Violence All the Rage This Christmas

Christian Newswire ^ | Dec. 2 , 2008

[Sopater]

I can't believe that parents would allow their kids to play video games when they don't even know what's in them. I'm even more surprised that they allow it when they do know what's in them.

[snarks_when_bored]

Violence All the Rage This Christmas

And let's not forget the violence portrayed in the common, everyday television commercial. There's one running now featuring John McEnroe hitting a tennis ball that strikes a guy in the head and knocks him off his feet. And there's another one featuring a woman who shoots a paralyzing dart from a blowgun into the neck of another woman seated across from her who falls from her chair to the floor. Both of these attacks are intended to be amusing to viewers, although in real life both McEnroe and the blowgun user would be arrested for assault if they did what they're shown as doing.

[Vaduz]

parents bad

[ReveBM]

Please be more specific, cite a specific video game or actions you don't like, and the context. What age range is appropriate for what?

What computer games and/or video games have you played in depth, just for point of comparison?

[Kleon]

Violent video games have become increasingly more popular as graphics and improvements in technology have improved over the years.

That's not true. The most popular games are for the Wii, and they're mostly family friendly titles like Wii Music and Wii Fit.

[No.6]

“Is it purely a coincidence that the Christmas shopping season kicks off with a day called ‘Black Friday’?”

No, it means they hope to become profitable with sales made on that day (as in black ink). It’s not violence, it’s accounting.

[Marie2]

My 17 yo son asked for Grand Theft Auto for Christmas. For crying in the beer.

I removed it from his “list” before I forwarded it to his family and told him so :)

[I Buried My Guns]

GTA? 17 yrs old is plenty mature enough to be killing scores of cops and visiting hookers.

I keed, I keed!

[Just another Joe]

Yeh, cowboys and indians ruined me.
Along with cops and robbers.

[buccaneer81]

I went to their site and looked at their ratings. These folks are wound a little tight to complain, even mildly, about games like "Madden 09", "Jaws Unleashed" and "Rock Band."

They make Ned Flanders look like Marilyn Manson.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

A lot of what is seen as a problem is less so when it is examined why it is a problem.

Take a violent video game. Why do children, especially boys, like it?

While most people say they like the violence, this isn’t accurate, because it is more complex than that.

Most boys have a hunting instinct. The Boy Scouts used to have a “Trailing, Tracking and Stalking” requirement for one of their lesser ranks, teaching boys these “hunting” skills. There is no violence inherent in this, but many boys are as instinctively attuned to this as are border collies attuned to herding.

So it isn’t wrong, it’s natural.

Many boys also have a morbid curiosity, though this is foolishly discouraged, because many adults cannot distinguish the interest in a subject with the desire to engage in it. Just because a boy reads about Charlie Manson or Adolf Hitler, doesn’t mean he wants to be like him.

There are lots of websites that are full of gruesome pictures of hideous death and dismemberment. This is hypnotically interesting to some boys, who personally would never willingly harm animals or people.

So no problem with video games with virtual hunting, or satisfying morbid curiosity.

How about fighting? The last part of violent video games is that they somehow teach children to fight. But doesn’t this only apply to boys who cannot distinguish between a game and real life? No doubt there are some, but they are equally susceptible to being taught by a movie, TV show, book, comic book, or just some braggart.

[Sopater]

That's not true. The most popular games are for the Wii

The statement simply said that they are becoming "increasingly more popular", not that they are the "most popular".

[Sopater]

They make Ned Flanders look like Marilyn Manson.

So it's all relative. These games are only bad, depending on where you set the bar of acceptability. What's moral and acceptable is not measured by Ned Flanders or Marilyn Manson, it's measured by a righteous and holy God.

[Sopater]

Please be more specific, cite a specific video game or actions you don't like, and the context.

GTA

What age range is appropriate for what?

I won't play any games that I wouldn't allow my kids to play.

[buccaneer81]

These games are only bad, depending on where you set the bar of acceptability. What's moral and acceptable is not measured by Ned Flanders or Marilyn Manson,

But it's OK for Timothy's Plan, apparently.

[Citizen Blade]

GTA

Which is rated M for mature- I got carded at Best Buy when I bought it. It's not meant to be played by 12-year olds. The game deals with a lot of mature themes, but then, so do the Godfather and MacBeth.

The entire world does not need to be kid friendly.

[Sopater]

What do you mean? What's OK for Timothy's Plan?

Here is their video game guide: GRAPHIC GUIDE

[Sopater]

The entire world does not need to be kid friendly.

I'll let God decide what the entire world "should" be.

[buccaneer81]

I mean that Timothy’s Plan holds about as much moral sway as Ned Flanders. They make mainstream Christians look like the tired old media stereotype.

[MrB]

You either have that standard, or no standard.

Because if your standard is based on anything subjective, that subjectivity is subject to slippage.