Gay behavior in computer games - warnings

[SGTTOM]

I’m nowhere close to being a parent (I’m 21) but I think a lot of the onus falls on parents with regards to what kids are exposed to nowadays. Some parents think that they can let the Internet or video games take care of their kids and be done with it. I find that tragic. I grew up in the '90s with stuff like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro; my brother, who is four years younger, played a lot of Halo in his late elementary years. Now, we had good upbringings but I can definitely see the effects of a violent video game in his disposition; he’s quick to anger. Halo’s rated M so my brother shouldn’t’ve been playing it anyway but it could’ve been worse.

Now, video games are said to have “grown up” a lot in the last ten years. I don’t see it so much as growing up per se but, rather, catching up to the rest of the media forms. Sex, gratuitous violence, homosexuality, various -cides, and the like all exist in forms like movies, television, comic books, novels, etc. Most parents wouldn’t let their kids watch Schindler’s List or Saving Private Ryan (which are good movies in themselves) because they’re well aware of the subject matter. In the same way, parents should be taking an active role in dictating what their kids can and can’t play. I don’t know a lot of kids who can afford a $60-70 video game without the help of their parents.

I’ve played the first two Mass Effect games and both times my character was a straight male. I really enjoyed the games. Yes, the chance to encounter homosexuality exists in modern video gaming but the chance to prevent kids from encountering that exists as well. I’ve played games like Assassin’s Creed where, I kid you not, I had to try to assassinate Pope Alexander IV. Is that a morally wrong concept? I think so. Did I go out and become an anti-papist assassin? No, because 1) it’s just a fictional game, and 2) I was raised to obey the Sixth Commandment. Again, my parents played a role in that.

And, like I said, it could always be worse: you should see how kids trashtalk nowadays on multiplayer games. There is something fundamentally wrong with society’s restrictions when a twelve-year old kid can call me all sorts of homophobic slurs from who-knows-where without his parents reprimanding him. I stopped playing online because I knew that, one day, I was probably going to snap at some kid (who probably didn’t know any better).

Keep in mind some people just lose their temper more quickly then others. I have always been more hot headed then my older brother and we were both raised on the same games and movies (we are only 1 year apart).

 

[Kithrus]

To Catholic parents:

While ratings are good, what does “Rated M for Mature” actually mean? If it was a sin when you were young, it’s still a sin when you’re an adult. One becomes a mature adult in body, mind and spirit. As Catholics, we must never assume that the word Mature is a reason to engage in sinful or immoral things which either disguise falsehood as truth or as OK.

It is a myth that the Mature label allows you to ignore Church teaching, but a few people have assumed the myth: “I’m a mature adult, so I can watch, read, see and do whatever I want.” Your children don’t stop being your children after they turn 18 or 21. If they loved you as kids then that love should continue into adulthood.

Peace,
Ed

The bible is rated M and the children’s version is rated E. The point isn’t sin but the context of plot.

If this comes across as an insult then sorry but use common sense from here out.

 

[Shatterpoint]

Keep in mind some people just lose their temper more quickly then others. I have always been more hot headed then my older brother and we were both raised on the same games and movies (we are only 1 year apart).

Yeah, my brother’s quickness to anger has always been one of the main differences between the two of us. We’re four years apart and he’s practically a carbon copy of me.