Please read this!

[GuiltyDragon]

The root of any "violence in videogames" argument is always the parents. They are responsible for their children's activities until they come of age and so should be taking responsibility for the sorts of media that their children are consuming.

Now, I know it's impossible to keep adult content out of your child's hands indefinately. If they wanna play Gears of War, they're gonna play it some how, be it at a friends house or whatever. What the parent can do, though, is tell them exactly WHY they shouldn't view this kind of material and be very clear that it's wrong for them to disobey their parents.

My mother never wanted me to play Doom. Of course, I still went and did it. But I knew there was a reason for her disapproval of the game though, so I knew there was something wrong about the level of violence that I saw there.

[LordXenophon]

My mother didn't want me to play Doom, either. But the reason was never the violence. I was already in ROTC by the time Doom came out, so violence was no longer an issue. She objected to all the flaming demons and other "Satanic" content in the game.

I played Doom anyway.

[NotU]

The FBI released some information from one of their studies about this around the same time GTA:SA was coming out. It did show a direct correlation between gaming and real life violence, but not the one that the anti-GTA people were wanting.

The FBI study showed that violence actually decreased dramatically every time a new GTA game came out. If nobody else finds/posts it before I get home from work, I will try to get the time to do so myself.

[zanarix]

Originally Posted by GuiltyDragon

The root of any "violence in videogames" argument is always the parents. They are responsible for their children's activities until they come of age and so should be taking responsibility for the sorts of media that their children are consuming.

I whole-heartedly agree with this. Personally, my parents never really regulated what games I played. But I've always known better than to beat some guy up for fun cause of what I saw in a video game.

Then again, I have a lot of sadistic and pretty weird thoughts, mostly due to playing video games (most of them violent) over the years. So while I love bashing you in game and watching your blood and guts fly everywhere, I'd never do it in real life.

Originally Posted by GuiltyDragon

Now, I know it's impossible to keep adult content out of your child's hands indefinately. If they wanna play Gears of War, they're gonna play it some how, be it at a friends house or whatever.

At a friends house I've always believed it's the caregivers responsibility. Doesn't have to be the child's parent, just the person who is caring for the child at the time. In this case, the child's friend's parents.