I am tired of seeing video games getting such a bad rep from politics and a person trying to get their fifteen minutes of fame, hence the reason why I am not naming any names because I don't want to give them what they want, publicity. But they are taking something that has a really good system and demanding that it becomes what it already is. They say that they don't want children to get their hands on violent and sexually filled video games. I have news for them, they can't do it the way they are trying.

      Currently they are saying that the stores such as EB Games, Game Stop, or even Wal-Mart is to blame. I don't know about you, but I tried buying some M+ rated game when I was fifteen, I wasn't aloud to. I went to a couple of different places trying to get this game including EB Games and I was denied. The stores are not the ones that are giving this to children.

      So how are 12 year old kids getting these games? The parents. The parents are buying the games for the kids. They don't pay attention when buying, they don't watch over there kids especially when playing games, or are willing to do anything to have their son stop annoying them.

      Next thing that these finger pointers will blame is the ESRB rating system that is used to rate what age group a game is for. This system is so easy when compared to some other rating systems. The only other one that is comparable is the movie rating which like the ESRB shows which age groups it is O.K. for. Now there is no excuse for a parent to not see these ratings. They are printed on both the front and the back of every single video game box. They are easy to understand, directly on the box, it shows what age it is suitable for. Are you saying that a full grown adult is not capable of understanding that a game rated M for mature 17+ is not suitable for a 12 year old? If that is the case, maybe it's intelligence of our society we should be concerned about. The ESRB is easier to understand than the music industries answer to trying to help parents. Parental Advisory doesn't mean much, it doesn't tell which age this may be suitable or why it isn't good for a person nder 18.

      One thing that I enjoy is when people talk about studies that can prove that violence can be linked to video games. They never talk about what kind of research goes into the study, rather that there is one. Where are the details? Just how did you perform this research? What were your scientific steps to approach this topic? Did you know that one research says that a person who plays video games for 30 years is likely to be more violent? So they are saying that they have researched video games and their effects in terms of violence on our society. I can see why people would blame PONG for our societies downfall.

      Here is a fact. Violence has gone down dramatically. In fact we hit one of our lowest violent point when video games such as DOOM and Mortal Kombat were hitting their peaks and violent games were selling million upon millions of copies. So would you say that this prevents violence if you were to just look at stats? Perhaps it gives people a way to release some of these emotions that they might have done if they weren't occupied with a game. Even if that wasn't the case, I doubt that video game is any more influencing then movies. I have never played a game where I do and feel like I need to go out and recreate what I just watched. But there has been times when I felt that way for a movie. After watching The Fast and the Furious I wanted to go out and try some of those dangerous maneuvers they were pulling on the big screen.

      Violence has been around sense the beginning of time, and now with violence on the down fall, how can you blame video games for our youths violence? I believe that this is just another way for people to get their voice out, the same thing happened with movies and music; I am sure it will happen to the next form of entertainment. I am not going to point my finger directly to someone simply because I believe that it doesn't come from a single source, especially video games, that cause us to do what we do. I feel some of the major influences are the parents and the person's social skills. Now I say the person's social skills and not society simple because if the person doesn't know how to keep a friend because they betray their friends constantly or they try so hard to be different that they force themselves to be an outcast where they begin to feel no purpose in life and lose respect for both their own and other people's lives. Parents need to look over what their children are buying, I am not saying be a Nazi parent saying “You are only 12, this game is for Teen's which is 13 and older.” I am saying, understand your child and know what they understand and what they don't. If you don't know your child very well, perhaps you should re-arrange your schedule a little bit so that you are able to raise a good child that knows that a video game isn't reality and that when you shoot a human being, that they do not just disappear and there is consequence for their actions, which you can easily teach by punishing them for doing things they aren't suppose to.

      Don't get me wrong though, I do feel sorry for those who have lost. I wish humans didn't have to know the pains of sorrow from losing a loved one. But I am sick and tired of people pointing the blame to a video game that people should know isn't reality because common sense. The Fast and the Furious uses real actors who actually did those stunts, don't you think that would be more realistic then a racing game where you don't even see your character and you jump buildings. I don't want you to get the impression that I think movies are the cause of our problems either because I don't, I just don't understand why games are being blamed for them. I never did try to do the stunts that I saw on The Fast and the Furious because I was able to comprehend that those were set up states where all the factors are taking into account before and everyone knows what is happening.

      I could go on and on saying more points and more reasons why you need to turn that finger around and point back to yourself (mainly parents who buy these games and then say that they can't believe that these games have this stuff) and prove some more that you should close your mouth before you make yourself seem that much more unintelligent. If you think I am completely wrong, I am sorry, and I understand, we have our own beliefs, but perhaps you should play video games, not just one but lots, before you speak. I would also like to see the actual research, the environments these researches were done in, and how you measured the results (ex brain waves, actions, before and after).