Parents had better beware: There's a Bulletstorm on the horizon.
In the new video game Bulletstorm due February 22, players are rewarded for shooting enemies in the private parts (such as the buttocks). 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.
But that's not the worst part.
The in-game awards system, called Skill Shots, ties the ugly, graphic violence into explicit sex acts: "topless" means cutting a player in half, while a "gang bang" means killing multiple enemies. 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
Now, let's stop right here. Yes, Bulletstorm is a bloody mess. The violence is overblown, but that's how the game was specifically designed. Sure children as young as 9 (or younger) are playing games of this ilk, but how are these children receiving these games? I'll let you take a wild guess, here's a hint, starts with par ends with ents. Let's continue.
“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 in Southern California, told FoxNews.com.
Like I stated above, a child should not even be allowed to breathe on a game with this violent content. It is the parents' job to teach their children about what goes on & what happens in the world we live in. A question for you Dr. Weichman, what are the affects on a child whose parents ignore him or her; yet instead uses television & video games as a pacifier/scapegoat? Do we decry Pokemon, because Little Billy may grown up wanting to start an illegal dog fighting ring? Do we also crucify the superheroes we wanted to be like when we were that age? When did Spiderman & The Green Goblin ever mediate & talk their problems out?
“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.
Show me a 9 year old who can spell and define innuendo, and I'll show you his parents, who probably do not let this child play games called BULLETSTORM! The 18-34 demographic to which this game is targeted for use innuendo in attempts to get laid.
Carol Lieberman, a psychologist and book author, told FoxNews.com that sexual situations and acts in video games -- highlighted so well in Bulletstorm -- have led to real-world sexual violence.
“The increase in rapes can be attributed in large part to the playing out of [sexual] scenes in video games” she said.
Fail! Fail! Fail! FAAAAAILLLL! A Google news search proves that what Carol Lieberman stated above is an outright lie! I can hear a rapist telling his victim now: "I couldn't help myself, I just finished playing Bulletstorm & I just HAD to sexually assault you."
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), rates all video games as a guide for parents; each game carries a letter-label at retail (T for Teen, M for Mature) and an online-only summary. Lieberman and others say it's useless, because it isn't enforced at retail.
More nonsense from a Lieberman (is Lieberman Jewish for nonsense.) Every single time I've purchased a M rated game, I was carded. But, the weight should not fall on retailers. It should begin & end with the parents. Who should educate themselves on the rating system. A cashier isn't going to ask an adult if they're buying an M rated game for themselves or a child. They don't get paid extra to be media police, YOU wear that hat. It's not as if the ratings system is confusing. It's literally there in black & white.
More important, defenders argue that games with excessive violence and sexual content simply don't sell well.
“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. This tactic typically fails, as can be seen in the poor sales performance of titles such as BMX XXX and Postal,” said Billy Pidgeon, a video game analyst with M2 Research.
You want to know why BMX XXX & Postal didn't sell well? They were terrible games. True gamers do not buy games solely because of sex & violence. The God of War franchise has both, but would have been successful without the storyline & great graphics & controls? Definitely not.
Penalizing store clerks
There might be a simple way to address the problem: penalties for selling violent games to kids.
This year, the Supreme Court will make a landmark decision about video-game violence. A California law now makes it illegal for a merchant to sell a Mature-rated game to a minor; the law imposes a $1,000 fine. But the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has sued to overturn the law.
“Between a great ratings system, parental controls on the consoles and the major retailers inhibiting the
sale of Mature-rated games to minors, the matter is really one for parents and adults to consider, individually,” Hal Halpin, the president of the similar Entertainment Consumers Association, told FoxNews.com. “I respect the creative rights of game developers to make a game like Bulletstorm in the same way that I appreciate Quentin Tarantino's right to make over-the-top movies like Kill Bill."
Melanie Killen, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Maryland who has pushed for laws that govern the sale of video games, disagrees that the ESRB rating system is working. She says 9-year-olds are playing games like Bulletstorm and that there is no real enforcement. The FCC monitors all TV broadcasts and stiffly fines broadcasters for violating decency rules, yet there are no penalties in place for retailers who sell violent games to kids.
“The marketing is clearly aimed at children and young adolescents,” Killen said. “Politicians were organizing efforts to address violent video games prior to the presidential election but got distracted by the election. It is time for senators and representatives to come back to the issue.”
The upcoming Supreme Court ruling is a different beast. I'm only going to say this, If they rule for California, you will still hear 12 year old in your online lobbies. As I stated above, 9 times out of 10 a parent is duped into buying the games for a child. You can't put out an all encompassing umbrella when folks are going to decide to walk in the rain anyway. Like Hal Halpin said above, you have the rating & the parental controls...what's stopping your kids from accessing all this meanie meanie bad bad sex and violence?
Why not go further than just fining the retailers Melanie Killen? Let's fine the retailers who sell us the junk food we feed our kids? It's just as bad, if not worse, than the video games you & many others are so against. We don't blame Chester Cheetah for our kids being fat asses (until recently) yet Scorpion is the cause for violent behavior.
Bottom Line:
This is just like the time, the same Fox News claimed the Nintendo DS is a tool to help pedophiles & that the PSP made it easier for children to access pornography (as if the PC didn't already do that.) This is just another story filled with shock value & lacking very little in factual information.
Via: Fox News
2 comments:
I wonder if there is a study that tracks children and their social habits in regards to violent game play. I'm sure they all don't become rapists. if that were the case, everyone damn near would be victimized in some way.
For the most part, the studies are all over the place on how video game violence affects children & teens. Some say "yes" others say "absolutely not." Here is a link to a handful of studies done & their results. http://www.techaddiction.ca/effects_of_violent_video_games.html
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