, are seen popularly as entertainment for children and not a serious form of art. Most people who wouldn't let their five-year-old watch an R-rated movie are perfectly happy to let them play any video game they pick out because they think "oh, it's a game, nobody above the age of ten would play a video game, so it must be all right for children". This is the same mindset that leads to the arrest of a comic shop owner for selling hentai to adults. "Oh, they're comics, they should be acceptable for children no matter who's actually buying them". Twenty years ago, this may have been the case for video games. Fifty years ago, this may have been the case for comics. It isn't any longer. The media, like their fans, have matured.
A couple side notes: I would much rather any child of mine grow up thinking that some things are weird and scary rather than some things being flatly forbidden. "Here's the internet, if you find something you don't understand then ask me or just move on" is far preferable for making someone into an adult than "here's part of the internet, if you can't see a page then it's because that page is sick and scary and nobody should be allowed to look at it".
My mother, for whatever reason, cannot fathom why I play games. Not just video games, any games. She prefers to spend all evening staring at a television. She won't turn it off even when she admits that there's nothing good on. Now you're telling me that that's better than being 21 and spending a significant percentage of your income on video games?
Okay, this killographic thing... People are saying that video games are violent, and that that's bad. They've invented a new "word" to describe how violent: "killographic". It's like pornographic, but instead of sex it's killing people. I've got a couple problems with this:
1. They could have come up with a better "word".
These idiots get paid for things like this. They could show a bit more imagination... "Murderiffic", say, or "goretastic", or maybe even some real words like "violent" or "bloody". "Killographic" sounds like, well, the name of a bad video game. Someone's gonna name a game that within a year, mark my words, and it'll make everyone involved look even stupider than they already do.
2. The problem is lazy parents, and lack of respect for the medium.
This is my bigger gripe, and it's not one I've heard anyone else saying. The reason that small children are given games written for adults is that nobody expects games to be written for adults. Video games, just like comics, are seen popularly as entertainment for children and not a serious form of art. Most people who wouldn't let their five-year-old watch an R-rated movie are perfectly happy to let them play any video game they pick out because they think "oh, it's a game, nobody above the age of ten would play a video game, so it must be all right for children". This is the same mindset that leads to the arrest of a comic shop owner for selling hentai to adults. "Oh, they're comics, they should be acceptable for children no matter who's actually buying them". Twenty years ago, this may have been the case for video games. Fifty years ago, this may have been the case for comics. It isn't any longer. The media, like their fans, have matured.
A couple side notes: I would much rather any child of mine grow up thinking that some things are weird and scary rather than some things being flatly forbidden. "Here's the internet, if you find something you don't understand then ask me or just move on" is far preferable for making someone into an adult than "here's part of the internet, if you can't see a page then it's because that page is sick and scary and nobody should be allowed to look at it".
My mother, for whatever reason, cannot fathom why I play games. Not just video games, any games. She prefers to spend all evening staring at a television. She won't turn it off even when she admits that there's nothing good on. Now you're telling me that that's better than being 21 and spending a significant percentage of your income on video games?